I've been stuck at five pounds over goal for months. I'm five one, weigh 115, with a goal weight of 110. I feel okay at my current weight, but there are some stubborn bits of flab around my middle and on my thighs that I want gone.I know I need to lower my calories and up my exercise so I've added another walk to my routine and eliminated my morning and afternoon snacks.In order to get through the long stretch between breakfast and lunch (I eat breakfast at five a.m.)I've started eating a slightly larger breakfast.

I've been doing this for about a week now. Before, eating my two healthy snacks I felt energized throughout the day. Now I feel constantly hungry headachy and nauseated. I know the physical sensations are my body's way of telling me that its happy right where it is. Trouble is, I'm not.

Not really asking for advice here, just wondering if anyone else has experienced increased hunger when they got close to goal.

If you're hungry, you're not doing it right. That's the general idea around here. Because if you're hungry, you're either going to quit or be miserable. I have not seen this change, regardless of how close someone is to goal.

I know you weren't asking for advice, but personally, I think getting rid of your snacks was a bad idea. It's more natural to eat several times a day, in smaller amounts. It keeps you from being hungry, too. I personally don't follow this, but if you were already used to doing the 'more healthy' approach, why quit?

Also- you are well within a healthy weight range. You clearly know that. Please consider the possibility that you are simply being too hard on yourself. Us women are really prone to that.

If you are hungry, you need to make changes. Being this close to goal, you were essentially eating at maintenance level, which means that is what you can eat from now on to maintain your loss and stay at 115.

If I were in your shoes, and that close to goal, but still looking at a few problem areas, then I would change my work out. Add in weight training and/or interval training. Walking won't do it. You've got to work a bit harder.

Go back to your healthy snacks, they will help stabilize your hunger and blood sugar so you don't feel so horrible. Increase the intensity of your workouts to work off those last few lbs. You may find you stabilize your weight but lose the flab you want to lose.

The idea of cutting out your healthy snacks is a very bad idea. Your body needs fuel to burn. With the cutting out of your fuel it will hold on to every last bit of fat you have to ovoid the starvation that it thinks you are putting it through. Start back with your healthy eating and increase your activity. It will be slow as you have very little for the body to give up along with the fact that if you are building muscle, it weighs more than fat. Don't worry about the numbers and focus on muscle, you will be pleasantly surprised. We all, and I mean all, have a tendency to focus on what we haven't achieved rather than acknowledging that we just crossed a huge mountain. Best of luck and keep us posted.

I wouldn't change your eating at all! Your body is telling you that it's not nourished! If you have some extra flab, do weight training. Two weeks after I started weight training, my waist went down a lot.

But yes, I'm about 2 lbs away from my goal, and some days I'm a ravenous beast. On those days though, I just add in another snack and I'm fine.

I posted something very similar last week. What was suggest to me was really exam my food choices, I did and this made a HUGE difference in my hunger levels. I also have done a bit of a "maintenance trial run". I'm not at full maintenance but I did increase slightly and have lost 4lbs since Thursday! I'm not saying this will work for you and I know that increasing doesn't work for everyone - so let me tell you a little more about my food changes.

Incorporating more whole foods, less processed. More veggies (espeically in the am) more whole grains (they're supposed to help deflat the belly), more nuts (this really really helped my hunger levels) and in general just finding new recipes to get me excited again and less focused on weight loss. Good luck!

I would highly suggest posting what you're eating and how much you are eating, you will get amazing suggestions on how you can just slightly tweak your current eating plan. I'm having SOOOO much fun with new whole food recipes and it's really gotten me excited about this process again. So if you're intrested give us some more info on your plan.

Thank you for the reply. It wasn't without considerable forethought that I made the decision to eliminate the snacks. Since I am much smaller than I was it makes sense that I need to reduce calories in order to get the weightloss ball rolling again.

Thank you for your reply.
I wrote my original post in a bit of a rush. I should have made it clear that walking is not my only form of exercise. I also jump rope and work out with a kettlebell. And when I walk I walk very fast, almost racewalking speed . I can walk as fast, or faster, than some people jog. Believe me, at that pace walking is definitely a workout.

At my job employees with less than twenty years cannot park on site during the summer. Instead we park two miles away and ride a shuttle the rest of the way. I stopped riding the shuttle and walk to work instead. That's the additional walk I was talking about.

Not necessarily, as a general rule, yes. I know I'm the exception, but I've continual need to add as I go because my exercise keeps increasing.

I think that it would help a lot to post what you are eating (foods and cals). I total understand if you don't want to do that, I was very hesitant, but the responses were amazing and it really opened my eyes that the foods I was choosing were not as good as the could have been and hence why I was so hungry.

Here are two typical days menus, the first complete with snacks

Menu one
Breakfast
1 large hard boiled egg 80
1 slice Arnold oatnut bread, toasted 120
half tablespoon peanut butter 50
half tablespoon jam 20
2 cups coffee with half tablespoon half and half in each 40

total calories 310

Morning snack
1 container Greek yogurt 140
1 medium banana 100
total calories 240

Lunch
Black bean veggie burger 100
1 slice fat free cheddar cheese 25
Whole wheat roll 200
1 cup baby carrots 90

total calories 415

Afternoon snack
2 graham crackers (2 whole sheets) 120
half tablespoon nutella 50
total calories 170

Dinner
4 ounces top round steak, broiled 320
medium plain baked potato 150
1 cup broccoli 30
total calories 500

Before bed
3 squares Cadburry dark chocolate 80

total calories for the day 1885 (too much!!!)

Menu Two
Breakfast
two eggs scrambled in one tsp butter 200
1 slice Arnold oatmeal bread toasted 120
half tablespoon jam 20
2 cups coffee with half tablespoon half and half in each 40
total calories 380


Lunch
half cup brown rice 150
1 chicken leg, skin removed 140
1 clementine 30
total calories 420

Dinner
3 ounce boneless pork chop, fat removed 300
2 ounces noodles 210
half tablespoon butter 50
1 cup spinach 35
total calories 595

before bed
1 square cadburrys dark chocolate 30

total calories for the day 1425

As you can see, by getting rid of the snacks and reducing the bedtime chocolate by two thirds I eliminated nearly 500 calories from my intake.