Since starting calorie counting a bit over three weeks ago, I am shocked at the amount of calories in the food I was eating. No wonder I was only maintaining for so many years. I thought I'd start a list of "calorie black holes"

1. GRANOLA
These little oats can screw up your whole day if not careful!
2. Naked juice/Odwalla
A lot of these have two servings in one bottle (as if anyone would only drink half) and many have up to 300 calories. You could be eating real food instead of drinking one of these things.
3. Whole wheat pasta
Serving size is miniscule, may as well skip the whole thing

Any others??

Avacado... why do I love you so?

Olive oil- it's a shame, I cook everything with it and it's so very good for you

Yes, this is a topic that really frustrates me! Things that shouldn't be caloric often times absolutely are! Ugh! I realize that they are often good fats and all, but still, it's annoying! Why shouldn't I be able to eat a huge bowl of oatmeal? Why can't I eat a bunch of peanut butter? Why can't I have a bag of trail mix? Why, oh why, can't I eat a bunch of frozen yogurt topped with granola? How about salad with dressing? Some restaurants make it seem like a healthy option and yet, it has up to 1,000 calories or more! Tuna salad. Sounds healthy yet it can be very caloric....unless you make it yourself and count those pesky little calories. Yikes! It's soooo annoying. I supposed I can have any of it as long as I watch my portions and calories but who wants to do that?

I'd much prefer to eat foods that I know I can eat more of so that I feel fuller longer. Yes, some people get that with avocado and nuts and I do have those sometimes. I'll eat oatmeal, but a portioned amount. I stay away from granola and trail mix and if I do have salad, I'll get the dressing on the side and just dip my fork into it.

Luckymommy, I am seraching for a recipe for a HUGE bowl of oatmeal for you right now, I have seen it on the hungry girl website...be back in a minute!

From the hungry girl website:

Oatmeal is great, but I totally hear you about the serving size. That's why I am ALWAYS looking for ways to bulk it up. And I have a brand-new trick for you! Last week, I was teasing HG video guy Adam about his ginormous bowl of oatmeal -- I almost fell down when I saw how much was in the bowl! Well, he informed me that it was ONE SERVING. I didn't believe him. Then he told me he made it with at least TWICE the amount of liquid recommended, cooked it for twice as long, and let it sit for a while 'til it became nice and thick. The next morning, I tried it out for myself. I used a serving of Old Fashioned Quaker Oats (1/2 cup), 1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (only 40 calories a cup!), and 1 cup water; then I cooked it on the stove for about 10 minutes with 2 Splenda packets, a little bit of cinnamon, and a dash of salt. The result was a HUUUUGE bowl of oatmeal that was fairly thick, creamy, smooth, and DELICIOUS. Only about 200 calories and 6g fat, plus 5g fiber (POINTSŪ value 4*)! Since then, I have experimented by adding some other ingredients: fruit, original Fiber One cereal (1/4 cup -- just cook it right in there during the last few minutes!), and even a sprinkle of fat-free powdered Coffee-mate (for added creaminess). Completely AMAZING. I'm shocked it took me so long to discover this little tip, and I'm excited to be sharing it with all of you. Try it and let me know what you think!

-sweet potatoes
-quinoa
-whole grain just about anything - it's whole grain, but it's calorie dense
-nuts, nuts, nuts

This! I often have to pick an entree and remove and/or add to it The server always looks at me crazy but it's better than consuming too many calories!

I find high-calorie but healthy foods fill me up enough so an ounce of peanuts is plenty - I try to enjoy the flavor and not just suck them down. I eat nuts or olive oil daily and sometimes both.

Also I don't agree on whole-wheat pasta, a serving of 1/2-3/4 a cup is plenty for me with some vegetables and occasionally meat.

Oh, the Quinoa!
Dark chocolate
bananas
milk

The thing is, lots of us have trouble with portion control. You go a little extra (& some of us don't keep it to a little) on some of these items and you've shot your calorie budget right out of the water.

You go a little extra on some roasted broccoli, there's minor or zero damage done. You go a little extra on peanuts and pasta and it wreaks havoc on your weight.

- Oil (olive, grapeseed, you name it.)
- "Smart" Bread and Pasta (the white stuff that is "as good as whole wheat", one would assume also means overall less calories ect. Not so!)
- Brown Rice (essentially the same as white rice and gram per gram roughly the same calories as pasta!)
- As someone already said, MILK (A glass of 2% has more calories then the same amount of pop).

peanut butter
almond butter
raisins

Cheese. Oh, how I miss cheese. Good cheese. It's just not worth it to work it into my day most of the time.

-Chumus
-Beans