Calorie intake prior to MFP?

My eating habits were all over the place before I joined MFP. Let's see:
- I regularly ate pasta/noodles/ramen (easily 300+ cal per serving. And I always loaded up on the pasta)
- If it's fried, sweet or packed in a box, it's going in! (that includes pizzas, burgers... well you get the idea. Let's say: 500 cals)
- If it's a soda (brand doesn't matter- for the most part) it's not going to be spared (150 cals)
- Creamy salad dressings : YES! (where do I even begin with the cals. Let's be conservative and say 300 clas)
- A rice dish used to be a must 5 days out of 7! (300 - 400 cals/serving)

add it up and equals my BMR = 1800 cals! Yikess... No wonder I put on a couple pounds nearly every month.

At least 2,500 per day. It was shocking to see what portions really looked like in reality vs what I was estimating.

My typical day went like this....

6:45 Wake up. Fix 2 mini sausage biscuit for breakfast & a diet coke.
7:15 Get in the car and drive my daughter to school while eating said biscuits.
7:25 Leaving the parking lot on the way to work, realize I am STILL really hungry because those biscuits were so darn tiny. There's a McD's up the road, I'll stop there.
7:35 I'd like a Sausage Egg & Cheese McGriddle Meal with a diet coke please.
mmmmm, that was tasty!
8:00 Get to work, no more diet coke. booo!! Walk to the coke machine and get another...do I have enough change for snack later?
8:10 Back to my desk. Oh look, the receptionist has candy on her desk...I'll just take one hershey kiss...ok, 2.
11:45 Lunch time meeting with a client. Drive through Wendy's because OFCOURSE I don't have time to eat my packed lunch that is sitting 200 feet awat in the fridge.
Can I get a single burger meal and large size that...(wait, their large drinks are HUGE) make that medium please? And a diet coke.
12:15Work meeting @ Starbucks...Can I get a tall latte please, and a scone (I haven't had dessert yet have I?)
3:00 Back at work ...coworker asks if I want anything from the vending machine....sure, I'll walk with you. Well, since I am here, I'll just get a bag of sour cream and cheddar ruffles. And a diet coke.
5:00 End of the day....time to go home. Call's hubby "I am sooo tired and hungry! What's for dinner?.....I just dont have the energy to cook. What's in the freezer? Pizza? We'll just make two so we can take the leftovers to work tomorrow."
5:30Get almost home & remember there is a Little Ceaser's up the road...I'll surprise them and pick up a pizza and breadsticks.
It's American Idol night!! Yay Pizza!!
6:15 Dessert? Ok, there is some ice cream in the freezer.
10:00...I should go to bed, but I am so hungry. Can I have a couple of sausage biscuits? Thanks.
10:15...mmm those were good, can I have two more? And a diet coke.
10:45....time for bed....can you pass the tums?


Calculated the cals, fat & sodium....Results...
Calories 5529 Fat 262 Sodium 7748
OH MY FREAKING GREAT GOOGILY MOOGILY!! No wonder I am the size of a house!! SW 361, CW 302.4

Dr Pepper, monster, coffee (the crappy gas station cappuccino variety), and pasta/bread were going to be my undoing. I had to be up over 2500 at least on some days. Dinner is usually rice or pasta, and I ate a TON of it because hey, it was healthier than the pizza and mcdonalds I was eating when I lived at home! *snort* And if we didn't bother with dinner, then it was a sandwich on a bagel piled high with lunchmeat and a slice of cheese or two WITH cream cheese.

Ugh. XD

I pretty much (through a miracle) started sticking to my calorie goals the day I joined MFP, but one day for fun I entered a day of what I used to eat and didn't even include the snacks I would have eaten and it was over 3,000! Yikes!

2000-3000 easy! I was so unhealthily, particularly while I was still going to my last college. Everything was just there, and it was always cheap and tempting and ugh, so damn nice. Thank God for the change. :')

Up to 2500-3000,
as low as 500.

I kinda bounced around week to week.

I shudder to think. Thing is, if you do the 3,500 cal/pound thing, my weight gain would have been the result of maybe an extra 50-100 calories per day, but I really feel like I was more like 500 extra/day

i was probably eating about 3,000 calories a day, not too horrible considering maintenance for me at this weight now is 2,700. however, i was probably also consuming an additional 800 calories in alcohol a night.

I tracked food and lost weight before, and while maintaining I've tracked intermittently, just to see what I was doing. I went through all of college and most of grad school hovering around 1700-1800 calories (I didn't exercise), 99% of the time without thinking about it. Then last year I gained 20 pounds! I thought nothing had changed, but when I tracked what I was eating it was between 2000-2500 (still no exercise). At first I thought there was something medically wrong with me, but nope, I was just eating more. (My schedule had changed a lot.)