I just ate a 1000 calorie snack?!

I was really hungry for a snack and okay, so I went a little overboard and had 2 bowls of Raisin Nut Bran with 1% milk. I went to add it to my food log and it says I just ate 1000 calories. Is that for real? My estimate of the amount I ate was 3 metric measuring cups of cereal and 2 cups of milk to go with it. The bowls were not that big either! You all know you can eat at least that much cereal in one sitting!

My goodness. No wonder it is so easy to gain weight. I just can't believe how fast calories add up. I still don't believe I just ate a 1000 calorie snack, it doesn't seem real. Has anyone else had this experience where you are mortified by how many calories are in, what you thought was a normal snack? 

It's the sugar.  You're usually better off assembling your own cereal.  Buy some bran flakes, some raisins and some Splenda.  Skim milk and I bet you could have 4 bowls.

The wonders of Splenda are off limits to me, unfortunately. I'm one of those people who get severe intestinal issues after eating it. Seriously, It's like I just ate an entire box of ExLax when I eat Splenda. It's insane.

I guess you're right about the sugar.

that sucks like crazy. im new here too, but after two weeks, i now realize why that cereal is so high cal:

1) the nuts -- nuts are calorie crazy! (but so good dont ya think?)

2) the raisins. i have come to know that most dried fruit is high in sugar and well not much else

3) caaaaaaaaaaaaarbs. enough said.

tomorrows a new day though, youre new and you didnt know.

ALSO: if you ever type anything in to the recipe analyzer, make sure you click on the (view item) link because sometimes it ends up wrong. for some reason, it messes me up with green beans. i type in 10 green beans (which, if i might add, is one of the serving options in the drop down menu) i dont know what serving it thinks im asking for but it calculates it as like 175 calories! i end up having to manually add the green beens.

Yeah, raisin bran is usually high in calories. Oh well, at least you know for the future!

That's crazy... my two cups of wheaties with milk is like 350 calories.

Cereal was one of the hardest things for me to adjust to as well.

I am almost embarrassed to admit this, but I used to eat Fruity Pebbles BY THE BOX as a snack. (Ever have one of those moments when you look back at past eating habits and it becomes brutally clear how you got where you are?)

Anyway ... I seriously cut back my cereal intake because it got away from me so easily. I now by Fiber One Honey Nut Clusters. I limit myself to one serving twice a week with skim milk. I like add a half cup of blueberries to bulk it up a bit.

I replaced cereal on my snack list with other high fiber foods like whole wheat bagels and assorted fruits. For a while I had to constantly remind myself that the high fiber foods were not immediately filling for me but after a few minutes and some water I would be fine and it would stick with me for a good long time.

As someone else already stated, you learned an important lesson. At least you KNOW how many calories it was thanks to the tools. You could have gone on eating that snack all your life and wondering where you were going wrong. There is a lot to be said for that. 

I never eat cereal anymore. If I don;t have protein in the morning I and starving all day! I get the cage free orgaqnic eggs, and I swear they cook up twice as big as the other kind! Add a little veggie bacon and I've got breakfast, usually under 200 cal.

*sigh*

I guess I know better now. I just wish cereal wasn't so caloriclly dangerous. It's so addictive. I guess a good solution is to find other filling, fiber dense foods for a snack, yes.

I was eating a cereal that gets an A grade on the CC food database too.  

Try Kashi brands! Or if you like granola, Nature's Path makes flax seed, pomegranate, hemp seed, and other kinds of TASTY granola for 130-140 calories for a 1/2 cup serving...and yeah if you need two then that's still not too high being that most 1/2 cup granola servings are in the 200s. Stay away from the generic cereal brands though. Those are killers. Kashi has good cereal that is lower calorie and tastes better IMO. Also, oatmeal is more filling and has a lot of fiber and protein if you find the right one. But more importantly, you should work on the portion sizes because it sounds like you put two cups of cereal twice, which the servings could be 1/2 cup or 3/4 a cup, so that would throw you off. A trick that I do sometimes is have a low cal but healthy "boring" cereal like whole grain puffs or those whole wheat corn flakes types of things that are bland, but then add a bit of the higher cal granola or something like that. You could always buy whole wheat corn flakes, and put raisins or craisins in them instead!

Portion control anyone?

berries are great for snacks!

but when you want to have something other than healthy healthy ive found QUAKES RICE SNACKS they are a product of quaker, they are amazing!!! low calorie, low fat, and low sodium, they taste great too!!

I noticed a lot of people make this mistake: when you count the cals in the milk that you put in your cereal, make sure that if you don't drink the milk after you eat the cereal, to subtract whats left from the amount that you put in.  If you put a cup of milk in your bowl, there might be a half a cup left that you never drank. Its not much, but those cals can add up to be a lot.

Thanks cstefan, I never thought of that. : P (sarcasm, just in case it's not coming across)

I will try those snack/ breakfast ides, everyone. I think you're right misspriss, I need to stay away from general mills. Some cereals are so easy to overeat without even trying. I think oatmeal is a good idea too.

Blasted Raisin Nut Bran! So delicious, deceptively "healthy" and calorie-crazy!  

 

Until I started putting everything down in my food log I way underestimated what I was eating. My husband and I stop at Jack in the Box at least once a week. I usually get a jumbo jack (no cheese) and an order of cheddar wedges,(I know that's awful) but I had NO idea it was 86 grams of fat awful. Thats a couple of days worth of fat. I was shocked. No wonder I'm gaining weight. It's a wonder I don't weigh more.

Seriously. The food log is a wake-up call. When I first started logging it all I was wondering how it is that I don't weigh 500 lbs. (Maybe I'd be on my way there if I didn't get smart).

 

 

Oh yeah, look up a shake some time. I knew it was high in sugar, but I thought a little treat wouldn't hurt, and skim milk would help...WRONG!

Original Post by susiekitten:

Until I started putting everything down in my food log I way underestimated what I was eating. My husband and I stop at Jack in the Box at least once a week. I usually get a jumbo jack (no cheese) and an order of cheddar wedges,(I know that's awful) but I had NO idea it was 86 grams of fat awful. Thats a couple of days worth of fat. I was shocked. No wonder I'm gaining weight. It's a wonder I don't weigh more.

Jack in the Box is EVIL!  I used to eat there a few times a week!!!! UGH  That was before I started this new life.  I always ordered the "Ultimate Cheeseburger" and last night I checked it out on CC just for Gee Whiz and it has over 1000 calories and 80 something grams of fat!!  That wasn't even including the seasoned curly fries and large coke I ordered with it!  (a lot of exclamation points in this post... sorry)  Anyway, I'm glad I see things clearly now.  I'm surprised that I "only" weighed 208 when I started this!  Should have been more like 400 from looking at my diet in hind sight.

Original Post by tamleech:

Original Post by susiekitten:

Until I started putting everything down in my food log I way underestimated what I was eating. My husband and I stop at Jack in the Box at least once a week. I usually get a jumbo jack (no cheese) and an order of cheddar wedges,(I know that's awful) but I had NO idea it was 86 grams of fat awful. Thats a couple of days worth of fat. I was shocked. No wonder I'm gaining weight. It's a wonder I don't weigh more.

Jack in the Box is EVIL!  I used to eat there a few times a week!!!! UGH  That was before I started this new life.  I always ordered the "Ultimate Cheeseburger" and last night I checked it out on CC just for Gee Whiz and it has over 1000 calories and 80 something grams of fat!!  That wasn't even including the seasoned curly fries and large coke I ordered with it!  (a lot of exclamation points in this post... sorry)  Anyway, I'm glad I see things clearly now.  I'm surprised that I "only" weighed 208 when I started this!  Should have been more like 400 from looking at my diet in hind sight.

gosh aint that the truth... No joke I would go to Jack in the Box 3-4 times a week and normally get

4 tacos, ultimate bacon cheseburger, larger curly fries, large sprite, and a spicy chicken sandwich...

Im gonna guess and say thats about 3500 calories and god knows how much fat.. for one freakin meal.. now I see why Im so fat...

I have to say I agree with everyone about what they are saying about not realizing what was going on until having a food log.  I never would have kept a food log without this online dealie.  How awesome is this!  I wouldn't keep track of all the other stuff plus the calories, you know?

 

Here's the thing though, those nuts, they're really good for you and the fat in them is SUPER good for you.  Check out the real age website and take their test and see what they recommend.  They encourage 3 tablespoons of walnuts (those are the ones I like probably other nuts are good too) every evening or every week, can't remember because they have the same kind of stuff that's in salmon.

 

I'm also sort of surprised because for me, the malt-o-meal raisin bran is a better deal than a bagel just by the back of the box.  So what I'm giving up is the bagel and I'm adding the cereal, which is opposite of what someone else said.  

 

Could it be that the Raisin Nut Bran is actually a sugar cereal for adults?  Maybe if you just had regular raisin bran without the fancy dancy nut cluster-y things on it it would be more manageable?

 

Good job to everyone else on here who's decided to see the light and make changes (including the original poster). 

I don't think it's to much of a problem with portion control because 2 bowls of cereal is not really excessive in my opinion. That stuff is just so dang sugary. I need two bowls of that stuff to fill me up. In fact, I know how you feel because yesterday I also had a couple bowls of raisin bran as well and it put me over my maintenance for the day. I just wanted something different than oatmeal for breakfast. It was soo good but it definately won't be a daily occurance.