How Many Calories Did You Eat Before MFP?

atypicalsmith

I'm staying at under 1500 calories a day, tops. Usually under 1200. My metabolism is gone, but thanks to MFP, I'm doing the right thing now and am slowly losing the weight instead of gaining more. Still have 40 pounds to go, but that's okay. I'll get there.

haysavam

Oh I was easily at 3,000 calories a day. Pastas. I would eat a full plate of pasta from Olive Garden (which is around 1,000 calories and then have like three of their breadsticks and the salad) And that was lunch. That's like- my entire day now.

Pshhh. I may or may not have eaten an entire hot and ready over the span of and evening.

I never want to go back there again. That was a slippery slope.

Asher_Ethan

It wouldn't surprise me if it was close to 4000 calories a day. I was the, "OMG I work out so I can eat anything I want," girl.

LoveMyBabes3

When I first started on February 6th I didn't change how I ate and I logged everything I ate the first day so I had an idea of how much work I needed to do. I ate almost 2200 calories. I had about 30 pounds to lose so I am eating between 12 and 15 hundred calories a day now. It really isn't hard. I eat about 200 calories for breakfast about 300 for lunch about 500 for dinner and the rest are for small snacks between meals. At first I was hungry often but now I can't eat as much as I used to before getting full. I've lost almost 10 pounds and my stomach is smaller. Many people have noticed my Weightloss in my face. It's definitely a life style change for me.

r5d5

TheVirgoddess wrote: »

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.

I agree. I too am trying to lose about 15lbs currently and am also 5'3".
Eating 1200 might not be such a great idea, for a variety of reasons.
One that's immediate is that you get tired and feel hungry constantly. There's no need for that

SteveMFP123

I just put in one of my old typical days and it came out to 3500 calories, probably 4000 on a takeaway night.

RhineDHP

Before MFP......I was probably eating more than 3000 calories.


On another note, unless you're a really sedentary person, 1200 calories, I believe, is too low to maintain for long. I'm 5'1 and eat between 1700-1900 calories a day, and have managed to lose 10 pounds. Slowly? Sure, but I've kept it off for awhile now.

Here's a couple of good forum posts that might be very useful to you. They helped me a lot:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1214490/the-wisdom-of-trogalicious/p1

community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p1

community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

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

minties82

Probably a good 3200cal.

Sophiasmomma

I counted a few days prior to my new lifestyle of eating
And I am.amazed looking back that I only gained 20ish lbs from how many calories I was consuming out of boredom
My daily calories now are usually 1200-1350 before a regualr day was over double eek!!
I find that my mind set is so different knowing that I can have all the things I love just dont so much at one time. So dont deprive yourself or this wont be a lifestyle change but u will feel like its a diet

JVClubs

at my heaviest i was eating in the neighborhood of 7,000 calories easy on the high end, and on the low wend maybe in the neighborhood of 4500. that was 2 years ago

chagley1

I can easily get out of control when I don't journal...2000+ calories a day. My goal, which I hit easily when I journal, is 1200/day.

ChaiTea2015

Now that I'm actually reading nutrition labels and stuff, I probably had close if not more than 4500 calories a day. I'm between 1400 and 1800 these days with more activity.

Frappleberry

It varied but I would estimate 2500/3500+ in an average day.I wasn't eating lunch either, just very high calories in what I did eat. A typical day would be Sausage rolls for breakfast and cheese sandwiches on white bread or takeout in the evenings with snacking on chocolate in between. I was also drinking a lot of wine, 2-3 large glasses several times a week!
I thlnk I eat more now but it's healthier and lower calories, I've also cut out alcohol for the moment. Knowing what I do now, I feel shocked that that was what I was doing to myself and I was telling myself I was not over eating because I are so little during my day at work!

kellyjellybellyjelly

I'm betting I ate anywhere from 4000-5000 calories a day.

DawnieB1977

I think I'm the opposite to most people...I actually increased my calories when I'd been on MFP for a while! I started using MFP when my 2nd child was 14 months, and I'd been losing baby weight already (actually, I'd lost pretty much all of it by then). When I started logging I was eating as I had been for 14 months (and pretty much the way I've eaten for years) and I was eating 1200-1300 calories a day. I increased to 1500-1600 calories and lost a further 35lbs, and it came off a lot faster.

I used to eat fewer calories than that in my early 20s.

I'm losing baby weight after my third at the moment.

Maybe it's different because I'm losing weight gained in pregnancy.

scottacular

I ate all of the calories.

sazauk82

I've no idea, but I think it was a lot. My portion sizes were getting bigger again since I stopped using MFP and Weight Watchers for a while. I was also skipping 2 meals a day and constantly eating from tea time until bedtime. Sweets, chocolates, crisps, cheese and fried foods. Now I eat healthy veggie packed meals most days.

Train4Foodz

Pre-healthy lifestyle change I would eat my daily meals and then in the evening tuck into a 'HUGE' greasy donner meat pizza from the local takeaway.. probably 4 times a week!

Given that this huge pizza was around 14", deep.. plenty extra cheese and about 5 kebabs worth of donner meat. My guess is my daily 'average' over a week was probably 4500-5400calories. Easily(that's a lower-end guess)!

It wasn't always this way, I really only put serious body-fat on within around 2 years when my children were first born.. I forgot about looking after me properly! It was just 'easier'.. Now there is no way int his world I would go back to that!

Now, whenever I have a 'treat' when I'm not on a cut I always make sure that wherever I get my pizza, curry, etc is always 'quality' over quantity! I can still destroy a large pizza once a fortnight but at least now I know that I'm fitting it into part of a healthy balanced diet(and it's from a quality place!!)!

81Katz

I didn't count calories until I decided to lose weight, but I was probably eating a couple thousand calories on most days. 3-4000+ on reallllllllly bad days I bet.

RoxieDawn

Around 3000 for me as well. I too came to MFP to figure it out and was able to stop weight gain and then learned healthier choices. I actually gained weight while trying to lose weight if that makes any sense..

amusedmonkey

I ate anywhere between 500 calories and 5000 calories. I have a very variable appetite. And yes, 5000 calories was a common thing for me on some days - that's how I passed the 300 pound mark. Now I eat anywhere between 500 calories and 5000 calories with a big main difference: I have way more 1400ish calorie days and way less 5000 calorie ones.

yesimpson

Probably around 2100 on a normal day, which is nowhere near excessive, but it was too much for someone who sat on her butt all day.
Feeling sad/ugly/stressed/angry? Easily topped 4000, which is probably more the reason why I was bigger than I wanted, because those days happened at the very least once a week.

paulaviki

I think easily 2500-3000 or more. My portion sizes were way too big and I'd have extras like sauce or cheese when I really didn't need it! Plus I'd always have some sort of biscuit or chocolate after a meal. I'm definitely still capable of eating large amounts but fortunately I don't actually want to as much at the moment.

That said I've just had two days in London where I ate way too much food and drank way too much gin!

kmackaye

Starting here at 300 pounds as a 55yo widow, you can be sure I was consuming over 4000 cals a day, and barely exercising at all. I also cook for a living. That has it's own challenges all by itself. I am using my health improvement as my motivator

Cassie_DE

I'd always been overweight, but at one point I was having serious mental issues I never had taken care of and I gained massive amounts of weight; before then I was about 180lbs (but I was younger and spent nearly 12 hours a week playing rugby) and after, while extremely sedentary, ballooned to close to 245lbs at the most.
Considering, at the 180lb mark, I could throw back 8 pork chops in one sitting and still have room for salad while maintaining my weight fairly easily, I figure I must have been eating over 4000 calories fairly regularly at my worst.

overin2015

2000 - 3000 here too. I am keeping calories to 1400 - 1600 depending on the events of the day. I know for me the restriction causes a lot of internal stress and small binges right now so this way I can keep the fun things to eat and still keep in this calorie range. Hopefully later I will intuitively want to clean up my diet. I am working to make it a one day at a time thing.

WeddedBliss1992

my first few days of MFP, i logged everything i ate and didn't change my dietary habits so i could have a base for comparison. i was eating over 4000 cals/day.

DebzNuDa

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 now buy Starbucks beans and have them grind them for Espresso (I so love the taste). Then I use Fat Free Half & Half, Truvia and Cinnamon, add some ice and have an Iced Latte Coffee in the summer. (Wow, that REALLY sounds good right now) But, I try to keep these at a limit.

As far as calories before MFP, probably 2500+ a day because I use to eat so much candy!! I actually have gotten to the point that I don't require chocolate daily LOL.

Merkavar

Just a guess here since I wasn't counting but I think as low as 800 some days and as high as 4500 others.

JtKeil

Hard to say, it feels so long ago now. Probably 3000-4000 calories at my biggest. Oreos, everything cooked in tons of oil, lots of fruit juice/soda, and lots of sugary coffees.

The strange thing is, when I was obese and eating like that I remember never feeling satisfied. Obviously I was taking in more than I needed so I should have felt it. But, I didn't