I love my calorie counting. I do have some things off plan from time to time. The problem though is that eating junk makes me want more junk. It also doesn't fill me up. Yesterday I made whole wheat cupcakes with 1/2 the oil and 1/2 the sugar. I ate two of them! Well, unfortunately, it pushed me up to my calorie limit for the day which means I got no supper. In the end, it just isn't worth it for me to eat the junk--it doesn't taste THAT good. Yesterday at lunch I ate an entire bag of shredded carrots/cabbage with 100 calories worth of crabmeat in it. Total it was 200 calories and I was stuffed. The cupcakes had 200 calories each. I could have eaten all six.

Oh, on the pizza thing. I eat pizza every Friday night. I usually eat 2 slices of cheese pizza with a diet coke. We eat popcorn after. I eat light all day long Friday in preparation for it.

You could sign my name to this as well.

I NEED to get the very most for my calories. The junk does not satisfy me. Leaves me clamoring for more - junk. Doesn't fill my stomach up. I need my calories to fill me, fill me, fill me.

That's why I just can't eat it on a daily basis. Not if I want to stay this weight anyway. And I really, really, REALLY want to stay this weight.

I would dare to say that most overweight and obese people do not have a clear idea of what "moderation" means. If they did, they would not be here!

I'd further say that most of us here are trying to learn what moderation is. It's not the plate full of food that the restaurant gives you. It's not the loaded pizza from the takeout place. It's not the whole bowl or cone of ice cream. It's not the entire bag of chips.

Some people, I am sure, have never seen a moderate serving of anything, so how are they to know?

That's why we start out by reading labels. Although "serving sizes" on Nutrition Labels are somewhat arbitrary, at least it's a start.

Jay

For me, eating isn't all about hunger. There are some things I like, and if I don't get them, I feel deprived, and that sets off a binge for me. So I do the balancing act. I don't kid myself about it--my junk is either single serving size, or it goes on the scale (28 g of chips, anyone?), but if I don't eat some junk now and then, I'll be in a face plant in a bag of Reese's PB cups within a week. And that is not a theoretical statement.

There is no one right way to do it, only what works for each of us.

Anne

I did that too when I was losing for the exact same reason. It worked then, but like I said, it totally backfired later on.

That's precisely why I eat chocolate every day. It's like a medicine to avoid binges.

Anne, the little one is great, thanks! He's going to be 1 year old on Saturday! I have NO idea how that happened. How old is yours? I think you were in the first trimester when I was about to give birth. Is it a boy or a girl?

Err.... exercise. I didn't mention it because I, um, don't do any. I have a list of excuses, of course, but I'm sure you guys are not interested. I hate exercise with a fiery passion, and I *can* maintain without any, so... I just don't do it. I know, I know.

Thanks, everyone. I think I'm on the right track calorie-wise. I've been feeling great with the amount of food I'm eating. I'm almost never hungry, only a little right before a meal, as it should be. We'll see how it goes.

I don't really have too much knowledge of nutrition and stuff. I do the moderation thing for sure. I've lost 30 lbs doing it. I really watch the pasta, bread and drinks... But other than that I eat almost all the same stuff as before, only a lot less of it, and NO junk food. That's just me though... I don't want cake ice cream, chips or fast food. I don't eat that stuff for now.

I had chinese buffet tonight though... But in my defence, it was my birthday meal ahaha

Accident post

I think how someone is able to lose weight is very individual and does take a bit of trial and error.

For me, I lived on binges of ice cream, bread and cheese and other stuff mixed in. At my highest weight, moderation wasn't in my vocabulary. If I cooked something, I was going to eat it all or most of it. I shopped for groceries in preparation for binges.

For me, I needed to change the foods I ate and my eating habits right are completely different than at my highest weight. I learned to love foods that I didn't care much for or didn't eat much of at least. So basically I learned to love new foods. After a while, the old foods didn't quite taste the same and stopped giving me satisfaction.

Of course bread has been my weakness since I was a little girl and I do eat some bread but its easier for me to not eat it then to try to include it in my diet. If I eat it, I will generally go overboard but I have to just account for that factor. I keep whole wheat bread in the house rather than my weakness of sourdough or french bread. If I end up buying something and find out that I can't keep my hands off of it, it is banned from the house and only time I would eat it is if I'm out or if I'm able to buy a small portion.

That is what worked for me but that is because I really don't know moderation.

Yes and no. It means a lot to me to eat very healthy foods and limit unhealthy ones. So I don't indulge every impulse that crosses my mind. But I have lost and continue to lose having pizza or eating out when that's what everyone else is doing, have birthday cake or other dessert if it's really good, and even sometimes having some junk or fast food. I think of that as moderation. But probably what I think is moderate indulgence is what most people think is rather restrictive. And actually binging is something I never do anymore. I sometimes eat enough to be slightly uncomfortable, but I never eat very large quantities anymore. Certainly your example of a small piece of chocolate a day, and one slice of pizza a week is the kind of thing I've have been successful with. Well, except that I only have the chocolate a few times a week, not everyday - just because having tamed my sweet tooth, that's as much as I really want.

I had a boy and he is 8 months. Yeah, I don't know how that happened either. I think it came about while I was being a zombie from not sleeping!

Back to your regularly scheduled weight management discussion!

Anne

PS, Thin for Life quotes different studies on weight maintenance and exercise. It is the most frequently cited maintenance technique. One study showed 90% of successful maintainers exercised. That means 10% didn't, so perhaps you are in this successful minority. I'm a big advocate of "whatever works for you", but be careful!!

Anne

I CANNOT tell you all how helpful reading this thread has been for me in ways that I can't quite articulate at the moment. But, I want to shout out a HUGE thank you to all the maintainers who contributed! You are all completely awesome!

Anne, wow, 8 months already? So you were more pregnant than I remembered.

I read Thin for Life years ago. Yeah, I know some of the "masters" didn't exercise. I also know how important exercise is, and I've started multiple times. I did exercise every day for a year when I was losing and then for the first 6 months of maintenance, but then my knee started to hurt (I was doing the exercise bike then) and I never found anything as convenient as that anymore. Right now, I'd rather try to focus on my diet first. We'll see what happens. I know I'll have to start exercising again one day.

Everyone is different, but for me, exercise and diet have a synergistic effect and neither alone quite works. Exercise gets my head screwed on straight somehow and helps me manage stress. I just feel better when I am active, and feel blah when I'm not. Since boredom and stress are eating triggers for me, exercise helps combat both factors by keeping me busy and happier. I am able to stick to a healthy diet much better when I am exercising. Maybe others can be successful through diet modifications alone, but I need both.