By Aimee Elizabeth

Once you are at your goal weight, you can eat anything you want and maintain it – however, there are just two requirements. You eat only the foods your body is craving – if you know how to listen properly, your body will tell you when you are truly hungry and it will tell you what nutrients it needs – by craving a certain food! Eat that food, and then stop when you are comfortably full. That’s full, not stuffed! To test out how to determine when you are actually hungry, wait to feel an actual hunger pang. So that means you don’t eat when you are just bored, depressed, lonely or with nothing better to or it just tastes good – wait for an actual hunger pang! That’s how you know it’s time to eat.

Then you definitely want to eat the food you are craving – even if it is sweets. Your blood sugar may be temporarily low, and your body is telling you so. If you try to “be good” and eat a banana and cottage cheese when you are actually craving a bowl of ice cream, you are likely to not be satisfied, because you still have your original craving. And then you end up eating the ice cream on top of the banana and cottage cheese – so you have consumed twice the food your body needed or wanted. I believe our bodies know best – and will tell us so.

In order to stop eating when you are comfortably full, I have another easy test. After you finish eating, take a ten minute walk at a comfortable pace for you. If when you are done walking, you feel great, and maybe even want to keep walking, you ate until you are comfortably full. However, if you feel bloated, sick, or wanting to throw up – you have eaten until you are stuffed. If you take this “test” (a ten minute walk) after each meal, your body will quickly tell you, and you will easily recognize, when you are truly full but not stuffed.

By following this simple plan, you can maintain your weight. It’s effortless, painless, and easy. And best of all – you get to eat anything you want, whenever you am hungry!

Of course, whether you have any pre-existing medical conditions or not, it’s always best to check with your doctor prior to starting any new eating or exercise plan.

– Aimee Elizabeth, author of “Dieting Sucks! Eat Anything & Lose Weight”