What is your fat?
 

So, today, I sat down, boxed up and took all my size 10s to the church thrift store. Getting rid of my 10s? really? My 8s are all into the absolutely comfortable range, with a few being loosish, and the 6s I have waiting in the wings can all be put on, but..well, let's say I wouldnt quite want to wear them in public yet.
Anyway, boxing up the 10s put me in a food wondering mode, and I just wanted to ask everyone what your fat is?
Mine is not really dessert fat. I mean, I was not averse to chocolate and sweet stuff, but most of my fat was just good wholesome food, just a whole lot of it. I was very fond of baked and broiled chicken, but having an 8 oz portion of it certainly didnt make it better for me. Cheese is absolutely healthy and good for you, but tossing 3/4 of a cup onto something kinda overrides the wholesomeness of it. Homemade whole wheat bread is great for you, but having 3 thick slices slathered in butter kinda ruins the health benefits. So yeah, most of my fat was just good food, but too much of it. With a few pounds thrown in on the salty/crispy and chocolate/gooey side.
How about you?

Yeah, I didn't understand about portions. I thought I did...but I didn't. The biggest eye opener for me was that a portion of chicken is HALF a breast. I swear just knowing that has changed my life! Sure, chicken is a healthy protein. But in its proper portion.

Portions were my problem with everything. Get your five fruits and vegetables? Ok, but that sounds really hard when you think a portion is a salad. LOL! Five salads a day? Ok. With dressing and croutons and nuts and other crunchies?

My indulgence is still chocolate. I do not moderate chocolate well!

Potato Chips, Cheetoes, Ice Cream and bad portion control. Oh and let me not forget that devil of going back for another serving. If it tasted good to me I would keep eating until it was gone. I'm so glad I've been freed from that habit.

Mine was 100% fast food and junk/processed sweets fat.

Most of my fat is from soda, and snacks from the vending machine. Not real food at all. Then, a small amount of my fat is from having bottomless-pit hunger most of the time, and not knowing what a portion looked like. Have you ever eaten a half a cup of ice cream? It looks so forlorn down in the bottom of that big bowl! :o And last, a tiny bit of my fat is from eating the wrong combinations of carbs and fats for so many years, when my body isn't designed to handle carbs like normal people's bodies do.

Let's just say I didn't get fat eating baked chicken and too many carrots!:p

Ice cream and other frozen treats. I could eat normally all day then eat a half gallon of ice cream. I also never realized thin people don't eat in the proportions I used to. It's weird I was fatter than all my friends but I always thought I ate normal.

I think many of us thought the same thing. A lady who lives across from me the other day (not a friend, just a nodding acquaintance) came up to me on halloween night and asked me about my weight loss. She is a large woman, and she said to me "ya know, I really don't eat very much, but my problem is that because of my schedule I eat at 3 or 4 in the morning, and you know that makes you gain weight." errrr.. Lord..how can you be diplomatic here? I ended up telling her that if she was really wanting to get healthier, to start with a food diary so she could see where she is at calorie intake wise, and go from there. I didnt even tackle the "I cant lose weight cause I have to eat at night" myth. I know the number of calories I actually consumed in a single day shocked me, when I actually sat down to figure it out.

Right! See, I'd read "250" calories on the back of an ice cream container and think, great! That's not so bad. I'd proceed to serve myself a cup or two. That's four servings! 1000 IS bad! How can one be intelligent, as I claim to be ;), and yet take such a long time to figure this out?

I too, always wondered why I was so fat since I "really didn't eat that much!"

My fat? Where to I start. No portion control, going back for seconds, eating until I was stuffed just because the food was "there." Way too much junk (chips, candy, etc.), mindless snacking, especially at night. Too much fast food. Virtually no exercise. And I wondered why I was fat! It seems so funny now.

can't stop giggling at the poor forlorn scoop of ice cream. With me, it was that poor forlorn leftover pork chop.

I used to ask myself all the time ALL. THE. TIME. how I could be so fat when I hardly ate anything! LOL Then when I decided to calorie count I started to write down everything I normally ate for a week.

Skip breakfast most days so I had a snack from the vending machine around 9

Lunch out at McD's or BK consisting of the sandwich, fries, full sugar soda, super sized please

Hungry as a hostage by 3 so back to the vending machine again, a 12 ounce full sugar soda too, please!

Gnawing on my upholstery on the way home, so usually made some pre-packaged, microwavable meal for me and the family because it was quick

Don't forget after dinner snacking. . .

I was logging in 5000 calories per day, EASY, sometimes more if I decided to stop for fast food breakfast on the way to work.

But fat-unhealthy me could rationalize two meals and three snacks per day as "not too much" never knowing that lunch calories were enough for some people's WHOLE DAY!

I'm glad I finally got smart. . .er!:o

Mine was totally portions too and eating out. I have gained 70 lbs since meeting my husband all because we ate out together nearly EVERY night for the first almost year we were together and when we ate in he would want to make like 2 boxes of mac and cheese or something bc he was used to eating one all on his own so i slowly started eating his portions and he was over 400lbs!

But even before that i would have problems if I bought things that weren't portion controlled for me (like frozen dinners) If i bought ice cream or cookies i couldn't stop at just 2 or whatever the serving size was. Then again living with my hubby I felt i had to eat what i wanted right away for fear i wouldnt get any because he would eat it all. (which happened often) With him on a diet too its been very helpful to me. Because I can eat less and he's eating less. I still can't have things like a gallon of ice cream in the house though because I *will* eat it in 1 or 2 sittings max. lol

The more processed, the better. Chips of all kinds, french fries, burgers, cakes, cookies, chocolate, candy, cheese (massive amounts of cheese), Mexican food, pizza.

Portions, eating out, and those "little" nibbles. I never knew a serving of pasta was only about a 1/2 c dry! I used to be able to down half the box haha, or a whole plate at the Olive Garden, plus salad and breadsticks. Oh, and I totally bought into the whole "if it's salad, it's healthy" thing, and I ate caesar salads, taco salads, and salads from fast food places all the time.

Some days I'd never really eat real meals, I was just snacking all day, so I'd think I really wasn't eating that much, when in reality I was consuming far too many calories from salty and sweet snacks, just not in quantities that actually made me feel full, so I'd go back for more.

Aaand, the last 15-20lbs of my fat are from going vegetarian, mistakenly believing that cutting out meat would help me lose weight! But I didn't know then how to get protein from plant sources, so I just ate a lot of carbs since I felt hungry all the time, and that didn't work out too well. :p

I had the world's worst eating habits. Hands down, WORST. I would eat chocolate croissants for breakfast or those frozen toaster pastries, never 1, but 2, and a huge glass of milk.

I drank mountain dew all day long, never water. For lunch I would eat ramen noodles, always 2 packages, slathered in whatever tasted good that day. (Usually butter or catalina, or God forbid, both).

I could easily eat a half bag of those snack-size candy bars throughout the day. Usually dinner was fast food or a steak and some garlic bread. I am not even joking. This is the way I ate, almost every single day. When I thought I was getting serious, I would eat salads loaded with cheese, croutons, hi-fat dressing, pepperoni, etc.

I also didn't think I was eating very much and couldn't understand why I was so heavy. It seems downright comical and very sad all at the same time when I see this in print.

Chick Fil A, Mac and cheese, Chick Fil A, "healthy" (nudge nudge) potatoes and salads, Chick Fil A, MEXICAN FOOOOOOOOD, Chick Fil A...


I still CRAVE Chick Fil A... especially fries and the yummy ChickfilA sauce. Oh dear... and a BROWNIE!

Chocolate, whatever form, whatever kind, I LOVE chocolate. I'm actually quite proud of the fact that I've managed to stay away from it for the most part over the last month. Right now I have some sugar free mini hershey bars and I only have one maybe every other day or every three days.

I loved homemade cookies cakes etc. Not that I was opposed to good bakery doughnuts coffee breads and the like. I had a long commute in the morning (1 1/2 hours) I would stop at a grocery store and buy three large sweet rolls or large muffins, eat two on the way and one for lunch or an afternoon snack. I would eat maybe four frozen waffles for meals slathered with butter and dark karo syrup. I could go on and on. Anyone else ever do that thing where you would eat so much sweets that you would have to balance it by eating something salty like tortilla chips and melted cheese or half a bag of ruffles and 1/2 a carton of chip dip.
I think about this topic and I really know I was sick. No wonder I gained so much weight. I'm doing high protein, no sugar, low carb now now as I'm not good at moderation. Also protein has always been my least favorite food group so it's hard to overeat on a food I don't really like.

Rice, pasta, cheese, wine, bread, butter.

Most of my fat was potato chips, sweets, pizza, and fast food. I could eat huge amounts of food. It was routine for me to eat a 6-ounce bag of potato chips or an entire 15-ounce box of mini-eclairs in one sitting.

I can remember one time in my twenties when I went to McDonalds for breakfast and had three breakfast sandwiches and two hash browns. While I didn't do that very often, I don't think that was the only time, either.

pizza, anything from a fast food joint, donuts, cookies, candy, chips, cheese.... pretty much anything unhealthy. The worst part is that the portion control was also not there either so there have been times when I have almost eaten a whole large pizza from pizza hut.... AND breadsticks.... so unhealthy. It's embarassing how badly I use to treat my body. Oh, and don't forget the sodas.... that was a big one!

My fat was the result of drinking too many heavy beers (300 calories each!!! and some nights I'd have 3 or 4 of them) followed by half a pizza or spicy Chinese take-out, Vortman's sugar wafers by the box, whole bags of m&ms, sixteen ounce steaks with all the sides, portions too big in general, and not paying attention to what and when I was eating.

Reading that I'm surprised I wasn't over 200 pounds. I think the high calorie burning physical work I've done over the years is the only thing that saved me from that fate.

It's been fascinating to read these responses and see the common ground in so many (including my own).

Most of my fat is from fast food. I didn't allow myself a fast-food breakfast often, but when I had one, it was two breakfast sandwiches, hash browns, a cinnamon roll, and a large orange juice. I had a favorite "number" at every fast food joint: #2 at Mickey D's, #1 at the BK Lounge, and so forth.

If I wasn't eating fast food, I was eating salty, crunchy stuff from bags and boxes. Chee-tos, Cheez-its, chips (both potato and tortilla), I loved all of it. Invariably I had to have a few bites of something sweet after the salted-fat binges, so that meant saving room for a candy bar.

Ironically, I live in New Orleans, home of some of the most delectable and fattening food in the country--yet I doubt if more than a few pounds are the result of gravy-laden roast beef po'boys, pecan-crusted fried catfish, buttery grits and grillades, or beignets because those foods have always been special treats--stuff I knew was super-rich. I ate all that good stuff, but I savored it; it was an occasion, not an everyday thing.

Funny how all the rich, fatty foods that people travel here to eat weren't the ones that got me in trouble--the crappy pre-fab stuff is what did it to me, for the most part.

This is an easy one! Pizza, burritos, and cheese plates....yummmmm.

Desserts, fast food, and side dishes full of processed carbs! I am the sort of person who could be happy with potatoes or stuffing or pasta for every meal, and those were my meals way too often.

Mine was from fast food and junk around the house. My parents raised me on it- Burger King, McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, or a pizza was what my mom brought home for dinner every night. When I was a baby, my father actually fed me Pepsi in my baby bottle, of course I grew up choosing the sweet stuff over water. There was always a steady supply of garbage in my house... packaged snack cakes, potato chips, donuts, etc. and fresh fruits or vegetables were nowhere to be found. That's what I ate for the first 12-13 years of my life and so that's what my fat was.

A truly disturbing amount of it is Totonio's pizzas. The rest is hot dogs.

Oh, and there is probably 20 or 30 pounds from binge weekends when I ate my head off in preparation for another diet.

Cheese fries with spicy ranch dressing and ketchup. Yum yum yum!

Or anytime i got depressed and ate cheese danishes, fast food (chick-fil-a, taco bell, Raising Canes).

Quizno's and Subway used to be my lunch!

Another portion control chick here.

Honestly, I KNEW that the ice cream container "said" that a serving was 1/2 cup, but I thought that was just silly. I mean, who really eats just half a cup of ice cream? Turns out, skinny people eat half a cup of ice cream. Overweight people serve it in a big cereal bowl.

I do still eat ice cream but I measure it and eat a serving. (Sometimes 2/3 or 3/4 of a cup but only when the calorie budget allows. :)) I actually serve it in some vintage, smallish coffee cups that only hold about 8 ounces so a scoop doesn't look all lonely in there.

- fast food, specifically: McDonalds, Burger King and KFC
- eating junk food while watching TV

in one year, i gained nearly 50lbs!

This thread is making me hungry..... =)

A big chunk of my fat is eating my emotions...binging on all kinds of processed junk food to the point that I was so full I felt numb (it was better than bored or lonely).

Another chunk of my fat comes from using food as a reward. I'm working on my report cards on the weekend, therefore I deserve donuts for breakfast. I finished my report cards on time, therefore I deserve a Big Mac, large fries, large Coke (the good stuff, no Diet anything because "I done good") and some apple pies....not good habits here -

The last chunk of my fat, and honestly, it's probably a much smaller portion than the things above, is from eating highly processed foods as opposed to healthier food choices. I'd be unhealthy from these choices, but not nearly as heavy as I am now, if I had primarily eaten when hungry and stopped when full.

Since I've been overweight since childhood (read: dieting since childhood), I've been aware of portion sizes as long as I can remember...the emotional side of food just made it so easy to ignore them -

I live in the Chicago burbs and a chick fill a just opened. Before I started with weight loss I was counting the days till that thing opened. But I haven't been yet.

I've been obese since grade school. My parents owned a restaurant / pub so that was the kind of food I ate. They were always working and too busy to cook. So a standard dinner for me was chicken fingers and soda. Or cheese sticks or fried zucchini. As a kid...day in and day out. All the time! My fat is from fried food and no portion control. I knew about the size of an ice cream serving but just stuck my head in the sand.

Also Uno's Chicago style pizza. The classic individual pizza is 2,500 calories!!!!!

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this but I LOVE cheese!! And I love eating late at night when my kids are all asleep.....So I used to sit at 10pm and eat a whole 8 ounce block of sharp cheddar with some ritz crackers :o

I also was a total fast food junkie. I'd stop at LEAST 5 times a week and grab a McDouble or whopper junior, fries, sweet tea.....taco bell big burritos (or two).

Man when I started calorie counting and looked up what I normally ate, I was shocked! I'm surprised I wasn't alot bigger than 30 pounds overweight!

I have no control with a wide variety of fatty foods.... favorites include anything salty/crunchy, anything with chocolate, and anything carb based. I could do major damage with a Peanut Butter Chocolate-anything, as it meets all of those categories.

As a result, I keep little to none of it in the house. Better to set myself up for success, and then enjoy them as treats when I'm out! The way I see it, I'm doing all this hard work/careful planning on a daily basis so that I can ENJOY and LIVE when I'm out with family, friends, etc... all about the balance. (Easier said that done, though).

PS-Tornado, we're just about the same size... I love finding other shorties out there! We have it harder, 5lb looks like a lot more on our little skeletons.... hahahaha :)

I have been eating fast food (fat) eveyday for about 2 years, somedays I would eat fast food (fat) for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!!!

Today is day 7 of no fast food and of tracking my points.

I have really enjoyed reading the responses to this. I have often said that often times people don't realise just how large they are. I mean, you know you are a "little overweight" but it sometimes takes that picture, or that word from a friend, or what have you, to make you seriously look at yourself and say "omg, what have I done?"
It works the same with the food. Until you actually stop to look at it with a critical eye, you simply don't realise either how much you have been eating, or just how badly you have been eating.
Kudos to everyone here who did that soul searching (or belly searching) and started treating their bodies like temples instead of tents.

Animal fat, found food, M&Ms and Reeses.

Animal fat: chicken & turkey skin, wings, pork chop fat, roast beef fat, fatty burgers, bacon, sausage, etc.
Unplanned, found food. Cookies, pizza from company meetings, pastries, bagels. Something that I found and didn't plan to eat when I left home. FREE.
Candy jars at work - I had a co-worker who kept a GALLON container full of regular and peanut M&Ms. She sat next to me. I had to walk past that container to get in and out of my cube. I probably averaged a cup of M&Ms a day. I would replenish them out of guilt, and then because I'd helped stock it, I ate them.
Did I mention animal fat: Grilled steak fat, wings, crispy chicken fat, pig skin, pork rinds.
Reese's peanut butter cups. Usually FOUND in someone's candy dish!!!
CHEESE. (Oh, yeah, that's another form of animal fat, isn't it.)
The occasional pig out of chips and sour cream dip. Once I start, I can't stop til the dip is gone.
A habit of a month at a time of a nightly "serving" of ice cream. "Who's turn is it to dish out the ice cream?"
Fat. Yes. Fat.

I never really ate at fast food places or had heaps of classic junk food in the house. So I put my weight down to bad genes. LOL Untill I relized my 'normal' food was probably worse than anything I could get at pizza hut. I'd eat high-fat animal products everynight, (steak, porkchops, chicken skin, sausages, bacon) seemingly healthy veg (covered in butter, oil and salt) and potato, potato, potato, potato, POTATO!!!!! LOL I was kinda obsessed, there were days I'd have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I even invented my own favourite sandwich. White bread, mashed potato, cheese, butter and salt. Then I wondered why I was fat because I only ate 1 sandwich at lunch time :)
My real killer though was alcohol. I could drink a bottle of wine at night easy or half a 700ml bottle of spirits with coke of course. Scotch, tequila, vodka, rum, bourbon. It didn't matter as long as it got me drunk enough to forget all my problems. I put on roughly 15kgs (30ish lbs) in 6 months by doing nothing different than drinking alcohol everynight. I'm glad that that behaviour only ate into 6 months of my life, instead of years. Though I know it's a slippery slope and I have to be vigilent as not to relapse. SO! If I wasn't eating my feelings I was drinking them and thusly I was fat!!! Nothing to do with bad genes. :)
Love Love
Lani

911 cans of Coca-Cola.

Then again, it could have been ;) brownies, donuts, ice cream, cheese dip, fried foods....