i LOVE to eat, and i hate being hungry. So here's what I do in the summer to stay relatively lean at just under 145lbs. I'm about 5' 7".

I eat. And I eat. Then I eat more.

1. I always eat when I'm hungry. But I try and avoid empty munchee calories. Instead I try to snack on fruit over candy, donuts, jellybeans, or cake. Frozen bananas make awesome summer treats, store them pre-peeled in the freezer in a ziploc bag. You can even dip them in a bit of chocolate. Or smother with spoonfuls of peanutbutter spread. They cost under $.50 each. I tell myself that eating healthy will keep my energy level high for the rest of the day, instead of crash and burn energy obtained from junk food.

2. I snack on other kinds of fruit. If I'm jonesing for a snack I'll try and get a piece of fruit (or several). The fiber in an orange makes me feel "full" - about the equivalent of 3 donuts fullness feelin full. It's the ethanol of snacks! Remember the fad grapefruit diet from the 1980's?

3. I usually eat at least one cliff bar during the day. There are other bars out there - but try and avoid the gross super-sports-energy bars (i.e., powerbars). Cliff bars are pretty tasty and go well with coffee. I imagine I'd be munching on cake or donuts if it wasn't for cliff bars. These are sweetened with organic brown rice syrup. They're $.99/each at trader joes.

4. Ride lots, drink water and coffee. Eat hearty breakfast. For breakfast I often have slow-cook oats but I don't really cook them. I pour the oats in a bowl, add raisins or strawberries, and pour steaming hot water over them then let sit for a few minutes. Or I'll eat them raw with raisins, milk and sugar/honey, or sprinkle a load of them on regular cereal. Nobody ever said you have to cook oats and the slow cook taste 10x better than the 'instant' kind.

5. Dinner is normal. At home it's usually pasta with sauce and fresh herbs (or 'pahst' if you're carmela soprano) or some kind of meat with veggies and rice or couscous, or fajitas with beans. Often it's the most junk-food meal of the day though, i.e., pizza, chinese food, whatever.

Well, now I'm bein a yammermouth. My point is there's no need to go hungry to stay fit. Especially for people like me who end up binging to sate the hunger. Just avoid overly processed sugar based foods.