So, How many calories did you actually put away?

No clue. Wasn't counting. A lot more than now! Mostly carbs.

I wasn't tracking so I don't know a total. I used to indulge in a giant Lindt bar as a *snack*. Out of curiousity I looked at the calories and if memory serves, the entire bar was between 1500-2000 calories. I used to do that several times per week. A fall favourite of mine is a plum cake that's become yearly *treat* I look forward to. Again, I looked up the calories last year out of curiousity as it was typical for me to eat several of these per week at one sitting. 1000-1500 calories depending on size. Whole pizzas at one sitting wasn't uncommon either.

Approx 3500. I have reduced that by a whopping 65%. over 13 months time.
I used to "live to cook/eat/entertain". Comes from my background of being in the hospitality business for decades.
Being in my mid 50's can't believe I am almost at my mid 30's weight again.

Occasionally I'd order Chili's to Go and binge. Here was the meal:

Buffalo Chicken Ranch Sandwich with Fries
Calories 1,220

Boneless Buffalo Wings
Calories 1,050

Ranch Dressing
Calories 170

Total Calories: 2440

Keep in mind this was just dinner. I would also eat breakfast and lunch.

I always used to feel a little sick after eating all that. I guess I know why!

psh 9000 probably not...

you weren't weighing and just guessing...so I bet it's about half that...

depending on what I was eating/drinking it could vary...

Just food..probably 4k max...if I was drinking...easily 5-6k...beer you know has lots of calories....

Oh man I have no idea. But I got to be over 400 lbs so it was a lot I'm sure. My usual day went like this

1) Sleep til 2pm
2) Go to work at 4, stop by 7-11 to get snacks before work (chocolate milk, candy, taquitos, jerky, cheese danish)
3) Work from 4:30 to 1am, eating while working (I used to work at a bar so ate lots of wings, fries, 2000-cal mac and cheese, LOTS of pepsi and free virgin coladas and smoothies)
4) Meet coworkers at the neighboring bar around 1am, shots shots shots and chasers til 2:30-ish
5) Stop at 7-11 on the way home from work for more chocolate milk, candy, taquitos, jerky, danishes
6) Smoke a little if I didn't feel inebriated enough from the alcohol. Get the munchies, eat all my snacks and then some.
7) Pass out, wake up, repeat

Oh how things have changed haha.

I did a quick calculation of about how much I used to eat. anywhere from 3k to 7k a day. ( depending on if I had tim hortons breakfast meal with mc donald meal and chips and dip and coke at night all in the same day!!! ) I'm under 5 feet! no wonder I was putting on weight. it was really no surprise!

Now I eat 1200 to 1500 a day (clean eating) and feel fuller than I ever did back then!

I'm afraid to even know.

I am sure that "at their worst", anyone was giving mind to counting calories.

I used to work at Starbucks, and would be able to get a free drink before my shift, on my "lunch" break, and after I'd leave. I used to not have A/C in my car, so as I made my 30 minute daily commute back home, I'd down a venti java chip frappucino, with white mocha instead of dark, and caramel all over the cup. Plus the drizzles and whip. Yes, a delicious coffee, cookies & creme drink but lord knows how many I downed in the summer of 2012!!! There was a time where I knew I was the largest barista among my staff but I didn't give it too much thought. I was all about instant gratification and allowing food to make me feel good. A lot of emotional eating to make up for unsolved personal issues.

Fast forward. Then with soda, I'd drink anything from 2-4 easily every day from the past year. Fast food for many meals. Whatever I was craving, I'd just fit it in to have it. I'd say, before I changed my lifestyle habits, 2500+ a day...

God, gross. I now aim for 1600 a day. Some days, I go around 1200 to 1400. It all depends! Thank God we all are starting over!

No idea, but whatever it was, I have never ended up overweight, just a little heavier than I was comfortable with (though at the time I had an undiagnosed, untreated underactive thyroid so how much that impacted, I do not know).

When I was just eating as I wanted, without being on a healthy eating kick, it was usually a baked potato with prawn or tuna mayonnaise for lunch, sometimes a piece of chocolate cake afterwards and some kind of microwave meal for dinner, sometimes followed by a large bag of chocolate buttons. Sometimes on a Sunday I would go out and have a fried breakfast. I walked a bit, but not much, and sometimes during this sort of eating phase, I rollerskated for an hour most days.

I guess, other than the food not being desperately healthy, I was not really eating excessively.
I am glad to say that microwave meals are now a rare occurrence and tend to have good ingredients when I do have one, and my evening meal is almost always salmon, turkey or chicken with potato and a pile of vegetables. The baked potatoes are pretty much gone as a lunch and cake is not a daily thing.

Guessing I ate on average about 2000-3000 a day, which is interesting given I did not count and did not really watch my diet during those times, yet I still somehow managed to regulate myself, or my appetite did. I can easily clear the same amount now, with my exercise, in healthy food.

Well tonight we had Chili's for dinner, and got pretty much the same meal that I used to get.

Margarita- 250-300 I think, the one I had tonight apparently does not have nutritional info. I used to drink at least two
Texas Cheese Fries- Full order is 1700+ calories, I used to eat half. tonight we got a "Half Order" that was about 1200, I still ate half
for about 600
Cajun Pasta with shrimp 1220 calories for the full portion. I used to eat nearly the whole plate, tonight I ate about a third of the pasta
and all the shrimp, so lets say half the calories of the full portion so 610


5 years ago I would have been consuming around 2700. Now about 1500.

FTR, today was a break day for me, and I made the concious decision to eat that much. And felt absoluetly terrible afterward, not guilty, just my stomach was going to burst after that pasta. Really made me see my progress in a completely different way, my stomach is actually shrinking! Tomorrow might be a little lighter to make up for the huge portion tonight

Well, I really never bothered to think about it….

But when you consider that my *maintenance* calories at the beginning was over 3000… then I'm guessing my intake was somewhere around 3000-4000. And we won't talk about how much of it was pure crap! EVERYTHING was processed. Lots of "white" carbs. (Note: I'm not against carbs at all. Currently, carbs are still about 50% of my macros. But they are more from fruits and whole grains now.)

There were some shameful days when I ate out 3+ times a day! Now looking at what I ate, I know those meals had to be over a thousand calories each! So, I'm thinking at most somewhere between 4000-5000 maybe! I'm happy to say that me and my husband are making a conscious effort to not eat out any more! And saving some money lol