How Many Calories Did You Eat Before MFP?

SabrinaLovesPandora

(You don't have to answer if you don't want to )

To begin with, I'm 5'3, 125 lbs and naturally pretty small framed and my GW is 110. I averaged about 3000 calories a day and, since starting MFP 3 days ago, I only eat around 1200 a day now.

It's hitting me pretty hard, as I used to be constantly eating.

What did/do you do to help when you stopped eating so much? Did it get any easier? And does your stomach really shrink when you stop frequently over-eating?


Thanks for the advice!!

callsitlikeiseeit

your stomach doesnt shrink, your body gets used to smaller amounts .

no idea how many i ate before MFP- probably 2500 ish, more sometimes

hollyrayburn

I've no idea, as I wasn't counting them then!

SabrinaLovesPandora

Don't worry, I'm guessing based on the things I used to eat regularly! I would drink a Starbucks Frappuccino TWICE a day.

hollyrayburn

Haha, and those are about 600 ish for a venti. I'm a former starbucks addict. Me and starbucks broke up though, I'm a Dunkin girl now Haha

SabrinaLovesPandora

I'm trying so hard not to even look in the direction of Starbucks right now. I'm trying to see how long I'll last making my food, given my small amounts of patience.

Terrapin88

Since I've been on MFP logging in my foods daily, I've come to realize just how many calories I would consume in a typical day before. At times there were days were I ate 4000+ calories and didn't realize it. Never being much of a cook, I either ate out or ate easy. Mac & cheese from a box, Dominos Pan Pizza (my cryptonite), Wendy's Baconators with large fries, Olive Garden's Fettuchini Alfredo with their superb breadsticks, etc. Growing up Italian is no help either. Breads, pasta, red sauce, etc. I am amazed at the amount of calories (many of them "empty") a lot of the foods I used to eat constantly contained. Scary stuff.

Anyway, it took a week or so of eating different kinds of food with smaller portions for my stomach to get used to it. Late night munchies used to get me all the time. Now not so much. I drink water or chew gum when I have the munchies. HTH.

hhnkhl

I have no clue....lol. maybe 3000?

maidentl

Well, since I maintained a pretty steady weight for years, and maintenance for that weight is around 1800 calories, that's probably close to the amount I ate.

Blueseraphchaos

I'm pretty sure that my calories out part of the calculation was off due to a few factors. I started gaining weight and i was probably eating 3500 calories a day, at least. I gained a lot of weight very quickly. Then i cleaned up my diet and started seeing a registered dietician/m.d. and was still gaining weight, albeit much more slowly, and I'm not even sure if mfp was a thing at that point, but we estimated my daily calories to be about 2000 (at which point i should have been losing weight but wasn't). Them my dr and i fixed a few things and finally i started losing weight around the same time i started continuously tracking on mfp (although I'd had an account for a couple years before i started continuously teaching).

I can't wait until i can once again eat 2000 calories to maintain my weight, lol. Now that everything has been fixed, i just hope nothing else goes wrong that will need to be fixed in order to keep my "calories out" part of the equation in order.

TimothyFish

I don't really know. That's why I started MFP, to figure it out, but when I started logging I quit eating as much. Given that I was maintaining at 270, I must have been eating 3000+. My current calorie allowance is 1600. I've been struggling to keep to that over the last couple of weeks because I haven't been able to exercise for a while and I've just been sitting around. I should be able to start exercise again next week. That will make it easier because I can eat more and because I won't spend as much time sitting around the house.

Lounmoun

I don't know.
I started with a calorie goal of 1330 and it wasn't very difficult at all for me so probably somewhere between 1300 and 2000 with a very sedentary lifestyle.
I pre-log 3 meals and 1-2 snacks every day. I eat what I have planned. I know I am getting enough calories and I tell myself that. I drink water and wait before eating more. I chew gum in I have an urge to stick food in my mouth out of boredom.

barbecuesauce

Wasn't counting, but I was probably putting on 1 pound a month. So an extra 117 calories a day.

Lisa_0527

I don't really know how many calories I was eating daily before joining MFP but once I joined I logged in a few things that I would normally have and the numbers were unbelievable, not just the calories but the amount of sugar I was consuming was almost triple what I should be having.......I actually cried after seeing the results. Now whenever I am craving something I will log it in and usually seeing the numbers on the screen will help me pass on having it. I will occasionally treat myself but now I plan it into my day and I stick to ONE serving. I have only been doing this for 18 days and it is amazing how much better I feel since getting my sugar intake under control.

ana3067

hollyrayburn wrote: »

I've no idea, as I wasn't counting them then!

This. For all I know I ate 1500 half of the week and 3500 the rest of the week, etc.

krysmuree

SabrinaLovesPandora wrote: »

I'm trying so hard not to even look in the direction of Starbucks right now. I'm trying to see how long I'll last making my food, given my small amounts of patience.

I worked at Starbucks for a long time. I'm pretty sure my overindulgence was the cause for my final 20lb weight gain a couple of years ago.

But! For you to be successful, you shouldn't outright avoid things. You can indulge in Starbucks and still lose (I've recently switched from frappuccinos, to lattes, to plain iced coffee, to an iced americano, to two shots of espresso on ice with one pump of hazelnut - it takes weaning, haha)! Same goes for anything else - cookies, pizza, whatever. Don't just give it all up. Learn moderation and portions and keep it all within your calorie allotment.

I started at 200~lbs, down to 187lbs, and personally eat 1,500 calories. That's what I'm comfortable at. I don't binge, I don't slip, I feel satisfied, and I'm losing. Trying to lose .5lb a week and KEEP it off.

I've slipped a few times while calorie counting but continued to count, even on a really bad day (which is literally the same as an old "normal" day for me) and I usually top off at 2,500 - 2,700 calories.

barbecuesauce

ana3067 wrote: »

hollyrayburn wrote: »

I've no idea, as I wasn't counting them then!

This. For all I know I ate 1500 half of the week and 3500 the rest of the week, etc.

Yeah. I know I definitely had low days and high days, but I almost intentionally turned a blind eye to nutrition labels.

Christine_72

I have no clue either, way over 2000 calories most days. I didn't start counting calories until I had to lose the weight

Ang108

SabrinaLovesPandora wrote: »

(You don't have to answer if you don't want to )

To begin with, I'm 5'3, 125 lbs and naturally pretty small framed and my GW is 110. I averaged about 3000 calories a day and, since starting MFP 3 days ago, I only eat around 1200 a day now.

It's hitting me pretty hard, as I used to be constantly eating.

What did/do you do to help when you stopped eating so much? Did it get any easier? And does your stomach really shrink when you stop frequently over-eating?


Thanks for the advice!!

I have eaten all my life a healthy, whole foods ( minimally processed ) diet. I just ate too much of it and think it was around 2000-2200 calories on average. For a person going on 70 and under five feet tall that was too much.
I now eat 1200 calories a day and am set for a .5 pound loss a week and have lost 55 pounds in exactly two years. My way of eating helps me, because I can eat a lot of vegetables and other healthy things. I don't drink my calories, if you don't count 4 calories a day for two cups of black coffee. I eat nothing " lite ", low carb, low fat and still eat a lot of food each day. I just cut out the exaggerated amounts of rice and pasta I used to eat.

zyxst

Best guess is 4000.

happykelly209

way too many.. too much sugar too

Cortneyrenee04

According to a calculators... Looks like about 2000ish. I'm 5'3" and now eating about 1400 calories/day, sometimes more.

I'm definitely a fan of gradual changes. You dropped from 3000 to 1200... That's not going to be easy. I would bump up a bit to 1400-1500 and change your goals to lose half a pound a week. Focus on foods that make you feel full and focus on your foods (no mindless snacking). Make good choices and you don't have to feel hungry also, water, water, water! A glass before you eat, while you eat and after you eat. It helps me so much!

getalife9353

I was eating between 3000 and 3800. Didn't take but a couple of days to figure out why I was obese.

I am 6'0" and started in Nov at 247 Lbs.
CW is 220 lbs.
GW is 170 lbs.
My calorie goal is to average 1700 / day. Since Jan 1, I have averaged 1686 /day, and am within .2 lbs. of my projected weight, so it seems to be working out even though there are weeks that I am over and weeks that I am under. If I continue on my projected plan I will reach my goal weight in April 2016.

ncboiler89

No clue

ana3067

barbecuesauce wrote: »

ana3067 wrote: »

hollyrayburn wrote: »

I've no idea, as I wasn't counting them then!

This. For all I know I ate 1500 half of the week and 3500 the rest of the week, etc.

Yeah. I know I definitely had low days and high days, but I almost intentionally turned a blind eye to nutrition labels.

I didn't, they just weren't something that I noticed period. Like... might as well have had it all written in some ancient now-lost language because it just didn't exist to me. I don't think I'd have been able to tell you what calories were or how it influenced weight management until I joined MFP. I just assumed that, like probably most people, weight loss was due to eating "healthy" and working out.

PAV8888

You are asking one question. I (perhaps wrongly) hear another.

How FAST were you gaining at 3000cals? With your stats you were either gaining more than a couple of pounds each and every week, or you are extremely active.

If you are very active and spending close to 2800cals a day, 1200 cals represents a >50% cut from your TDEE. i.e. it is more than extreme.

You shouldn't be THAT hungry in order to succeed.

If you are that hungry you're cutting more than you should, you are making yourself miserable, and you are increasing the likelihood of failure.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

http://fit101.org/the-step-by-step-guide-to-losing-weight-with-myfitnesspal/

In particular consider whether you are trying to lose weight by indiscriminately losing both muscle and fat, or whether you would prefer to do everything you can to lose mostly fat. Or whether your real goal is just to be stronger. Or whether your goal is to have six pack abs.

Hint: only one of the above goals can be accomplished on a 50% cut off TDEE, and it is the one that involves the highest loss of lean mass.

If you take 100 females who are the same age and height as you, 53 weigh more than you do today. At your goal weight, 71 would weigh more than you do.

atypicalsmith

Before I quit smoking in 2004, I was easily eating 4,000 calories a day. No kidding. Breakfast at a greasy spoon restaurant, lunch at a fattening sandwich place, a full bar of Snickers for a snack, dinner out, and then at least a bottle of wine every night. I quit smoking and QUIT EVERYTHING else, but still gained weight like crazy. Just as I was getting it under control, a catastrophe happened which resulted in moving to a new state, and the weight piled on. Now I refuse to eat out AT ALL, cook my own meals measuring and weighing everything, and I have FINALLY started losing weight!

CooCooPuff

I can at least account for two, usually three or four strawberry frosted Pop-Tarts. I ate those every day.


I tried my hand at recreating a day. What I really want to do is try recreating the Wednesdays when I would go to Kroger and buy as much as I could to eat that day. That'll probably be a little easier as I would typically eat the entire package to hide the evidence from my family.

BWBTrish

too much

TheVirgoddess

SabrinaLovesPandora wrote: »

(You don't have to answer if you don't want to )

To begin with, I'm 5'3, 125 lbs and naturally pretty small framed and my GW is 110. I averaged about 3000 calories a day and, since starting MFP 3 days ago, I only eat around 1200 a day now.

It's hitting me pretty hard, as I used to be constantly eating.

What did/do you do to help when you stopped eating so much? Did it get any easier? And does your stomach really shrink when you stop frequently over-eating?


Thanks for the advice!!

You only have 15 pounds to lose - you should be eating more, IME. Your goal should be set on here to lose .5lbs/week.

For your original question, I have no idea. A lot probably, but I also had some untreated medical conditions.

CooCooPuff

Okay, the first one is a typical Wednesday brunch. The oreos are there because I remember picking up those over the donut holes a lot of times.