I was responding to another thread here where the OP was surprised that the calorie levels she was eating. It got me to thinking about how much I used to eat. I never counted my calories BEFORE I started eating more healthily. I didn't start counting calories until after I'd started working out and made significant changes to my diet. So I played a little. I just thought about what I would eat on an average day and I put it into my Daily Plate.
Every morning I would go through the drive through at Einstein Bros and get an everything bagel with extra cream cheese and a coffee with cream. On mornings that I really wanted to treat myself I'd go through McD's instead and get a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit with extra cheese and hashbrowns.
I used to go out to lunch every day with a friend from work and usually got a salad - because they were healthy. Uh huh. And if we went to Chili (which we did probably 2x or 3x a week) there was ALWAYS an order of chips and salsa - with refils.
I always hit the snack machine for a snack in the afternoon. I always had a Snickers bar - I'd tell myself they had peanuts so the protein in there was healthy and would keep me going through the afternoon. Every day I did this. A Snickers and a Diet Coke. Yeah, who was I fooling.
Every night I'd cook dinner or we'd go out. I never ate a single portion of anything. A box of Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes that was supposed to serve 4? DH and I would split it evenly and lick the pot. Veggies? We both love veggies ... but we'd steam them and douse them in cheese sauce.
And always dessert or a late night snack. We'd wait until about 9:30 or 10 and then decide if we wanted salty or sweet. Then we'd go to the store and get our "treats". Either potato chips or Steak N Shake for a strawberry shake or a pint of Ben & Jerry's (Cherries Garcia for him and Double Chocolate Fudge Chunk for me). And don't think we'd eat one serving. It was a large shake with whipped cream or 2 servings (i.e. 1/2 a pint or more of icecream eaten right out of the container) or 1/2 to 3/4 a bag of chips.
And this was NORMAL. We never thought anything about it. We knew we weren't being completely healthy but we never thought it was THAT bad. I mean - a bagel? That's healthy whole grains. A salad for lunch? It's a SALAD!! And dinner was well balanced with a protein, a starch, and a veggie. Right? Right!!!
So I thought about that and entered it all into the Daily Plate. Are you ready? Really? You're sure??? (Calories are in parentheses.)
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Breakfast:
Einstein Bros Bagel, Everything (340)
Einstein Bros Cream Cheese - Whipped Plain (140)
Einstein Bros Coffee, Cream (140)
Lunch
Chili's Grill and Bar Bottomless Chips And Salsa (480)
Chili's Grill and Bar Caesar Salad W/ Grilled Chicken (1,010)
Afternoon Snack
Snickers Candy Bars (280)
Dinner
Meatloaf - my homemade with extra breadcrumbs and eggs (506)
Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes (260)
Broccoli (31)
Velveeta Cheese (110)
Dessert
Ben and Jerry's Double Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream (520)
Totals
Cals: 3,787
Fat: 202g
Chol: 371mg
Sodium: 8,133mg
Carbs: 360g
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I look at this and I want to throw up. And I want to stress again that this was a NORMAL day. Every day was like this and weekends were much, much, much worse.
That amount of sodium frightens me. And the fat?
I cannot even conceive of eating like this again, but if you had asked me then was I eating badly .. I honestly would have told you "Eh, not great, but not too bad!"
It's eye opening, isn't it?
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