How does a person go about knowing which meal will contribute "more" to weight gain? If I had to decide between a plate of rice and meat or 2 egg sandwiches, which one would be better to help keep my weight down?

To loose weight, the main thing is caloires in vs calories out. There are other factors, cardio, weight lifting even getting enough sleep. BUT caloires in vs calories out is the biggest factor.

You'll want to make sure you eat a reasonable amt of calories. I have 1200 a day to help loose weight, when I'm done loosing I'll go to 1500-1600, your a man though so you'll need more.

SO, to help decide what to eat, go by calories first, but also make sure your not getting those caloires from unhealthy sorces (candy, fattening meats, ect)

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this is the problem I am having, how to count the calories of everything I eat?

Heres what i use it really helpful
http://www.fitday.com/
it is cals in vs cals out but if the cals you consume are low fat high fibre, lean protein types of food. your more likely to loose weight as opposed to high fat foods, processed foods...plus you can eat more

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Failure isn't falling down, it's refusing to get up again....i choose not to fail
HW:262
SW:174
CW:146
GW:135!!!

Deeply appreciate it, will definitely look into it, thanks.

fitday is really good. I personally don't have alot of time online, so what I do is I have a magnetic notepad on my fridge, and I jot down the cal's on that.

Just curious, how new are you to the counting calories thing? I mean do you understand how to find the caloires on foods and the serving sizes, ect? Heres an example, I bought some "smart ones" pizza sandwiches the other day. It said on the box "only 200 cal's " so I grabbed it. Got ready to cook it and I realized that it meant, 200 cal's per 'sandwich" not the whole box its easy to make mistakes like that

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www.calorieking.com is also a good website. (It had better be, I'm always bringing it up! )

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I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks.

l 193 >> 165 >> 154 >> 135 (?) l
l was:__ am:__ will be: l

Sorry for taking so long to get back here Newbride02. I've never done any calorie counting before and I am now looking into it, thanks for the link Exmaniac, will look into it tomorow, I am not really comfortable with the "Fitday" site but appreciate the link, at first glance, I think Calorieking might be better for me and will know for sure in a few days.

I've always heard that in order for "slim" people to gain weight, they should eat small meals frequently so if they normally eat 3 meals a day then they should eat 5 or more meals per day. I am wondering now why some people are saying that eating 6 small meals per day is helping them "lose" weight? What's the deal here please?

Ok, so alot of people say (and I'm not debating how true this is or not, I don't know) that its better for your metabolism if you eat 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day as opposed to 3 larger ones. I do believe this is the 'rule of thumb' for everyone, not just for the slim ones. I've heard that once you start to feel hunger, your metabolism has already taken a dive. SO, I hope that was some help!!

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Yup New bride is right, eating 6 small meals a day, will rev up your metabolism and help you loose weight(along with exercise)
what happens is your body starts to predict that food will be comming in steadily and doesnt hold on to the cals from a big meal(3xs a day eating) so it burns your calories all day. it goes back to the cave man days and when wed be going with out food for a long time it was a survival mechanism back then but sucks for todays day and age when food is readilly available and in large quantities. the 6 meals a day will work if you keep them low-cal,well balanced and about every 3 hrs. depends on your calorie needs but mine are like a small apple and some cottage cheese , or a small chicken breast and a little spinach, shake and a fruit that sorta thing.
it has helped me loose about 30lbs

__________________
Failure isn't falling down, it's refusing to get up again....i choose not to fail
HW:262
SW:174
CW:146
GW:135!!!

Sorry for taking so long to reply to these posts guys, the email notification doesn't work for some reason. Here is my problem, even from childhood I have always had a very healthy appetite or I guess in your terms, a super quick metabolism so I would eat 5 or more meals per day. I am 6' 200lbs and would like to go down to 185 and maintain that weight so a few months ago I changed from eating 5 or more meals to just 3 meals per day.
7-8 AM Breakfast- Raisin Bran w/milk.
10 am -a fruit
11-12 noon -lunch
3-4 pm -Dinner
7-8 pm -fruit or dry roasted peanuts.

Without going into what I eat for lunch and dinner, this seems to be working for me, I am now down to 190lbs working out only 2 days per week but the problem is I am always starving and this is why my eyes open as big as Tennis balls whenever I read about people eating 6 meals a day and are able to lose weight. Thing is, I am scared to to go back to the 6 meals becuase "what" I will have to eat for those meals will not satisfy my hunger. I guess anyhow I look at this, I will have to get accustomed to staying hungry for the rest of my life, this bites! What's your opinions on this please, guys? Thanks.

being hungry is not a pleasant feeling. i used to starve my self between meals to loose weight(and i did loose some)but by the time supper rolled around i was starving and id eat too fast and over eat anyways...
i suggest maybe making your lunch and supper a little smaller and going for a snack in between. im not sure what your daily cals are i eat 5-6xs a day and divide my cals according to the cals i need.
your breakfast looks good its pretty much what i eat(bran+skim)
have your snacks with a little protein apple and some pb, small hand full of nuts, some cottage cheese and veggies something like that it will help satisfy your hunger..drink lots of water that helps too

__________________
Failure isn't falling down, it's refusing to get up again....i choose not to fail
HW:262
SW:174
CW:146
GW:135!!!