Shocked by calories

[FasterMichelin]

I haven’t felt body confidence for a few years and have decided to make an attempt to lose a dress size, even if short lived. I’ve reinstalled Myfitness pal and am reducing my calorie consumption to 1200cals a day.

Saying I’m shocked by how much I normally eat is an understatement! For context, pre kids I was a size 10 and found it easy to maintain my weight, post kids im a wobbly 12, predominantly on my tummy. I was convinced until recently that it’s just my “mum-bod” and that having two pregnancies has taken its toll and my metabolism must have slowed.

But with my new found insight, I can honestly say that I have been massively overeating. A few biscuits here, toast every morning, slice of cake there, always accepting any offers of food, regardless whether I was hungry or not. I completely lost sight of how many calories I was eating and it’s shocking how quickly it all adds up.

Its made me realise that I can’t be alone. There must be so many of us who consume way too many calories through mindless eating. Especially when juggling a young family.

Do you calorie count? Do you know how many calories you usually eat everyday?

Yeah it's quite shocking how easy it is to have too much. And how little you burn during exercise.

I am not very active due to disability and not trying to lose weight but I burst out laughing when I went on a running machine. I was huffing and puffing and I said I'd burnt 30 calories!

I calorie counted while breast feeding because every time I lost a ton of weight. I looked gaunt. I seem to struggle to get enough calories in vs calories out while breastfeeding. Not a stealth boast, I lost a stone first time around and I was only 8 stone to begin. It was horrendous.
It was interesting to see how just a little extra cheese or well buttered extra toast could boost calorie intake. So absolutely see how it helps gain weight because it got me through.

I don’t count now but it’s given me awareness of calories that I didn’t appreciate before that I think helps me maintain a healthy weight now. My fitness pal was really useful.

I had to lose weight for surgery. I joined a local friendly weight loss group and I've got the Nutracheck app. Like others who've posted, I'm short. I was shocked by what I was eating in terms of calories. I eat at least 8 portions of fruit and veg daily now and limit bread to one slice a day - it was my weakness. I eat a lot of hard boiled eggs, lean chicken and cottage cheese. I've lost a stone and a half since January. It's hard work though.

A third of people in the UK underestimate how many calories they are eating, according to an analysis of Office of National Statistics data.
It suggests British men eat more than 3,000 a day while claiming to eat 2,000. And women say they eat about 1,500 while consuming nearly 2,500.

Would explain the majority of 'I can't lose weight on 1200 kcal' threads

I think alot of us eat too much without thinking.
Im currently annoyed because I realiese that last month I accidently bought the sweetened plant milk and sugary coffee syrup....probably added 100-200 calories a day to my diet without doing anything different!🙄

Yes and then when you're trying to advise someone on one of those threads you get the inevitable shouts of 'you're orthorexic' or 'you're encouraging an ED', just to point out how much food is in OPs intake.

People really have no idea unless you're weighing it out and measuring. Its just how it is.

I do roughly I have about 2000 a day. Am fairly lean but run a lot.

Absolutely. Especially when they then start measuring like the granola post earlier and then keel over because that portion is too tiny to be a satisfying meal. Cereal companies made us belief we eat something healthy and fast but unless you choose the cardboard option, it is basically sugary carbs.

People lost control about portion sizes and sugar content in food.

One lesson I learned is to "unsweeten" my food. I can't stomach savoury food for breakfast so I had to learn to eat natural yoghurt or just add a tiny portion of honey instead of happily pouring maple syrup over a french toast without a second thought.

I still love a croissant with jam, a pastry or fresh bread with chocolate spread. But not every day anymore.

Granola is oats stuck together with sugar and oil, and seeds are very high in fat. Seeds are good for you though so don't stop eating them, but swapping to sugar free muesli would be better.

I know - it’s very depressing. I’ve had to try and change my mindset to think of breakfast as yogurt with a bit of granola, rather than as granola per se, if you see what I mean!

I found what helped most was focussing my calorie intake on protein and fibre goals. As I’m vegetarian it can be a bit challenging at times!! But it stops me falling back on carb heavy meals and I do feel better for it

@muppahuppapuppa I really like Nutracheck. There is a free version but I am happy to pay about £25 a year as I use it daily and it really helps me.

You can fiddle about with the settings and customise it. For example , I realised my protein consumption was a bit rubbish so I set myself a higher goal and track that along with calories and fibre, whereas I don't have any worries about fats so don't really track those.

I'm roughly following Slimming World (on my own, not at a group and not some of the more ridiculous rules!). Just out of curiosity I worked out my tdee and occasionally check calories on Nutracheck. I can't be bothered to do it everyday but I'm in the right ball park.
Some tips;
grate cheese on the fine grater, looks a lot more
Use granola or similar as a topping, rather than the main item, so yoghurt, fruit and sprinkle the granola on top
If you plate up meals for everyone, consciously make your serving a third less, portion control without trying
Eggs are brilliant, filling and low calorie
If you crave a bit of sweetness, Sweet Freedom syrups are good, I add a drizzle of the caramel one to coffee, and plain yoghurt

I was shocked too. Worst thing for me were nuts. I love nuts. Used to guzzle packets of dry roasted peanuts and walnuts/pistachios/pecans. Hundreds of calories!

So I don’t calorie count but have just done a rough tot up of the past few days. I reckon I have about 2500 calories a day. I am very active though and haven’t put weight on for years (I’m a size 10) so it must be about right for my activity levels.

The one that blew my mind was dominos sauces, which lead me down a rabbit hole and most sauces have so many calories.

Dominos:
Standard Pot (25g): (169) kcal
Big Dip Pot (100g): (675) kcal

I used nutracheck before I had my son and was a healthy weight for the first time in my adult life... for about six months til he came along and all I could eat without throwing up was bread or pasta 😂😭

He's nearly 7 now and I've had many false starts. since but never got there again.
I really need to give it a good go now he's older and more independent - I was relying on convenience a lot for myself before (single parent) which made it feel impossible to track accurately or make the best choices. Thank you for posting this thread and making me think about it again!

Do you lift weights? I was really affected by peri weight gain / slowing in metabolism. Like many I had to eat 1200 calories to lose and it was unsustainable.

I’ve lifted weights properly for a year - 3 times a week and heavy. I do also run but try to get 15,000 steps a day on average. Don’t always manage it.

I’m currently losing weight on 2200 calories a day with a deficit of around 500 calories a day. I’m amazed. BMI is 28 at the moment.

I could have wrote this post myself. I’m only small so 1200 kcal should be my normal and about 1000 plus some exercise to lose weight. I never really turn down cake or a dessert and definitely eat bigger than my portion should be for my stature…..but then life is for living and I’d rather be a wobbly size 12 than a miserable size 6. I might try turn down treats mon-thurs and keep drinking to weekends only as a cutting down compromise

To add salt to the wound, my DH eats between 4500-6000 kcals and has a body like an action man so it’s super easy to match his portion sizes. Chatting away, stuffing my face!

I don’t calorie count as such but I have days where I watch what I eat and know I only eat around 1200. I like to know how many calories are in food as some food isn’t worth the calories for me. I’ll happily eat high calorie food like cheese and nuts but I have to do it carefully.

I know how many calories I eat daily, and I wish I didn't. I 'watched my weight' for 40 years. By which I mean I was acceptable Goth underweight for my teens and 20s, and then carried on maintaining a generally low-end normal weight for the rest of my life Until i said 'fuck it'.

At 56 I was fucking done with denying my hunger. I was eating less than 1000 calories per day, was doing Shaun T 'Insanity' type workouts daily (cos I love it!), and still I was gaining weight.

I also realised that a lot of what had been keeping me thin was the stress of being in an abusive relationship.

So I now eat whatever I like, and I listen to my hunger. I've stopped over-exercising. And yes, I got fat. Then I stopped putting on weight.

I also switched my main contract from being online to being in-person hotel cleaning. It was so physical that I stopped the daily HIIT and began doing it only once per week. Switched to weights and yoga/pilates the other days.

I began losing weight without trying. I try not to count calories, but I know damn well I am eating over 2000 calories most days. I am maintaining/losing weight - I know by my clothes. But I still refuse to care.

Weight is about so much more than calories in/calories out. And that is before you start to factor in the effect of endless dieting. So much other stuff plays a part - like the type of food and the nutritional quality, your hormones/ your own body make-up etc. At times I lost weight by eating 500 calories of chocolate daily. Did that make me healthy? I now eat very healthily and try not to think about the calories.

One person's 'revelation' that they are an unconscious 'over-eater' needs to be put in perspective.

https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2019/11/02/the_prison_study_that_changed_how_scientists_view_obesity.html

https://drjasonfung.medium.com/the-overfeeding-paradox-991ae6a94d0a

This thread is really interesting.
Ive been on MJ for 18 months now and am at my target weight, have been here for almost 4 months now. I don’t calorie count but I’ve just looked at my TDEE and it says I should be eating 2225 for maintenance. I don’t think I could eat anywhere near that amount to maintain my weight but I might track calories for a few days and see exactly what I’m consuming as I’m sure I’d be quickly putting weight on if I ate to those calories. Also, I eat really well and I can’t imagine how much volume I’d need to consume to hit that amount either. Intrigued.

This morning I made breakfast, looked at it and realised it was about 800cals 😂so I put half in another bowl and pretended I'd kindly made DD breakfast 😂

Its a useful exercise to track calories and be brutally honest with yourself about what you eat. For me it emphasises how things like - any drink that is calorific and basically all on between meal snacks are what tips you over from ok to well over what you actually need to eat. For me I worked out that 1400 cals is really all I need (I am small) and I can keep to that on an average day (ill happily go way over when I eat out or its a celebration) as long as I dont add in in between meal extras. Snacking is really a killer or "empty calories" on soft drinks, creamy coffees etc too.