What food helps you lose weight? What food causes a gain?

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  • soleilxo
    soleilxo Posts: 202
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    lose: 1 grapefruit
    gain: a lot of grapefruit
  • NocturnalGirl
    NocturnalGirl Posts: 1,762
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    Share one food that helps you lose weight
    Less food
    and one food that makes you gain weight.
    More food.

    It's that easy.

    ^THIS. No individuals food aid or prevent weight loss. It's about your calories overall.
  • Calantorntain
    Calantorntain Posts: 172 Member
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    Yes, a calorie is a calorie... but some calories are more filling than others!

    Take a look at what 200 calories of different foods gets you, in terms of volume: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm

    Quite a difference! What makes you lose weight is eating fewer calories, and what helps you eat fewer calories is feeling full! Fat and protein are very good at making you feel full, but it's also important to look for foods that are high in FIBER.

    Here are the things I eat to help me lose weight (things have been going really well so far!)

    - Tomatoes. Kind of expensive, but so tasty! I slice up nearly a bowls worth, add some sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and balsamic vinegar. Large tomato + a couple teaspoons of fancy balsamic vinegar: Less than 50 calories

    - Popcorn. A whole grain that is heart healthy and full of fiber, it's healthiest if you pop it with an air popper, and avoid too many fatty toppings

    - BROCCOLI. This is one of my fav these days. I use kitchen scissors to cut it into bite size pieces, then steam for a while. Then I add some sauce (the two I've tried so far are Soyaki and General Tso's), but not too much! About two cups of broccoli and a tablespoon of sauce has about 100 calories!

    - Squash! I recently started making a very delicious butternut squash soup. For each squash I use a bit more than 2 cups water, a chicken boillion cube, and a quarter cup of apple salsa (subs apple sauce if needed, I don't know how much). I boil that with a bay leaf, salt, pepper, sage, a clove of garlic, and a dash of chipotle powder. Remove the bay leaf, blend it all with a stick blender, and BAM! Delicious soup! Probably under 70 calories per cup, since squash has about 80 per cup and you are diluting it with water. I'm looking forward to trying spaghetti squash soon, this recipe appears good: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/herbed-spaghetti-squash-recipe/index.html

    - Lunch containers! I make up healthy lunches on Sunday, and eat them through the week. This is convenient, cheap, and allows me to now EXACTLY how many calories I'm getting. I use a divided container thing. This week it is chicken caesar salad (I keep a bottle of lite caesar in the fridge at work) in the main compartment, cottage cheese with black berries in the 3/4 cup compartment, and shrimp cocktail in the 1/2 cup compartment. Here are examples from other weeks: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/795756-my-lunch-is-bringing-sexy-back

    Good luck, you can do it!
  • missmegan831
    missmegan831 Posts: 824 Member
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    One food GROUP that has helped me lose weight is PROTEIN, much more satisfied esp in the morning with eggs and meat versus cereal or oats for sure
  • Sweet_Pea0107
    Sweet_Pea0107 Posts: 90
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    People gain because of their lack of self control and the inability to put the fork down(medical conditions aside}. People just like to blame food. It is simple...

    If you want to lose eat less
    If you want to gain eat more
  • Athena7777
    Athena7777 Posts: 7
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    missmegan- thanks for reminding me of protein in the morning
    calantorntian- yum tomatoes sound good, I absolutely love broccoli- I'm gonna look into an air popper, thanks for the squash soup recicipe. What are your favorite brands of lite ceasor and balsamic dressing?
  • Athena7777
    Athena7777 Posts: 7
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    emanyalpsid - that's funny about being able to eat 6 donuts : ) I could eat an entire Entemanns Chocolate Cake (luckily I can rarely find it at the grocery store). I ate a donut this week because they say if you eat a donut before an interview you will talk more and seem energized. I had an appointment to go to and the donut worked but afterwards I had the worst headache in the world!
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,721 Member
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    *facepalm*
  • carly_am
    carly_am Posts: 145 Member
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    So there's obviously a lot of people on here being very facetious... Obviously calorie deficit = loss, calories surplus = gain, pretty sure we all know that!! But I think what you're getting at is foods that tip you over the edge and foods that really help you. So for me wine is the absolute killer - ill have 3 glasses and all of a sudden I've had half my daily cals!! My 'heaven' food is prob quorn cause I don't eat meat so veggie protien that is super low fat is fantastic! I'd recommend it for all meals!!
  • ChristineS_51
    ChristineS_51 Posts: 872 Member
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    the answer to both questions is pizza.

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: (wipes eyes)
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    Gluten and celery. In that order.
  • Kellyeee2013
    Kellyeee2013 Posts: 221
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    really pay attention to labels. Foods like fruits and veggies you can eat more of because they have less calories. There is no magical food that just drops pounds.
  • thomakg
    thomakg Posts: 69 Member
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    We all know that its calories in vs energy output, but bread is a bad one for me - because it leads to butter, peanut butter and crazy carb cravings....
    Love eggs - very filling and they last - lots of protein and nutrition:)
  • SomeoneSomeplace
    SomeoneSomeplace Posts: 1,094 Member
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    I need to get out my scale to see how much 9 ounces of chicken looks like.

    Have you tried Perdue Perfect Portions ? They portion them or you and they are indv wrapped so you can freeze some and save for later use. They're awesome!
  • stephanielindsey
    stephanielindsey Posts: 67
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    missmegan- thanks for reminding me of protein in the morning
    calantorntian- yum tomatoes sound good, I absolutely love broccoli- I'm gonna look into an air popper, thanks for the squash soup recicipe. What are your favorite brands of lite ceasor and balsamic dressing?

    I make a homemade ceasar dressing that's really great. You just blend all the ingredients up in a blender or food processor.

    3 cloves Garlic, minced
    1.5 cup plain nonfat yogurt
    5 anchovies
    2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
    1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
    1 tsp Prepared Dijon Mustard
    1 Tbsp lemon juice

    It breaks down to roughly 41 calories for a quarter cup serving. And there is just no way to get that from a store bought dressing.
  • cmcollins001
    cmcollins001 Posts: 3,472 Member
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    What food helps you lose weight?

    All of it.

    What food causes you to gain?

    All of it.

    What food do you eat?

    All of it.


    AND...Mmmm...Pizza.
  • bulbadoof
    bulbadoof Posts: 1,058 Member
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    No foods will magically make you gain or lose weight based on their composition. However, some foods will be more filling on less calories, and in doing so make it easier to lose weight by staying satisfied at a deficit.

    300 calories of donut and 300 calories of chicken breast is still 300 calories any way you slice it. HOWEVER, the 300 calories of donut will probably not be very filling and you'll be hungry much faster than if you'd had the 300 calories of chicken breast. Making smart food choices is less about how many calories are in something and more about how far you can stretch those calories, you follow?

    From my experience, foods that are high in protein and fibre tend to be more filling, while fats and sugars tend to be less filling. I personally have success making protein- or fibre- based substitutes for breads and pastas - I'll have my sandwiches wrapped in lettuce or kale instead of on bread, or I'll use spaghetti squash instead of spaghetti, or I'll slice zucchini really thin to use in lasagna. Keeps the foods I love on the menu, lower-calorie, and more filling than usual.
  • dare2love81
    dare2love81 Posts: 928 Member
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    the answer to both questions is pizza.

    WIN
  • FawnAnnette
    FawnAnnette Posts: 12
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    breakfast smoothie of fresh raspberries/blueberries/blackberries + 1 cup 2% milk + 1 frozen banana + 1 tblspn lecithin granules = I feel full until lunchtime. It's the late afternoon and early evenings that are difficult. I have to choose what to eat and now all of those fresh tomatoes are gone from my garden.
  • letjog
    letjog Posts: 260 Member
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    Lots of smart-rses out tonight.

    For me:

    Low fat (fage) greek yoghurt helps me lose weight, fills me up, delicious and no fat and 100 cals per pot (quite a big pot!)

    Gain weight: CHOCOLATE CARAMEL DIGESTIVES. I can eat a 1300 calorie packet easily. and i can never just have one biscuit

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