Okay, so I think a small attitude adjustment might take you a long way. Losing weight is something your body does not want to do, so yes, it’s going to feel like a chore at first. Getting into the right mindset is half the battle, and if you keep in mind all the things you want to accomplish, come up with a plan of how to accomplish them, and feel excited, motivated, or at least determined to accomplish them, you’re getting off on the right foot. Every time you encounter a challenge along the way, remember why you’re on the journey in the first place.

Also, it’s not like your stomach is cognizant of its contents. When you drink and eat, the nerves in your stomach will recognize it’s being filled by something with mass and volume, making it feel fuller. If you drink more water, especially before and during your meals, you’re not only helping to curb your appetite enough so a meal smaller in size will make you feel more satisfied but you’re staying better hydrated, too. It’s a win-win.

As for your question about how to track your diet, you don’t necessarily have to. If you can trust yourself to judge the size of a meal or snack accurately or count up all the caloric info from the day in your head, do that. If not, it’s really helpful to make sure you’re on track by using some method of jotting down how much of everything you ate as you go through your day. It’s pretty simple to just keep it updated every time you want to eat something. The point of tracking is to make sure you don’t accidentally overeat, which you just might if you’re finding you need to lose a little weight. Also, if you’re still worried about tracking with an app being too much, you could try lessening how often you have to count your calories.

Yeah, it’s really difficult at first, but that’s why we have such a supportive and experienced subreddit and especially why someday you’ll be able to be proud of the effort you made. Good luck! You can do it, you just have to be patient.