I am starting to wonder even though i count calories, am I eating too much. What are some of your sample daily menus? At night, I tend to eat a ton of veggies to fill me up so i'm not craving something sweet later. Just curious what you guys are eating?

I'm pretty boring with my morning and lunches, but eat a good supper.
Mornings: Fiber One (14 grams of fiber)
homemade yogurt
stewed prunes on top or sliced banana, whatever fruit in season.
The high fiber keeps me full until lunch time.
Lunch: homemade vegetable soup. I make up large batches and eat only that for lunches.
Afternoon snack: I have a great recipe for peanut butter sauce using PB2, I measure out an ounce of that and a assortment of raw veggies if I'm hunger. Usually I'm not.
Super: I eat 4-5 oz. of protein, lots of vegetables but stay away from rice or potatoes, tooooooo starchy. We have a large garden in the summer and I found roasting vegetables are so tasty. Put in a bowl cubed up butternut squash, onions, carrots, any veggies except spuds. I put a teaspoon of olive oil on them, salt and pepper. Turn into a roasting pan, bake until done. The carrots are especially good, they sweeten up! If you track your fiber throughout the day, keep it high and you'll never be hungry. I try for 40 grams per day, keep your water intake high if you eat that much and you'll drop weight quickly. (Really important to drink lots of water). One gal I know upped her fiber and didn't drink the water and she got really constipated so take care.)

Typical day:
2/3 cup oatmeal with pumpkin, tsp butter, tblspn maple syrup
glass of 2% milk.

Snacks: clementines, apple

Lunch:
1/3 cup rice, stir fried veggies and about 4oz chicken or tofu.

Dinner:
Beer
1/3-1/2 cup grain, bunch of veggies (steamed with olive oil or stir fried) and 6 oz shrimp, 5 oz tofu or 4-5 oz chicken. Or chicken/mushrooms/capers & rice. Or fajitas.

I like to eat out of bowls.

Snack: more clementines. Sometimes a cookie for dessert.

I haven't been here very long, and do a lot of lurking at that, but it seems to me that the amount of food that you eat doesn't matter very much, so long as these things are true:

- You are satisfied. Okay, so maybe that huge pile of vegetables doesn't sound as taste-bud satisfying as a burger and fries, but the point is that you are not trying to go to bed hungry. That's pretty much a fast-track to freaking out and eating a package of L'il Smokies (ask us how we know ). You need to be eating in ways that are sustainable to you.

- Your body is getting the nutrients it needs. I can't delve into this subject very far, as I'm not as educated as I should be...but different people have different wants and needs (weight lifters vs runners, for a basic example). We started taking One-a-Day multivitamins when we started calorie counting. I'm not sure what others will have to say about it, but we figured that it couldn't hurt.

Don't worry too much about what others are eating. It is very interesting to know, sure, but if what you're doing is working for you in a healthy manner (as in, you're not purging or only eating once every other day or somesuch), then keep at it! You'll find that people around here are different - some eat many small meals, others eat light during the day and have a large dinner...the variety is endless, because we all have different lives: our schedules and demands on our time, likes, preferences and comfort zones all factor into how we do what we do.

Like I mentioned above, never go to bed hungry...never make yourself feel deprived, or you'll fight yourself the whole way. If I'm at my calorie limit and still hungry, I will have something...just not something that could be considered a "treat".

Our "menu" varies greatly from day to day. If we end up eating light during the day, we'll make one of our heavier dishes (still measuring everything and staying within calorie restraints, of course) like enchiladas. We're constantly experimenting with alternative ingredients to favorite meals because, quite frankly, giving up melty cheese entirely is NOT an option.

On that note, is candy a bad trigger food for you? If it isn't, plan for a piece every now and then. A lot of people ultimately fail in weight loss because they deny themselves in the short-term expecting the results of that denial to last long-term. (Did that make any sense? lol...)...making this switch to a healthier lifestyle means learning to balance all elements of life.

I'm sorry that I kinda veered from what you're looking for, but just know that everyone is different and if you can find sustainable success, go for it!

Best of luck to you!