Macronutrients

I do.

Look at what MFP has suggested for your macros.

i do - i work with a group of nutrition folks and they give me my goal macros for the day (aim is to be within +/- 10g carbs/protein and +/-5g fat) - i don't necessarily break my macros goals into meals- but I do try to spread my protein out fairly evenly during the day - otherwise i'm trying to eat like 12oz of chicken breast at like 9pm

I watch my macros, but it's not instead of counting calories -- it's really the same thing, as the macros make up your calories. In other words, if you consume your macro targets in grams (roughly) you will be at your calorie target. Some people think watching macros means percentages, and it does not, that's rather useless -- keeping 40-30-30 but eating 2500 instead of 1800 is unlikely to result in something good if you are trying to lose (and have a maintenance of 2300).

Good advice on setting macros and calories: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

What I personally do (or did, I rarely log now):

Be aware of calorie goal (for losing mine is around 1600).

Set protein based on goal weight (I like .8xweight (in lb, for me that's 120), so 100 g).

I can see that 100 g of protein = 25% of my total calories (100x4=400, 400/1600=.25).

So I have 75% of my calories to play with. I happen to like a somewhat higher fat, lower carb diet, so for me I like to do around 100-120 g of carbs, or another 20-30% of my total -- let's say 100 g for simplicity. That leaves 50% for fat and that's about 89 g. But I don't fret if I have a higher carb day -- I mostly care about hitting calories and protein. I do watch how I feel and see if there's a relationship to eating choices (one benefit of logging).

But carbs vs. fat is really personal preference, so one approach is to set protein, and see where the others come in eating in a way comfortable to you and how you feel. Although I set target macros, I really focus more on protein, vegetables, and then making sure I have a good variety of nutrient dense foods and meals I find satisfying.