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

Athena7777
Athena7777 Posts: 7
in Food and Nutrition
Looking for some insight. Share one food that helps you lose weight and one food that makes you gain weight.
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Replies

  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
    Share one food that helps you lose weight
    Less food
    and one food that makes you gain weight.
    More food.

    It's that easy.
  • Gentyl
    Gentyl Posts: 184 Member
    Shrimp and cabbage (not necessarily together) really helps me to lose weight. Anything with a lot of carbs like bread or rice or potatoes always makes me gain weight and want to eat more.
  • mgobluetx12
    mgobluetx12 Posts: 1,326 Member
    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 is the only answer you need.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Food that creates a caloric deficit makes you lose weight.

    Food that creates a caloric surplus makes you gain weight.

    It's really that simple.
  • julieh391
    julieh391 Posts: 683 Member
    lose weight? Less food
    gain weight? More food
  • Game8
    Game8 Posts: 442
    It's not about specific foods you eat, but the total net calories. If you want to lose weight, eat at a deficit, if you want to gain, eat at a surplus.

    Yes, it's that simple.
  • Athena7777
    Athena7777 Posts: 7
    Cabbage sounds good. How do you usually prepare it?
  • rosieg1979
    rosieg1979 Posts: 99 Member
    I find high protein foods are really helpful. I used to have a much carb heavier diet, and mid afternoon I would start craving cars and binge.

    Now I have one or two protein shakes a day (with not much added so quite low cal) and that seems to have stopped the cravings so I no longer binge.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    the answer to both questions is pizza.
  • coffee_rocks
    coffee_rocks Posts: 275 Member
    Apples. When I'm hungry, an 80 calorie apple fills me up.

    Potato chips are my evil snack food, because it's about 300 calories before I even start to feel like I've had enough, and enough sodium to finish of my day's limit.
  • thelovelyLIZ
    thelovelyLIZ Posts: 1,227 Member
    No food makes you gain weight or lose weight. It's about how much you eat. If I eat surplus of carrots, I'll still gain weight, and if I eat a deficit of twinkies I'll still lose weight.

    That being said, some food can cause bloating, so there's that.
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    Helps you to lose weight: non starchy vegetables and low sugar fruits, it's extremely difficult to eat 2000 calories of spinach, mushrooms or celery. Nothing guarantees a gain except overeating.
  • Athena7777
    Athena7777 Posts: 7
    Captain...Love the pizza comment. LOL!
    Lovely liz, Twinkies, can we still buy those? JK. So if I eat a 300 calorie donut verses a 300 calorie chicken breast and it's in my calorie goal will I still lose weight?
    coffe rocks, Apples, great idea!
    firefox, What are some low sugar fruits?
    Rosieg1979, what brand protein shakes are you using?
  • AEFidgets
    AEFidgets Posts: 243
    Weight loss is math not alchemy. Just eat less calories then you burn off. No magic foods, except some mushrooms but those are illegal......
  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
    So if I eat a 300 calorie donut verses a 300 calorie chicken breast and it's in my calorie goal will I still lose weight?

    Now THAT is a great question! Those are equivalent for weight loss purposes. A typical donut has somewhere between 300-500 calories. Possibly more if it has filling etc. For chicken breast, that's eight or nine ounces to get you to 300 calories.

    Eight ounces of chicken breast will keep you feeling more full and satisfied and energized far, far longer than a 300 calorie donut.


    Regardless, a calorie is a calorie. So if you eat donuts all day to get by, you'll need a lot probably. If you eat chicken breasts, not so much.
  • Athena7777
    Athena7777 Posts: 7
    I need to get out my scale to see how much 9 ounces of chicken looks like.
  • Gramps251
    Gramps251 Posts: 738 Member
    I need to get out my scale to see how much 9 ounces of chicken looks like.

    It's a lot of food compared to a donut. I try to choose foods that are nutritionally dense since I like to eat.
  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
    One large breast cooked.

    Edited to add: You might could eat two in a sitting, maybe, if you're feeling tough and really really hungry. But just speaking for myself, I could eat six donuts like nothing. I could NEVER eat that much chicken. Just one of those weird things you sort of learn about all foods by logging and experimenting and eating what you like and seeing how it measures up against other foods.
  • wavedancer123
    wavedancer123 Posts: 47 Member
    Ham, and pickles - love them
    cakes, wine,crisps and eating off plan!
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    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 is the only answer you need.

    Here Here!
  • soleilxo
    soleilxo Posts: 202
    lose: 1 grapefruit
    gain: a lot of grapefruit
  • NocturnalGirl
    NocturnalGirl Posts: 1,762
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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: 1,722 Member
    *facepalm*
  • carly_am
    carly_am Posts: 145 Member
    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
    the answer to both questions is pizza.

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: (wipes eyes)

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