Melissa, you are welcome to join the maintainers , right now. You are a maintainer !

a high protein low carb diet will take care of that at least on that sort of diet you dont stay hungry all the time and do get some satisfaction

I've kind of promised myself not to consider myself "there" until I can really contribute as a maintainer. Right now my experience is gaining or losing or maintaining at 275 and 265. I hope to be there soon though! My phone apps says I should be there by mid May. I am hoping by the start of summer, so mid June.

I do eat a lower carb, high protien and high fat diet (good fats). I don't eat bread, pasta, rice, etc.

I think Doris was probably thinking what I was thinking. You mentioned eating a cookie for a snack, and well, that usually equates to eating higher carbs. (I understand you only ate ONE) but still, one cookie can send me into a daydream carbo craving hunger monster frenzy. :lol: Any refines sweets make my evenings really hard to handle. Just a thought, as uneducated as it may be. :)

Ah yes, I did have a cookie, but at breakfast. It's the time of day that I can eat something like that and not go bezerko with sugar cravings. Plus, it's a cookie, but has ground flax and peanut butter and rolled oats as well as chocolate chips - even whole wheat flour. My net carb intake for the day was 75 and a big chunk of that is from the apple and grapefruit.

I know the feeling. I drink loads and loads of water when I'm really craving stuff and it fills me up quite a bit so that helps. But there are moments when cake becomes an obsession too! Luckily I don't live very close to a shop.

Eating veg and fruits are good but if you feel often hungry and don't want to put on weight, eat meals with more protein!
Protein cuts hunger because it releases energy to your body. You feel fuller longer and have more energy. :)
Sometimes drinking water helps too to cut hunger.
Sometimes we are just bored or just thirsty and translate it as hunger. Eating healthy and staying slim goes together to my opinion. :)

Wow, there sure are a lot of trolls/bots on this thread.

I am not a bot, and I get tired of not being able to have things that I would really like too. Especially since I got fat originally not in the way that never-fat people often accuse us of, by indulging in too many Twinkies and Big Macs, but by overeating "healthy foods" like fruit juice and whole grain cereal and home-cooked wholesome meals. (Yes, I know better now after 3 years of calorie counting.) So it especially bites my butt that I never really got to stuff myself with DingDongs and now I never will!

Oh my dear berryblondiebear!!!!...

I think nearly all of us know how you feel about this! - I can't think of a time when I didn't feel that way! - and good googly moogly, how I get "tired" of constantly scrutinizing what goes into my mouth, be it "good food", "bad food" or "beverage".... how much, when, etc. Sometimes the whole weight loss journey is just a big fat PITA!!!! (and that's putting it mildly!!!! :^: )

You know what I've resigned myself to doing lately? (and it's working!!!) - when I want something - I mean REALLY REALLY WANT IT - no matter what it is - I HAVE IT. Even if it goes against my general "self-inflicted diet rules" - even if it's not "dinner time" or I already had my snack for today... if I REALLY WANT SOMETHING, I HAVE IT. I don't try to talk myself out of it, I don't try to have "something else close to it" and I don't eat something I really DON'T WANT and then give in to what I DO WANT eventually... I just HAVE WHAT I WANT & I enjoy the sheer **** out of it, NO GUILT! NO 2nd GUESSING!! - then get right back on track at next meal or the next day. And guess what - IT'S WORKING JUST FINE. Know what I had for lunch yesterday? A CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE. And OMG, it was to die for!!!!

See my sig? "You can have ANYTHING you want... but you can't have EVERYTHING you want". It's a good motto ;) :D :D :D

BeachPatrol - it's true. And I do not typically deny myself stuff. I really don't. Which is why I was allowing myself a cookie the last several mornings - just one and I savored it to pieces (yes, I like healthy cookies too). Of course, in the evenings for me, I can't eat as I have a thyroid medicine to take, but that's a different story.

I too don't believe in denying yourself things if you really don't have to. I eat just about everything I want - just make them smaller portions to fit in the scope of how much I want to eat.

A couple weeks back I was dying for burgers, so I would have a decent breakfast and then eat for a late lunch/early supper an angus bacon cheeseburger from McDonalds. Total crap food, but it's what I wanted. I just took off the bottom bun and ate the rest (minus ketchup and mustard as I hate condiments).

Bronzeager, that is definitely how I've gained most of the weight this time too. Lots of yummy homemade food. Homemade whole wheat bread, homemade whole wheat and oatmeal muffines, pizza, cookies, brownies, cakes, etc. Yes, we'd get take out pizza 1x per month and take out curry 1x per month, but that was it. I made/make everything around here. I just ate too much of calorie dense foods. I haven't even been in a fast food restaurant since last summer I think.

I think anyone losing weight (atleast semi successfully) can relate to this! I never let myself go crazy by eating anything and everything I want all day, but if there is one craving I am having and I really want it like for me my weakness is belgian waffles, I will try really hard to eat on plan very well all week and exercise a little extra to look forward and ENJOY eating it on a certain day. That works for me, or if I want a brownie or something I'll just have a tiny bite and say " that's it." it's not about being perfect, it's a lifestyle change and sometimes that means eating a little bit of something "bad" :D

Chalk another one up for the "I relate" pile. I mean, yeah, sometimes it's all well and good to exist on a diet of righteousness and health. Sometimes it's sublimely satisfying to know that we're on plan--that we're stronger than whatever drove us here in the first place, and that what we're eating isn't some comforting substitute or fleeting pleasure, but truly sustaining us.

And sometimes I just want the effing bagel/cheetos/bag of Dill-flavored-Triscuits-with-cream-cheese already. Feck.

So, yeah, totally relation-full-ness (is that even a word? It should be). Or, to borrow from literature, I grok.

berryblondeboys, I totally feel your sentiments. I'm not doing so hot on the weight loss front, haven't gained a lot back but I did regain 5-10 from my lowest point and am unwilling (I don't want to say "unable" because that sells the human spirit short) to commit to getting them off and keeping them off.

There is a loss of innocence and I think every former carefree eater misses the lack of guilt and the "eating whatever you want until you are full" sensation.