Do you know what you USED to eat? OMG!

AliceNov2011

As an experiment, I just entered a typical day's worth of food into MFP - a typical day BEFORE I began my journey 10 months ago. What an eye-opener! Compared to a typical day now, I've cut out 2300 calories... 2300!!! Plus 39g carbs, 114g fat (!!!), 66g protein, and a whopping 4300mg of sodium! OMG! And on top of all that, I was eating 12g FEWER in fiber. That tells you how much fruit & vegetables I was eating (not).

Have you calculated your cuts? It's a very motivating exercise. ;c)

avasano

True. Too True.

AlphamaleBAMF

I used to drink 1000-2000 calories from coffee and softdrink with heaps of sugar. I'd eat everything on bread with butter (even potato chips) and usually have about 4-8 sandwiches a day which could be anything up to another 1500-3000 calories. The only vegetables I ate were potatoes and peas with my dinner sometimes.

lyricalLies13

I havent calculated but I know its terrible. In one sitting I would eat a footlong sub from subway, 3 peanut butter cookies and almost a whole tube of pringles. Or those digiorno frozen pizzas, the big ones...I could eat a whole one of those. Its crazy...I would make myself sick if I tried to eat like that now. Oh, also 3-4 cans/bottles of pepsi a day,

LivingtheLeanDream

thats an excellent idea!! must try that sometime and log what I would have ate in a typical day and see how many cals I have reduced my diet by

Thanks for that!

trophywife24

I went through a time of being in school/working full time that I would eat fast food for both lunch and dinner. I cannot imagine... no wonder.

MB_Positif

I didn't look at the macros when I did it, but once I entered just some of the meals I would have eaten and didn't even count snacks and I was up over 3,000 calories! CRAZY!

lsapphire

I use to drink a 2 pk of diet soda and no water per day.:embarassed:

Natashaa1991

this whole summer i've been eating whatever i wanted (and i wanted a lot). I study abroad and I'm only home during winter and summer and I kinda let myself go crazy, mom's cooking and candies...
Which i don't intend to do anymore.
I tried to do the same thing, just out of curiosity, and i found out i was eating approximately 2500-3000 kcal a day! and i'm supposed to be on 1600-1700 to maintain my weight.
Luckily, i was active so i didn't gain so much-but i did gain.

lsapphire

I was sedentary and ate pretty much whatever I wanted. Now I walk routinely and try and keep my intake within moderation.:bigsmile:

deviantcupcake

From about Jan-July this year, I was having a thick slab of toast and two little packs of butter from the canteen in work. Every morning. I knew I shouldn't, but did it anyway. I was also eating sandwiches or baguettes for lunch most days, eating crisps at least once a day. Because I was exhausted from working, I wouldn't have the energy to pre-prepare lunches to take with me and I'd rarely have the energy to cook decent meals in the evenings. We'd generally have some kind of chicken or fish with chips and salad or veg. Bread on the side, too.
Drinking beers on weeknights to try to unwind, being tempted into too many takeaways on weekends...

I have to say, losing my job in July has done wonders for my energy and my diet.

shortnerdy

I'm going to try this but typical I would an entire large bag of smartfood, 4 hot dogs at lunch 3 of which on white wonder bread with a process slice of cheese each and ketchup. Dinner usually take out. Mary browns fried chicken 3-4 pieces with potato wedges and gravy. Breakfast was usually 4 slices of white break with butter and chips :S How i didn't balloon up to more than my 185 Ill never know. :S

AliceNov2011

What you can get away with at 27 catches up to you ten-fold at 45 or 50!

VelociMama

I've been eating better for going on 2 full years now, and I cannot physically eat the volume of craptastic food I could eat before. I don't even come close. I was taking in something along 3000-5000 calories per day of pure junk food. If I try to do that now, I get sick halfway through. I can do fast food periodically, but not all day every day like before, and I can't do an entire bag of chips anymore either.

inkandsheep

I haven't tried logging it but I notice a lot of things that seem fairly small that actually really upped my calories - like having 4 chocolate biscuits after dinner - that's like doubling the calories of what I have for dinner now, pretty much! Or a sugary iced tea, around 100 calories... (now I have herbal tea without sugar, or drink water).

I think that's why calorie counting has really made a difference for me - I didn't think I ate that unhealthily, but actually I was consuming a lot more calories than I needed.

Innerautumn

I actually thought I WAS eating healthy. My favorite salad at Chili's has over 1200 calories and I would order it with EXTRA DRESSING!!! Even things I thought were good for me were really terrible. Now I check my calorie counter app before I go anywhere!

sherim71

I used to go to McDonald's on Friday's and grab breakfast on the way to work. A large Coke, a sausage/egg McMuffin and three chocolate chip cookies.

I hit the vending machine almost every afternoon for cookies or candy.

I also would have two Reese Cups or some quantity of chocolate every night before bed.

seashman

I had a super eye-opening moment when my family went to Johnny Rocket's the other day. We used to eat there all the time and when I was a kid I would split chili cheese fries with my mom, and then have chicken tenders and a kids size milkshake for me. I think there were even a few times when I was a preteen when I would do the same thing, only off the adult menu...it had to have added up to more than 2000 calories! Thankfully I got wise before it became any kind of a habit, but it still scares me a bit to think about what could have happened if I kept up with those eating habits.

CyeRyn

Few of my dinners I used to eat I checked would have totaled over 1000 cal. The way I used to eat though was nothing during the day.. and all my food consumption would be at night.. and when my dinner would be typically over 1000cal. I also snacked after up until sleep and lets not forget the infamous soda (non diet) throughout the day. Fat in a can.

NCchar130

I have done that too and I was shocked at the 400+ grams of carbs per day, of which only a tiny fraction came from sources like fruits. They came from chips, potatoes, coffee drinks,etc.

Koldnomore

I think that's why calorie counting has really made a difference for me - I didn't think I ate that unhealthily, but actually I was consuming a lot more calories than I needed.

That's my problem also. I cook good food! I rarely ever ate out, had the occasional soda and did a lot of walking/hiking. It wasn't super healthy by any means but a lot more than many people. I didn't have to make too many drastic changes thankfully - the biggest thing that helped me was just to eat more slowly. Putting down the fork between bites and taking some breaths while eating was a good thing. Now I can feel that I am full and stop right away instead of continuing to 'hoover'. I'm down almost 20 pounds without much effort.

CyeRyn

That's my problem also. I cook good food! I rarely ever ate out, had the occasional soda and did a lot of walking/hiking. It wasn't super healthy by any means but a lot more than many people. I didn't have to make too many drastic changes thankfully - the biggest thing that helped me was just to eat more slowly. Putting down the fork between bites and taking some breaths while eating was a good thing. Now I can feel that I am full and stop right away instead of continuing to 'hoover'. I'm down almost 20 pounds without much effort.

I need to teach myself to get in the habit of that too.. eating slowly. When I eat pizza I can have 2 slices (which is my limit) and feel like it didn't even leave a dent in my stomach.

prism6

I picked a regular day....yeah, 2500 Calories over and thats not including condiments ect...... eewwww

WendyTerry420

As an experiment, I just entered a typical day's worth of food into MFP - a typical day BEFORE I began my journey 10 months ago. What an eye-opener! Compared to a typical day now, I've cut out 2300 calories... 2300!!! Plus 39g carbs, 114g fat (!!!), 66g protein, and a whopping 4300mg of sodium! OMG! And on top of all that, I was eating 12g FEWER in fiber. That tells you how much fruit & vegetables I was eating (not).

Have you calculated your cuts? It's a very motivating exercise. ;c)

I did this my first day on MFP. I just logged a typical day. It was an eye-opener, to be sure.

LouiseRose92

I'm actually shocked. I tried to remember a typical day and logged 3926 calories! I always wondered how I balooned so quickly. I added in the drinking that I did probably 3 times a week, that was 1440 cals by itself :blushing:

AllTehBeers

What's with all the sandwich hate? I eat about two sandwiches a day (sometimes 3) and am losing faster then ever. Couldn't do it without my sammiches.

SouffleBoy

I used to eat a fairly good diet but then I used to binge when I got back from school which always made sure I gained weight.

marthadztx

All I'm saying is my diet used to consist of almost 4000 cal. and most of that was healthy foods just a lot of it.:embarassed:
Too much of a good thing...

junodog1

Fast food was my downfall. Usually I would go out and grab lunch, and frequently I woudl grab breakfast on my way in too. That was bad, but it coudl be controlled, calorie wise. Combine it with the sedentry life style and a stressful desk job and your talking a spike in blood pressure.

I have dropped over 15 points in my blood pressure with 15 pounds. And I still have the same job. Now I am keeping an eye on the sodium and moving myself more each day.

The best part of planning and tracking - I'm saving money, money that more than offsets thecost of fresh fruits adn veggies. I'd rather it go to my veggie stand and grocer than Mickey Ds corporate office. (Sorry all you Mickey Ds workers.)

bonniecarbs

I ate exactly like alphamale. I know I'd do 1000 calories a day in drinks. potatoes, butter, bread oh my! I'm about 80% better now, still drink one sweet drink a day and a quarter cup rice a day. white rice.

itsuki

I didn't eat terribly every day, but there were more days than I'd like to count where I'd be in the 3000+ calorie range. Lots of chips and fast food, and a LOT more alcohol. Plus when I transitioned to a desk job, I was getting essentially zero exercise. Not surprising at all, that I ended up where I did!