How do I stop eating 6,000 calories??

Great job hitting your calorie goal today! How did you feel?

Great job hitting your calorie goal today! How did you feel?

^^this - this is an excellent looking day - great target hitting of calories and macros

Hi,

I looked at your 6000 calorie day and suddenly saw what I was doing before... I did exactly what you do, eat a lot of carbs, cheese etc and that all adds up.

I know for a fact that I didn't change overnight, it took a while to make the changes, first I added vegetables, which cut down on the carbs, then I added fruit (the hardest thing for me to eat is fruit), then I started looking at better alternatives to a lot of things (popcorn instead of cheezies, etc) for snacks. I didn't even start logging in MFP until after I had already changed most of my diet.

Once I started logging I had to make a lot of other changes, portion sizes, pasta is not a regular occurrence, I changed my bread type, and the salad... my gods the salad. I know the first week I must have have freaked out something major at the change, I was 'hungry' all the time, ALL the time, and I was quite angry about it etc. I think now, my body was doing anything it could to try and get me back into high carbs etc because I was going through a withdrawal or something.

My calorie allowance started out at almost 2500 calories, and now I'm down to 1940 and I can honestly say, with a change to what I eat now, I am sometimes hard pressed to come up with 1900 calories worth of food because what I eat is more filling and satisfying in the long run than before when I would easily have A & W for breakfast, a bunch of pasta and sauce for lunch, and a pizza, cheesy bread and probably half a cake for supper...

The other day I actually had a binge moment (I went temporarily 'crazy') and it was hard to eat that much, it wasn't as much as I used to have.

But getting there took time, it required small steps and adjusting to a change in how I eat and what I eat.

Ever try chocolate soy milk? Really low in calories and good for your heart!

Hello,

I am new to this. I put it in most of what I ate today and it is around 5,744 (I cannot remember everything) but this program says my goal should be 1,530.

Is this right? I know I eat more than some other people but is 1,530 really manageable? I am not very active but now I think I should start! Please feel free to send me any advice.

What did you put in as your goal of how many pounds you want to loose per week?
If you put in a higher amount per week you get a lower amount of calories. You might want to start with less per week till you get used to it, then go down. Once I started tracking in here, I realized I must have been eating 4,000 some days. Somehow I have been about the same weight for the past 15 years despite it, but I'm pretty overweight.
Also, try to do some exercise, it really makes a difference as it adds those exercise calories to your total.

I am pretty new here as well. I started 2 months ago - have lost 20 pounds - and a few things I have learned:

Look carefully and verify that the food entries by users is correct. I have seen some crazy calorie numbers both low and high. My favorites are the ones you can get right off a package that are wrong. I have noticed that the entries by people that spell correctly are usually more accurate ... just sayin'. 6k calories is a heck of a lot of food no matter how rich it is, I would suspect there are some bad numbers in there.

Look at what you eat before you eat it, not at the end of the day. Get the phone app for your particular phone and check things out. I sit at a restaurant with my phone and the menu now to get a feel for what I am eating.

I am a big guy ... a little less big now, but as I have been told "An intimidating presence" and for me to lose 2 pounds a week, I need to stay under 1960 cals a day. With watching what I eat, and really how much, it is not a struggle, I am rarely hungry, and actually eat pretty good food still. Smaller portions usually, but still tasty things. (I eat salads when I just HAVE to have a beer). Drinking water helps keep you full as well, the water is important. Once in a while, I do splurge a little and have something I really like no matter how bad. I do not go crazy, but I do savor the meal. I realize that I can do that and often still hit my goal or just barely squeak over.

I do not eat more if I exercise. I work out on my property a lot, walk a lot and am reasonably physical. I still shoot for that 1960 goal ... if I go a little over, I don't beat myself up, I chalk it up to I needed to to recoup the 2,000+ calories I just burned off. When I hit my goal weight, my maintain weight will be around 1800 calories ... with the habits I am creating now, I am prety sure I will be fine ... I will always watch from now on no matter what.

This web site is a great way to develop good eating habits. Keep at it and in a week or so you are going to find a groove and be fine.

^^ This is very good advice :flowerforyou:

Hello,

I am new to this. I put it in most of what I ate today and it is around 5,744 (I cannot remember everything) but this program says my goal should be 1,530.

Is this right? I know I eat more than some other people but is 1,530 really manageable? I am not very active but now I think I should start! Please feel free to send me any advice.

Well if I was you, i'd cut out about 2,000 calories and start there. Jumping that low makes no sense from your starting point. Over time decrease them as you lose weight.

^I agree 100%. You can't go from 6,000 to 1,500 in a day. Gradually reduce or else you'll go crazy!! Btw I still think 1530 is really low... you seem like someone who would benefit from the group Eat More to Weigh Less here on myfitnesspal. It has worked well for me and countless others. You don't have to starve yourself to lose weight!!

/agreed

From one who started on MFP at about 2,100 calories, I can testify. I was oh so eager to lose 2 pounds a week, but it gave me 1,600 calories, and I simply couldn't make that drastic a change. So I went with losing 1 pound a week, which gave me 2,100 cals, and it was far more manageable. I think I'd have given up if I'd had to go straight to 1,600 right away. Because you do need to give yourself some time to change habits, to scout other people's diaries, see what they eat, figure out alternatives to what you've been eating. It's a learning process. If you have less weight to lose, 1,500 does probably sound doable. But if you have a lot of weight to lose, you'll sabotage yourself going that low. You'll end up binge-ing because it'll be too drastic right away.

Just saw the post about chocolate milk--YOU HAVE TO TRY ALMOND BREEZE CHOCOLATE ALMOND MILK! It is GREAT!

PBPanda...I second this!! The dark chocolate is most awesome

When you first get on this site, it can be mind boggling to see how much we really eat. Don't be surprised at first, if you are not completely able to mee your target right away. By logging, you are learning about foods and it gives you an opportunity to think through what you are doing. Soon you will be able to not only apply suggestions others have made but you will find areas you can improve as well. This really is a process and a journey. Don't try to do it all at once but do keep moving and make progress along the way. One thing I want you to know right now is that this is a moderations game. You don't have to give up your favorite things. You just dont have to eat big portions of it and as often as you are used to eating it. You really will see the food again.

Some simple tips (some may already be duplicated)

1. Don't drink all your calories.
2. Measure and log your food consistently (highly recommend a food scale!)
3. Preplan your meals as often as possible.
4. Prelog when you can.
5. If you are struggling with portions, try putting an average amount of better choices on your plate like you normally would but condition yourself to only eat half of it. Put it away. Drink water. Chew gum. Do something else. If in 1-2 hours, you are still thinking about it and really wanting it, go ahead and eat it. Often your body catches up to the full signal and you've managed to distract yourself. If this strategy doesn't work, go back to the drawing board and try something else.
6. Give yourself limits. I love chocolate. I was eating several bags a week. I now am only allowed to have up to 2 bite size pieces per day. This means I don't feel deprived but I can't just have it in unlimited quanities. Before you know it, I actually skipped some days! I couldn't believe it!
7. Plan your grocery shopping well. Some things you may not be able to limit right away. Don't buy it until you've gained some control.
8. It's not NO. It's LATER. Some bigger sweet items, such as cheesecake or donuts, if I get a hankering for it, I say no for a few days. If a few days or a few weeks goes by and I am still thinking about it, I have it. More often it is out of sight, out of mind.
9. Mindless eating? Try popcorn. It might not be the healthiest, but it goes far for the amount of pieces you can put in your mouth. Don't add butter (but you can get any extra butter kind you can find for under 120 cal for the whole bag, if higher, pick a different brand). Don't eat more than one bag. Try not to eat it every day. It is a filler if you must have something. Eat it with one piece at a time! Slowly! Tiny Sonic ice can do the trick, if your teeth can handle it. Someone else might find a better suggestion here.
10. Just be honest with yourself and don't beat yourself up too much. Make progress and keep striving for it and don't give up!
11. Just start making changes and better choices. It is okay of it doesn't all come at once. Again, it is a process. A learning process!

The fact that you can be so honest with yourself and others speaks volumes. Let the journey lead you. Enjoy learning something new everyday. Have a positive attitude about it. If you fall, look at how you can learn from it and apply it as soon as you can. Celebrate these changes as you make them. Realize that we are all human.

I have the opposite problem. MFP says I need to eat 2,290 calories to lose weight, and I'm always under. I hit 2,000 on Monday, and it was a struggle. Tonight, I was 700 under. It's tough to balance out. I'm used to eating 1500-1700.

Dont worry, you'll still lose, you're not going to 'go into starvation' or anything. It just sets it higher for people with more weight to lose as they can eat more and still lose as its still creating a deficit. At least the way youre going it wont be a struggle when you NEED to only eat 1500 cals a day

To all of you who took the time to look at my diary and offer me some help - I really appreciate that you have reached out and given me some support. I can't believe what a great (and helpful!) community there is out here, I am so glad that I checked it out

I am so grateful for all the advice about substitutions. I can't believe that some of you even typed out meal plans for me. You are amazing!

If you are interested in what I am taking from all of this so far:

- I have calculated my BMR and TDEE at fat2fitradio.com and changed my calorie goal to 1,700 (if I exercise then I will eat more). I am going to see how this goes for today and if I feel that I need to, I'm going to increase it to 2,000 until I get the hang of things
- I will definitely be making substitutions/eliminations of the fattier foods I eat (bacon, cream, cheese, cookies, chocolate)
- I am going to try not to drink calories and try to drink much more water instead
- for now I am going to walk more (and put more effort into it) but I will be looking into some sort of exercise routine/schedule
- I will educate myself more on nutrition and eating healthy (I might be too lazy to input all of my own foods in the database but hopefully some education will help me spot the entries that are off)
- the thought of life without chocolate milk is making me very sad so I am going to look into chocolate protein shakes

AMAZING followup reply YOU CAN DO IT! :bigsmile:

AGREED!! I'm actually very pleasantly surprised at all the helpful and insightful responses to this post. Good luck to you. There is no other advice I could give that could possibly be any better than what's been given. And I think everyone appreciates your thorough follow-up. I don't see that very often on these forums.

Ever try chocolate soy milk? Really low in calories and good for your heart!

Soy milk is garbage, avoid that and look for other alternatives, like almond milk.

I think quibbling over milk is missing the point. It doesn't matter what sort of milk you buy, I use semi skimmed or full fat jersey - whatever. It's about quantity. I only have milk in tea and on cereal. That's about 200ml a day. You shouldn't be drinking pints of milk. Drinking calories is pointless.

1500 cals a day is what I am maintaining on. It's fine. Some days I feel a little hungry, but it is a sensible amount of food. I still eat the occasional packet of chips or chocolate, as long as the majority of your calories are from healthy sources there's no problem with it, but start drinking calorific drinks and your daily amount will rack up in no time. I have completely cut out fruit juice and hot chocolate, because it is easy to drink 500 cals and not notice it, and still feel hungry. If you eat sensible foods, in sensible quantities and log everything, you won't find it nearly as hard as it looks right now. And don't worry about the trivia, like what milk to use.

Hi Panda

You can do it - try a week of cutting your number is half and then move on towards the target number. Eat more protein which will fill you up better and snack on low cal things like veggies when you are hungry.

You can do it!!!!

Well I know this is all new to you...You can do it...If I logged my first day I am sure I would have been well over 6,000...Kudos to you for asking for help in time enough..It is a learning process....Much success to you hunn!