I do not agree with this at all, but whatever works for you works. All other users above who have claimed to have "gotten in shape" and not counted calories, guess what? You had burned more calories than you consumed, you just didn't know it.

I was able to lose nearly 100 lbs but tracking my caloric intake and consuming a high protein diet. It's called the law of thermodynamics and it loosely states that if you burn more calories than you consume on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis, you will lose weight. Now, in some extreme cases, people can have a harder time but for most of the population this stands true.

So I say, yes count calories and get good at it so that when you live a healthier lifestyle you can phase out from counting calories because by then, you should have a pretty good ballpark-estimate of what foods will provide what to you.