Well if you eat fewer meals and start going into starvation mode you will most definitely slow down your metabolism, this is well known. When you start to eat normally again you will have a very slow metabolism and gain weight like nothing... But more exercise is good - just don't go nuts with it as you can cause shin splints/stress fractures.

I used to eat three meals a day and gained 8 pounds and wasn't liking it. I" hit 200 pounds. I went back to only eating twice a day. Maybe if I snack in the morning instead of eating a full bowl of cereal my metabolism won't slow down to a crawl. What do you think about that?

Well see it would depend on what exactly you were eating those three meals... But what I have always heard is eating three smaller meals with two snacks. Have you ever thought of weight watchers - they have all sorts of things and portion sizes etc and would be incredibly helpful I think in your case.

About the cereal it would depend on what kind and what type of milk you were using and also how much cereal you were eating. If it were say 3/4 cup of plain cherrios with skim milk then you should be fine... but say it was a cup and a half of frosted flakes with whole milk then no.

Well before when I was eating breakfast i would eat a bowl or two of apple jacks with 2 percent milk. I don't know if I could handle skim milk and the hubby probably force everyone else to drink it if I started using it so he would have to spend more money and buy special milk for me and it just wouldn't be worth it. And what I eat varies but I usually eat the high fattening foods like breakfast sandwiches with extra cheese sometimes and condiments. That's what I had for lunch today and also had two hash browns. And dinner I had broccoli and cheese and honey bbq chicken.

losing scale weight is all about calories consumed vs. burned and how hydrated you are.

losing fat is all about what you eat, when, and what amount of calories.

all the exercise in the world will make you flabby with no muscle without a good diet. you just keep going lower and lower cause the fat is never gone.

Well if you had to buy extra milk for you and for others wouldn't it all get used anyways - so long term it doesn't cost anymore. Yea your diet needs to be re-examined if you really want to lose. I would highly recommend weight watchers they have an awesome diet/nutrition program.

Oh and applejacks are full of sugar - why not try something like plain cherrios, shredded wheat, special K - things like that?

the easy way...

only veggies and complex carbs like plain oatmeal and brown rice

lots of lean protein- tuna (fish), chicken, egg whites, lean beef

some fats- few egg yolks, almonds, walnuts

Amalzahir is so right!!

Well I have this motto. If it doesn't taste good, I won't eat it.
I guess it's probably not a good motto to have.

it's your body, your life BipolarPrincess. If your priority is to indulge your appetite that's your choice, if you'd rather be a healthy weight then again, buck stops with you.

Also another thing you have to keep in mind is that with the meds we take that they mess with our sugar metabolism, well the antipsychotics & if I remember right you are on Geodon? You will just have to re-learn how to eat healthier food or just make better choices. Try low fat cheeses if you like cheese - they are not bad seriously. Don't go nuts on them just because they are lowfat, limit your portion sizes etc... and you can incorporate it into your entire families diet as well - why can't they also make healthier choices? You may be surprised at what you like... Here is a tip I learned - instead of sour cream, use fat free plain yogurt (it tastes the same to me & yogurt is so much more healthier) just things like that - like I said weight watchers would probably be a great thing as they have tips like that.