If this sounds like a ton of work and intimidating, it can be to begin with but after a week or three you'll start memorizing how many calories are in what, and begin to start being able to make decent estimates of unknown foods. Which for the most part is fine if you're not consistently guessing either low or high. I don't calorie count anymore, but it was rare that I actually needed to check a label unless it was a prepackaged food I hadn't eaten before.