ILuvChubbyChix:
This is my opinion. Ultimately, it really boils down to what you'd like to achieve, and what lengths you are willing to go there.
I'm sort of in-between, which is while I do want results, I also want to enjoy the journey there.
The key, important thing is to find what works for you. One can attempt to try to over-analyze everything, even down to calorie efficiency based on what you eat, calories burned by physical activity, etc. But I recommend throwing such notions out of the window.
Don't worry about calories burned from physical activity. Actually, some light activity will likely help immensely. And here's another thing.. the number of calories burned from such activities is minimal. Ever wonder why so many burn out on overexercising while trying to lose weight? That, combined with a sad, boring diet is why.
There are ultimately two very important things to remember, and if you do that, everything else will eventually fall into place. Are you ready?
1. Eat more calories than you burn.
2. Be consistent.
(1) should be obvious. You should probably get some idea of how many calories you need to eat just to maintain. There's a myriad of web sites out there that will attempt to estimate this. All of them are likely to be slightly wrong, but if you try many of them, and average them out, that should give you a pretty good idea.
(2) this should be more obvious, but is less so. You will NOT see results overnight. In fact, if you can consistently gain 1-2 lbs a week you will be doing very well. Life is NOT a weight gain fic. The closest thing to a real life weight gain fic is probably a cruise ship or all-inclusive vacation resort of some sort.
Big stuffings can be fun, but if that means you eat almost nothing the next day because you're nauseous or still too full, you would have wiped out any progress from the stuffing.
The key is consistency - consistently eating more. If that means eating not as much today, to be able to eat the same amount tomorrow, this is better than a big stuffing.
Other Advice
Don't try to eat the exact same thing every day. Even if it's technically the most economical. That will get boring quickly, and you will probably burn out - not fun.
Do try different food on occasion.
Do have fun. The more fun you have, the easier it is to keep going.
Do occasionally try to push yourself to eat more, but not until the point that you're sick every day, or worse.. throwing up. That overly full feeling, where most folks might think "I ate too much" is a pretty good target.
If you try to eat more, take small steps. One more slice of pizza, or just a few more nuggets or chicken strips. But avoid big leaps. If you tap out at 4 slices of pizza, don't suddenly try for 8 slices for the whole pizza.
Try small minor changes that might add calories. Maybe you'll like them, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll develop a taste for them. For example.. extra cheese on a sandwich or pizza, or slightly more mayo. Or cream and sugar in coffee (I don't like that combination but a lot of folks do).
You WILL have plateaus from time to time. Don't worry about it and just keep eating. I've actually noticed that often times it'll seem like nothing is happening and then suddenly, I notice an additional 2-4 lbs or so.
Do NOT go crazy with soda or anything that contains HFCS - that will mess you up bad and cause diabetes, which is NOT fun. And it's not even that high in calories.
Do NOT neglect vitamins - whether from vegetables, multivitamin pills, or even nutritional shakes (which can have lots of calories). You'll regret it if you do.
Heavy Cream
Lot of folks here will swear by heavy cream. It CAN work, if you use it properly.
Be consistent.
Don't try it on an empty stomach. It's best when combined or right after other food, often something carbo-loaded like bread.
You might find there's only so much dairy fat you can handle at one time. I can't tell you what that amount is, so you'd have to experiment. This amount you can handle might increase over time, but if you do, increase the amount each time slowly.
Do mix it with other things for taste. Do NOT mix it with anything that contains maltodextrin. That powdery stuff isn't that fun anyway, but even if you aren't bothered by that, I should note it's often used as a thickening agent and can cause dairy fat to clump, resulting in an extremely thick, undrinkable mixture.
That's all I can think of for now.
What's obvious obvious advice to one might be a novel idea to someone else.
