Before I started counting calories, I thought that the chicken was the fattening part of chicken parmesan (even if it wasn't fried). I had no idea how many calories bread and pasta have in them. How can that be when the "meat" is so much more filling:?:

I hardly ever eat pasta anymore because I was eating it as filler to keep me from eating the more supposedly calorific parts of my meals. Amazing what a little research will do for you.

Portion sizes were the big OMG for me. I had no idea. I literally eat, cook and drink with measuring spoons and cups at hand.

Your body reacts to white flour and white potatoes just like sugar - any kind of starch like that. Your body will burn through that much much faster - leaving you hungry later. Protein is handled differently by your body and will stablize your blood sugar levels for longer. This is why it makes an ideal snack. You will get more "bang for your buck" so to speak.

Carbs are fine and good and necessary - but as you suggest, portions are important. I rarely eat any kind of carb without a protein friend. ESPECIALLY not a fruit or anything high in sugar. I find that my blood sugar level plummets drastically when I do.

Just some thoughts...

well that depends on the charge...if they give you jsut the two oz for same 7-9 dollars, I'd be unhappy as well...
If they charge me like 4, I'd be most happy. Why they don't reduce the prices? simple answer throughput....yes, if they have a table that turns over customers once every hour, then if they charge 4 bucks a plate, it is routhly 20 some dollars... while at a plate of 9 dollars it would be close to 40 twice as much, and it would take same time to bus the table, cook the pasta, feed the customers and get new in. So that's why portions are up in size, so that one can justify the amt of money charged, food is cheap, especially pasta, expenses are not. Since recently I am trying to take a different approach, if I go with an ex, or a close friend, we buy one big salad, and one entry...so that we can share both, a lot of food and salad, for the same price, but a lot less calories are goin in, if place has salad included then one meal for both more than enough usually.
With the burito, though, after 11 days of being home due to holidays, I noticed that same burito that I easiely ate before, was too much for me when I ate half of it... so yes, portions are bigger and I will have to cut them down myself. At home I did swich to small plates, and use big ones for serving the food on them, rather than eating from them.

p.s. 12.5 years ago we came to this country, we had 10 hours layover time as we waited for our plane in JFK, so we went and bought food at the first place we saw, it was Burger King. Gosh when I saw that woper, I though that it was humongos, yes, it was, huge round, the size of a normal plate in my country really. So naturally I split it with my sister who was 5 at the time, and she could only 1/2 of her half.... even my dad could not finish one whopper, nevermind that the entire large coke was drinken for the entire day by all 4 of us.... no wonder that I gained weight, I remember how stupidly proud i was of myself when I was able to eat entire value deal by myself and not feel like puking...I did use to think that's what people had to do ...stupid me, over years I've changed and long ago switched from junk to restoran food, but there is a lot of it just as well....(sorry for this long note)

Fruits, hmm so what protein do you eat with them? what kind of fruit?
for example I like tangerines, grapes, banannas (I know last one of them have lost of fat, and the first two have too much sugar) I cannot think of one good fruit, except perhaps watermellon, but in winter they are out of my budget.

As an opposing view, I ate fruit constantly while losing weight. I ate it alone a lot in the afternoons for a snack and lost still 60+ lbs. Everybody is different, of course, but 2-3 servings of fruit didn't stop me from losing weight at all. My afternoon snack is still usually fruit, today I brought a really nice orange and plan to eat it around 4 or so, by itself!

If I were to eat protein with fruit, I would probably eat low fat cottage cheese (which I love with pineapple or mandarin oranges) or a piece of low fat string cheese. I guess peanut/almond butter (which is more of a fat than a protein) might be good too. I like to take a whole wheat tortilla, smear it with peanut butter and then nuke it in the microwave for 30 seconds. After it's all warm and gooey, I wrap it around a really ripe banana. Heaven.

ok makes sense, though I have no interest in cottage cheese, and hate peanut butter...lucky me I guess at least I am able to save up on those calories. So for me perhaps it's just the fruit. Daily though I have 1oz slice of mozzarella or swiss cheese, usually made with skim milk so for me no more space for other cheeses.

hm I am surprised about bannans, I thought that they are fattening, may be they are high on carbs then... i remember from somewhere that they and grapce are practially the worst fruits to have...may be i am wrong....

as far as other items, i avoid nuts, because they have lots of fat, and my balance of 25% car, 25% fat and 50% protein gets thrown off easily...plus it's hard to stop eating them....piece of cheese is alreayd there in a day, so yes, I think having fruit by itself is my solution...
thank you for all of your suggestions...


p.s. I just there would be like an exaustive list of all protein foods there are...with one amt of calories and then a serving size listed...that way i could pick and choose daily...dreams i know.

It's definitely true that nuts are addictive - so tasty! But:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0509083114.htm

"The researcher's review of the existing published epidemiologic studies shows that consuming 1 ounce of nuts more than 5 times/week can result in a 25 to 39 percent reduction in coronary heart disease risk among people whose characteristics match those of the general adult U.S. population."

Pass the almonds! Carefully measured 1/4 cup serving, of course :)

Also, list of good protein sources:

http://www.lifeclinic.com/focus/nutrition/protein.asp

Good Sources of Protein
Good low- or nonfat sources of protein include:

Beef, poultry, pork and lamb
Fish and shellfish
Dairy products, including cottage cheese, cheese, yogurt and milk
Eggs, egg whites or egg substitutes
Dry beans, peas, oats and legumes
Tofu and soy products
Nuts and seeds

Proteins are considered either complete proteins (which supply enough essential amino acids) or incomplete proteins (which lack adequate essential amino acids). Meat, eggs and dairy products are considered complete proteins, but vegetables, beans and other plant products are considered incomplete proteins. However, some incomplete proteins can be combined to create a complete protein - rice and beans, peanut butter and jelly, and corn and beans are examples of complete-protein meals.