ok everyone, I am ready to start counting calories and could use everyone's help if you will. I am 6' 195lbs right now and I wish to go down to 185 and stay there, I had adjusted my eating habits a few months ago and went from a little over 200lbs to 195, I have no excess weight in my lower body and only a little in top parts mainly around my armpits and of course around my stomach is where I have the most fat. I work out 2 days per week for 15 minutes each on a home gym a la Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley's advertisement.
My current eating schedule is like this
7-8am Breakfast- Raisin Bran w/ 1 or 2% milk
10am snack -fruit [usually an orange or an apple
11-12 Lunch - rice or flour product w/meat and a little salad
3-4pm Dinner -Usually a sandwich or repeat what I had for lunch
7-8pm snack -fruit or handfull of dry roasted peanuts.

I am thinking of modifying this routine to eat 5 smaller meals per day as with my current routine I am always hungry so I figure I could try both cutting down on the amount of food I eat for both lunch and dinner and include a little food with both snacks, what do you guys think about this? Please feel free to scrutinize any and everything written above, will welcome lots of opinions, the more the merrier, if anyone has a better method or suggestions for the above, this will help too, after I settle this, then I will move on to my "calorie" questions, thanks.

switch to 1% milk and then skim milk if you can stand it. theres no reason to drink 2% milk! i would also add something to your 10am snack since you said your still hungry on this diet? also i think you need to up your exercise from 2 days a week to AT LEAST 3 days and also for a at least 30 minutes a day, not 15. hopefully somebody else will come here and add some more, let us know how its going! oh and you said you have a sandwich for dinner? i would change that so as to limit the carbs your consuming too late in the day.

The milk is not a problem as I don't drink it and only use it in the cereal itself, so I could switch to skim milk from now on. When I start with the "calorie" issue I will add something to the 10am snack and will adress it then, this is good also because it will help me have better portion control at lunch time which is one of my major issues.
As for the exercise aspect, I have 2 major problems, one, my knees and ankles hurt with running or cycling for a while, I also get "back" problems when doing certain exercises so the Cardio issue is out of the picture [for now], I am desperately saving up to purchase the Treadclimber which is very expensive but is the only and best thing for me, when I do get it, I will be using it EVERY day for 30 minute or more becuase I've tried it and there isn't nay pressure on my joints. I am only using the home gym in the meantime to "tone" up and tighten the fat areas, I used to lift free weights for years and working a bodypart more than 2 times a week was never productive for me which is why I am doing the home gym only 2 times per week.
As for the "dinner", if not a sandwich or a repeat of the lunch time meal which would involve either Rice or Flour product, then I could use some ideas please. Really appreciate the help Wonderwoman, thank you.

Mike your basic plan is looking good,(for myself id up the snakcs and cut back on the lunch/dinner)
breakfast with skim is great, you could do oatmeal too, or eggs with extra egg whites to switch it up

snack id add some protein( i know you say your going to add something more here and yes it should help you with lunch)

lunch you say rice or a flour product, brown rice would be best or barley, brown or whole grain products for the other flour foods is best, complexe carbs will help keep you fuller longer, and adds some fibre which is always good.
salad is great with a low fat dressing, lean meat, fish,chicken breast, lean beef, some beans or lentils

dinner ~a repeat of lunch is ok but id downsize the rice/flour products and up the salad and meat a little,

snack later on,fruit or a vegetable is fine a handfull of nuts as long as it all fits in to your daily cals is ok too(almonds or walnuts are excellent for heart health)

as far as exercise goes, i say do what you can,you know you have a
knee/back issue, so i wouldnt push it on the running exercise....is walking ok or is that still painfull? again you know your body best so if 2 days works for you then great..homegym exercise lift as heavy as you can to get to 6-8 reps...do you do a full body routine on these days?

congrats on already having lost 5lbs thats an awesome start

Thanks for the encouragement Smiley, what I like most about this weight loss thing is not that I lost 5 lbs but that just by having changed my eating habits a few months ago I am now "consistenly" maintaining that 5 lb loss without doing anything extra, it's like my body dropped 5 lbs and stayed there so I'd like to go 10 lbs more and maintain that weight.
Regarding the excercises, I am an "active" person, walking is simply too boring for me, I have been in competition sports all of my life which explains the injuries to my ankles, knees, back and left elbow. I presently Coach Football and do get some exercise on the field 3 days a week which is why I settled for the Home Gym workout for only 2 days at 15 minutes each. Regarding the exercises, I do 20 reps on each of 12 exercises to burn the fat on my upper body, I do have some very stubborn fat around my midsection and as far as I know, you can't "spot" reduce that, you have drop overall weight, hence my 1goal of 185lbs, at that weight I should not have any or much fat on me. When I get that Treadclimber, I will be ok so I'm not worried about the exercise part of this whole deal.
Ok, so it's time now for me to get into the nitty gritty of this Calorie counting thing and my first question is, do I have to get a Food "scale" becuase everything I pull on up on the "Nutritiondata" site lists the food weight in "grams"?

Your welcome treadclimbers are a great machine i hope you enjoy it when you get it . as for scales alot of stores carry them,(dunno whats in your area but walmart, sears,target,electronics stores should carry them) digital ones will be more accurate but are more expensive. i have justa plains scale that i got at walmart lol. but im looking to upgrade to a digital one,

Yes, to measure the food in "grams" accurately, I will need and will get a "Digital" scale. Ok, on to the counting calories game now you guys, first question please, how do I determine how many calories I will need per day and/or per meal to lost the 10 lbs please? Thanks.

I must say that I am very surprised that no one has answered my last question so let me re-phrase it please, how do you guys know how much calories "you" need per day and or per meal to lose weight?

ok, I just found a site that told me that I need less than 2500 per day to lose weight, I am checking here just to be sure that this info is correct, what do you guys think, does this sound correct?

p.s. Here is the site

http://www.icsdna.com/urwhatueat/tool4.html

Actually you found a good site, the info is accurate as far as i can tell, but it is a guide line bc every bodies metabolism, is diffrent.your best judge will be your body, if you see the weight coming off too quick(more than 2lbs a week)up the cals less than that lower your cals and up the exercise (if you can)

WOW I like the website, going to look at it more...... keep workin! YOU'll get there!

Yeah..thats a great website... It seems really accurate from the other info ive read & things I received from my nutritionist.

www.caloriesperhour.com is also a very good site.

Hi Mike,

An alternative to boring plain old walking is to go hiking on your days off. I am not sure where you live so I can't advise a place to go, but if you go to rei.com or to the local rei store i am sure you could find a book to give you some idea of where to go hiking in your area. I love hiking, it gives you a great workout with beautiful scenery, I think its impossible to get bored while hiking.

Julie

I agree w/ Julie..also adding in hiking sticks or take your cross country poles w/ you and walk w/ them..its called nortic walking...it is supposed to help increase your cal burn x2... I use them when i hike usually unless im carrying the baby on my back..I figure thats enough extra :-D
I also have started using my mountain bike since its cooler now...and my butt is now not so sore so thats nice