I am sure lots of us want to know the answer to these questions!
If you've met your goal and are skinny I'd like to know a few things about you:

1) How often do you eat cheat foods?
2) Do you ever let yourself get full?
3) Do you feel hungry a lot and just get used to the feeling?

I have a big appetite and am making progress, but used to almost starve myself a few years ago. But starving myself back then was actually me eating enough calories to stustain a skinny woman (1000-1200), but I felt as if I were starving. Now, my mom is naturally skinny (110lbs) and my height, and she can't eat too much. She'll eat like 1/2 a restaurant hamburger and be like "wow I'm so full."

So I'm just wondering for all of you who have reached your goal and are thin (like 120-140lbs), how do you feel and eat day to day? I'm wondering if I need to wait for my stomach to shrink

Thanks for the advice!

There is a maintainer forum that you might find useful
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=170

Also, I highly recommend reading the book "Thin for Life". It is a book based on a study of those who have lost 30 lbs or more and maintained it for a year or more. It is quite interesting to learn what people who have lost weight do to maintain that weight loss.

HI Michelle,

I mostly lurk on this sight but your question really struck a cord. I am 5'6" and range anywhere from 125-135 lbs. I will tell you what I have learned. I never, ever deny myself. I love chocolate and eat some everyday, but I don't eat a lot of it. I guess for me one cookie is all I need and I have learned that is all I really want. I find if I deny myself little luxuries, I binge later in the week.

I have also learned there are some foods which I love and will overeat. So I never buy them. They just aren't worth the extra pounds!!

I have learned to eat when I am hungry and eat often. I don't ever skip meals. I try to eat a big breakfast, good-sized lunch so by dinner I am not super hungry and don't overeat. I also never eat past dinner. If I stay up later than usual, I will usually eat a piece of fruit or some almonds. I have also found that if I am hungry during the day and have recently eaten, I am really thirsty and not hungry. So I drink a big glass of water and that usually does the trick. I think staying intuned to your body is the key to weight loss and staying fit and healthy. Starving is never the answer!!

Good luck, Michelle, you are on your way!!!

I agree with beckaboo. I recently reach my goal weight. while trying to slim down I ate less "bad" stuff and more "good" stuff, but I never starved myself. I use to eat only twice a day, but the weight actually started coming off when I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a snack in between. I also tried to eat bigger breakfasts and smaller dinners. For my sweet cravings, I make cookies and then freeze them and only take out whatever i plan on eating. I actually just made the drop ginger bread cookies (not sure if thats the exact name) from the cookie recipe on this site. I think they are delicious.

In order to loose the weight I had to motivate myself first.. I worked out real hard, 5 days a week for an hour and a half (I dont recommend jumping in this hard if you havent been working out). for me, by starting real hard i was able to notice result quicker, which kept me motivated. I am definetly adicted to the gym now.

I tried pilates and tapes at home, but there is no better motivationn than having a buddy and actually getting out of the house. I like to start with aerobics and then lift some weights. I first lift to build some muscle to help burn fat (=high weight), then i reduce the weight on week 3 or so, and just try to slim down.

This is what recently worked for me. Hope this helps!

Many women in the maintainers forum, and the exercise forum have posted that they maintain on anywhere from 1400-2000 calories a day (depending on height, weight and exercise level). I don't think anyone maintains eating 1000-1200 calories...and if they are, their metabolism is probably just shot from too much dieting. Most people wouldn't even ever suggest that you diet by eating under 1200 calories, since you risk lowering your metabolism and cannibalizing lean muscle tissue. You felt like you were starving because--you were! A restaurant hamburger all by itself (not counting any sides) can be up to 800 calories! So, half of one with some fries is more than enough calories for anyone in one meal.

I have been naturally thin like your mom and I am now unnaturally fat.

I am relearning how to become naturally thin again and then stay that way.

I do eat several meals a day which I will plan to eat when I maintain my weight lose. Skipping meals doesn't work. In fact, it can make you fat.

I too spend time reading the posts of the maintainers. Why? Because they made it and they have the right attitudes, behaviors and lifestyles to support that choice. If you want to learn, you go to the ones who have already succeeded.

From them, I have learned that this is it. Maintenance is not going to be much different than what I am doing now so what I learn to do now that will help me lose weight will also help me keep it off. Someone has a quote on their postings that I like "Eat for the body you want." So, I do not expect my life as 140 lbs to be much different than it is today. It took me awhile to get that deep down in my psyche but once I did, I can see what I need to do and then do it.

good luck, Michelle, you are asking all the right questions. It shows you want this and you will get it. Keep going!

Hi I agree with azure... if you are starving (like really starving) on 1000-1200 calories a day, you are obviously not eating enough and that can cause health issues. Also, if you look in the maintainer's section, I don't think you will find many who have an average daily range that low. I know it isn't uncommon for people to go that low if they need to "get back to basics", but I think it would be really difficult to to that every day and call it "maintenance". I think that having the mindset that you can *only* eat so many calories (especially that low) ever single day is misleading and can give people a bit of a scare.


I also like to eat in volume, and that's partially why I follow the diet I do. You see a lot of people mention "mixing bowl salads" and that's an absolute staple to my diet. I regularly eat an entire head of red leaf lettuce in one sitting, in addition to all the vegetables and add-ons I throw in. Having a diet high in things like veggies (raw and cooked) and being willing to try new things (I just discovered sweet potato "home fries"!) is incredibly helpful as well.

I have come to terms that people that are naturally thin (and I don't mean all of them) have certain habits that come naturally to them, like your mom only being able to eat half a hamburger before recognizing that she's full. I will never be full enough to stop at half a hamburger and in order to maintain my weightloss, I have to be able to see that and deal with it.

I just wanted to add that I maintain my weight at anywhere from 1800-2100 calories and when I want to lose I try not to go any lower than 1500 and vamp up my exercise.

Hi Michelle.

1) While in the losing process of my journey, very, very little. Once I made the decision to lose the weight, I became very, VERY determined and therefore knew that the more I said no to the "cheat" foods, the sooner I would get the weight off. I also knew that if I elminated my trigger foods and the "cheats", the faster the cravings for them would go away. I did find delicious HEALTHY, LOW CAL foods to replace the "bad" stuff with though. Which was key. I made lots of substitiutions and truly love, LOVE the food that I am eating now. It does take time though to experiment and find those foods.

2) I aim for satisfied, not necessarily full. I count calories and that helps me determine portion size which keeps me on the straight and narrow.

3) I can't recall the last time I was truly hungry. I eat very often. Every 2 hours or so. I also eat very, very filling, satisfying foods - low fat proteins and an enormous amount of veggies. These keep me full the longest. I would never, ever stick with this lifestyle if I were hungry. Me and hungry don't do well together. So therefore, I do my very best to avoid that feeling.

I will tell you that the first couple of weeks, probably even a little less, were very, very difficult. The cravings were not so good. But you stick with it - like GLUE - and then it gets much, much better.

I agree with what the others said...1000 calories a day is just not enough. I average a 1-2lbs loss every week at 1500 and very simple exercise. I could probably guarantee myself a 2lbs loss EVERY week if I cut back to 12-1300 and upped my exercise, but what I'm doing works for me for now.

The only diets I have ever seen that were below 1200 consistently were ones like Medi-fast and Bernstein, but they are MD developed and in the case of Bernstein they're medically supervised! It is not recommended that a woman eat less than 1200 calories long-term. I always understood that 1200 was a minimum to not burn lean muscle mass along with fat.

Try this website: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

You can put in your stats and find out exactly how many calories you need now to lose weight and also how many you would need (on average) to maintain your loss.

Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Tamara

3 years maintenance:

1) How often do you eat cheat foods?

I guess that depends on how you define cheat foods. I have some foods I have declared offlimits forever (these are my own personal decisions for me and I am definitely not saying anybody has to do this): sugar soda, fast food burgers/fries/shakes etc (I still eat stuff like Subway and healthy Chipotle options), packaged baked goods, chips, most fried foods, cream-based sauces). I never eat those foods and haven't since the day I started.

Now, if you're asking do I eat TREATS - the answer is yes. I normally have 1 evening a week where I go out to dinner in a nice restaurant and have a glass of wine and split an appetizer, have a nice entree, split a dessert. This is a planned treat, not a "cheat" since I have planned to have it.

2) Do you ever let yourself get full?

This is an interesting question. I now HATE the feeling of being "too full." If I eat too much (which sometimes happens) I get that "stuffed" feeling and it makes me feel so uncomfortable, I hate it. I am much much much better at pushing back my plate if I really get too full. I went to a dinner party this weekend and I made individual servings of molten lava cake for dessert (YUM). I ate about half of mine and just felt so full I stopped eating. That would NEVER have happened for me before.

3) Do you feel hungry a lot and just get used to the feeling?

I hate being hungry. I eat about every 2 hours, usually before I get hungry. I don't like to be hungry it makes me feel miserable - sometimes I get light headed and sweaty and I make TERRIBLE food choices.

Here is my menu for today for example (I am up 3 lbs so my menu today is for weight loss, not maintenance):

7:00 breakfast - 1/2 cup pumpkin flax granola (140 calories), fat free Greek honey yogurt (120 calories)

10:00 snack - 6 oz fresh blackberries (100 calories)

12:00 lunch - big spinach salad - chopped red onion, shredded carrots, grape tomatoes, 1/5 red pepper, 1/4 cup roasted corn, chicken breast, organic barbeque sauce (estimate - 300 calories)

3:00 snack - tangelo (100 calories)

5:00 snack - cut up veggies (sugar snap peas, baby carrots, orange pepper strips, grape tomatoes (100 calories)

7:30 dinner - 4 oz chicken breast (breaded in a little egg, panko), steamed broccoli crown, 1/2 spaghetti squash, 1/2 cup low fat marinara (estimate 400 calories)

That's a really good point that I should have clarified. While I love to eat (and cook and chop and...), I don't eat to be "stuffed". My stomach seems have evolved On the other hand, I also hate hunger and avoid that, too

Thanks so much, everyone! I didn't realize I should have gone to the maintenance section- I will read that more often! Everyone's advice was so good, but I just have to talk about this one:

JuneBug41- "I will never be full enough to stop at half a hamburger and in order to maintain my weightloss, I have to be able to see that and deal with it."

That struck something in me! Thank you, Jen! I guess I needed to hear from someone else that it's ok to not be satisfied. Like, it's ok to walk away a little hungry... and eventually (hopefully) I won't be hungry after 1/2 burger at a restaurant. (well I usually order salads and healthy things... but like my goal is to be able to eat almost anything but regulate my appetite accordingly).

And someone else mentioned having foods that are off limits. I've actually outlawed bread, rice and pasta for the last 3 weeks and have been doing great. (I still get my carbs from oats and sweet potatos). But it's like no matter how whole grain those grains can be, I still eat a ton and get ravenous. So keeping those off-limits has been working wonders. And I really think I will outlaw white pasta for the rest of my life. When it comes to that it's all downhill.

So thanks for everyone's advice! And for the record my mom has been 110lbs her whole life (at 5'5'') and a dietician had her record her foods and she naturally eats between 1000-1200 calories. But she's 'skinny fat'- she's about 18-20% body fat and her doctor wants her to change that and gain some muscle for health.

Hey Michelle125!

My answers to your questions, just FYI since you've gotten such great replies already.

1) I don't have "cheat" foods. I don't think that way. I can eat any food, but not mindlessly, that is, I have to be real about it. A serving of Doritos is 12 chips. Ice cream has a lot of fat and sugar. 1/2 cup of rice is 100 cals. And so on... Like you, I have some foods that currently I do not keep in the house.

2) I do feel full--with much less food now. I almost never eat all of what they serve me in a restaurant--usually I take at least half home, unless it's something like a WW plate at Applebee's. So, feeling full is no longer an issue. Once I started eating the correct serving sizes, my capacity shrank accordingly.

3) When I first started, I did feel hungry from time to time. I think that's just part of losing weight. However, I used strategies to reduce that feeling, such as planned snacks between meals. That way, I am never more than a couple of hours away from being able to eat again. I can bear that amount of hunger. I don't skip meals--that can be a disaster. I will sometimes skip a snack, though, if I'm just not hungry when the time rolls around.

Jay

Hi, I can see you're very serious about losing weight. Planning is the key, and that's waht you're doing.

I am at goal and Plan to stay that way. I eat what I want, but i tend to eat healthy. After getting all the healthy things I need, there is very little room for "junk" food. I try to get some protein and good fat at each meal. It keeps me feeling fuller longer. And remember, if you eat untill you're feeling full you're over eaten. It takes your body 1/2 hour to send the signal to your head that you're full.

As for "forbidden" food. There are none. I love chocolate and i'm not about to give it up. I have a really good piece of chocolate every afternoon with my cup of green tea. I look forward to it, choose it carefully, and enjoy it. There are trigger foods that I know I can't eat, I can't controle. Corn chips. Not something i can't live without anyway. I just don't bring them into the house. Know your weaknesses and work around them. If I truly HAVE corn chips I buy a small bag. Forced portion controle. But, truly, I know I'm better off not even having them.

If you still can't do portion controle at a restaurant, ask for a doggie bag at the beginning of a meal. Put half the meal in the bag before you even start eating. Some people can leave 1/2 a meal on the plate. I know I can't do taht, I will sit there and pick at it.

Good luck