I've been reading a bit about this concept. I know that no food is actually "negative calorie", meaning that it takes more energy to eat/digest it than the calories it contains, but there are certain foods that seem to come close. Does anybody here follow some sort of "negative calorie foods" diet at all? If so, how is it working for you? I am intrigued.

The negative calorie vegetable truly is myth, though eating plenty of very low calorie vegetables is an excellent dieting strategy, but there is a point of diminishing returns.

All of the mythical "negative calorie foods," are extremely high in fiber and water. Great things in a healthy diet, not such great things in extreme excess.

What do you get, when you (especially suddenly) eat way more fiber and water than your body's used to?

Very often, raging diarrhea!

If you do the calorie math: to lose a pound of weight in less than a month from negative calorie eating - you would likely get a case of the raging diarrhea before you lost a single pound.

I straight CC... no subtracting for anything...

BUT

I have heard of a concept of certain foods being better to eat because they require more energy. A prime example is an apple. Dr Phil (yes, shoot me now) wrote a book about high yield foods and that sort of thing. I wish I could remember the name of it for you. He basically maps out your diet based on this concept, along with general "healthy" eating.

LOL Kaplods...raging diarrhea would not be exciting. Count me as a jumper off that bandwagon and quick.

"Excess" is what got me into this mess, so I need to stop looking for foods I can eat to excess and still lose weight. Ain't gonna happen. Though I get more "fullness per calorie" with fresh fruits and veggies, so I will continue to eat a variety of these foods, as opposed to blowing my daily calorie allotment on highly refined and processed foods which will leave me hungry 10 minutes later.

I have been looking into thermogenic foods recently. I think (?) this is the same type of concept you are talking about, just called a different name. These are foods that take more energy for the body to burn, as opposed to other foods. All foods are in essence "thermogenic" in that energy is burned to digest and process them. But some foods increase the rate at which the body burns stored fat to create energy. This gives your metabolism a little boost. These foods that have a higher thermic effect are the ones many call thermogenic or fat burning foods. Here is a link listing some thermogenic foods:

http://www.carbohydrate-guide.com/thermogenic-foods/

However, this shouldn't be treated as a main focus for your diet - it is just one of many tools for your weight loss arsenal. Trainers like Tom Venuto help to put these foods in perspective:

http://www.burnthefat.com/fat_burning_foods.html

I have started tossing jalapeno peppers on things the past few days just for kicks and I like many of the foods that are thermogenic, so I am trying to add more of these foods into my overall plan.