I agree with what you're saying Drina. For me (in general) this is how it works:

Eat more, move around more, have more energy, lose more weight.

Eat less, move around less, have zero energy, don't lose weight, or lose very little.

I eat 2000 cals most days, and 2250-2300 on days when I do strength training. So far it works for me. In the past I'd tried lower calorie diets but I recognize now that all they did (for me) was sap my overall energy level. That would lead to me being as inactive as possible (even if working out). My only cardio at the moment is a 30-45 min walk 5 days a week (sometimes I have enough insanity to jog for a few mins) and with the training program I'm following at the moment I do intervals after lifting.

I'm glad to see someone still eating a decent amount after losing a large amount of weight. I don't think I have what it takes to survive on 1200 cals a day.

In the past, my disordered eating was due to how well or badly I treated myself. For a time there, I was my own jailer. I would, in effect, "lock myself up" & not let myself have something. And so the other half of me periodically would rebel against such a strict regimen & engage in "jail breaks" & binging behavior.

When I started thinking about how to be kinder to myself, not to demand perfect behavior, my situation improved a great deal. I would actually repeat affirmations to myself, saying as lovingly as I could: "I will take care of you." Implicit in this was a promise that I would not harm myself by overly restricting food. I would say things like, "When you are hungry, I will feed you." Sometimes I would even say this aloud.

Telling you this helps me explain why I chose option #2. I am always promising myself that I will never let myself go hungry, that I will only briefly experience the anxiety that fills me when I am really, really hungry.

My linking of anxiety with hunger, and with a fear of being hungry, was key. I think other people deal with being hungry more calmly & rationally than I do. To me, it begins this whole drama in which I feel neglected, forgotten & fearful. (And I had highly attentive parents who fed me a lot. Too much. Lovingly, but far too much. Go figure. You'd think with those kind of anxieties, I'd be someone who was locked up & given only bread & water.)

Another poll is now posted!

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=172597

Jay

Hunger is my enemy. I'll take a slower loss over having to combat hunger any day!

I am willing to lose weight more slowly if it means I don't have to feel hungry.

for what to feel hungry? just enjoy what you eating...