A woman needs 10 calories a day to maintain one pound. 1400 to 1500 should have you maintaining between 140 and 150 pounds. To lose one pound, eliminate 3500 calories. If you cut 500 calories a day, you will lose one pound a week.

My goal is 136 and I have to eat 800 to 900 calories a day to lose one pound every week. I do that with My Fitness Pal or with Weigh****chers. WW does not give you calories, but one point is about 50 calories. So to lose on WW, I need to be on a plan that allows me 16 or 17 points a day. The 30 point plans do not work for me. I maintain or gain on 30 points.

When I make up my mind to lose weight, I can stay on 800 calories. I weigh my food on a food scale and track it carefully. I drink a lot of water. I eat foods that are almost zero calories like lettuce, green beans, sugarfree jello, sugarfree hard candies. My meals are beef, pork, chicken, fish, or fatfree cheeses. I add a lot of non starchy vegetables, clear broth, sugarfee popsicles, a small amount of fruit No bread, flour, potatoes, cereal, sugar, pastries, etc.

I don't tell myself it is a lifestyle change. I tell myself it is a diet and I need to stay on it until the scale says what I want to see. I do this from January until about May to lose 10 to 15 pounds. Some of it comes back by the next year and I will be on diets for life.

I'm only 2-1/2 years out, but maybe you'll find some of these tips helpful.

I try to organise things so I never have to tell myself "no". I try to focus on what I should eat rather than what I shouldn't eat. How does that work? I focus on meeting certain goals (have 2 litres of water, have this much protein, some veggies, some fruit). Once I've met those goals, if I crave something, I eat it.

I have learned that there are days I want to eat more, but I don't need to panic. They're balance out by the days I'm not very hungry. I don't worry about it until I've had 3 days in a row of eating more, at which point I will look for ways to tweak my diet.

The only thing I almost never eat is sugar, because 1) I think it's addictive for me, and 2) there are excellent artificial sweeteners, so why risk it. On the rare occasions where i do have something with sugar, it makes me feel slightly queasy.

I have learned to accept that it's perfectly normal to sometimes want to eat when you're not hungry. So I keep certain "fun" foods on hand. Crunchy, chewy, or tart things such as pomegranate seeds, carrot sticks, golden raisins, dried mango really satisfy me.

If I do eat something that I feel was a mistake, I do not decide the day is ruined so I might as well wait to tomorrow. I also don't try to make it up by eating less at the next meal. Instead, I just eat normally for the rest of the day.

When I need to cut down my calories, I focus on "tweaks" or small changes. I look at the things that I eat most often, and consider if there is a lower calorie alternative that I would enjoy just as much.

I don't track carbs. Meeting my protein needs and watching overall calories helps to keep carbs in check for me. Also, I'm vegan, and most vegan sources of protein have more carbs than, say, a steak. So I probably eat a lot more carbs than most people on here do, but a lot less fat. Occasionally I feel I'm not getting enough fat in my diet, so I'll top up with nuts or seeds.

I ate a lot of pumpkin yogurt because of that (lots of yogurt companies have it this time of year - plus I'd make my own). It worked for me, but I guess if it's a trigger for you to eat more unhealthy pumpkin things, that might not work for you...

Congratulations on your long term success. Thank you for posting

Carol

Late reply to this. The only thing that works for me for heartburn now is Alka Seltzer. I am pre surgery. But several years ago I found a method to take Alka Seltzer that lessens the bubbles. Fill the glass with ice and cold water, add Alka Seltzer tablets. It takes much longer to dissolve, but it is not as bubbly.