How bad were your eating habits?

RoxieDawn wrote: »

I guess my eating habits are still terrible by others standards.

I still eat fast food, I went diet soda so I could eat more fast food.

Same I still eat fast food, just not very often and I try to pick the lower calorie options. I definitely don't deprive myself

My eating habits were pretty decent, just not quite enough veg and fruit, and just a bit too much treat foods. And not quite enough activity. That's pretty much how you gain 20 lbs over the course of 5 years or so. My diet is pretty darn close to what it was, just a few tweaks and a lot more steps on my Fitbit!

I grew up eating healthy. Most of what I eat is healthy. I do eat an occasional treat. I have eaten home cooked real food with lots of fruits and veggies my whole life.

But, I still gained weight eating too much healthy food. Intuitive eating doesnt work for me because I am always hungry. I have to count calories to keep my portions under control.

I had an all or nothing mentality. I would pick a day and then tell myself okay you are going to exercise a certain amount plus eat perfectly (in my head that would be low fat), so if I ate something that I considered "bad" I would use that as an excuse to blow it that day and start again the next day.

Sometimes I would be good for a day or two then blow it....this year I took up IF which seemed to click with me. I am still trying to retrain myself out of that "Low fat" mentality.

Actual nutrition from foods eaten, not that bad. (I've been vegetarian and "whole-foods-y" for decades.)

Problems: Portion sizes excessive, proportions of various foods not appropriate calorically (too much whole grain whatever is still too many calories), too many treats, and too much routine alcohol consumption (not huge amounts at a time, typically, just more often than calorically reasonable for someone my size).

I still eat mostly the same foods at a healthy weight, just different portion sizes, in different relative proportions, and treat-type (calorie-dense, not nutrition-dense) foods less frequently.

not bad. not great. just ate too much overall. nothing shocking

I didn't graze through my kitchen...I MOWED through it. I easily ate at least 5,000 calories. Potato chips were my go to snack, and I used food as a constant entertainment device.

I think my eating habits were not too terrible before. I know they are a LOT better now, but so much of that is just the influence of my husband who cooks most of our meals and is very into healthy eating and knows about all of the "vegetarian stuff" I had never liked or maybe never even tried before him (tofu, chickpeas, nutritional yeast, lentils, HUGE range of veggies cooked different ways, etc). Even at my heaviest, I cooked at home frequently and ate lots of fruits & veggies and not a ton of fried food. I did go out to eat a LOT more but I was usually that person who got a $1 McChicken and an iced coffee with loads of sugary syrup. I was consuming too many calories, sure, but I wasn't having the super sized Baconator meal or anything.

Maintaining a loss of 130+, I still have a super sweet tooth and indulge it often. I still count pizza and burgers among my favorite foods. Mostly for me it's been a case of learning how many calories are in things and avoiding some meals entirely (chain steakhouse panini with 970 calories for example)...steering clear of the lattes & mochas at Starbucks and using portion control w/ everything, but especially when having treats and desserts. I've been logging my food for almost 6 years now and I know the biggest place I run into trouble is with restaurant meals and with desserts. I can undo a great day of healthy eating with too many Oreos if I'm not careful, and I think that's where I screwed up in the past. That was also what made it so hard for me to figure out. I'd have a turkey sandwich with mustard & lettuce and cucumber slices for lunch and then get a small peppermint mocha and feel like "I didn't eat poorly today, what gives?" But looking at the numbers I was eating more calories than I do now.

For me, there is no "were". My eating habits are bad. My urge to overeat is the fundamental cause of my weight problem. Not too many carbs, not night eating, I just tend to eat too much. It's a constant and daily struggle that for me at least, will never go away.