Chunkalunkah, that's the weird thing! It doesn't seem to matter what my diet composition is. I mean, it's easy to understand that on days when I eat a big dessert or something I get hungry sooner, and that's okay. Not good for weight loss, but hey, it's what it is. But the weird part is, even if I eat foods that are super high in fruit/veggie/protein/fat/fiber--all the stuff that's supposed to hold me--it just *doesn't*. For instance, yesterday I had homemade oatmeal with milk for breakfast, pumpkin farro stew (it's chock full of random veggies and nutrients) and a half grilled cheese tomato sandwich for lunch, plus a square of dark chocolate, then an apple and half a dozen cashews for a snack, apple cider and a pasta dish with lots of vegetables and some chicken for dinner, and then by 10pm (so two hours after dinner) I was so hungry that I went and had a bowl of (good) cereal... and then seconds... and then I was *still* hungry. What the heck? I barely even worked out yesterday!

So yeah, I've noticed over the last few weeks that by and large, most days I seem to need about 1600 calories, whether I'm active or not, whether I'm eating well or not. I plan so I end up around 1400 by the end of dinner, and then a few hours later I'm still so hungry I just.need.more.food. It's very frustrating. In fact, I switched my breakfast to homemade oatmeal last month because the breakfast I'd eaten for years (frosted mini-wheats, love 'em!) that used to hold me for 3-4 hours was suddenly only holding me for 1.5-2 hours.

The ONLY thing I can think of is I'm eating less meat right now since we're hosting a vegetarian foreign exchange student. But on the tracking, my protein intake is steady since I'm eating really good other protein sources like lentils and beans and such (and still some meat, just not as much). My fruit and vegetable intake has gone way up too, and my sugar intake down.

Roja- Mmm, the pumpkin farro stew sounds good! If you have a recipe to share, I'd love to make it. Double mmm at frosted mini wheats. Those are one of my favorites too! I've never been able to use them (or most cereals) as a breakfast though bc I've always gotten hungry not long after. Your body's old way of being satiated for several hours from them is like a superhero power to me.

What satiates us is pretty individualized. I know some people are good with carbs and a small/moderate amount of protein and fat--like oatmeal with milk--but that breakfast wouldn't fill me up long. I've also noticed...and it's the weirdest thing, but I think studies even show this...but what I eat for breakfast greatly impacts my hunger later in the day. So if I have a high protein breakfast, I'm less hungry throughout the day and don't get after dinner munchies.

It's possible that over time, your fullness/hunger signals have become more like mine (sorry if that's the case ) and you now need a greater %age of protein at each meal than you used to require. Since you've had a specific change--less animal protein--I think it's definitely worth looking into if increasing those ounces again will reduce your hunger. You say protein's held steady...Do you mean grams, rather than its percentage of your total calories? Because getting it through beans etc will also increase your carbs, so make protein a lower percentage of your diet than it was before. I was a pescetarian for about 6 years. Although I love seafood, I'd have weeks at a time where I didn't eat any. I did however eat a lot of full fat cheese, so got full from that.

Anyway, that's me, and it may be something totally different causing your higher calorie threshold for satiety. The switch you needed to make away from frosted mini wheats really gives me the hunch that it could be that though, plus your decrease in animal protein consumption.

Whatever it is, I hope you find what works! Is 1600 keeping you at maintenance, or have you been often above those calories? If the latter, you might be able to lose on 1600 so getting used to lower calories again may not be necessary.

Ahhhh some really good thoughts, Chunkalunkah. First things first, here's the recipe: http://www.thetwokitchens.com/one-po...in-farro-stew/ It says 4 cups of broth but add 8. Even with 8 it's very thick. And also it makes a HUGE batch, like 8-10 servings, so consider halving it if, like me, you're cooking only for 1-3 people.

I've definitely had a bunch of days over 1600 so yeah, I might able to lose if I stick to that. There was a small drop on the scale today down to 148.2 from 148.4 (yaaaay first such drop in ages) so 1600 must be more or less okay. Today was around 1700 I think; I was super active and am still hungry now so it must have been the right amount. I'm wondering if it's fat intake. I'm not eating foods that are very high in fat--not intentionally, it's just kind of working out that way--and I noticed yesterday that when I had a huge dessert, and the same on Sunday, I stayed full for a really long time, even though the calories weren't really that high (comparatively lol). And oatmeal has always held me well, but pity I no longer qualify for cereal superpowers :P

I did mean grams, sorry. Not sure it's the protein ratio though--my protein ratio has never been above 15% or 20%, even when I was eating more meat. I'm still definitely eating some, and it wasn't uncommon for me to only eat meat three or four meals a week, so I don't guess I'm eating *all* that much less now.

Honestly I'm not really sure what's up with my metabolism. I ate very carefully and did lose plenty of weight over the fall/winter/spring, but ate whatever the heck I wanted alllllll summer and well into fall and gained basically a single pound. No clue how that's even possible, since I wasn't very active and wasn't eating very nutritiously either. So I think something's shifted, just not sure what.

Roja - Thanks for the recipe, and I appreciate the heads up about the # of servings and increasing the broth. I think I'll make it next week! I already have a lot of the ingredients on hand.

Fat can definitely be the missing piece. And that'll be tasty experimenting to find out.

I agree - metabolism can be pretty mysterious. Congrats on starting the downward trend! How nice if 1600 is your new weight loss sweet spot.

Chunkalunkah and Roja-

Hi! Sorry for being MIA, we moved to our new house and have no internet and I had two weeks off work for the move, so couldn't even check internet at work. I'm back at work now, so able to check. Hoping for internet at home soon. I'm going through withdrawals!

Roja- great job on maintenance! I think sometimes it's very healthy to take a weight-loss break and maintain for a while, let the body adjust to the new lower weight, and then get back to weight loss. Plus I think it gives our brains a break- less use of willpower, etc. I have no explanation on your hunger. I've never been a calorie counter and tend to eat more of a paleo/primal diet to satiety and have no idea how many calories that is.

Things here are ok. I was getting TONS of steps in during the two weeks I was off work- I was averaging over 20K steps per day, many days getting over 100 flights of stairs as well. Didn't lose a pound, haha, but oh well. I wasn't trying. I took a break from my intermittent fasting during that time, also, and just ate intuitively when I got hungry. I did just start walking with my ladies group again. I went out once last week, and we have a hike (up a local mountain) scheduled for tomorrow. They go out 2-3 times per week, so that should help me get more exercise.

Oh goodness, EagleRiverDee, I would be going through withdrawals too!! And you're exactly right, it was healthy. Not just physically, but emotionally--I think I needed to know that weight loss wasn't the most important thing to me, that I could allow myself to put it aside to care of my mental health.

Chunkalunkah, let me know how the recipe goes! Hope you enjoy it.

Tonight I definitely had a LOT of candy, but that's okay, it was all in the plan. Back to normal tomorrow though!

I went for a hike last night with one of my friends and that kept me busy and away from the candy, so that was good. I had swore off all sweets for the entire month of October. I will allow some this month, particularly around Thanksgiving. I found a recipe for pecan pie that uses maple syrup instead of corn syrup and I'm going to try that for T-Day so I can have a slice (in addition to corn syrup just being unhealthy, I'm also very allergic to all corn products and have been unable to find a single factory made pecan pie that doesn't have corn syrup, and it's my favorite pie from when I was a kid).

Ugh! So after two weeks of struggling with motivation, I think I've finally found it. So I'm going to try to enter a daily food log on here, either in the 140s thread or in a log thread... I think there's one floating around on the site. Gotta keep myself accountable somehow!

Motivation can be so fleeting and ephemeral, can't it? I'm glad you got it back!

Yes!! Unfortunately. Really though, I've not had much motivation all summer. So I took a lot of time to reevaluate reasons and goals and such. It's such a growing process emotionally too, you know?

Hi guys! Sorry I've been MIA. Got sucked back into the abyss that is doctoral applications. I have the GRE in a couple of days. I took a couple practice tests recently. I scored the same on both of them and would be delighted to get the same score on the real deal! *fingers crossed*

I haven't exercised yet this month, but I think I'll do a workout now. I miss it.

Weight is holding steady.

I can't wait until these applications are done! I'll have so much more free time to enjoy life.

Roja - I'm happy for you that you've found your motivation! A daily food log is a great idea. I haven't made the recipe yet, unfortunately. I actually haven't cooked anything this month that's more work than boiling water. Another reason I'm looking forward to free time - I really miss cooking!

Dee - I hope you enjoy the pecan pie recipe.

I took the GRE today, and it went very well! I'm so happy that's all over with. Now on to polishing up my writing sample and writing a personal statement. I'll be getting all of this done close to the deadline for some of the schools, but I will get it done!

I'm considering celebrating tonight with a drink. I usually abstain b/c (1) calories and (2) alcohol usually makes me sleepy rather than gives me a buzz. But tonight's worth trying for the buzz!

How are things going with you guys?

Congratulations, Chunkalunkah! Way to go! You deserve to celebrate!

I'm doing good. We got internet in our new house today, finally! We've been living there for 3 weeks- no internet. We stream all our TV, too, so it's been pretty boring! Tonight I can do a Beachbody on Demand workout for the first time in weeks, very excited about that.

Woohoo, chunkalunkah!!! That is awesome! And EagleRiverDee, I bet you're so relieved to have internet again... it makes all the difference!

For my part, I'm happily three days into actively losing weight again and it's going pretty well. I don't see a scale difference but I don't expect to either--it's TOM soon and so I know the scale will be everywhere. But I went to bed peckish last night for the first time in ages so that's really good.

I'm back after a hiatus too. So ready to kick the 140's. I've gotten back on my dieting and losing weight this week so hopefully..... soon.

CW 145.9