Sunday funday - what's on your menu today?

Good morning ~ The weather here has been lovely - cold nights and mornings but sunny and warm all day. Feels wonderful! We got the house situated, I ran a bunch of errands and even strolled the mall! We are walking the dogs at the park this morning, possibly with some Starbucks. I have a couple more stores to hit this morning and a SS gift to get for work too. Then it's home to make/bake and package up all the goodies for gifts, package gifts to staff, boss and amazing co-workers that keep me sane and my sweet neighbors. I want to wrap presents if kiddo doesn't come over. I'm almost ready for this week!!

QOTD - What was a typical food day in the life for you pre WLS? I keep thinking about this over and over - I have been diving deep into my patterns and trying to meet all my needs to learn how to be satisfied and not go off the rails and stop the yo-yo. A day in my life before was 3 squares, I'm not a binger, snacker, grazer, I prefer a meal to snacks, I'm a quantity eater, a visual eater. So - I ate double what an average person would eat and I would eat until I was sick (not sick like we get now, but stuffed on Thanksgiving sick - everyday). I favored restaurants that gave HUGE portions. I still love high volume food but now its salads. that has saved me many times. I am focused on finding ways to satisfying every craving I have including carbs (game changer), quality over quantity and it's working.

Accountability - I switched lunch for Rob's 7 layer bean dip w/protein chips . Also had 4 Russell Stover chocolates the candy and cookies everywhere are killing me. But 190.9 today!

B- coffee x 2, Starbucks short latte

l - just chicken and TJ dill salad

d - Rob's chicken enchiladas

s - Tj's brie bite and beef jerky

834/78

e- dog walk

Have a fabulous day!

Mornin' Weekenders!

well yesterday I was at two cookie parties, so it was a blowout. I was up to a little over 1700 calories before I even headed out to party #2, which I didn't even attempt to log. So I probably had 2500-ish calories by the end of the day (fortunately, I had a smaller splurge at party #2 since I was already stuffed to the gills when I got there). UGH. And speaking of pre-WLS eating, 2500 kcal/day (at minimum) would have been a normal day. Maybe even a light-ish day. Wow - so hard to believe I used to eat that much every day! And every day I would feel like I did last night and this morning - like the Michelin man. But it never stopped me from doing it again the very next day!

I'm leaving in about an hour to drive to Rockford, IL (about 70 miles from here) to meet up with a childhood friend who lives near Chicago. I think I mentioned the other day we lived in the same apartment building in the mid- to late 1960s, and we reconnected via Facebook a few years ago. We've gotten together a handful of times since then, but not since the start of the pandemic. It'll be good to see her again! We'll be at some Norwegian festival. Likely I'd never touch herring or lutefisk - but I hope there won't be much in the way of Scandinavian baked goods there. Although with all the damn cookies I had yesterday (and the day before while I was baking them), the last thing I want right now is a baked good!

QOTD: I don't remember much about my eating other than it was a lot. And it was surprisingly healthy for someone my size. I always cared about nutrition even when I was SMO. For breakfast, though, I always had the same thing - a smoothie - although the thing probably had enough calories to last me all day. I'd always add a whole banana, two softer big fruits (e.g., two peaches), and probably a cup of berries. Then I'd add tofu or yogurt for some protein and enough milk or orange juice to get it going in the blender. So that's what- about 600/700 calories? And that was just breakfast. I worked at one of the university libraries, and we had a coffee shop on the first floor. I'd always get coffee around 10:00, and sometimes I'd get a scone to go with it (another 400-ish calories?). I usually had leftovers or a microwavable meal for lunch. I don't remember if I snacked much in the afternoon, although I do remember occasionally getting a thing of peanut butter crackers or those Gardetto things from the vending machine downstairs. Dinners - I used to cook a lot more then than I do now - so no "typical" dinners, other than it was always a huge portion. I remember making Chinese and Indian dishes a lot back then - which of course would have been spooned over at least a cup of rice. So yea. At the time it didn't seem like much to me, so I couldn't figure out how I got - and stayed - so big. But I get it now! Just adding up this "typical day" up in my head, we're up to around 2500 kcal. And it easily could have been more depending on the lunch I had and if I'd snacked while I was cooking dinner or later on at night (I don't remember - although I definitely could have been doing this, too)

it's hard to guess food for today since I'll be gone most of it - other than it won't include herring or lutefisk! but here's what I know...

B: coffee with half & half, plain skyr with cranberry sauce

MS: I'll take a protein shake on the road with me

L: no idea

AS: I should probably have a protein bar in my purse just in case

D: I should be home by dinner, I think. Maybe half a veggie burger and a salad??

have a great day, everyone!!

If I go by what Dr. Now says on his show, that if I weigh 300 pound I would have to eat at least 3000 to maintain that. I was 309 at my highest and growing. I wouldn't be surprised if I was eating 3500 or more some days and especially when eating out and those fast food days which were often.

Many people eat 3500 calories a day and get away with it. Some with high exercise and some with dumb luck. My husband always ate that amount in food and added lots of beer, probably 8 to 10 cans every night. He was always around 210 and could diet down to 170 if he stuck to it. Of course the weight came back as soon as the strict diet ended.

I easily could have been eating that much (i.e., 3000+) on an average day. Just eyeballing what I typed out this morning, that was a minimum of 2500 - and it could have been higher. I can't remember if I did much night eating then (I don't now), but if so, that could be another few hundred calories. And if I went out to lunch instead of eating some microwavable thing in my office, well, there's that. Easily 500 or more calories for lunch (and likely more - probably more like 800 unless I was intentionally trying to go lighter)

I didn't log food back then, so I honestly don't know how many calories I was putting away on an average day, but it would have been at least 2500 if I'd had what I listed above. Well then there were all those nights we had dinner out, rather than cooking at home. We probably ate out 2 or 3 times a week. Add a few hundred more calories in for those days. So maybe a minimum of 2500 - and a maximum of - 4000?? (just taking a stab at it). Average those out over the course of a week, and you've got over 3000 per day. Yikes.