Anyone Look Back At What They Eat In Shock

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Replies

  • Rocki_
    Rocki_ Posts: 165 Member
    When I was eighteen or so, my usual Saturday, was no breakfast, a lunch of Supersized Big Mac Value Meal, an extra Big Mac, and an extra Double Cheeseburger. That means that my lunch was 1,000 calories in soda in fries, 1500 calories in sandwhiches, roughly 2,500 calories just for lunch. Then, I'd go to the movies, eat a medium popcorn by myself, with butter in the middle and butter on top, another coca-cola (usually a bottle), which was another 1,000 calories. Then, I'd come home, eat some chips, probably. Then have Steak, Pork, or Chicken Parmesan, with pasta, broccoli casserole (three cheese broccoli) and or mashed potatoes, and have 2 to 3 plates, at least another 2,500 calories, and another soda.

    Once I've done all of that, eaten all of that, stuffed myself silly. I'd have another soda while watching a movie and eat some chips. All in all, I was probably consuming 5 to 6,000 calories a day.

    Today, my calories are between 1,200 and 1,500 and that's hard to stick to. I still eat whenever I want. I still have pizza, I still have cake, I still have chips as well... but, not often.
    SO TRUE!! Keep up the great work!
  • lisadlocks
    lisadlocks Posts: 212 Member
    Yes! Also, one of the best things I've learned from MFP are proper measurements. I was really surprised to find that what I thought was a tablespoon of peanut butter was actually double that amount.

    This. Hmmmph my lying eyes. lol!
  • mel4bee
    mel4bee Posts: 225 Member
    For me it's more what I used to drink... I use to drink only juice... About 800-1000 calories of juice per day. yup.
  • callyart
    callyart Posts: 209
    Its mad when I see what I used to eat.

    I went out for a meal last night, and was shocked at the calories in some of the things I would have usually ordered, with extra sides, more drinks and dips etc.

    I managed to stick to a reasonable amount, but everyone else with me at 1,900+!
  • My shock came when I totaled up the calories for things that I used to eat in one sitting:

    Oreos (entire package) - 2400
    Kroger ice cream (entire tub) - 2640
    Captain Crunch cereal (1/2 box) - 1540-ish
    Hershey's kisses (1/2 bag or more) - 750+
    Costco cashews (1/3 container, easily) - 2153

    And these were just snacks! Junk I mindlessly munched on while watching tv!
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
    The first thing that comes to mind is chitterlings.

    Forgive my ignorance, but I didn't know what chitterlings were. Good old Google helped me out. What do they taste like? I am imagining they are a similar taste and texture to sausages.

    I'm from New Zealand, so we don't have many of the takeaway chains people are talking about, but I get the idea!

    My downfall has always been huge portion sizes - too much of everything, so weighing and measuring food is the way for me to go.

    Hmmm. They really taste like another meat to me...closest I can say is chicken? Maybe similar to calamari? You guys have that? They are very soft and thin, some refer to them as slimy but that all depends on how they're cooked and how they are seasoned. Some people use vinegar, some use pork, it depends.

    But done right, cleaned correctly, and chopped up they taste good.
    They taste great with hot sauce !
    Most people either eat them or don't.....OR can't get over the smell cause they don't smell the best while cooking...

    :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick:
  • Just had a big reality check of how many calories my breakfast begins with and my quickly multiplying "snack'in calories throughout the day. Time for a change and purposeful eating - goodbye emotional noshing! Looking forward.
  • MommyToAllieB
    MommyToAllieB Posts: 56 Member
    I started logging calories in December to figure out why I wasn't losing the rest of my baby weight, and found that I was eating 4000-5000 calories a day. What in the world?! It didn't even seem like that much. But waayyy too many empty calories from sugar. Since I started sticking to a 2100-2400 calorie diet (it's higher since I'm breastfeeding), I have lost 12 pounds in one month. Incredible to think how much I was eating before!!
  • drenergy
    drenergy Posts: 112 Member
    omg I used to eat nachos and hotdogs from the GAS STATION! EW! I look back on that, and the fact that even when I was tiny I could eat an entire medium pizza by myself along with several Cokes, and I wonder how I was 119 pounds for so long. Plus, my breakfast in high school was a Slim Fast and a cigarette.

    Good lord.
  • kk_140
    kk_140 Posts: 518 Member
    Yes. I never really ate a LOT, but my main problem was when I went out to eat my thought was "I'm out, better be unhealthy." every time I went out to eat it was an excuse to eat 3 slices of pizza dipped in ranch or a bacon cheeseburger. And I go out to eat a lot. It's one of my favorite things to do.

    Now I realize that eating like it is a special occasion should be saved for something that actually is a special occasion. Just because I go out to eat doesn't mean I should eat like it's my birthday.

    I now go out just as often, but order a light protein, grilled instead of fried. I get salad with light vinaigrettes rather than heavy ranch. I order water instead of coke and pass on the free bread.
  • Nope!
  • wyattj99
    wyattj99 Posts: 454 Member
    Kraft Mac and Cheese was the biggest, could eat the whole box. Tuna Helper was many many dinners...those were the days that I'm paying for now. Just wish they wouldn't come out with this stuff!
  • BeckyMBisMe
    BeckyMBisMe Posts: 215 Member
    I love sugar things, all my maternal side the family love sugar. My Mum would feed us sugar sandwiches for lunch when there was nothing else much in the house.

    this, I remember "sugar sandwiches" too with butter or oleo margarine holding the sugar onto the bread of course! Oh and we grew up Roman Catholic and I remember my first official confession included telling the priest that I "stole" lumps out of my mom's brown sugar canister. :huh: I still love the brown sugar or molasses! :laugh:

    And the crappy, damn "government cheese" here in the states that they gave to needy families. I think this is why I've developed such a snooty palate for really good cheese!
  • How about when you thought you were eating well, only to realize you weren't? All these preconceived notions that if the label says multi-grain or low fat, it was good for you, only to find out how much sugar, sodium, carbs, etc. you were actually taking in. Take juice for instance. Imagine having more than 3 glasses a day. Everything adds up.
  • GummyHuman
    GummyHuman Posts: 193 Member
    Yep. I did a mock log of what a day in my life used to be. It amazed me how much food I would consume every single day.

    That's a good idea. I am going to try that.

    Before things clicked for me, on a regular week day (the weekends were even a tad less healthy), I would eat:

    no breakfast - bottled water mid morning

    lunch - mountain dew with one of a few local lunch places - pastrami sub and chips from the sub place - chicken souvlaki stick and fries from the greek place - mac and cheese and garlic bread from sweet tomatoes

    after work - might have a few cocktails with the girls - 3 vodka/crans and a mountain dew when I get home

    dinner - something fast foody or take out of some kind - arbys/wendys/taco bell/kfc or pizza and garlic bread or chinese until I was bursting at the seams and another mountain dew to go with it (that's #3)

    after dinner - another dew or two ( up to #5) and maybe something desserty if we have anything and/or maybe a salty snack later if I wanted it

    before bed - force myself to drink some water (I was being good to myself!! ha)

    Ugh. That would have been my daily log before mid-September of 2013. All that and pretty much no exercise other than weekend jetskiing. I was not shocked to find I had high blood pressure.
  • GummyHuman
    GummyHuman Posts: 193 Member
    I figured not eating breakfast would compensate, but mostly I didn't care.

    Yep. This.
  • Alairissa
    Alairissa Posts: 160 Member
    I just looked back at how much I ate 3 years ago, and holy macaroni I don't know how I did it with absolutely no exercise! It explains why I am currently so fat (in my opinion). When I weighed in starting my journey and getting a shock of my life I was 16, 5"1 and 140 lbs. I knew I was fat but not that fat! Today I am 19 and 133 lb (still fat)! I have had many relapses back into my previous crazy life style. An example of a day for me would be: (and sorry if you don't know half the foods)

    5-10 am:

    bagel - 210
    cream cheese - 200
    yogourt drink- 150

    10 am -1 pm

    rice - 308
    juice- 112
    slush- 134
    curry -350

    1-4 pm

    juice- 150

    4-7 pm

    rice -310
    curry - 220
    Chocolate- 200

    7-10 pm

    Flat bread - 470
    Curry -350
    Rice -420

    + dessert so give or take another 200!


    Total = ~ 3300 calories.

    I am now crying. :sad: :sad: Today I eat around 1500 calories, and my TDEE is around 1800-1900 calories. That is a lot less then what I ate before + I now try my best to do a little bit of exercise.

    :noway: :noway: :noway: I still can't belive I ate that much food! especially rice. :noway: :noway:
  • KettleTO
    KettleTO Posts: 144 Member
    I don't even need to look back to the unadulterated past...This fall I stopped counting. I told myself that I had enough "counting" skills, knew what healthy food was and still maintained my high level of exercise. Well I've put on nearly 20 lbs since my summer low of 68 lbs lost.

    I probably ate at least 300 calories a day more than I needed to maintain my lowest weight. I'm back to counting and it was a shock at first. I was hungry again and really, really dependent on eating the calories I earned through exercise. After two weeks of counting it's finally becoming habitual again.
  • Losing_Sarah
    Losing_Sarah Posts: 279 Member
    Absolutely.
  • SouthPawSings
    SouthPawSings Posts: 54 Member
    I had a shocking realization recently about my 2-4 trips to mcdonalds a month. I was eating anywhere fro m1300 to 2000 calories in one sitting during those trips. No wonder I am the size I am now. It makes sense, I will probably count calories for the rest of my life, I don't consider it a horrible thing to do. It really makes the difference to know what you're putting in your body.
  • phatbird79
    phatbird79 Posts: 4 Member
    I've been reading through this forum with interest, seeing peoples break down of what they had been consuming before reality set in had me nodding my head in recognition.
    So I decided to roughly tot up a 'normal' Saturday night and needless to say it was well over 3,000 calories. So then I worked out what a week would have been and was shocked. If to lose 1lb of fat you need a 3,500 cal deficit then I should have been putting on 1.5lbs per week!! I knew I didn't eat healthily before, but I really didn't realise just how bad I'd gotten.

    Great thread, very eye opening
  • ARC1603
    ARC1603 Posts: 113 Member
    I had a bit of a wake up call like this recently. I used to think one little burger king wouldn't make a difference. Until I realised it has 1000 calories in the XL burger alone! Even if I'm not 100% on my calories each day, by tracking what I eat and using MFP to be more aware of calories, I'm making better choices and eating much better than I used to!
  • YES! I was eating fast food very regularly, and it would get to the point where I was consuming 4,000 calories or more a day!
  • laineybz
    laineybz Posts: 704 Member
    I worked in a shop and we used to offer £1 deals and i'd almost always buy them. I'd skip breakfast, have a loaded with cheese sandwich, packet of crisps, chocolate bar, full fat coke or fanta, sweets.....FOR LUNCH lol. Then i'd have maybe 2 - 3 rice krispie treats (over 100 cals each) for a snack and finally dinner. I wasn't exercising as i'd then passed my driving test. No wonder i piled the weight on.
  • AusEliza
    AusEliza Posts: 60 Member
    YESS!! Late lat year I was eating twelve jaffa cakes a day. That was like twelve pounds a week just on jaffa cakes. lol
  • laineybz
    laineybz Posts: 704 Member
    YESS!! Late lat year I was eating twelve jaffa cakes a day. That was like twelve pounds a week just on jaffa cakes. lol

    Lol jaffa's were my "treat" when i started cutting the crap out. I ate no chocolate except jaffa's lol
  • Jordan_Gregers
    Jordan_Gregers Posts: 35 Member
    I used to think I ate healthy because I ate the way people do in my ancestral country (Denmark), and hey, you don't see too many obese Scandinavians.

    Herring Fillets
    Roast Pork
    Bacon Rashers
    Rogenbrot (super dense Rye bread)
    Potatoes
    Butter
    Beets & Carrots

    I couldn't figure out why I was consistently 40lbs overweight.
    I thought it was because I wasn't exercising as much as I should and that I had a body type that needed tons of exercise to slim down. My partner (who is also European) used to joke that our bodies were made for pulling ploughs and bearing children, not walking the runway. The only time I was ever slim was when I was running 7-8k a day.

    After joining MFP I've realized and thought about a few things.

    1. I WAS eating good, traditional food... but I was eating WAY too much of it
    2. I WASN'T JUST eating those kinds of foods, but also McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Tim Hortons and other nutritionally empty garbage
    3. My family all die of heart related illnesses, regardless of how thick or thin they are... that should tell me something about the 'European' diet
    4. The Scandinavian lifestyle involves constant, daily, physical activity (riding a bike and walking everywhere... driving very little, and being active constantly), whereas my North American lifestyle involved going to the gym (maybe) and sitting around for the rest of the day.

    I also did a mock nutritional day on my MFP diary and this got me realizing most of this stuff.

    I'm amazed at how full I can feel on a day where I only have 1500 or 1600 gross calories.
  • BlackRose101
    BlackRose101 Posts: 117 Member
    I wouldn't quit eating cause I was full, I'd quit eating when I got tired of eating. ha
    <-- this is my life pretty much summed up in a sentence.
  • angie007az
    angie007az Posts: 406 Member
    Oh yes. I didn't need to start watching calories until I hit the age of about 27. Nothing I ate made me fat, nothing. Now I watch everything.
  • Cakewalk25
    Cakewalk25 Posts: 71 Member
    I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted and never gain weight so I had a lot of unhealthy habits! I would drink 4-6 glasses of juice a day, I didn't realize until I started logging my food how much sugar and calories that was! I would also regularly drink sugared coffee from Starbucks that I now know is like 500 calories. I was too lazy to bring lunch or snacks to work so when I got bored or hungry I'd go to the convenience store at the bottom of my office building and fill up on pops, chips or candy to get me through the day. I'm glad I started paying attention to what I ate because I'm pretty sure I was probably eating like 10 x my recommended intake of sugar and probably would have developed diabetes.