I have been at my goal before, (I gained it back b/c of car wrecks and laziness), but for me when I first started, I do WW, I would feel a little hungry at times, but it was because I was used to eating constantly. After a week I would be fine and have adjusted to the new lifestyle. I began even looking for foods that I could eat that I called filler, basically fruits and veggies. That way I could have say a hamburger that was smaller, but feel OK with it because I have a huge salad with it.
I also allowed myself one cheat meal a week. For me I tried to never make anything off limits 100% because I knew that there would be a day something would happen and I'd not be feeling the best and I would go crazy.
There are things I know I shouldn't keep huge portions around like yogurt covered pretzels, and cheesy bugles, but allowing them for an occasional treat is nice. I generally try to find substitutes for those things for example, I love cupcakes (i love popping the top off and eating more icing than cake) but doing that a lot would not be good so I found an alternative...my grocery store makes 6 packs of quarter size cupcakes. That way I can indulge in my sweet tooth and be done with it. It's amazing though because more often than not I begin craving the healthy stuff, like right now I can't wait for strawberries to be in season here so I can have them with sugar free cool whip.
One of my personal favorite tips is in my spare time, if I am just sitting here doing nothing, I look through food websites and find out the nutritional information for all of my favorite foods, both restaurants/fast food and regular food. That way I will never feel stuck because I don't know the points of what I am eating. I will have a general idea of a lot of things and be able to make a good decision. It helps me a lot
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.
I have recently completely cut out wheat in my diet. It's a huge trigger food for me - seems to spike my blood sugar and cause cravings. I had only been eating whole wheat and still had this problem. I eat a lot of oatmeal now and use oat flour and brown rice flour for things I would previously have used wheat flour. I buy rice pastas and quinoa pastas and supplement my veggies at dinner with brown rice or quinoa. I also found brown rice bread in the freezer section, which is great for sandwiches (all one a week I tend to have )
In response to your other questions... 1) How often do you eat cheat foods? I try very hard not to "cheat". That particular word makes me think of hiding food, concealing my calorie consumption from myself or others, going on a downward spiral off-plan. I have to stick to plan 100% or else I feel out of control and then go bananas. So that means my plan has to include indulgences. I eat a very carefully controlled 1,000 calories a day and then have 200 calories that I allow myself to "play" with. If that means I want a snack of cheese and crackers in the middle of the day, I can have 100 calories of that. If that means I feel like some chocolate (like last night), I'll break off two squares of really good quality dark chocolate and have them with a cup of tea in the evening. Coming up this weekend I have several dinners out at either other people's homes or restaurants and I am attacking this problem in a couple ways. I am perusing restaurant menus ahead of time and planning what I will order so I can stay within my calories for the day. I am also bringing food to contribute to the dinner parties so that I know there will be something there that I can safely eat while staying on plan. And then, the day AFTER the special occasion HAS TO BE planned out to the bite. I cannot allow myself to latch onto this "Ah, I already went off plan, I might as well eat whatever I want today..." idea. I have recently come by the AHA! moment that I am accountable to every single calorie that goes in my mouth. It doesn't matter if I planned it or not. If I consumed it, I consumed it. It sounds dumb, but sometimes I thought that if I didn't write it down or think about how many calories it was, it wouldn't count. Not the case.
2) Do you ever let yourself get full? You know what? Not any more. I eat four meals a day (that's the carefully counted 1,000 calories) and then have 200 calories "free choice" a day that I sometimes eat in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and sometimes in the evening. I don't usually feel stuffed after I finish eating, but I know I'm going to eat again soon and I know that I have eaten what I planned, so that's good enough for me.
3) Do you feel hungry a lot and just get used to the feeling? I think my stomach size has shrunk because I can't eat as much as I used to without feeling ridiculously stuffed. I don't like that stuffed feeling. I do get hungry sometimes. I have a six year old, a three year old, and a one year old, and sometimes I don't get to eat when I had planned to, but I do what I can. I try to eat about every three hours.
I'm not yet at goal, but I am at a healthy weight. It's a long journey!
Depends usually a couple times a week (like a giant cookie or a pint of ice cream or fries or something) but I always log it into my caloric intake and daily exchanges. So they are somewhat "legal" cheats. Or at least that is how I look at them.
2) Do you ever let yourself get full?
Occasionally. Like a few times a week. But usually I feel badly afterwards. Because if I am full then I have eaten too many calories to maintain my weight and I am aware of that.
3) Do you feel hungry a lot and just get used to the feeling?
Yes. I am literally hungry most of the time. But sure you get used to it. Sometimes it hurts and sometimes it drives you mad and you just have to eat something to make the pain go away but most of the time it is livable. Like a dull ache. But I remind myself that that ache is a good thing. It means that I am not over indulging and I am keeping my body in check. I never feel bad about a day in which my tummy aches from hunger. It's when it doesn't that I start to question......
It depends. What are we calling cheat foods? I don't consider any food to be off limits. I consider some foods to be ocassional items though, rather than daily like they used to be. And, as an example, I don't eat mac & cheese as a main meal now, but as the side it was intended for. Pizza and burgers are ok, very ocassionally. They shouldn't be consumed daily. And they shouldn't be consumed when you're extremely hungry or having a bad day which may tend to cause you to overindulge on them.
2) Do you ever let yourself get full?
I usually eat until I'm satisfied. Don't know if that's really full or not. From time-to-time, I have managed the old habit of eating til stuffed. It's not a pleasant feeling. Never was. And I'm glad I don't do this regularly...as I used to.
3) Do you feel hungry a lot and just get used to the feeling?
Not usually. If anything, I often feel less hungry. While I try to graze most days, there are some days I just get way busy and tend to "forget" to eat. I never had THAT problem before.
Yes. I am literally hungry most of the time. But sure you get used to it. Sometimes it hurts and sometimes it drives you mad and you just have to eat something to make the pain go away but most of the time it is livable. Like a dull ache. But I remind myself that that ache is a good thing. It means that I am not over indulging and I am keeping my body in check. I never feel bad about a day in which my tummy aches from hunger. It's when it doesn't that I start to question......
Charlotte, be careful! You shouldn't be having to deal with that. Sounds like an invitation to go off plan to me. You've come so far and are obviously successful with your plan, but maybe you could work it around a little so you're not feeling so hungry.
I eat about 1200 calories a day and am rarely ravenous. Most of my calories come from high-bulk, low-calorie foods like fresh vegetables. Did you know two cups of fresh spinach has 20 calories? Two cups! Maybe if you switched out some of your calorie-dense foods for more filling foods, you wouldn't suffer those hunger pains.
And what about eating more frequently? I have recently redivided my calories into four meals instead of three, so I generally eat a full meal at 9:00, 12:00, 3:00, and 6:00 and then have a snack (about 200 calories) in the evening. I still want to eat when I'm stressed or excited or see someone else having carrot cake, but I'm not usually so hungry that I can't make good food choices.
Be careful with your body. It's telling you something if you're that hungry all the time.
I remember when I did my first real diet it was really hard because I was just becoming aware of the things I was eating and I was still trying to figure out what I needed to do to lose weight. At the time, I was not losing weight for health but rather for appearance reasons. So back then I did it in an unhealthy way of restricting foods, so I almost always felt hungry and when I did eat I ate all junk foods. Needless to say after my diet was over I ended up gaining back all the weight I had lost. It was only during my pregnancy that I started eating for health and continued doing so afterwards so I was able to drop the weight. Because I was eating for my health I was naturally eating more veggies and fruits and lean stuff so it helped a lot. I also eat often...every 2 hours or so. I try not to let myself get too hungry. I eat until I feel full. As for the cheat foods, I used to eat a lot of sugar free cheat foods like sugar free muffins, sugar free chocolate... because I figured if I was going to "cheat" it might as well be lower calorie. Now I've given up on the artificial sweeteners and that has helped my appetite as well. When I eat sweets I feel satisfied now, vs before it would be insatiable. I tried a lot of diet plans and found what worked for me -- calorie counting with emphasis on proteins, veggies and whole grains. Some people do better on a low carb diet, others a high carb diet...it's best for you to experiment, read and find what works for you. Best of luck! You can do this!
Looks like it could be the protein bar that's killing you. What about having some bagged fresh veggies with it?
I agree that the bar is not the best lunch. But I have to because of major convenience issues with regard to a midday meal. So, there is no compromise there and bagged veggies are a no can do at that time of day as well...... oh, well. But thanks for the concern/suggestions.
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I should eat more healthily with more filling options. 
