How I used to eat before SW.

elizabeth

Silver Member
For Jen, re our discussion in another thread here:

I used to be someone else before SW. I'll call the old me 'Bingeita'. ;)

A typical day would go as follows:

Couple of sausage sandwiches in the morning, made with 4-6 beef or pork sausages, on white bread or crusty rolls with lashings of full-fat butter and fried onions. Sometimes it would be bacon instead, you know those big packs of 'offcuts', really thick with a gigantic rind of fat on?

I'd be feeling a bit peckish within a couple of hours, so I'd have two Ginsters cornish pasties before going in for my late shift at work. Once I'd got there I'd have a couple of ready-made sandwich packs to keep me going, usually All-Day Breakfast or Chicken and Bacon with mayo.

On my break I might have another pasty, with a Scotch egg or two just to keep my strength up.

When I got in from work at night I'd have a homemade curry made with a whole pack of diced beef or pork and a tub of single cream, and almost a whole 500g pack of rice. Followed by a large family bag of crisps or a multi-pack, a box of three ice-creams like Mars Bars or Crunchie Blast, and maybe a 100g bar of Galaxy.

Before bed I might just manage to fit in two Chicago Town Pepperoni pizzas and some garlic bread, to make sure I didn't die of hunger during the night.

How did I ever survive on such a paltry amount of food! :D :D
 
WOW - that is some amount of food isnt it ??

Im dying to know what you eat now - just to see the huge difference !!!!
 
WOW - that is some amount of food isnt it ??

Im dying to know what you eat now - just to see the huge difference !!!!

Yep, that's how I got to 19st. :D :eek: :D

18 months down the line I'm now a vegan, and a typical day's eating goes like this:

A banana, some dried apricots and a few Brazil nuts during the day (all excellent and vital nutrition for a vegan).

A salad sandwich or small bowl of homemade vegetable soup when I get in from work around 6pm.

Dinner late in the evening, usually a vegetable stir-fry or curry with wholegrain rice, pasta with homemade sauce, chilli risotto, SW chips with beans etc.

Quite a difference, and thank god!
 
Doens't sound like you eat very much at all now, though? Does that feel natural, or like you're on a permanent diet? Very well done on your loss, by the way xx
 
It feels completely natural to me now, it's just my normal day's eating and I'm well satisfied on it. Amazing what the SW plan did for me in terms of completely reforming my whole way of eating.

When I look at what I used to eat, I just cannot fathom how I did it. How did I manage to stay on my feet with that amount of calories, saturated fat and sugar inside me, never mind do an active job? I ate like that for 20 YEARS. How the **** did I not keel over from a heart attack?!

I think I was very, very lucky to get away with it for so long and not end up with serious permanent health problems.
 
I've always had a conscience problem with eating animal products, although you wouldn't think it to see how I used to eat! When I started SW I loved the Green days, so I took the opportunity to become a vegetarian at that point. Settled into that very happily, then six months ago I decided to take the extra step and become a vegan. It seems to really suit me, and my mind rests a lot easier now.

I'm curious to see if anyone else has found SW make such a big difference to their eating habits? How did you used to eat, and how is it different now?
 
My thoughts exactly Chocolate_button, I'm also curious as to what made you decide to go vegan Elizabeth. And yes that was an impressive amount of food you packed away in the past :eek:
 
Oops you were quicker than me Elizabeth! For me eating was always ruled by whether or not I was on a diet. When I was off a diet my day's meals had no structure, just grazing on lots of snacky things and a big rich meal with DH for dinner. And of course, lots of three course meals out!

Now I have three set meals and light snacks in between if I get hungry. It's a lot more structured now and I love it!
 
And yes that was an impressive amount of food you packed away in the past :eek:

Wasn't it just! You know how in slimming magazines when they interview successful slimmers, and they give their 'before' food intake, I'd be like - pah! Amateurs!! :D
 
from what I can see know your day looks well balanced and your only eating what you actually need :)

Yep, I think that's been one of the most important lessons that SW has taught me - to think of food as nourishment, not entertainment/distraction/stress relief. I love feeling nourished now so much, that nicely energised feeling you get from eating what you need, not too much.

Your pre-SW intake was quite impressive too, great to see the change SW has made. :)
 
Ooooh I like seeing what people use to eat compared to what they do now. Well done on becoming a vegan - much admiration for you. Anyway here is mine:

Pre SW

Breakfast - Large bowl of cereal (usually choc based) or toast with butter

Mid morning - Approx half pack biscuits

Lunch - BLT baguette, two packets of crisps, bar of chocolate, packet of fruitella or something similar

Mid afternoon - Large bag of haribo and other half pack of biscuits

Dinner - Full fat lasagne and garlic bread

To be honest most my eating was done during the day whilst at work, in the evening I would just have what my husband had as felt guilty if I had more treats

Now my day is more like this:

Breakfast - Shredded wheat or fruit and yoghurt

Mid morning - apple

Lunch - Ham salad, yoghurt, quavers

Mid Afternoon - Banana

Dinner - SW chilli or spag bol, made with lots of veg

Desert - Mini milk or fruit pastille lolly

Supper - Options hot chocolate
 
That's a really healthy change! What I find interesting is that the basic pattern of how some of us eat hasn't changed much, ie number of times we eat a day (one big area of change for me, I have to say), but because the choice of food is so much healthier and nourishing we're just as satisfied, if not more so.
 
A very good thread!

Pre-SW
Breakfast- Toast and jam or a smoothis from the shops and a cereal bar.
Lunch- Some sort of sandwhich or baguette, crisps and chocolate. (Tho id always make sure my sarnie has some sort of salad on it lol!!!!)
Dinner- Roast type thing with aunt bessies spuds
Late night binge- crisps, crisps and more crisps (I have a bad issue with these bloomin things!)

Now my usual day is
Breakfast- 28g puffed wheat and milk and piece of fruit
Lunch- Beans on toast with fruit and yoghurt
Dinner- Pasta and veggies with healthy extra a worth of cheese on top
Late night snack- fruit and yoghurt.
 
Wow, I'm amazed. My jaw actually dropped at the 500g rice bit...

I know, it amazes me too. Nowadays a 500g bag of rice lasts me a week! :D

It's so inspiring that you had the courage to share this with us :) Your weight loss is also really inspiring. Well done and big hugs xxx

Thank you, I hope it does help to reassure anyone new who thinks that nobody else could possibly have an eating problem as big as that, and change it for the better.

I think this thread is also illustrating that there's a difference between 'someone who enjoys their food a bit too much', and a chronic binge-eater like I used to be. The massive amounts of food that binge-eaters can put away on a daily basis are terrifying, and it's a very lonely place to be when you don't know anyone else who has the same problem. It can feel impossible to solve. I hope it helps anyone in that situation to realise that positive change *is* possible.
 
Elizabeth, i know i shouldn't chuckle but the way you described your eating made me chuckle quite a bit :8855:

And my goodness woman, you certainly went for it with food!

Your turn around and weight loss is amazing :worthy:
 
Elizabeth, i know i shouldn't chuckle but the way you described your eating made me chuckle quite a bit :8855:

I know, I have to laugh at it now because I'm just so :eek::eek::eek::eek: :D

It's wonderful that I CAN laugh in amazement now, when I think how I used to feel in the days I was eating like that. God, how did I go on like that day after day? It seriously astonishes me now.
 
Wow that was some food intake - my thought was it must have cost a fortune!! lol

I bet you feel like a compleatly different person now??

Well done on such a great change around x
 
Wow that was some food intake - my thought was it must have cost a fortune!! lol

It did! I used to get my weekly shop as normal, but then could easily spend £10-£15 a day on more. The sheer financial toll was one of the added stresses of it, quite apart from the health issues.


I bet you feel like a compleatly different person now??

Well that's the strange thing, I still feel very much the same person, just without all the stress, anxiety, guilt, suicidal despair etc. And with a lot more knowledge of myself, nutrition, the psychology of eating; it's been such a fascinating and rewarding journey, I wish I'd embarked on it a lot sooner. :)

And all because I decided to take a chance on this crazy plan where you could eat 'Free Foods'. God bless Slimming World, seriously. I think they just might have saved my life.
 
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