Do you know how much you USED to eat?
 

Just as an experiment I decided to put a typical menu from my "fat years" into FitDay, and I was completely blown away by the realization of what I was doing to myself.

On a conservative estimate, I was eating betweem 2800-3300 calories per day, with very little protein or fiber. Oh, and as little physical activity as humanly possible without being bedridden.

Gosh, I wonder why I kept gaining weight? :lol: :o

In a recent NY Times article called Fat Factors, an obesity researcher from UCLA said that the average 300+ pounder coming in for weight loss surgery eats more than 6700 calories per day. Yikes!

Based on what I know now about calories, I'm sure I was averaging at least 3500 - 4000 calories per day to maintain my 250+ pounds. :eek:

I earned every pound of fat the old-fashioned way - I ate waaaay too much. It wasn't my genes or my metabolism; nope, it was too many calories and no exercise.

I know what you guys mean. Mine were around the same 3500 but on the weekends...i cant even imagine. Considering that was a country bkf of biscuits, gravy, sausage, etc, then a fast food lunch, then olive garden dinner...and lots of laying on the couch between meals....geeze...just gross really.

I did a little rough estimating with the help of a website, and because of a daily meal at Mcdonalds coming in at 2094 calories and 101 grams of fat, I was bringing in at LEAST 4,000 calories a day. And I'm sure that's a very conservative estimate.

Oooh, I never even thought of putting in McDonald's stuff. I used to eat that pretty often; I better change my original estimate to something higher. :o

I used to eat about 4000 calories a day. At least 1000 cals a day came from my Mt. Dew. I did figure it up once and was always getting 300 or more carbs per day with an estimated 100 plus grams of fat per day. I deserved all them extra lbs. that I was carrying. It's a wonder the local KFC, Taco Bell, and McDonalds didn't go out of business when I stopped buying their food. My only form of exercise was making it to the kitchen table, and that was only if I couldn't get one of the kids or DH to bring my food to me.

It's really hard for me to think about what I used to eat. I would guess between 2500-3500 a day. About 50% of it was binge eating and the other was "normal" fattening food. Ugh, I feel ashamed of myself just thinking about.

My used to was 500-900 a day.

I did this a long time ago. I think I remember something about 3200 cals.
I also did a projection about where I'd be if I had continued gaining at the rate I was :fr:

I wish more folks would do this. It'd be soooo much easier to answer the question "how many calories should I eat"

I'm fairly certain I would routinely eat 4000 or more calories a day. Count me as one who earned every pound.

Hubby once calculated a typical weekend day for him. Between the coke, pizza, chicken wings, alcohol, mcdonald's, cheese and meats trays, and "super popcorn" (you don't want to know), not only was there little redeeming nutrition wise, but he was getting 6000 calories a day sometimes!

What amazes me is how so many of us can really live for so long without getting proper nutrition. Now that I eat better I see the benefits in many ways, but I never linked a number of my problems to bad nutrition (too MUCH food, yes, but I never really thought about nutrition).

My average was probably around 3500 a day...and during special events-parties with wine and food, holidays, etc. it was probably well over 4000 on those days. AAck!

I'd say I was somewhere between 3000 & 3500 a day. Easily.

Well, last night was a gliumpse into my old way of eating:( I made the mistakes of eating dinner way too early and then when DH & his buddy came home from Casino Royale with fried chicken and beer, I decided I earned 3 light beers. And that really would not have been a caloric tragedy except I then had to sample all the other food. Oh well. Today is another day and I am still not 227 lbs again...I'm just going to eat right, get my exercise in and chalk it up to experience.

There are days in my past that I ate/drank 6000-7000 calories in a day. Lots of those days. Those days are OVER!!!

I'm not sure I could calculate since most of mine was binge eating. How many calories are in a carton of cake icing? :rolleyes: I always thought I was genetically fat. Now I realize I was actually genetically lucky not to have been bigger from what I was doing to my body.

Amen to that!!

My worst day since I've been tracking (since October 11) was 3600 calories. I think I had lots of those days.

I wish I knew exactly how much I used to eat. Going back and trying to figure it up, I think I "sanitize" it far too much. I forget about the mindless eating I used to do and the going back and forth for multiple servings.

I ate about 3000-3500 calories a day.

Jilly, I think that may well count as a bona fide miracle. ;)

By estimating my former eating habits (highest weight was 199) I was eating about 3300 calories 204 grams of fat; 300 carbs 73 grams of protien with 10 fiber. WOW! I guess I was lucky that I was always at least moving while at work.

Cally - What a great thread!

I never really wondered how many calories I was doing during my fat days. I do know that I had McD's once a day for breakfast. McGriddle, coffee, and hash brown. Then, because I was too lazy to summon up something for lunch...I would have McD's or any other available fast food for lunch.

Then sometimes pizza for dinner, or what ever I would cook up. If I cooked, it was generally something easy like boxed lasagna. Sometimes I'd cook healthy... sometimes being the operative word here. Heh.

Then, with all of these horrible choices...I was hiding my binge eating. Packages of cookies, candy bars...

I make myself sick just thinking about what I was eating. It nearly makes me cry.

~Ally

One of the most horrifying things for me to remember now is that one McDonald's breakfast was never enough! I would get two of the sausage-biscuit meals and just give my husband the extra drink. :o

And over time I got used to always getting the large-size value meal, too, so I'd be sure to have enough fries. Ugh! And yes, it does make me want to cry.

I've never tried it before but I will now!

Breakfast
3 cups honey bunches of oats
1 cup 2% milk

Lunch:
Large cheese bagel with alot of melted cheddar cheese on it

Dinner:
About 8 jalapeno poppers from a box
2 tbsp sweet and sour sauce

Dessert:
Medium dairy queen blizzard

Total of about 2900 cals. (I couldn't find the right brand of poppers)

I can't believe so little food can be so many calories. O_o

My typical work day:

B - venti caramel full fat latte with whip, cranberry walnut muffin (around 700 calories)

L - the cafeteria downstairs had a ton of great options, I would normally get a big sandwich or pasta or a big calzone or pizza

S - another venti full fat

S - M&Ms or yogurt pretzels out of the vending machine

S - the cafeteria did buy 1 get 1 free baked goods after 2:00, I would normally go downstairs with coworkers and get a muffin or scone or cookie or something

D - Usually not too bad, my ex boyfriend was a vegetarian, so dinners were normally FAIRLY healthy, but I would eat way too much. If he made pasta, I would have a huge plate of pasta and at least 4 pieces of bread. If he made healthy soup, I would have at least 4 pieces of bread. Lots of cheese too.

S - big bowl of ice cream and chocolate syrup.

I don't even know the calories. At least 3000.

It's just so funny, the lies I told myself - that I was destined to be fat, slow metabolism, genetics (since my dad was heavy) - HA - LIES. I was heavy because I ate TOO MUCH of the wrong kinds of food. Now that I eat decent portions of good foods, I have had no problems maintaining my weight loss.

I've always eaten healthy food, just too much of it. I could easily have a 6 oz chicken breast, 1.5 cups of whole grain pilaf, 3 servings of veggies, etc.

I'd estimate most non dieting healthy day at about 2800, but I would eat out often and those were probably 3500 cal days--thank god I work out a lot

I do know that a few times under stress I ate out for every meal and quit exercising and would gain 30 lbs in 2-3 months

It's really hard for me to calculate how much I was eating.. at my highest weight, actually really up until 3 months ago, I was working in fast food. Most of that was at Wendys, so I was always stealing fries, chicken nuggets, cheese, etc, and sticking it into my mouth. Or eating pickles dipped in mayo. And after 4 years of working there, I got a job as a cook in a pizza place. Fries, chicken fingers, pizza, cheese, garlic cheese bread (I would often split one with a friend when we worked together), chicken wings, meatballs....

All of this was with walking a half hour to get to work every day (Wendys and the pizza place were right next to each other), and drinking nothing but diet soda.

No wonder I was so big.. *shudders*

My average day looked something like this:

B - Bacon, eggos with butter and syrup, orange juice, coffee with creamer

S - Chips, cheese or cookies

L - Fast food

S - Candy bars and soda at work

D - Take out, soda and dessert

S - Fast food at 11pm

I ate all day every day.........I would estimate my calories 4000-4500 a day. I also go no exercise at all.

Shannon

My meals were actually pretty good, and if you didnt count any snacks i probably only ate 2000 calories. The snaking is what killed me. And not even the sitting down w/ an actual snack, it was taking a handful out of the cereal box. I would snack or as my family calls it "graze" :moo: all day. I figured, a handful of frosted flakes cant hurt me. Problem is that it was several handfuls, several times a day. Of any box that was open in the pantry (chips, crackers, cookies, cereal, ect.) So with all my grazing i was probably eating almost 3000 calories a day. Way to much for an inactive girl at 5 foot 3 inches. Thank goodness ive changed :)

This is a great thread! If I counted just the meals, I'd come in under 2,000 per day easy. BUT - when I add in the mega-snacking and binging, I'm sure it was well in excess of 4,000 per day. To say nothing of the fat and sugar content. The sad part is that it wasn't just the rare day that I ate so much - it was EVERY day.

Now my goal is 1500-1700 per day and some days I need to make myself eat just to get in enough calories. I took the day off on Thanksgiving, but did count calories. It totalled close to 3,000 and I was almost miserably full. How could I have eaten more calories than that every single day?

Fantastic thread!

Thinking back on my calories I think that I started out every day really GREAT! I would have cereal and milk and orange juice with my vitamins. My pitfall was visiting the workroom where every THIN person would bring high-calorie snacks to unload. Those of us who were heavy just couldn't pass up those great snacks. I'll bet I ate 1,000 calories there!

Lunch for me was reasonable. I would have a Lean Cuisine, some fat-free yogurt, and coffee. You guessed it...I would be back again a few hours after lunch for more snacking!

Around 4:00PM as I was making dinner I would find myself hitting the cheese. Then I would grab a few chips. Of course I would be sampling the foods as they cooked, too!

I would THEN eat a big dinner, have some wine and cheese with my husband as we would watch a movie and usually have a second dessert, too.

At my heaviest I had those Dove chocolates stashed several places in my house and in my office. I was probably eating a couple BAGS of them a week IN ADDITION to everything else I mentioned!

If there's anyone out there who will even TRY to guess how many calories that will add up to...well go ahead! I'm AFRAID to!!!

In the book Calorie Queens, there's a chart which shows weights and calorie amounts to maintain those weights. They don't show my highest weight of 275, but they DO show 270 lbs. To maintain that weight it said that a woman will be eating 3830 calories!!!

No wonder I weighed 275!!!! I HAD to be eating at least that many calories!

I want to get to 160. According to the book I need to eat 1,920 calories to support that weight. It seems a bit high to me, though. I'm aiming more for 1600.

Good luck everyone on your weight loss!

Cheryl

Ugh, I just put in what I used to eat on Fitday. I stopped calculating after 5000 calories. granted, that was a worst case scenario day, but how good could teh other days have been. If I'm ever tempted to blow my diet, I'm looking at this thread first. I can't believe how gross I was!!!! It's a miracle I'm still alive...I'm really ashamed!

Hey, Hood!

Don't feel ashamed! Food is good and it is necessary for life! We all are just trying to figure out how much of it will get us where we want to be, that's all. We will make it! For me I think figuring out the metabolism thing is the most frustrating. Calories in/calories out makes sense, but my metabolism seems NOT to have read the memo! I'm trying to perk up my metabolism so it will work even harder for me.

I think that this forum is great because it shakes our thinking without being mean or judgemental. This thread really opened MY eyes!

I wish you lots of success on your weight loss journey! Praise yourself for each mini-goal met. That helps me get to my next one.

Visit often!

Cheryl