i want to eat normally!!!

it seems when i eat i can either eat more than my maintenance or under 1200. i can't seem to eat in the happy middle. i want to eat like a normal person. when they are hungry they eat and when they are full they stop. even if there is still food on their plate. for me i have to be a part of the clean plate club every single meal even if it hurts to finish. how can i go about eating like a normal person. i don't want to count calories and i don't want to gain weight.

try smaller portions on your plate? That way you can clean it and ask yourself "do I reaaally want another portion?"

I'm thinking that I may be mentally counting for the rest of my life. But I'd rather do that then slowly gain...

Try upping your activity. The higher your burn the more you can eat and then you won't have to worry so much about the count.

Oh, I totally hear you on how hard eating normally can be! Have you investigated intuitive eating? It is about how you can learn to listen to your body's hunger and fullness signals and eat mindfully. There is an intuitive eating group on CC (I think) and also heaps of info and books on the web if you google it.

http://www.intuitiveeating.com/

http://intuitive-eating.blogspot.com/

http://deliciouslivingmag.com/food/dl_article _2288/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/health/nutr ition/16skinside.html

I would also highly recommend the book Fat is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach. Orbach is one of the second-wave feminists so this is an old book - I think originally written around 1979? But it has been reprinted over and over again - as recently as 2006 because it's such a classic. It's essentially the orginal anti-diet book that teaches women how to listen to their bodies so they don't either binge or starve.

In a very informal general way, two things that I do to keep myself out of the "eat every scrap on my plate" mode is that 1) I drink 1-2 glasses of water before eating and 2) I eat a pound of baby carrots or a pound of shredded cabbage with lowfat dressing or two apples.  Having that much bulk in my stomach definitely makes it so I eat less of any other foods I have "on my plate."