Food tracking revelations - Share your ZOMG moments

Nuts... mixed nuts, to be exact. I had a lot of other moments, but realizing nuts were so high in calories was a punch in the gut. I had always thought they were good for you. Which... technically they are, but not for what i'm trying to do. I would eat a can at a time and think nothing of it, but you could pack away 1000 calories easy eating nuts, and not realize it.

I can't say it surprises me, because I KNOW how many calories and fat it is, but, peanut butter. Oh, I lovez me some peanut butter. I still eat it, and often. But, I really really do try to keep it in moderation, because, wow. That adds up fast.

The flip side to that, one of those things I just eat guilt-free when I want it, is beef jerky. Yeah, it's high in sodium, but I don't have to worry about that (I flush it right through with 150-200 ounces of water a day easily), but, it's pure protein, and cures the hungers. Tastes good, portable, and if I'm out somewhere without a snack, every convenience store in America carries it. Is it the BEST snack? No. But, it's better than walking into the same store to find SOMETHING, and coming out with a Snickers bar or Little Debbie's.

So, my go-to-when-I'm-without guilt-free food is beef jerky. (NOT Slim Jim's.)

-David / BootJockey
257 Pounds Lost

I was shocked this morning by my two eggs at breakfast - cholesterol of 424 when my cap for the day is 300. Yowza!:grumble: I guess maybe I should start eating just the whites?

I eat Egg Beaters. You can find them at Walmart or Meijer in the midwest. I believe Sam's Club, too. Texture is just off from eggs, but the calories are excellent, and the beaters come in different flavors besides original. I've seen Southwest and Four Cheese flavors.

I found out my carb count was pretty high (I mean, it came from oats and veggies and fruits (no rice or other grains), but it was still in the 200-ish range). I also found out I tended to overestimate (can you believe it?!). If it were not for MFP, I miscounted by 300 cals too much... and wondered why I was so hungry! I had a tendency to round up "just in case". (I.E., if a food was 235 cals, I'd up to 250 in case I'd miscalculated something earlier in the day)... it turns out that I was usually overestimating by at least 100 cals on a daily basis!

when i wasn't weighing out my cheese prior to calorie tracking, I thought an ounce was a lot less than it actually was so I was massively overestimating the cheese calories I took in.

Learning what a serving size is for cereal. 1 cup =/= 1 huge bowl. Lesson learned.

PORTION SIZES. I thought I ate decently healthy, but reading labels and looking at portion sizes definitely changed the makeup of my meals (smaller piece of meat with more veggies, etc.). All of the sodium and chemicals in processed food, even stuff that seems "healthy" - I have gotten much better at reading labels and even though I still eat out I am at least aware of what I am putting in my body.

My husband and I went to Applebees last weekend and I spent about an hour prior to eating looking through their nutritional facts online. OMG. A blondie brownie was over 1600 calories!!!! My jaw hit the floor. Applebees has always been a favorite of mine and I would ALWAYS get a blondie before going home. Not counting the tons of other calories I stuffed myself with during the actual meal.
I ended up getting what I thought would be a healthy option, Margarita grilled chicken and shrimp with rice. Yeah, it was 1100 calories. It really made me understand how over-portioned I was before.