Normally I go with intuitive eating+whole foods but I've hit a plateau recently and want to do calorie counting for a week or so to see what I need to cut back on. Today I ate 1800 calories and I feel like I'm STARVING. I definitely drink enough water so that's not the issue. I'm 5'6" 192lbs and lead a pretty active life (lift+HIIT 3x a week and some general cardio on 1-2 of the other days). We also don't own a car so we walk/take public transport everywhere and that means I'm also carrying around my 33lbs daughter a lot of the time.

Here's what I ate today, feel free to critique away!

Breakfast:
eggs+1slice bacon (turkey bacon is not available where I live)+coffee with milk

Lunch
Black beans+tomatoes+onions+yellow peppers with a splash of olive oil and vinegar
the rest of DD's whole whole wheat spaghetti with turkey meatballs and spinach (this was only 1/4 cup so not a lot)

Snack
Fruit yogurt smoothie
coffee with milk

Dinner
Lean ground beef+avocado+black beans+tomatoes+smidgen of cheese

Desperately still hungry snack
small bowl of musli (normally I wouldn't eat this but I was STARVING and it was the quickest thing I could grab)

As for exercise, yesterday I lifted+HIIT so today I just took it "easy" but that included hanging out at the playground awhile with DD, cleaning the house, picking up DD from school, and going swimming with DD too. We don't sit around much here..

So I know the musli wasn't a great choice but beyond that I seemed to be eating a ton of veggies+fruit and my carb/fat/protein distribution was right on target according to spark people. I don't get what I'm doing wrong? Every time I try to calorie count I'm always starving afterwards? Honestly, I'd be happy losing ANY weight at this point instead of maintaining but I'm just not sure what to do... I can't be this hungry every day when I go to bed, I'll go crazy!!!

More veggies. Add a piece of fruit to breakfast.
Veggies are low in calories and will help to keep you full. Beans and avocados are both very good for you but also very high in calories.

Add a salad to lunch and some steamed broccoli or something to dinner. Will add very few calories but give you more to help you stay fuller longer.

I buy a bag of mixed salad mix and just pack that with my lunch almost everyday. Sometimes I mixed my left over whatever right in (warm spaghetti over salad, YUM!) other times I eat it on the side. Sure salad is boring, so get a nice dressing. I just find it really helps me stay full for hardly any calories.

sotypical's comments are right on the mark: up the vegetable quotient. Maybe instead of plain eggs for breakfast, try one whole egg and a couple of additional whites scrambled with chopped peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach - whatever catches your fancy. Volume here is key.

It's funny.. see that's what I normally have (well, minus the egg whites because I just can't bring myself to throw away yolks) but we were out of peppers/mushrooms this morning. Also a salad was planned for dinner tonight but the lettuce was wilted. I definitely need to make a grocery run tomorrow morning and hopefully that will help..

Oh, and fruit for breakfast is definitely a no-go. I need a huge protein kick at breakfast time otherwise I'm starving all day and any carbs seem to make things worse.

Oh, and I just had a "duh" moment and went and put some miso soup on the stove. I don't think the extra 35 calories will kill me and at least I won't go to bed starving.

ETA Miso soup hit the spot.

As far as egg whites - you don't have to throw away the yolks. Save them. Perhaps make a dessert for family and friends. Or, buy yourself a cartoon of just egg whites to mix with your eggs.

I have also read of people feeding the yolks to their dogs - raw I believe. If you have a dog... I know my dog would love that, but I would probably cook it for her.

And yes, Miso soup is a great filler - good for you too.

cottage cheese and fruit is a good night time snack before bed. The cottage cheese protein will hold you over until morning and the fruit satisfies a sweet craving if y ou have one. I also like to eat cherry tomatoes with it. Where do you live? I would love to live somewhere where we could walk and take public transportation. One of our local reporters decided she would try to take the bus to and from work for a week, she gave up on day one. It would take her 4 hours to get there and home. Plus on the way home, some of the bus routes were on "standby" according to one person at the bus office and another told her to wait it would arrive. After over an hour, she called a friend to come get her and take her home.

Wow, that's crazy! I haven't owned a car in over 7 years and I've lived in three different cities (in 3 different countries) during that time. We're currently living in Brazil and the public transport is ok. We're planning on buying a car eventually but even then we'll probably still walk quite a bit because we have a lot of businesses/parks in walking distance (we'll mostly just use it to get to/from work and take DD to school).

I boil eggs and give the yolks to my dogs (I have 3 so they don't get too many and they are thoroughly cooked). Only 17 calories per egg with 3g protein. If I get really hungry between meals, that's what keeps me from going over the edge.

I've also found that the first week on a lower cal plan I'm really hungry but after that the hunger levels off and it's much easier. Maybe if you can stick it out for 7-10 days you'll feel the same.

I'm the same height and weight as you are and I'd be starving too on what you're eating! AND you are working out practically every day AND doing a lot of walking PLUS carrying around your daughter. (i'm not doing half of that!)

Try adding more protein to every meal -- milk, yogurt, meat, eggs. You will have to increase your calories but with the amount of exercise that you're doing you should still be okay.

You can't sustain "starving all the time" and stay healthy!