After Calorie Counting - Are You Surprised You didn't gain MORE Weight?

Panini911
Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
edited April 2019 in Food and Nutrition
Whenever i get back to careful calorie counting i tend to be surprised (again) that I didn't gain MORE weight in the last few months before getting back on track! I mean i regularly ate a huge amount of Hawaiian pizza with insane toppings (I LOVE cheese so picture TONS of cheese), 2 HUGE glasses of wine and then most of one of the worse B&J's tubs :pensive: Probably some chips or Chicago popcorn later on.

I admit i sometimes daydream of being able to eat all that again, I can probably fit that in maintenance in more appropriate quantities...harder as I can't just go for a long run anymore (darn injuries not getting better, if anything my body is getting worse and worse on me as I hit my goal!)

Replies

  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    I am surprised and grateful that I didn't weight much more than I did. I was about 210 lbs at my heaviest, and considering how much I ate I'm grateful I wasn't 300 lbs or more.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    Definitely! I used to polish off a whole box of dry pasta (so 1/2 pound measured dry) with a half a block of cheese and a chunk of butter for dinner alone. I would eat footlong spicy italian subway sandwiches with cheese and oil regularly in college. Honestly, though, I can't remember most of what I ate because I did it so mindlessly.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    For sure. I can think of many days where I was easily eating 3000-4000 calories without exercise. Although I am sure it balanced out somewhat with days that were less. But still, I do feel like I should have gained more. Although I was gaining at a pretty decent pace, which is what made me decide to lose the weight in the first place. I used to hang around 220-225 normally, but my eating got even worse and my weight gain picked up. Once I got to 235, I realized there was no "maximum" weight if I didn't turn things around.

    208 and falling now, a weight I haven't been at for several years.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Yes! I think I've always been quite active though thankfully!
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,744 Member
    Before I started tracking points and then calories, I'm COMPLETELY surprised I was only 225 at my heaviest.

    I used to live off full course fast food meals for lunch and then frozen tv dinners/top ramen for dinner. Along with the requisite candy and cakes and stuff, of course. Weekends would be a medium cheese pizza (the whole pizza) and then maybe a chinese dish or two. And none of that portion controlled crap. These dishes had 3 or 4 servings per? Yup, I'd polish those puppies off in one go. It was usually an order of spareribs and maybe chicken fried rice or some chow fun(?) (whatever the noodley dish is). Or, again, a full course fast food meal. :)
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,485 Member
    easily scarfed down 8 - 10,0000 calories a day. A pound bag of M&Ms is 2272 calories. But I wouldn’t get a pound bag. I’d get the giant zip lock “family size” bag, supplement it with a couple of packs of Geneva cookies, full on fast food lunch, half a dozen donuts, and about half a gallon of milk a day. Nothing like milk and chocolate! Chocolate anything.

    No off switch, period. Just eat and eat and eat, for years. I was a total expert at rationalization and making any excuse to stop at the grocery store on the way to work, because I knew if my husband didn’t know what I was eating at work, well, what he didn’t know didn’t hurt me.

    When I’d get disgusted with myself, I’d double up and try to “make myself sick of” chocolate, so I’d quit. That diet plan didn’t work.

    I have no idea why I pulled the plug one day, but I did. I am very very thankful it happened, and am now totally blown away by the fact that my highest ever was 221. By any measure of fairness or mathematical computation, I should have been twice that.

    I often hear Dave Ramsey discussing “sick and tired of being sick and tired”. I guess that was me. And it would be sooooo easy to flip the switch back the other direction.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited April 2019
    Not really...I wasn't eating that much above maintenance. I gained 40ish Lbs over the course of about 8 years. I'd have my big indulgences here and there, but pretty similar to how things are now. I'm just more active.
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    glad i'm not the only one :)

    oh yes i love cheese stuffed pasta and ate at LEAST 2 portions :) I can eat a ton of food. portions are still a struggle, definitely mind over matter.

    I guess good to know we can still make mistakes in maintenance as long as we stay on top of things we can still enjoy life (and food) without immediately ballooning again.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    Well I made it to over 400lbs! I remember some weekends at work/ sedentary job, i would consume over 11k cals! I am still a volume eater. Just way lower calorie dense foods.
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
    I sure use to eat a lot of food, didn't realize it until I quit doing that. I am in maintenance and have to stop myself and say that is enough or I would keep on.
  • River314
    River314 Posts: 66 Member
    I'm a snacker. I don't eat a lot when I eat regular meals, and I can be satisfied from a Jr cheeseburger, small fries, and a drink. Sometimes what others call a snack I call a meal. Drives my husband crazy. Or I'd eat a pint of ice cream and chips. That was a meal. It isn't how much I eat that's caused my weight gain. It's how little I eat and what I actually do eat when I have a meal. A lot of fast food and junk food. Now what's not helping is I work at a Mexican restaurant that makes fresh food all day. I weighed myself today for the first time in months and it was 243, and I'm only 5 feet tall. Gained less than 10 pounds from the last time I weighed. Not quite my highest but not far off. All my weight is in my abdomen. Sometimes makes me feel really bad...getting back on track though!!
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,899 Member
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    Definitely! I used to polish off a whole box of dry pasta (so 1/2 pound measured dry) with a half a block of cheese and a chunk of butter for dinner alone. I would eat footlong spicy italian subway sandwiches with cheese and oil regularly in college. Honestly, though, I can't remember most of what I ate because I did it so mindlessly.

    Lord have Mercy!!!!
  • JohnC9240
    JohnC9240 Posts: 4 Member
    I remember one Friday night years ago where I ate like an absolute pig. I had an entire 8 pack of El Monterrey bean and cheese burritos (1680 calories), a whole block of Polly-O whole milk mozzarella cheese (1280 calories) an entire jar of tostitos smooth and cheesy dip (to dip the burritos and mozzarella in of course- 700 calories) a box of Cosmic brownies (1,740 calories) and a 2 liter of Mountain Dew (1020 calories) so a total of 6,420 calories. Now this was one of my worst Friday night binges but imagine something akin to this every Friday (and sometimes Saturday nights also). I went from 180 to 240 in no time.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    I think I came to my senses before I could do a ton of damage thankfully, but yes, I totally see that. I would think nothing of eating a huge bowl of spaghetti with sauce and cheese for dinner and considering it "healthy." My Subway habit was a 12" (to be fair I'd manage 3/4 of it usually) and 2 bags of chips. I just can't eat like that, when I'm eating those kind of foods now I'm kinda horrified at my previous portion choices.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member
    This thread needs a warning in the title: Caution. Food Porn.
  • emilysusana
    emilysusana Posts: 416 Member
    Not me. I have a long history of “all or nothing” mentality (it’s something I’m actively working on). When I’ve been like, “screw it” I’ve easily gained a pound a week. I pretty easily lose a pound a week, too.
  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    Before I started weight loss, I felt addicted to fast food. I would have a bagel with tons of butter and a breakfast sandwich from Tim hortons every morning, two or three McDouble burgers or McChickens with large fries for lunch, and takeout dinner. like every weekday. I really am surprised I only was 230 when I started going to therapy for disordered eating.

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