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Old 12-18-2008, 10:05 PM   #31  
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I have calculated calories for some of my days in the past and was disturbed, too. You know what my favorite dinner was in 2004? Two-four hot pockets (different flavors, so I often bought ten boxes at a time so I could mix and match) or an entire frozen pizza. I'm proud to say I haven't had a hot pocket of any type since May of 2005. Sadly though, I just replaced the hot pockets with other food items that added up to 3000 calorie days - heck, I worked for Burger King and got one free meal per each daypart I worked. As I normally worked ten-twelve hour days that meant I got breakfast, lunch and dinner.... I used to take kickboxing twice per week and yoga twice per week just to maintain my BK & Starbucks habit...

DH and I talk about the evolutionary history of the human form a lot. Where we came from, where we are going... Me, I'm going to keep exercising and eating less. Trying to get him to recommit to it is the hard part. He has cut his diet substantially, we actually started the eating healthy and exercising at his suggestion, I just bypassed him on the success scale and he has little time these days for exercise.

My grandfather grew up on a farm - to this day he still gets up every morning at 3am. By 9 he has walked 10 miles on his treadmill, another 10 at the track (or the treadmill in case of rain), done 200 pushups, 200 situps, whatever other exercise strikes his fancy, and gone to his own little farm and put out food for his small number of animals and walked the garden. 68 years old and in better shape than I will ever be in in my life...
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Old 12-18-2008, 10:08 PM   #32  
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I ate out 2-3 meals a day. It was a combination of laziness and the fact that homemade food wasn't as tasty as fast food (or at least I thought that at the time). Breakfast was a large muffin or a bacon egg and cheese sandwich. My favorite lunch was the spicy breaded chicken sandwich at Wendy's with the large fries, ranch dressing to dip them in and a diet coke. After work I would be starving because the 700 calories I consumed at lunch apparently didn't fill me that well, so I would swing by McDonald's and get the chicken ranch wrap as a snack so I didn't have to go to the gym hungry. My gym routine at this time consisted of me doing weight machines for 20-30 minutes and no cardio. Dinner was either a frozen pizza where I would probably eat the whole thing or if I wanted a treat, I would get the large italian sub at Quiznos and chips, because no sub is complete with out chips. I would almost always top of the evening with some ice cream straight out of the container.

I'm sort of amazed that my highest weight was only 194. I was stuck at that number for a few months and wasn't gaining even with eating all that.

Last edited by Marms; 12-18-2008 at 10:26 PM.
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Old 12-18-2008, 10:18 PM   #33  
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Oh, one of my favorite "quick" dinners was Stouffer's French Bread Pepperoni Pizzas. Both of them. When I was tired, I'd come home and throw 2 pizzas into the toaster oven and eat them both.

That's 860 calories for dinner.

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Old 12-18-2008, 10:27 PM   #34  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PhotoChick View Post
Oh true. Even if you look at my father's diet as a teen ...

Eggs - from hens that his mom raised--I have an image of a little boy with bleeding pecked hands!




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Old 12-18-2008, 10:37 PM   #35  
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Oh, man.

When I first started living on my own, I had a horrible sleep schedule and was generally just -off-. Had very few responsibilies but school, and I didn't really go to class, so...

Breakfast - never. At my worst, I was a college student who went to bed at around 4am and got up at 1 or 2.

Lunch - Assorted junk we'd get while out (like Hostess cupcakes, Gardettos, etc...). We'd never really EAT real food until dinner. Sometimes we'd eat ramen or get a bagel and cream cheese.

Dinner - We'd either go out to Wendy's or Taco Bell, or I'd cook a big, heavy meal. At Wendy's, it was a Double Cheeseburger with Bacon and Biggie (or Great Biggie) fries. If I was trying to be "healthy", I'd get a fried chicken sandwich, again with bacon, and with fries. At Taco Bell, a typical order would have 5-6 items...Nachos Supreme, tacos, tostadas, Pintos and Cheese, etc.

If I cooked, it was always heavy on the starches. I used to make dinners that consisted of fried chicken breast, roasted potatoes, rice, and canned corn. We'd also roast a chicken and have it with salad and a LOAF of garlic bread, heavy on the butter. One favorite meal (we were POOR college students) was boxed mac and cheese with cut up hot dogs and frozen peas.

Then we had ice cream on hand for dessert...lots of dessert.

Later on, when I was driving to work at an office park 3 days a week, I'd often get a Luna Bar (healthy!) and a Haagen Daaz bar (er...yeah) at a local convenience store. I'd binge on the Haagen Daaz in the car, then go into the office and very obviously eat my Luna bar.

I'd get a sandwich or a salad with lots of ranch dressing for lunch, and then if I was "good" and got a salad, I'd usually have some ice cream for dessert.

Then for dinner, we'd go to Wendys, or to another restaurant/fast food place, and don't forget dessert!

On the other 2 days a week, I'd stacked all my college classes, so I'd get to school at 9, have a big breakfast burrito with egg, cheese, bacon, and black beans, then go to class. I'd get a big sandwich (lots of cheese, and usually salami, on a big roll) for lunch, and the place where I got them always put tortilla chips on the side. For dinner, more fast food. And this is the worst...if we were up late studying? We'd hit fast food AGAIN around 2am and have a full meal. And usually some dessert as well.
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Old 12-18-2008, 10:52 PM   #36  
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OK, I just did some math..

My standard meal at Wendys (4-5 times a week for dinner or "fourth meal") was 1260 calories.

My standard order at Taco Bell rang in at 1070 calories and 57 grams of fat.
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Old 12-18-2008, 10:53 PM   #37  
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I remember when we were kids,the only time we were allowed soda and chips and dips, was on new year's eve. We almost never got candy of any kind except at Christmas or Halloween. Now they have soda machines fast foods in school cafeterias. :sad:

And we were outside playing most of the time, not glued to TV or video games. Kids today are often starting life with serious handicaps.
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Old 12-19-2008, 06:43 AM   #38  
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Just wanted to add that evolution takes a LOT longer than 30 years. Our bodies aren't trying to "catch up" to the dietary changes of our culture. So, all those genes for storing fat efficiently, based on our ancient ancestors' ways of life, are going to be with us for a long time.

What do we do? Well, we have to learn how to eat and eat consciously.

It was OK to eat a lot of food when it was available, back 12,000 years ago when it wasn't available very much. Now, in Westernized countries, you can get 1,000 calories and more anytime you want just down the street. Ooops! And thanks so much, say all the happy fat cells...

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Old 12-19-2008, 09:33 AM   #39  
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Holy crap. I just tried to add up a normal day pre-lifestyle change in FitDay. I actually quit trying at 3200 calories and I hadn't even got to my appetizers and sauces and butter during dinner! So you are probably looking at like 4000 cals a day for me pre-lifestyle change.

I went out last night to dinner with some family. I felt like I ate a LOT of food. I ordered healthy stuff of course (grilled chicken breast on mixed greens, oranges and dressing on the side!) but I felt so full. When I added up my calories for the day, I was at 1600! Amazing.

Oh, and I did 2.5 miles on the treadmill at 5.5 MPH and I did 2.5 miles on the elliptical at #8 resistance. I also did my ab, back, hammy, quad and calf works in the weight room. That I never would have done in one of my 4000 calorie days!

So yeah...I feel like I've really changed my life and that these changes will stick. I crave vegetables, whole grains and exercise when I used to crave pizza with bacon. LOL.
In any event, thanks for posting photochick so I could see how far I've come.
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Old 12-19-2008, 10:03 AM   #40  
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lol eating out = downfall for many, including me. Baja Fresh is shockingly high on the fat and calorie scale and all those fresh "salads" out there in restaurant land are just that... "salads." I don't even consider them unless they have no cheese and no dressing lol.

I mean...I used to eat fried cheese sticks and a "salad"....now the thought of that makes me ill. EW! Fried cheese...what the **** is that? lol
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Old 12-19-2008, 10:45 AM   #41  
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This is a great thread, so eye opening.

Here's a typical day for old me:

Breakfast
Big cranberry walnut muffin
Venti caramel latte with whip

Lunch
My office had a great cafeteria downstairs, so whatever looked good that day. Pizza, stuffed calzones, pasta bar, I never picked anything healthy.

Snack
Cafeteria had buy 1 get 1 free pastries after 2, I'd usually eat a chocolate croissant, also another venti caramel latte with whip

Snack
Either M&Ms or yogurt pretzels (nearly every day)

Dinner
Ate at home most often and usually pretty healthy things, just a lot of it. A typical dinner was a HUGE plate of white pasta with some home made vegetarian pasta sauce and 5 pieces of sour dough bread

Snack
I didn't eat after dinner every night (still not usually hungry after dinner!) but I often ate a big bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce

I can't even guess at my typical daily calories, 3K+ definitely

Last edited by Glory87; 12-19-2008 at 10:47 AM.
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Old 12-19-2008, 11:09 AM   #42  
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I can't even remember my 'before' really.

Breakfast - Either I didn't have it or I'd have a piece of fruit. I don't remember breakfast at all. When I moved to a facility that had a cafeteria, sometimes I'd buy pancakes for breakfast but that was a rarity.

Lunch - I've always been a big fan of sandwiches. I would make my own sandwich or I'd buy one.

Dinner - Well this is when all **** would break loose. I would sometimes buy dinner on the way home. I had 2 favorite dinners, Dreyers cookies n cream ice cream or french bread and cheese (brie a favorite). Other times I would cook things and leave little if any leftovers. I'd make some veggies but often grated cheese over the veggies. I'd also bake chicken in the oven but would eat the skin. Other times I'd try out recipes from my various cookbooks and just eat way more than I should've.

Snacks - I loved fruit so I would buy fruit by the ton and binge on fruit. I loved cheese so I ate a lot of cheese. I would buy a block of cheese and just eat blocks of cheese.


Overall my big weaknesses were bread, cheese and ice cream.
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Old 12-19-2008, 11:38 AM   #43  
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Man, it's absolutely amazing how we justify the unhealthiest eating habits... Like the Snickers-bar-has-protein! thing... Or any variety of other things.

I used to make myself a fried egg, cheese and sausage bagel-wich every morning, a PB&J sandwich for lunch and a plate of pierogies or chicken or other such things for dinner. I justified the breakfast by saying that if I eat a big breakfast and very little lunch and little to no dinner it all evens out, right?

In college I'd have a bagel and cream cheese or a big coffee with tons of cream and sugar (still can't drink coffee without tons of cream and sugar) for breakfast (sometimes a pop tart or muffin on the side) and a massive overstuffed burrito (beans AND beef, tons of cheese, lettuce, tomato, and TONS of sour cream - literally popping out of the tortilla) for lunch. Dinner was often skipped, but late night snacks often entailed trips to Sheetz or Krispy Kreme. I did work at TGIFridays for awhile and often had dinner there.

Of course, I didn't gain a single pound until Junior year.... then *blam!*...

Now I stick to GoLEAN Crunch for breakfast (skim milk - I finally gave up 2%) and PB&J for lunch (on Arnold Hearty Grains or Grains 'N' More bread - they have Double Fiber, Double Protein, coming out with Double Omega, as well as 7- and 12-grain, and many others that I love), and chicken or a bag of steamed veggies for dinner. I don't know the calorie count, but it feels good.
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Old 12-19-2008, 11:50 AM   #44  
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Wow...that sounds almost EXACTLY like how my husband and I used to eat on a day to day basis. Especially the nightly "snack" routine. Scarey.
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Old 12-19-2008, 12:13 PM   #45  
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I didn't think about the rest of my day yesterday, just the hot pocket part. I just added up a day with items I remember - 3560. And it was what I would consider a lighter day....

B: nothing
S: venti chai latte & cinnamon scone from starbucks
L: BK tender crisp with bacon, but healthy since I had no mayo on it, with fries. Never knew how many I ate because I never got a carton - I usually scooped some fries and some onion rings into a double lined 6# takeout bag. Double lined so the grease wouldn't bleed through to my car seat...
S: usually another chai tea latte, sometimes another pastry which I didn't count.
D: two hot pockets
S: I used to make a star on a saucer - frozen individual pieces of cookie dough alternated with frozen mini reese's cups...
Drank about 20 ounces of grapefruit juice during the day, thought I was healthy
Also,sometimes got up around midnight if I was still awake and made one of those 'microwave ready' packs of bacon and toasted a bagel or wrapped it in a tortilla. That isn't even in the 3500 total.

This all changed when I met DH in 2005 and lost down to 135 - my upped calories that got me back to 148 were things like chicken wings and fingers from Zaxby's. I thought I was being healthy if I only ate three fingers and half an order of chips with my large sweet tea...

Now, I eat mostly healthy stuff and feel like I eat all the time... then I didn't count snacking as eating. A Starbucks stop wasn't eating, it was drinking a drink, and sometimes if I ate a pastry it was just a little extra with the drink. That had as many calories as some of my meals, now!

It was looking at fast food calories that shocked me into my diet change - Zaxby's specifically, since that was my favorite at the time...
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