How much did you eat before MFP?

Mine would usually be a starbucks non fat latte or a Tom Horton coffee with a brekfast sandwich for breakfast. Lunch would usually be a smart one frozen dinner, can of soup, or salad with ranch. Then usually on my way home from work i would run through a drive thru for a burger or sandwich. Then when I got home all hell breaks loose! Generally starting with a beer and something light like veggies and dip or a salad. And after grazing the kitchen for a few hours muching on cookies, chips, and little bits of everything else (and usually 4 or 5 more beers later..) i would end up cooking pasta or steak or a few frozen burritos. Then go to bed feeling SICKLY full. Yep, it was bad.

OH wow, GR8 topic! Where do I begin?

Ok, since I use to always tend to eat more during the weekend, below is the typical weekend meal for me.

Breakfast: If we ate at home, we usually had gravy, biscuits, bacon or sausage, eggs, and either grits, oatmeal, or pancakes (sometimes all three).
If we ate out, our foods ranged from McDonalds to Bojangles to you name it, we ate it. Cajun Fillet biscuits w/ large fries & Sausage egg and cheese McGriddles are just to name a couple of the foods I use to LOVE to eat.

Lunch: This was always fast food. Either Taco Bell, Hardees, Zaxby's, Chillis, Los Reyes, Applebees...etc. Applebees was one of my FAVORITE.S. My hubby and I would go there every weekend and split the trio combo appetizer platter. It usually consisted of the boneless buffalo wings, chips and spinach dip, and those cute little mini burgers. The wings alone was more than my daily calorie intake, not to mention SODIUM CITY! We still eat at those places, on occasion, but I always try my best to check out their nutrional page before I go so that I can choose the foods that are the lowest in calories, fat, & sodium.

Dinner: Well, it was the same as lunch. I mean why eat at home, when you're usually always on the go, especially on the weekends.

So, I'd say that I would eat anywhere between 3000 and 4000 calories per weekend day. And probably at least 2500 calories a day during the week. So on average, I'd say that within 7 days, I probably consumed around 19500 calories. And if 3500 calories is equal to 1 pound of fat, that means that I should have gained around 5 pounds a week. WOW! It really adds up when you eat like a pig. Now that I think about it. I must have a fast metabolism because I ate like that for at least 6 month straight (while in college) and I only gained like 25 lbs.

I'm SO glad I don't eat like that everyday. Notice, I said everyday. LOL! I still have my cheat days but hopefully I'll never return to my old eating habits.

OMG!!! I figured a typical day pre-MFP, and it was a little over 4500 calories! What doesn't amaze me is how much I need to lose, but why I don't have way more to lose. I always figured I had a slow metabolism, but after calculating that, I must have the metabolism of a cheetah to not have gained so much more weight. A huge part of my food was candy bars - not the personal or even king-sized, but the really huge ones that are supposed to be something like 6 servings. I could eat 2-3 of those per day. When I ate pasta, I would eat the entire 1-pound bag (strangely, that appears to exceed an actual normal serving). But, I also ate tons of vegetables and beans, so everyone would comment on how "healthy" I ate. If they only knew...

Yikes! I NEED MFP and all the fabulous support I am finding here!

SONIC & COKE!!

This is a very interesting topic, I don't think I've ever thought about the way I ate before MFP. I've always been very conscious of what I ate -- my mother tended to not use salt in food growing up, and our go-to meals as a family are PACKED with veggies. My issue has always been portion control -- especially when pastas.

That's definitely how I got big to begin with. That being said, I am starting to believe that my attempts at weight loss failed in the past because I restricted myself too much -- I'd start out with cereal or perhaps yogurt for breakfast -- under 300 calories, then do a veggie burger with granola bar and apple for lunch, and then a microwave dinner... with perhaps another salad thrown in there. No wonder those diets wouldn't last -- I was WELL under 1200 calories. SO then, of course, after a few days of over-restricting myself, I'd binge, and binge BIG. After which I would gain a few pounds, then decide to start another overly restrictive diet, and the cycle would start all over again.

Funny how it all works out. I've been eating much more, and have lost weight because of it!!

Oh my gosh, I think we're all heading from and to the same place.... not eating breakasfast and then gorging, snacking on some really bad foods, binging, portion control out of the window, thinking because we do eat some healthy stuff that we have a healthy diet.... I really can't give an example of a tyical day because I didn't have a food regime, I'd just stuff in whatever I could whenever I could.
When I fisr started MFP I decided to give myself at least one day a week where I could eat and drink whatever I wanted to... I'm pretty sure I have some entries well over 4k, and I know for certain that many a time pre MFP I'd have hit 6k without even trying. Quite scary really...

Breakfast: Massive bowl of sugary cereal with milk and a glass of apple juice
Lunch: Microwave meal (not the Lean Cuisine or whatever...has anyone ever had Stouffer's Crustini? Two of those), and if I was at school, the deep fried chocolate chip cookies that they make in the caf
Snack: More cereal, and some ice cream if it was available
Dinner: Mostly healthy, because my mom made it, but we had pizza Friday nights, so about four or five slices, plus ice cream for dessert
After Dinner: A mug of hot chocolate

Wow. And I wondered why I was gaining weight?

I'd alternate between 600 calorie days and 3500+ calorie days. I was not very healthy.

Before MFP :huh: ...ok.. here goes!

Breakfast: a sausage roll from Greggs in a soft white roll with a slice of cheese, or a ham cheese and tomato pannini, or some cereal, but at least 2 x 50g bowls.

Lunch: usually a roast chicken baguette from Waitrose (but that's actually quite healthy :laugh: ), a packet of crisps (baked or sun bites) sometimes 2 packs, lashings of diet coke and 2-3 two-finger KitKats or some other kind of chocolate bar (twix, double decker etc)

Dinner: Lamb steak, roast potatoes and veg with gravy, or Curry and rice with naan bread, or Lasagne with garlic bread.

I'd also have at least half a bar of chocolate (200g bar) and/or another packet of crips after dinner, or a Magnum ice cream

I hate to think what I snacked on between meals... sweeties and chocolate and whatever else was around the office.

I was averaging 2500-3000 calories a day without giving it a moment's thought :noway:

Since I've been on MFP I've been working at home so it's a lot easier to regulate my meals, weigh out ingredients and take control of my food intake. Also being able to keep an accurate food diary has helped as I can even find equivalents here to match some homemade meals

Now, I feel I've made a good start and hopefully keep the momentum going... I'm in this for the long haul :glasses:

Great topic and in a nutshell, any and everything in whatever quantities. Breakfast was usually a high calorie frap and sometimes something like an almond croissant. Lunch was usually some leftovers of high caloric content or eating out, also some high calorie lunch with friends, and dinner, well, pretty much whatever I was in the mood for without regard of calorie, salt content. Oh, and all day long I drank pepsi. If I had to hazard a guess, it would probably be in the 3500+ calorie range. It's amazing what you do to your body when you don't stop to think about it.

Oh, and all this with no exercise!

Mornings - Donut w/donut holes ( that way it didn't look bad having only one donut) and a Latte
Mid Mornings - the rest of the donut holes
Lunch - 2 double cheeseburgers w/med or large fries & a med/large strawberry passionfruit juice or soda from McDonalds
Late Afternoon - It's it Ice cream sandwich (like clockwork at least 3x's a week)
Dinner - non healthy stuff I can't really remember

OMG!!! No wonder I was at 211 at my highest!

Oh my gosh, I think we're all heading from and to the same place.... not eating breakasfast and then gorging, snacking on some really bad foods, binging, portion control out of the window, thinking because we do eat some healthy stuff that we have a healthy diet.... I really can't give an example of a tyical day because I didn't have a food regime, I'd just stuff in whatever I could whenever I could.
When I fisr started MFP I decided to give myself at least one day a week where I could eat and drink whatever I wanted to... I'm pretty sure I have some entries well over 4k, and I know for certain that many a time pre MFP I'd have hit 6k without even trying. Quite scary really...

I was thinking the opposite about breakfast. Every single person was eating in the morning - it just wasn't healthy. You're still breaking your fast even if it's not typical breakfast food.

Off topic, but I've started to think this is the flaw in the "Thin people eat breakfast" studies. If you poll a naturally thin person and ask if they ate breakfast they say yes cause they ate a banana or a donut. You ask an overeater and they say no because they just grabbed a donut and didn't prepare pancakes, eggs and bacon. Both consumed breakfast calories. Perception is the difference.

Sorry, I didn't word it as I thought it! I guess what I meant was that a lot of people seemed to be eating fast food for breakfast, rather than something home cooked when they got up. I don't class it as breakfast when you've been up 2 hours before eating...

Breakfast: a sausage roll from Greggs in a soft white roll with a slice of cheese

I have to say, Greggs' sausage trlls are something I'll never give up entirely, but now I'll save them for a special treat, not, "I'm a bit tired and hungover". But in a roll with extra cheese? Awesome!

I am right here with you on this one. I regularly ate Greggs sausage rolls, now I have to give in to the craving maybe once every 3 months... last one I ate I actually let out a little whimper as I bit into it :blushing: