How bad were your eating habits?

thepainmaker88

Just curious were you guys are all coming from ... like how bad were your eating habits before you came here to change them? I’m assuming most of us are all here for the same reason.... we ate too much! With the exception of those with a medical condition that caused weight gain.

Me personally, I was always really good about moderation then my wife became pregnant and I just stopped caring. I was probably eating around 3500 to 5000 calories a day and a lot of fast food and soda.

zeejane03

When I started my active weight loss phase I continued to eat the same foods I was already eating before-a very SAD diet, with lots of 'processed' convenience foods, fast food a few times a week etc. I didn't change what I ate to lose weight, but I learned what CICO was and lowered my calorie intake to match my weight loss goals. Lost the extra weight (around 50lbs), improved all my health markers and corrected a health issue.

Fast forward to now-my 6 year maintenance anniversary is in April. Throughout that time I've experimented quite a bit with different ways of eating. Currently I'm doing the DASH protocol, along with a mostly plant based diet.

How I eat now is completely different than how I used to eat, but I have years of blood-work/health panels (twice a year, going on 7 years now), that shows that it doesn't matter what I eat-my weight controls my health markers and keeps my glucose number normalized.

As I get older I'm starting to think of long term health, and how nutrition may play a role in that (I'm very interested in the Blue Zones etc), but I also have no problem going out to eat once in a while or eating the occasional cookie, because I know in the scheme of things it's not a big deal

mom23mangos

My diet was BAD. Growing up, my mother always cooked nutritious home cooked meals. Protein, carb, orange and green vegetable. She limited my intake of junk food to Saturday mornings. So when I moved away from home I went a little crazy with the junk food. I pretty much lived on junk. No protein. Chips, candy, soda, fast food, ramen....I don't know how I managed to not be overweight. Even after I had kids, I made sure I fed them nutritious meals, but during the day at work I gorged on junk. I even had bloodwork come back as being malnourished.

I'm so glad I've been able to get back to healthy eating for 80% of my meals. I still eat junk, but make sure my body is getting the nutrients it needs to function at the top of its game.

thepainmaker88

^^ Geez, looking at you I never would have guessed you ate like that OR had kids!

endermako

All of my meals were fast food. I was consuming 4500+ on a daily basis and wasting a lot of money.

Edited to add:
Im also pretty sure I was/am a binge eater. I would eat at every meal to the point of feeling sick.

thepainmaker88

Right, didn't even mention how much money I blew through the drive through!

sardelsa

My eating habits were alright, I came here wanting to get into shape so it was more about playing around with my macros. I used to eat a lot more fat (nuts, seeds, granola) now I eat more protein.

callsitlikeiseeit

ive lost 120 pounds and maintained that for 3 years (now working on losing the rest). my biggest issues were not so much what I ate, but how MUCH.

i still eat the same things i always have for the most part, just much less of it. and, nothing is off limits. learning how to do that, is what made it easy for me to maintain without tracking calories (other than the occasional spot check on things).

PapillonNoire

My eating habits were terrible. Tons of pizza, Chinese food, fast food and ice cream all in large portions. I used to have an activity level that allowed for it, but when I got a desk job and started driving everywhere instead of walking I gained weight fast. I still eat pizza, Chinese, fast food and ice cream, but I do it less frequently and in more appropriate portion sizes.

RelCanonical

We ate out a lot when I was a child, and the habit continued into adulthood. I teetered between overweight and obese for pretty much my entire life until I moved away from home and didn't realize my parents were naturally regulating my portion sizes. I gained a good 30 pounds in a year just from eating what I normally ate, but more of it and more often, because I had messed with the regular meal schedule my parents had set (even if those meals were fast food).

RoxieDawn

I guess my eating habits are still terrible by others standards.

I still eat fast food, I went diet soda so I could eat more fast food.

jemhh

Terrible. Just awful. When it came to meals I ate appropriate portions and mostly "healthy" foods. But then on top of that I ate large portions of random...stuff...because I was stress/bored/comfort eating. Grabbing a stick of butter and sleeve of saltines to mow through while my daughter napped was not uncommon. Saltines are still a huge temptation for me so I don't keep them in the house.

RelCanonical

RoxieDawn wrote: »

I guess my eating habits are still terrible by others standards.

I still eat fast food, I went diet soda so I could eat more fast food.

Haha, I think that's true with me too. I'd say it's gotten better in that my salt intake isn't aggressively high anymore, but there are definitely people on here that would balk at what I eat on a daily basis.

cwolfman13

Mine were never terribly bad. I've always cooked most of my meals from scratch at home. I'd say the biggest issues with my diet were that I never got close to the recommended veg and fruit amounts (I do now) and I drank too much soda.

My weight gain was largely attributable to going from being a very active college student to a sedentary desk job when I was 30 and I put on around 40-50 Lbs from 30-38...pretty much 5-6 Lbs per year, so I wasn't going crazy with food by any means.

lalalacroix

My diet was actually pretty good. I've always cooked and always used a lot of fresh ingredients. (It's why I always feel triggered when people say they are gonna lose weight just by eating healthy.) But I also loved to make sauces for some meals. I cooked with lots of butter, olive oil, wine, cheeses. Oh cheese how I miss you!

Then I had a head on collision and didn't lower the amount I was eating. So I gained. I still eat a good bit the way I did before, just less sauces and butter and cheese.

thepainmaker88

Sometimes I’d eat an entire frozen pizza to get ready for lunch

LiLee2018

My body just can't handle sugar and carbs bc of insulin resistance. I knew this but still ate all the sugar and carbs! lol
I overate EVERYTHING carby. 1 pack of ramen? Nope... I ate 2 plus eggs or something else thrown in to it.
Cereal? I'd eat 2 giant bowls.
Cookies.. like oreos for instance? I'd eat a row and a half.
And those foods NEVER made me feel full and satisfied so I'd eat and eat and eat some more until I finally just felt sick and couldn't eat more.
This is why a eat whatever but in moderation diet never worked for me b/c I just can't control myself when I get to eat what I want. My body gets a taste of it and just amps up my hunger. I wish it wasn't like that.

aokoye

They weren't especially bad so much as I baked at least once, sometimes twice, a week (for one person) and I wasn't working out consistently for various reasons. I exercise more now and typically at a higher intensity and I eat less, but typically the same type of food. My soda habit came and went well before I decided to try to lose weight (it was very situational) and I haven't eaten fast food since I was probably 14, with a few exceptions when there weren't any other options.

I make the same proportion of my meals from scratch

anetkastefaniak

My issue was that I could never be at a maintenance weight. I would gain 20 lbs quickly (eating way over 2500 calories per day) and then lose the weight in an unhealthy manner (restricting, eating between 800-1100 per day).

I would go from eating junk food to eating only fruits and vegetables, there was never an inbetween for me. I've learned a lot about treating yourself, and not feeling guilty when I want something. All in moderation.

I was maintaining for the last half of 2018, gained a few lbs over Christmas so I'm back at it again to lose them. After that I'm back in maintenance.

MelanieCN77

I ate very little fruit and veg, so was filling up on all the other high caloric density kind of foods.

janejellyroll

My eating habits were decent except I just ate too much of everything and I was prone to grabbing candy at work when it was available. I'm now much better about keeping to reasonable portion sizes and I'm much more choosy about what I choose to pick up at work.

endermako

RoxieDawn wrote: »

I guess my eating habits are still terrible by others standards.

I still eat fast food, I went diet soda so I could eat more fast food.

Same I still eat fast food, just not very often and I try to pick the lower calorie options. I definitely don't deprive myself

collectingblues

My habits were fine. I just gained weight because I really liked cheese when I went on my insulin pump, because I was afraid of carbs and thought cheese was fine. And I didn't track any of the cheese I was eating, because I didn't track anything. I can easily and happily knock away 400+ calories worth of cheese in one setting. (Protip: It's a lie that you don't have to track what you eat if you don't eat carbs. My 10-pound gain showed that one perfectly.)

kimny72

My eating habits were pretty decent, just not quite enough veg and fruit, and just a bit too much treat foods. And not quite enough activity. That's pretty much how you gain 20 lbs over the course of 5 years or so. My diet is pretty darn close to what it was, just a few tweaks and a lot more steps on my Fitbit!

Phirrgus

2450 TDEE>4500 ( that's what it felt like) calorie appetite. The math just wasn't in my favor

I still eat the same foods and my logging isn't super tight, but I no longer eat whole pizzas followed by 3 bowls of cereal...

I'm very fortunate in that I got disgusted with myself before I put on too much weight.

nooshi713

I grew up eating healthy. Most of what I eat is healthy. I do eat an occasional treat. I have eaten home cooked real food with lots of fruits and veggies my whole life.

But, I still gained weight eating too much healthy food. Intuitive eating doesnt work for me because I am always hungry. I have to count calories to keep my portions under control.

ShayCarver89

Mine were terrible. I had absolutely no regard for calories. None. What so ever. I'd drink sweet tea like crazy, eat Big Macs, entire pizza's, like 2 different meals from Taco Bell in one sitting. I snacked nightly on like entire bags of donuts.
Now, I'm a little different than most people here. My goal is not to get 6 pack fit or get thin, I'm a plus size model. My goal is to be thick and chubby so I can keep my job lol. But I have had to make MAJOR changes in my life. The other night I had salad and soup from Olive Garden and ate 1 bread stick, as opposed to when I would eat 2 baskets on my own. I honestly did it without thinking and realized later 'holy sh**!'
I just want to be healthy.

kds10

I had an all or nothing mentality. I would pick a day and then tell myself okay you are going to exercise a certain amount plus eat perfectly (in my head that would be low fat), so if I ate something that I considered "bad" I would use that as an excuse to blow it that day and start again the next day.

Sometimes I would be good for a day or two then blow it....this year I took up IF which seemed to click with me. I am still trying to retrain myself out of that "Low fat" mentality.

emmylootwo

Well, I used to get an extra burger to eat on the way home from Mcdonald's on top of the two burgers I already ordered.... that probably says a lot about why I gained 180 pounds in 3 years. I binged non stop every single day after I lost my brother and my mom got sick. Before that my eating habits were pretty normal (as normal as they could be because I had just gone through treatment for bulimia nervosa). I ate a lot of vegetables just because I enjoy the taste of them. I hated fruits though.

Now I still eat a lot of fast food but keep it within my calories. I'm also absolutely addicted to sliced, peeled apples! Haha But I just want to get the hang of counting calories again before I start trying to overhaul my macros and nutrients.

AnnPT77

Actual nutrition from foods eaten, not that bad. (I've been vegetarian and "whole-foods-y" for decades.)

Problems: Portion sizes excessive, proportions of various foods not appropriate calorically (too much whole grain whatever is still too many calories), too many treats, and too much routine alcohol consumption (not huge amounts at a time, typically, just more often than calorically reasonable for someone my size).

I still eat mostly the same foods at a healthy weight, just different portion sizes, in different relative proportions, and treat-type (calorie-dense, not nutrition-dense) foods less frequently.

OhMsDiva

i have no idea what my eating patterns were before, which is why I was 500 lbs. I just ate everything in sight I guess. I paid no attention to what I ate. Now I have learned to eat in moderation and not waste calories on food that I really do not want.