what did you eat like before MFP?

I have eaten healthily for a long time now but always thought I needed lots more than I really do as I ran a lot of miles. I have cut the snacks now and realise my body copes just as well with out. My snacks were all healthy but just too many and not needed. Which gains weight as much as anything else. Injuring myself and not being able to run made me really cut back on my food to not gain any weight.

A typical day before MFP would have been:

Breakfast - Super Sonic Breakfast burrito with 3 packs of salsa, a large chili cheese tater tots with onions and mustard, a route 44 dr pepper with cherry and vanilla, a handful of hersheys kisses and 2 cups of hot chocolate with marshmallows

Snack - a big grab bag of doritos with spicy bean dip and a slim jim mega beef jerky stick

Lunch - hunan shrimp (dinner portion) with 3 cups of fried rice, 3 egg rolls and a 20 oz dr pepper

Snack - a couple of cups of banana pudding with whipped cream and 3 or 4 cups of coffee with cream & sugar

Dinner - spaghetti with ground beef & tons of sauce (2 huge plates full), salad with ranch dressing (tons of dressing) and so much cheese you could barely see the veg, green peas, 3 or 4 crescent rolls with butter, another 20 oz dr pepper and 2 cups of rainbow sherbert along with 5 or 6 golden oreos for dessert

Snack - an entire bag of extra butter popcorn, a bag of plain m & ms and some roasted, salted pecans or cashews

THEN FOOD COMA!!!!!!!!!!!!

This wasn't a real habit of mine, but I LOVED the occasional Big Mac or Quarter Pounder and McD fries with a coke! I know everyone is probably too much of a food snob to indulge in such things, but I LOVED it. I have avoided McD as if it were a deadly plague for a couple of months. While I haven't really lost any weight, I try to tell myself I have to do this to stay healthy. Otherwise it's just torture.

Obviously I ate more, but it wasn't so dramatic. I wasn't a couch potato sitting around eating McDonalds and Jelly doughnuts. However, I was a lot less cognizant of what I ate.

Overall, most people, if seeing me eat at any given meal might say that I ate generally healthy (at that meal). I ate veggies, fruits, lean meats, and I worked out on occasion.

I drank a lot of juice, would snack and graze on candy, have a bag of chips here or there and eat desserts. Like I said, anyone one of my choices were not horrifying, but MFP showed me the cumulative effect of eating a pastry and coffee and apple, high cal, high carb lunch, followed by a few Hershey kisses, a soda and a sensible dinner, followed by an ice cream. Do that over the day and you can easily run a 100-200 calorie surplus on a regular. I want to emphasize again that these were not 'gorge' sessions, just mindless indiscretions that seemed 'harmless' at the time. The thing about it, I never felt stuffed at any point.

MFP made me more aware of what a few low profile choices could do over time, it also made me more aware of some of the most calorie dense foods and they were mostly the processed stuff with the fiber stripped out, that could pack 200+ calories per shot and never leave me feeling full. And you only need to do that once or twice per day and you will see the pounds accumulate.

Crazy portions and so many carbs!!! I can't believe how much MORE healthy food you can have for fewer calories that to the DEEP FRIED, SUGARY stuff. Crazy.

I generally eat the same things, but a lot less of it. I didn't eat poorly before MFP. I ate a variety of fruits, veggies, and proteins with the occasional snack foods... but I just didn't realise how much of it I was eating!

Hamburgers
Onion rings
Ice Cream
Pigs in a blanket
Steak
Mac and cheese
Donuts
Brownies
Cakes
Peanut butter
Chips
(all of these in big portions)

Diet coke or diet pepsi, a lot of it. No water at all.

I don't think my diet was really bad for the most part, some days were pretty similar to the days I have now, but sometimes I'd cook two portions of dinner intending to save one for the next day and still be hungry after I ate and go and eat it without thinking about how bad the consequences would be.

And when I was working I let myself have takeaways just a little too often and then felt guilty, or I'd buy a pack of biscuits on the way home and eat it all.

So yeah, the trick I think for me has been portion control and moderation and knowing when to stop eating

I was pretty reasonable with my eating habits - my drinking habits were what threw me for a loop. I could drink 6 glasses of juice in a day and think nothing of it! :noway: Now I drink pretty much only water.

This thread has officially made me hungry for all the junk I haven't had in a while. LOL

But, I had a binge week last week and felt like crap for most of this week, so I won't be doing that. It sounds so delicious though....

I usually ate fairly healthy during the day. I had a few things, like garlic bread, that I would have in the evenings after a late shift. And then there was the candy. I used to eat candy every single day. So even when I worked out several times a week, and ate a diet which alone was probably less than 1000 calories, I always added like 1500 on at the end of the day with stupid stuff.

I have managed to stop with the candy every single night, and limit to once a week (or twice some weeks), and actually eat more regular food to get enough calories. Normal food I was never good at eating enough of, so now that I don't eat all the other stuff, I have to make sure I eat enough.

:blushing: I'm embarassed to say.... but here you go.

I was a car eater. If you didn't see me eat then it didn't exist, right?

Way to work I would stop at Hardees or Mcdonalds and get two breakfast sammies and a large dr. pepper

At work I didn't always eat lunch but if I did it would Wendys and I'd get two jr bacon cheeseburgers and ff and large dr. pepper or Jimmy Johns

then on my way home from work I'd stop at McDonalds and get a small fry and double cheeseburger and then go home and eat dinner.

I realized I was eating 2000 calories before I made it home each day!!!!!! OUT of control!

But, this site and taught me a lot and I LOVE IT!

I might have only lost 10lbs so far, but I feel better. It's my 11th day of really tracking and logging and working at it, but I don't feel like a slug. I have better foods fueling my body!

Afterwards I'd wash down a whole tin of pringles with 2 litres of fizzy drink, usually club lemon.

Brilliant!
That club lemon...it's a proper ba$tard all right, and don't get me started on the rock shandy!

(Nice to hear a whine with a food brand that I recognise, ha ha!)

Pasta Pasta Pasta Pasta and Mexican food. Krispy Kreme Donuts!!!!!! Klondike Bars!!!!! Then I would have something similar for lunch and dinner. NO EXERCISE....smh!!! If i could go back in this i would slap the sugar honey ice tea out of him!!! REAL TALK!!!

I ate out more often mostly subway and dominos about 1 x a week each now....zippo outto
Ate more of everything lots of cheese,bread potatoes &ice cream. now only mozz. sticks and healthy choice yogurt 100 cal cup.
Ate double portions of everything !!!!!!

Till i lose 20 lbs and trust my control of portions Im doing lots of frozen prepared meals.