Confess.

gravaged2668
gravaged2668 Posts: 12 Member
in Food and Nutrition
How did you eat at your worst? I'll start. This could be any given day in a time not that long ago.

Breakfast: Breakfast burrito at random drive though. Big one. I assume 1200 calories or more. Several cups of coffee with all the fixings.

Lunch: Fast Food Combo. Large with a Diet Coke and Sweet Potato fries if available. (Sweet potato fries are better for you right?)

Dinner: Brace yourselves. Chipotle burrito with extra rice and double chicken. The tortilla can't handle it? Bandage it up with a second tortilla. An order of steak tacos on flour tortillas. Large coke. Chips and Guac. Stop at another store and grab another 20oz coke for later and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Eat it all while watching whatever show is being currently binged.

It feels a little rough when I read it back to myself. Glad those days are over. Kind of.
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Replies

  • 33gail33
    33gail33 Posts: 1,155 Member
    Yesterday I went to the drive through and decided to "treat myself" to a bagel with cream cheese and a hot chocolate (I usually eat scrambled eggs with spinach and green tea for breakfast now). When I went to log it it came out to 780 calories! I couldn't believe it and in the past I guess I would have thought nothing of eating that for breakfast.

    But having said that I still eat "at my worst" sometimes. Most of my meals are healthy but I have trouble moderating snack foods like chips and chocolate.
  • NYPhotographer2021
    NYPhotographer2021 Posts: 510 Member
    Breakfast I was usually good. A couple eggs, hash browns, toast/butter, either bacon or sausage & OJ. Around 800-900 calories. Lunch I may skip or eat a McDonalds double cheeseburger/FF with soda. Around 900 calories. Dinner could be anything I was in the mood for. Let's go with one of my favorites: Macaroni & Cheese, 2 hotdogs with buns and soda. Over 1400 calories. Just inputted all that in food diary just for fun: 3235 calories. Not to mention the chips I frequently ate. So a big difference from the 1450 calories I now consume!
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,834 Member
    edited November 2021
    At my 'worst', it was:
    - cereal for breakfast or occasionally savory foods (dinner leftovers, crackers with hummus,...)
    - bread with toppings, or dinner leftovers
    - home-cooked meal - protein with vegetables (no starchy food, because "the calories", but my vegetables were doused in olive oil :flushed: ) or occasionally a pasta dish
    - a whole bag of Japanese rice crackers after dinner (200gr, probably 900 calories) or even potato chips (1000+ calories) while vegging out in front of the television all evening after work
    - some fruit while watching TV with my BF before going to sleep

    My diet wasn't that bad, but bad portion control/calorie awareness and too much snacking, while simultaneously elevating my couch potato-ness to an art form.
    Biggest differences now: higher protein intake, more lean meats (less minced meat/sausages, less salami etc on my bread), way less olive oil with my vegetables, starches no longer 'forbidden' (risotto and potatoes fill me up for relatively few calories), snacks only according to how many calories I have left over and a way higher activity level.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    My diet overall was never really particularly horrible. I've never been one for huge portions as I don't enjoy being uncomfortably full. I've been lean and fit most of my life until I graduated college. At that point I went from being a very active person to working behind a desk. As diet goes, somewhere along the line I developed an affinity for sodas and could easily have 3-6 per day...I also developed quite the appetite for craft beer. I'd wager those things were where most of my excess calories came from. The only negative I can think of food wise was that I didn't eat nearly enough vegetables and fruits.

    When I first started losing weight, all I did was cut out sodas and significantly reduced my craft beer consumption and started walking everyday...I lost a good 15-20 Lbs from that alone before I ever even heard of MFP.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    dralicephd wrote: »
    The difference between this thread and a "drunkalog" is that food isn't forbidden. We have to eat foods. I'm finding it quite insightful to see how small changes in diet can have huge impacts on calorie consumption and health. @wunderkindking 's response is a great example of how small changes to condiments can make a big difference.

    Well, it isn't any big deal to me, but reveling in the debasing excesses of the past is not my idea of healthy dialogue. I'm also not a fan of hot dog eating contests. And, of course, there is nothing wrong or forbidden about alcohol.
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,848 Member
    edited November 2021
    First thing I thought of when seeing this thread:

    13535151.jpg

    My worst was in my 20's, pre-internet so it was harder to get good quality info on diet and exercise, not that I cared much then anyway. Just your typical eating too much at restaurants, too many large milkshakes from fast food places, too many cookies. I actually honestly believed too that the strawberry milk at Whole Foods was the same as regular milk health-wise.

    One night I probably had 8K calories in a restaurant in one sitting, including many drinks, a large steak meal with an additional steak placed literally on top of the first steak, and a dessert so large the waiter claimed nobody ever finishes it, which I did finish. I remember it being the size of a large salad bowl, basically filled with all of their desserts at once: cakes, lots of ice cream, lots of cream, maltesers, and I was using a bar of chocolate in one hand to help shovel it all onto the spoon. It was a race against a friend, the kind of dumb thing we do at that age. He lost the race, because he went too fast at the start and ran out of steam, under-estimating how much dessert was there.
  • gravaged2668
    gravaged2668 Posts: 12 Member
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    First thing I thought of when seeing this thread:

    13535151.jpg

    My worst was in my 20's, pre-internet so it was harder to get good quality info on diet and exercise, not that I cared much then anyway. Just your typical eating too much at restaurants, too many large milkshakes from fast food places, too many cookies. I actually honestly believed too that the strawberry milk at Whole Foods was the same as regular milk health-wise.

    One night I probably had 8K calories in a restaurant in one sitting, including many drinks, a large steak meal with an additional steak placed literally on top of the first steak, and a dessert so large the waiter claimed nobody ever finishes it, which I did finish. I remember it being the size of a large salad bowl, basically filled with all of their desserts at once: cakes, lots of ice cream, lots of cream, maltesers, and I was using a bar of chocolate in one hand to help shovel it all onto the spoon. It was a race against a friend, the kind of dumb thing we do at that age. He lost the race, because he went too fast at the start and ran out of steam, under-estimating how much dessert was there.

    That character hit me too. Lol
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    edited November 2021
    dralicephd wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    there is nothing wrong or forbidden about alcohol.
    For most of us, you are correct. However, you likened this thread to a "drunkalog" of a 12 step program. My comment was in reference to that. If you are in 12 step program, then it is absolutely forbidden.

    If you don't like this thread, that's fine. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

    Right.
  • TheKookyKiwi
    TheKookyKiwi Posts: 68 Member
    edited November 2021
    I would say "generally" I prepared healthy meal options BUT.. and yes the BUT is the problem..

    I would "snack" .. and snacks started as a few chips.. and graduated up to a whole bag in one sitting :neutral:
    Plus I often purchased a single serve lolly or chocolate, while in town doing errands, and eat that on the drive home.

    I live with a household full of teenagers (who eat like food never existed before today) and a hubby who has much larger calorie needs than me, so I fell into the habit of eating similar portions to them.

    In general, and overtime, these extra and unnecessary calories added up!!
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited November 2021
    Breakfast: omelet made with lots of butter and olive oil (back when I could eat eggs), a large hummus and falafel sandwich with enough hummus to squeeze out of the sandwich (like at least 100 grams and 300+ calories worth), greek yogurt, or leftovers from yesterday's lunch.
    Lunch: my main meal, mostly home-cooked, usually containing lots of oil (like fried then braised vegetables) or something on rice in large portions.
    Dinner: usually lighter than other meals, but, again, lots of olive oil, like mature broad beans with oil, cumin, lemon juice, and tomatoes.
    Snacks: every time I passed by the kitchen I would nibble on something. Fruits, vegetables, whatever is on the counter...etc, but mostly vegetables. I also snacked on lots of nuts while working or playing games. Nuts have always been and still are my achilles heel, that's why I rarely have them in the house now.

    Occasionally, like once every 1-4 months I would get something delivered like pizza or McDonald's, and sometimes when I feel like it, I bought chips or chocolate, maybe once or twice every 1-2 weeks. In the summer when it's hot I bought ice cream, usually a single serving, usually a couple of times a week.

    My main issue back then was eating frequency and calorie density because high fat foods in satisfying portions meant high calories. The first thing I noticed when I started logging is how much olive oil and generally high fat foods (that most people consider "healthy") I was eating, so that was the easiest place to start cutting down. Working on my habitual nibbling throughout the day was much harder. It's hard to look away when there are nut stuffed dates on the counter.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    @callsitlikeiseeit That's an amazing accomplishment!
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    __TMac__ wrote: »
    I recently did the math on the weight I’d regained over the last year, and it came down to an extra ~100c a day. Pretty surprising. I’d been beating myself up about how much of a glutton I must be. That’s just half of one granola bar per day. Not really an interesting confession.

    But here’s the thing: I also started paying attention to my activity level by looking at my steps, and found that, most weekdays, I was getting MAYBE 500 steps a day. Frequently less. MFP was set to “not very active” and was still showing lots of negative calorie adjustments. I reach 0 adjustments at 1k steps. So I’m working on a daily walking habit to get up to an average of 5k steps, which gives the ~100c I needed. Still not “active”, but no longer completely immobile

    After a period of deficit to get to goal, I’m reassured that I won’t have to completely reinvent my eating habits. Just be attentive to my intake and move more, which I need to do for health anyway.

    TL;DR: I confess to being a sloth, not a glutton. :)

    it wouldnt surprise me if thats about what my steps were back then. now my average (on a normal lazy day) is 4-5000 but thats because we live on a farm and even on a lazy day, at a minimum, I have to feed and water the livestock. back then, with my ex, i did NOT live on a farm and have those types of chores.

    now if my husband is home to do those chores and i can get away with NOT helping (and guilt wont really let me not help, at least at night).... you can halve that. but thats really really rare. maybe one day every couple of months.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    wilson10102018 wrote: »
    dralicephd wrote: »
    The difference between this thread and a "drunkalog" is that food isn't forbidden. We have to eat foods. I'm finding it quite insightful to see how small changes in diet can have huge impacts on calorie consumption and health. @wunderkindking 's response is a great example of how small changes to condiments can make a big difference.

    Well, it isn't any big deal to me, but reveling in the debasing excesses of the past is not my idea of healthy dialogue. I'm also not a fan of hot dog eating contests. And, of course, there is nothing wrong or forbidden about alcohol.

    not much amuses you......

    Its funny that you say that. My principal problem is guilt for how lucky I am and have been. I can't think of anything in my life I want for or would even change. I love this program and I love dieting and counting calories. From day 1 I've lost weight exactly as planned, now 72 pounds down to 170. Maintained without gain for two years. My graph has no peaks and valleys, only a nice gentle slope and a two year plateau.

    And, my only sadness is having to stand by and see others in pain, and frustration. A drunkalog is the manifestation of that pain. Let's call it a "bingealog" as relates to compulsive eating. Would you think that a person recovering from obsessive sexual fantasies would benefit from recounting the fantasies of the past to laypersons in a forum?
  • Xellercin
    Xellercin Posts: 924 Member
    edited November 2021
    My worst was during my doctorate because I worked 16 hour days including weekends, had no time to cook and no access to a fridge at the hospital. The hospital cafeteria was gross and way too expensive for my broke *kitten*, and there were no stores or restaurants nearby, and even if there were, I didn't have so much as 10 minutes in my day to go find food.

    So I would bring non-perishables like granola bars, but mostly lived on endless coffee with a ton of cream in it just to get calories and stave off gut rot, and then get home exhausted and inhale an entire frozen pizza and drink wine until I fell asleep. Repeat for a few years.

    Everyone in the program gained a ton of weight except for the ones who abused Adderall, or the ones who still lived with their parents who made them balanced meals and sent them to school with sandwiches.

    Even then, we all looked like total dumpster fires by the end of it. No one came out looking nearly as healthy as they started, but it was a matter of survival, we did our best, so no shame here.

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