Maintainers-Do you eat just to reach your goal?

If I'm not hungry, I don't eat. If I come up short, it will probably balance out something that I forget to log, or one day when I'm ravenous and go over my goal.

The past few nights I have come up significantly under my calorie goal at the end of the night. I am not hungry, but find myself searching around the house for things to eat, just to come close to my goal. I know I have seen countless posts on this on the weight loss forums, but I am wondering about those of you in maintenance. Does this happen to you? Do you eat, or just let it go? I have eaten ice cream, avocados etc. to try and cram in the calories, but I am wondering if I would just be better off not eating and saving those calories for another day when I am truly hungry. What are your thoughts?

This "not hungry" thing - je ne comprends pas. Do you workout loads and create a massive deficit?
Otherwise it is not an issue for me - the opposite in fact. I graze all the time. I almost always go over my allowance.
I never have to eat junk to reach my goals. In fact I'd happily eat 2000kcal in roast skinless chicken and veggies if you let me.
But I'll say that if you really want to maintain then you either cut back on physical exertion or ram in the calories. Otherwise you'll continue to lose.
Things I love that are calorie dense - natural peanut butter, all nuts, olive oil. I could easily sink a couple of thousand calories eating this stuff and it wouldn't touch the sides. I'd also go for full-fat milk, full-fat yoghurt etc.

I added back a few calories on my daily food, but I splurge on the weekends (I just don't go overboard) so it all equals out in the end. I have been maintaining since May and think I have found a way to have my cake and eat it too!

I do not eat to get to goal because sometimes I go over goal and other days I eat less. SO it all balances out.

This is why I eventually stopped logging all together (have been maintaining for over 1.5 years). Some days I am hungrier than others. By nature, my body doesn't want 1800 calories a day, every day. I logged and maintained for about a year and then finally stopped. I got to the point where I knew what I should eat, how much of it, etc. Some days I know I am under and other days I know I am over. If over the course of a week it balances out, I wouldn't sweat it. Listening to your body is more important than hitting a specific number every day. I wouldn't give that advice to someone just starting out but at this point in the game, absolutely follow your own hunger instincts.

I completely agree with the above... I have maintained a 70 lb. weight loss for about 9 years and I cannot eat what they say I need to in order to maintain. After a period of time you will know what triggers your body to gain weight and what triggers your cravings. I definitely wouldn't eat if I wasn't hungry... most people under estimate their caloric intake anyway. You may not put the correct serving size, etc. I also know that if I eat carbs I will gain weight.. no matter how many calories I eat.. that's just how my body works. So, you will need to be mindful of what you eat and record your weight to determine what your triggers are. Eventually it will all become habit and it will be easy... BUT know that if you start eating bad foods.. 1. You will get major cravings and 2. You will probably start gaining weight back. I believe about 95% of people gain the weight back they lost, so it's not easy, but it is doable and it is worth it!

News flash...if you don't eat to a maintenance level of calories, you will not maintain...you're not in mainteancne if you continue to eat at a deficit...eating isn't hard...

OP...my guess is you are probably lacking in dietary fat because fat is "bad" right? Eat more healthy fat...you don't have to stuff your face to up your calories. Again...eating is pretty flippin' easy...how the hell else did you get to the point of needing to diet?

All that said, are you netting out throughout the week? It's not really a day to day thing...you can be under one day and over another, etc...it's all about making it work over a period of time, not just 24 hours. Just eat flippin' food.

I realize that if I do not eat my maintenance calories I will lose weight. This is exactly what I am getting at. I eat a ton of food...check out my diary. I do not have a "fat phobia". I eat plenty of fat. I am a small person. I weigh around 100 pounds, and actually would be ok with putting on a few. I currently have my calories set at 1900 calories, a lot for someone my size. And, yes, without eating foods that are going to make me feel like crap, sometimes I have a hard time reaching my goals. I was curious to see if others have this same problem and how they handle it. Obviously, based on the responses, I am not the only one.

Have a glass of wine or two and chill out. I find it rather ironic that it's primarily women that have this issue. I stick to my original statement that eating is not hard. For whatever reason, people get on MFP and all of a sudden can't friggin' eat food. It's absurd.

I stopped logging food and am a bit more lenient about diet and wine (and have ended up losing a couple of pounds??) but just rejoined MFP because I love tracking exercise and weight and haven't found a comparable app. With maintenance though, just trying to listen to my body....

Personally, I wouldn't force calories if you're not hungry. Like a couple of previous posters mentioned, it'll likely all even out.

I do not eat to get back to "zero" I typically have a slight deficit but since being in maintenance I don't worry so much about where that end of day number falls. If I'm not hungry, I don't eat for the sake of eating.

I do sometimes have a problem with being too far under if I don't 'front-load.' Weird term but I like it- basically just packing more calories onto the front of your day.- I try to make breakfast as big as possible most days. Then it doesn't get to be ten pm and I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to shove some almond butter down the gullet.