I believe I'm one of the unfortunate few for whom calorie counting may be an essential component of weight loss. I have 10 pounds to lose--started needing to lose 15 pounds, and losing those 5 pounds took over five months and may not stick even now--and I've no idea how long it'll take me to lose the remaining 10. I use fitday and try to eat between 1350 and 1500/day...but I've a sneaking suspicion that I might have to tweak even lower eventually (if I haven't lost anything after three more months, for instance). Fitday helps me stay honest and able to calculate what I can eat in a day. I'm not too obsessive about it, I hope, but I try to exercise common sense.

If I'm having a hormonal crazy day that's leaving me famished no matter what I take in, I add more protein and fat and try not to go to bed hungry. If I end up with 1700 cals, so be it. But I'm trying very hard to make sure I'm hungry before I eat and to get a better handle on portion control--which is very, very hard for me.

I remember, from my old days of deprivation dieting, that feeling tired meant that I was losing weight (it was true), while having energy meant that I'd taken in more calories than I was able to burn--thus giving me energy and contributing to a gain (also true). That's why I'm very suspicious now of feeling energized, even as I'm working hard not to believe that I need to feel tired to be losing weight. I don't know whether it's true or not that I can lose weight and not feel tired. Certainly it's true for those with 100 pounds to lose--and I can understand why. But when you get down to those last 10...well, it's a whole different ball game, I think. And it requires a lot experimentation and determination to wait it out.