How do I stop eating 6,000 calories??

Elle_Jamaicangirl81

some of the values for those things are really high...

begin to read the breakdown of the calories and such, and try to make different choices. It can be done, and you can sure do it. Dont just go into the store and pick up what looks good... you're going to take longer in the supermarket, but it will work out better in the end.

also plan ahead... spend time looking in the database on here and see how much cals are in the foods you choose.

Hopefully logging the nearly 6000cals opened your eyes a lil

Good luck to you

simplyeater

I think some of the food you entered has incorrect info. I'm vegan but I'm pretty sure 2 slices of bacon doesn't have 270 calories. And if you only had a cup of spaghetti that is definitely not 600 calories. Start weighing and measuring and it might not be as bad as you think:)

cranberrycat

The first few days (or even weeks) of logging your meals is definitely an eye-opening experience. But from there, you can see where the problems are and what the impact is if you switch out some of the processed foods for some veggies.

Manageable? Definitely!

lavieboheme1229

I would start by cutting down to something like 2000-2500 calories a day, to start, and work your way down to the lower goal from there. The reality is, now that you've done "the crime" for so long, you must do "the time". It's not easy to watch what you eat and actively try to lose weight, but that's what we all get for overindulging and gaining more than we ought to, instead of being reasonable to begin with. It's going from one extreme to a bit of another.

You are going to need to seriously crack down on a lot of the cheese, the bacon, the fried things, the whole eggs, the white bread, the alcohol, the mayonnaise and other full-fat condiments, and the sugar, to name a few. You can still have a little bit of some of these, occasionally, but not much if you want to lose the weight. Stock up on a variety of colourful vegetables, some fruit (not too much fruit, it's still high in sugars and therefore calories), lean proteins (fin fish, shrimp, skinless chicken, lean pork chops, lean ground meats, lentils, beans), healthy fats (olive oil used sparingly. PAM spray, avocados, nuts, NATURAL peanut butter), low-fat dairy (skim or 1% milk, or dairy alternatives), and whole grains (brown rice, sprouted grain breads, quinoa, to name a few). Try to reduce the quantity of foods you eat that have a laundry list of ingredients. Most of the ingredients that you can't pronounce or identify probably aren't good for you, and you should at least relegate to less than 20% of your daily caloric intake, if we are being reasonable.

There is a "Recipes" section in the forums, I would suggest you peruse it for ideas. Do some web research to learn how to "cook light". If you're really stuck on how to cook something to get a desired result, feel free to ask me. My culinary arts certificate should get at least SOME use, for all the money I owe in student loans!

This. Perfect. took the words out of my mouth. I bet if you just cut servings in half and started low fat instead of full fat, you would lose 1/2 those calories in a blink of an eye.

brandee1212

I did too! It is an eye opener, but that many is absurd!

Wow, no need for that kind of judgment. This is supposed to be a support community. If you have nothing nice or helpful to say, say nothing. Sheesh.

cici1028

So, first of all, well done on your tracking! It can be shocking to see how much we consume when we don't know what types of calories are in it.

Two suggestions if you want them!
-- portion control
-- substitutions

You can actually replicate many of your meals and slash calories with substitutions and portion control. I checked out your diary and you could have a similar breakfast for around 400 calories rather than 1,210. Substitute an english muffin for the hamburger bun, canadian bacon or ham for the bacon, and use one slice of cheese (or less, lo-fat if you can tolerate it) and you're good to go. Try light cream instead of cream or milk in your coffee as well.

You could have a great healthy sandwich for lunch on 100 calorie or whole grain bread...

Try this website sometime for great recipes that are low calorie.

http://www.hungry-girl.com/show

tmauck4472

took everything I had to finish my 142 calorie lunch today. Doesn't look like much but I had 6 oz of chicken to eat and could only eat half, my spoiled dogs got the rest. I also had some grape tomatoes, dill pickles and some radishes. Really wasn't much and I'm so very full right now. Do not and I repeat do not try to eat the same way as I do...I'm doing this my way and people have major issues with it but I don't care. I feel fine, I'm losing weight at my pace. I'm NOT going hungry nor am I starving myself.

You should do what one person said move down 2000 calories until your body gets used to that..about a month or so and then move down another 2000 until you are where you need to be to have a good loss.

jennifer52484

If you are currently used to eating 6,000 calories/day, try just cutting that in half for a few weeks. and then slowly reduce your calories from there. Some might suggest to Try eating less of the foods your are used to others would say stop eating those foods all together. That is up to you.

mandy031383

I agree with other posters I would not go from 6,000 to 1500 over night you will be sick and never stick to it. Start slow and decrease. But, as far as 1500 being manageable it absolutely is once you figure out what to eat. Not to mention you should be eating a lot more small meals a day 5-7 and not 3 big ones. As soon as you feel full stop eating!!!!! Eventually your stomach will naturally shrink and this will help also. If I even attempted to eat in one sitting what I did 3 months ago I would probably get sick. I personally am at 1200 a day and now I sometimes have a problem trying to reach 1200 and no I don’t eat salad at every meal. This didn’t happen overnight it took time and really looking at things, I was a huge carb and sugar lover. I started cutting back little by little and before I noticed there were tons of bad food I didn’t even crave anymore. Things I didn’t think I could live without before. Don’t get me wrong if I REALLY want something that is not so great for me I have it just not the portion I would before. You will do great this site helps a lot, it does not happen over night it takes time. Good Luck!!!

jeffrodgers1

Absolutely possible to reduce your calories. I find 6,000 to be an inordinately large number. I myself tend to only consume about 2,000 - 3,000 calories per day (and I am 5'11, 220).

First thing is to look at what you are eating and make healthier choices. I notice from your diary that you are consuming lots of convenience foods... typically these are high calorie, high fat, low fiber type foods.

Fiber fills you up. From what I can see a large amount of the foods are fibre deficient. White Hamburger buns have little to no redeeming features. Look for more whole grain foods that are higher fiber. These will help fill you up for longer.

Cut down on the fatty foods as well. For instance bacon is mostly fat. Can you replace it with a lower fat, lower sodium option? an example would be turkey bacon or a lean, low sodium type ham. Another option is to boil or poach the egg or go for egg whites.

Add vegetables to your diet. If you take a dinner plate... half your plate should be vegetables. Vegetables are low fat, high fiber and provide many essential vitamins and minerals. Oh and Vegetables do not include potatoes. Some people even consider that corn is not a vegetable (its a cereal grain, but I won't debate that here).

I notice that your also not drinking much in water? Thirst and hunger are often confused with each other. You may be thirsty but your mind registers it as hunger. Try drinking a tall glass of water and waiting ten minutes before eating. Not only do you help increase the volume of your food, but you improve that sense of satiety. I would suggest increasing your water intake to reduce your hunger.

Anyways... my 2 cents, I am sure some people will disagree, I'm not a Doctor, or Nutritionist, but you can't argue with my results. Officially I lost 123 pounds but have now gained back 26 pounds which is largely muscle mass.

I hope this helps.

escloflowneCHANGED

As others have said, if you are used to eating like you did yesterday...Don't just drop to 1500 calories. It will cause you to be very hungry and just hate the idea of eating better lol. Your day yesterday was pretty much how I used to eat back in December, it took about a month to get used to the portion control but now I struggle to eat 3000 calories a day on big workout days.

If you want to eat more, you could add working out to allow for it also. I would recommend buying a food scale, it's the best purchase I made to help me lose weight.

aubreykkkk

Don't cut down that low right away! You might go crazy and end up binging even more than 6000. Reduce the calories each day until you get down to 1500

jadedone

Being honest here, I am seriously jealous of you guys who could eat 5000 calories a day. Your metabolism is way faster than mine. I gained on around 2700 a day, and that was a day I ate a lot.

OP:
First up, cut down on all your desserts. I saw M&Ms, chocolate chip cookies and other candy in your diary. Way too much for one day. Stick to one serving of one of those MAX per day. And try to cut it down to a couple times a week.

Second: work on your toppings and condiments. You want to limit the cheese and bacon consumption. Certainly not twice a day in full portions. Try to cut those down to a single serving per day

Third: Up your fiber intake. Add a big serving of veggies to every meal.

Fourth: start slow, it is really hard to change everything at once. Master one change and move on to the next one.

vtmoon

Like others pointed out, you might want to gradually go down to the 1500. The best thing about MFP when you start is, it makes you realize what you are eating and help you move towards holding yourself accountable to what you eat. From there on you will start to trim the fat (figuratively and literally) and work on making your diet better.

I remember before I gave up fast food I would sit down late at night after work and eat 2 Triple Whopper sandwiches with cheeses (about 3000 calories alone right there) , 2-3 large sides of lemonade (1000-1500 calories), with a side of large Onion rings (500ish ), and to take it home I would get an Apple pie and a Hershey pie for desert ( 600ish) . So that was roughly around the 5600 calorie figure that the OP was talking about. And sadly I did that late at night after work so it meant I was going to sleep and my body would get no chance to burn any of that.

So again, start slow and adjust to adopt better habits that can lead to a change for better and healthier life style

DrMAvDPhD

Everyone has already given lots of great advice. I will emphasize what I think is the easiest and most important--STOP DRINKING YOU CALORIES! The juice, chocolate milk, and beer are all basically meaningless calories and cutting them out won't make you feel more hungry.

Every time you feel hungry, drink a glass of water and wait 5-10 minutes. If you are still hungry, snack.

fatboypup

mmmmmmmm the pure fun i could have eating 6k a day ....

secretlobster

I don't think there's any harm cutting down to 2000 calories right away. That is probably more than you will want to end up eating ultimately, unless you are very very active, but you're not going to starve yourself eating less than 2000 calories.

auroranflash

Either taper it down gradually and get rid of the sweets, or seek some sort of therapy to help you. Not being snarky. You may actually need it to help take control of binge eating/snacking issues that often have very little to do with food and more to do with a deeper issue.

Best of luck.

tewsy

You can do it. You eat a lot more when you aren't aware how much you are eatting. Keeping this diary will help. Also feel free to friend! Looking for supporters!

kappyblu

You can do it hon. It will be very hard at first. You will think you are starving, but your body will just be getting used to the change. It will take 2 to 3 weeks.

I looked at your diary and wanted to mention that you should double check those spaghetti noodles. One cup of cooked pasta is about 200 calories, no matter what kind it is. 2 ounces (or 56 grams) of dry pasta = about one cup cooked. Test it for yourself. Weigh out the dry pasta and cook it on its own. Then measure the drained pasta to see how much you get.

Sometimes nutrition information is entered incorrectly on here and you have to watch that. You can correct an entry or make a new one. Some people will put (correct) in the ingredient name. Best wishes and welcome to MFP! :flowerforyou: