How can I eat less naturally?

Try some low calorie dense foods. They will fill you up and keep you full longer. Black coffee can help suppress hunger. Sugar triggers hunger as well. Don't drink calories. Liquids don't fill you up as much as actual food. My meals are less than 500 calories with a lot of veggies to keep me full. I eat 1600 calories per day and the only time I really get hungry is at dinner time. I also run 5 miles per day and that is way more food than I can eat sometimes. Good luck!

Are you exercising at all? If you aren’t you should start something simple, then eat your exercise calories back.

Also, special occasions are hard so you can go a smidge over and forgive yourself. The problem is when you are going over more days than not for “reasons”.

Learn to say no thanks, if you are offered something you don't want.

But how to get more food quantity? More vegetables, lean meat and smaller portions of higher calorie foods.

Maybe the reason you can't stick with 1450 is that it's too low, especially if you aren't eating back any exercise calories.

Search for the Volume Eaters thread. It’s full of suggestions for filling, large plates of food. It was very helpful to me.

For me, lots of protein is filling. Chicken breast, pork tenderloin, tuna are all “calorie cheap” protein. Last night I ate a pound of boiled shrimp, at well under 400 calories. (Woot!)

Others report fats fill them up.

You have to experiment with what works for you.

Sometimes, what you identify as hunger pangs is actually dehydration. Drinking a glass of water can relieve that gnawy feeling.

I learned quickly I can’t keep junk food in the house. My husband was wonderful about hiding his until I learned to control myself (and you will, eventually). He also buys snacks I’m totally uninterested in.

Train yourself to accept fewer and smaller treats, and learn to love replacement treats (fruit, popcorn, yogurt). After a while you’ll look forward to them. For me, cutting out the shite-ton of sugar I ate every day was like a palate cleanser. Other foods that I thought were bland and unexciting became delicious.

I had to give up my sniffy ideas about sugar-free foods being bad for me. I mean, which was worse for me? The thousands of calories of junk food I devoured every day or a few grams of sugar free syrups or pudding mix?

Learn to shop the perimeter of the grocery store. I seldom go down an aisle these days, unless it’s to pick up a staple.

Talk with your roommate and tell them you’d appreciate their support. There’s ways to bake a cake and cut the calories tremendously, btw.

And most of all, learn patience, adopt openness to learn things you probably aren’t in med school, and give yourself the grace to screw it up once in a while and know the sky hasn’t fallen.