anyone had success NOT calorie counting?

Losing weight with Keto (ketogenic diet) was pretty easy without calorie counting. But I loved carbs waaaaay to much to give them up 6 days a week, so I went back to using MFP and was more successful

I have. I've been eating intuitively for about a month now. I tracked a few days last week to get my macros balanced again, but I've since quit tracking. Haven't gained at all. I've stayed at exactly the same weight.

What I've noticed I've learned from MFP:

* weighing everything on that little digital scale for months really paid off! I now can gauge portion sizes really well by sight mostly, though I still use the scale sometimes

*learning macro balance (protein, fat & carbs) was invaluable! figure out your lean body mass for your protein needs, and try to get a little extra protein especially if you lift weights and are recomping

*and finally, I eat when I'm hungry... I know how I feel when my blood sugar begins to fluctuate, I know what real hunger feels like, I pay attention to it, and I stop before I'm truly full.

Just my experience... never had success without counting something (calories or WW point, etc.), but... I'm hoping to learn to track without having to be quite so careful or obsessive about measuring and counting. For me, part of that means learning to recognize or estimate portion sizes better by sight. (See the other thread about counting chips... initially I count, weight or otherwise measure out portions. For instance if the bag is supposed to have 5 servings, separate out 5 roughly equal portions to learn what one looks like.)
When I go out to eat, I do my best guess... and then I come back home and look it up (or even better when I can, I look up the restaurant in advance, so I know what I can order and how it stacks up). If the restaurant nutritional information isn't available online or already in MFP, I look up similar restaurants, check a few samples and use the middle one or one where the description seems to match what I ate best. If you bring home a "doggy bag" (since almost all restaurant portions are too big and often enough for 2-3 meals, I often have enough to bring home) you can measure that to see if your estimate was reasonable.
I expect I'll always have to "spot check" to make sure I'm not drifting up in portion sizes again or eating more snacks than I realized. But as it becomes a part of my life, I'm hoping that by the time I get to maintenance, that I can start moving to logging only occasionally to stay on track. This has already worked for me with drinking water. I drink lots of water regularly. Occasionally I track it, and keep in mind that I was probably a bit better on those days. (The last time I tracked it, I drank over 12 cups of water, tea and juice. So I think I'm still doing ok there.)

Before I did MFP... I did Slimming World for about three months. Started at 217lbs and dropped down to 198lbs working out on the treadmill 30-60 minutes 3x a week. Then I didn't really follow the eating plan for a while and when I started again the weight for some reason plateaued around 203 and 198 for about four to five months. That's when I decided to do workout (insanity) and MFP and that's when the weight started coming off again. Started this on May 28th at 202lbs and right now I'm at 193lbs. Planning to do MFP until I reach my goal weight (around 140s and 150s) then do Slimming World for good. Well we'll see! I kinda do both calorie counting and SW right now that way even without counting my carbs for eg. I still stay within the MFP recommendation. For instance: per day I'll only allow myself 250 - 350 mil of skim milk and 28g of cheese or only 2 slices of bread and 227g of potato. That way, I don't have to worry about going over my limits. I kinda mix the two up and at the same time keep to my calorie limits for the day. The only thing I go over is protein which I'm not at all worried about.

What I've noticed I've learned from MFP:

* weighing everything on that little digital scale for months really paid off! I now can gauge portion sizes really well by sight mostly, though I still use the scale sometimes

*learning macro balance (protein, fat & carbs) was invaluable! figure out your lean body mass for your protein needs, and try to get a little extra protein especially if you lift weights and are recomping

*and finally, I eat when I'm hungry... I know how I feel when my blood sugar begins to fluctuate, I know what real hunger feels like, I pay attention to it, and I stop before I'm truly full.

THAT!! Those would also be the three biggest learning points for me.

The vegan diet will make it much harder for you to get past your calorie quota -- you'll fill full quite easily. If you want to maintain, just go about your normal life and weigh yourself once a week... if you start gaining weight, you'll know you have to change something.

In the 1950's the American Dietetic Association wrote out a no-counting diet based on number of servings on exchange lists --for example a 1200 cal/ diet would have 2 of whatever item and amount was on the "bread exchange". Personally I found it more cumbersome and less flexible than calorie counting but many people swear by it.
Many chain restaurants have their nutrition info on line. If we are going out, I check out the site and decide what I am going to order before I get there. That way I am not tempted by the pictures on the menu or the sight of everyone else's yummy stuff.
Sorry I can't be helpful on the vegan thing. My doc wants me to have a limited number of calories and 60 grams of protein a day and that was really difficult without meat, eggs or cheese. Good luck and congrats on your weight loss.

Yes. I have lost about 30 lbs with portion control. Counting calories makes me anxious, not worth it to me.

This is why I think it's more complicated than math. We have to learn how to eat for the rest of our lives. And yeah, I don't plan to count forever.
I counted for about a year when I first learned to eat, and I've been counting again while going through menopause (another "not just math" moment).

I think you're very smart for looking for what will work for you forever, NOW, while you're still losing. I think it will up your odds of keeping it off forever.
You've likely learned a lot, now it's time to apply it and make it stick!

I am not a calorie counter. I did a modified version of The 17-Day Diet. Basically I eat eggs for breakfast, big salad with lots of veges for lunch, and then a small salad, a different portion of vegetables and a main course for dinner. I have also started cutting out sweets and it has made a big difference.

When I went vegan I found I needed to count calories to keep from putting on weight. I was hungry all the time although I ate mainly whole foods. Very quickly I went up by 15lbs which did not happen when I was vegetarian or pesco vegetarian. I have now returned to being vegetarian/pesco vegetarian and the weight has began to come off slowly. When I logged my calories as a vegan it was way higher than what I needed for the day because I tried to get up to 120 grams of protein using peas, beans and nuts. Now I add eggs and fish sometimes and my calorie count is now with in range. I have also added some pea\hemp\rice protein powders which help to increase calories without increasing carbs.

recently, i've become concerned that i'm going to be dependent on calorie counting for the rest of my life. i want to continue losing weight, but am wondering if it's possible to do it without counting. i've recently switched to veganism, which i hope will help. does anyone have any thoughts on this? has anyone had experience losing weight, either by vegeterianism/veganism, or other ways besides calorie counting?

Honestly, you probably will be dependent on the concept, but not on the actual drudgery of the day-by-day calorie-by-calorie practice.

In other words, as you are losing weight by calorie counting, you are learning portions that work for you, approximate calories in each, which foods you can eat more of with less impact and which you really honestly need to watch closely. In short, you're learning how to eat MINDFULLY and with purpose. You don't suddenly forget all that valuable information when you stop logging food to a database.

You'll still know that one handful of chips with salsa is OK as an appetizer, the entire basket + three more baskets is not. You'll still know that a small slice of cake is OK, eating the whole thing and going back to the baker's for a second cake is not. And you'll still know that a portion of oatmeal and an egg in the morning keeps you full until lunch, while three bowls of sugar-frosted fr00t smacks with a 32-ounce sugary soda poured over it will leave you out hundreds more calories and you'll be hungry enough to chew off one of your own limbs by 9:30.

You just won't have to see if that slice of cake is 100 or 150 calories. Because no matter which one it is, you'll be in the ballpark. You won't have to fret about being 5g short on protein on Tuesday, because you know that your routine diet will have enough to support you.

If you do this right, and slowly, and mindfully, the transition to maintenance will probably be completely transparent (after all, you should have been lowering your goal gently as you approach your ideal) and you'll just track calories for a month or two, then just keep an eye on the scale and the fit of your clothes for any unwelcome trends. And if things start trending in the wrong direction, you come back for a refresher lesson. Set an upper limit of, say, 10 pounds above your goal. Mark this spot on your scale "RETURN TO MFP".