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Weight Gainers: What did YOU eat today?

I am copying the many times copied thread, "What did you eat today?" in hopes of helping some of those who are just starting to gain and have no clue what to eat. I know that when I began weight recovery, I was eating tons of low-cal foods just because that's what I was used to. I learned the hard way that dense foods are essential to weight gain when you have high caloric requirements (at one point I needed 4500 cal to maintain my weight on BEDREST). Perhaps newbies can get some ideas if we post our weight gain meal plans! Even if you're not gaining anymore, grab an old one and post it!:]
Please note that every body is different and some will need more or less calories than others to gain. This thread is just so that you can get an idea of what you need.
Oh, and yes, I'm breaking the "no calories, no portions" rule, since it is pretty helpful in this case. If you want to post cals/portions you can. I just ask that you don't post if you're not eating enough, though as this is a weight gain thread, I would hope none of you are undereating.;]
I'll start....
Breakfast (875 cal)*

• 1/2 cup oatmeal (150) cooked with
• 1 cup evaporated whole milk (300)
• 1 mashed banana (100)
• 2 tbsp peanut butter (200)
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed and cinnamon to taste (50) 
• 1 hard-boiled egg (75 cal)

Morning Snack (300 cal)*

• 1/4 cup mixed nuts (200)
• 1/4 cup dried apricots (100)

Lunch (660 cal)*

• 1/4 cup rice cooked in 1 cup chicken stock (300) and
• 1/2 cup canned or cooked chickpeas (145) and
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese (150) and
• 1/4 cup each onion, peppers, and tomato (30) cooked with
• 1 tbsp olive oil and curry powder to taste (120)

Afternoon snack (390 cal)*

• 1 serving baby carrots (35)
• 1/4 cup hummus (155)
• 1/4 cup mixed nuts (200)

Dinner (875 cal)*

• 1 cup of my insane Mac & Cheese recipe (515)
• 2 cups tossed salad (45)
• 2 tbsp rasins (60)
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds (105)
• 2 tbsp dressing (150)

Evening snack (480)*

• 1 cup plain whole milk yogurt (180)
• 1/2 cup homemade granola (300)

About 3600 calories :]

that is SUPER WEIRD - look at my  post just a second ago! Holocaust-on-the-brain today!

I forgot to post yesterday's foods! :)  It's really weird, lately I've been virtually living off of granola bars—roughly 600 of my day's calories come from them and them alone.  It can't be good to have all of that processed stuff in my system (although granola bars claim to be healthy), so I guess I should try to lower my intake on those, haha.

B: oatmeal

L: turkey and cheese sandwich, Doritos

S: 2 granola bars

D: chicken sesame noodle bowl, granola bar

S: granola bar, toaster pastry

Mashed_tatties: I am also reading a book on the holocaust right now, too.  Too weird...

Gibbit: I know there's dairy-free options - just not really available here! But I agree on make-your-own being cheaper anyway. Job's going well, see what I wrote to Charlie a page back: I wrote a journal entry on it! XD

Mashed: I'm about 45 from London via train, so it'd have to be part of a day trip for me. That or I'll take a sad day out on my own... xD

Wow... we go through a lot of posts on here in only a matter of a few hours! Hahah. It's hard to respond to all the posts, but to everyone who's welcomed me, thank you so much for your support and I really look forward to speaking with you through my recovery journey.

As far as Amy's goes - I'm sold on the Tofu and Brown Rice Bowl. Sounds strange to say, but it is SO GOOD. The Veggie Loaf is like a comfort food to me, which probobly sounds even more bizzare, but it seriously tastes homemade, and who can resist mashed potatoes and gravy? Not to mention, it's also dairy-free if anyone is avoiding that sort of thing. The cost is really the only downside. I have to stock-up when my grandma takes me to WF since we really can't afford to buy them more than once a week or so otherwise. Why is it that all the junk is so cheap, yet all the healthy (and tasty!) options are so darn expensive!? Not fair.

Hey hey hey!

Gibbit! we can be ill together!  I am also all gross and snuffly...my head feels like cotton wool and all I can hear is the vague ssssshhhhhhwwrrrffllllll.  Of course M thinks it's not really funny to mouth words at me and pretend I've gone deaf....

So today has been a HORRIBLE weather day, so of course I have felt completely justified sitting in the pub with S and getting through bottle after bottle of red wine and setting the world to right!  (Conversation ranged from Shakespeare: it is too ubiquitous - the audience know what's coming and what they're supposed to feel, and therefore are separated off from the visceral emotions it is supposed to provoke in the first place - we need a way to get back to raw shakespeare....to anal sex: is it a cultural phenomenon because gay people saw heterosexual penetrative sex and therefore believed that the only way to truly have sex was penetrative and were forced into it?  Or is it really a biological drive) until we were quite drunk, and talking about his time on drugs and my inability to cook rice.  Other than that I've just been doing practice maths tests all day.  I OFFICIALLY SUCK at maths,  this is now official.  Thank you and good night.  Also, because I'm yuck I haven't felt like eating, so all the nice food I've planned has just been a chore and now my stomach hurts because I've just had to eat like 2000 calories in 2 hours, bleech.

zebulancherry: comfort food rocks!  I'm discovering food I loved as a kid, so working my way through things like dippy eggs and soldiers, and toad in the hole.  Mashed potato and gravy is awesome!  What are some of your other faves?

Lala: I'm glad your job's going well...How's college and everything?  Are you still seeing the people at the place in eastleigh?  Man I'm glad I'm not there anymore!

mashed and okgo: me and S today were talking about cultures that have integrated the holocaust...So many Jewish people have 'false memories' of having lived through the holocaust, because it is such a large cultural identity and memory, and Jungian collective unconscious kind of dictates that we need to share these memories to feel part of a community...wierd that we were all talking about these things on the same day...maybe its out collective unconscious - though I think if it were it would be something more food related....!

gibbit: sorry you're feeling yucky, but listen, make sure you get better before you do stuff, you need to be in a good frame of mind to ride your bike!  So get on that sofa and CHILLAX, DUDE!  You know, also, my module tutor keeps sending me e-mails in flemish, and I have no idea why, mainly because I don't read it!  Bloody Belgium!

Charlie:That made me so angry!  Some people have no manners whatsoever.  Just who did they think they were?  Well, you know what, I bet they have no friends and end up sad and alone eating spam from a tin.  And smelling bad.  Keep your chin up, you're beauuuutiful and getting more so by the day!

Clay: NOOOOOOO, we haven't got the new series yet!  What's it like?  What's happening?  I want it now!  Which series is your fave?  I thought the one where they were in the colony with the puppet government was amazing!  And you know, I feel fat practically every day at the moment, I mean, I look in the mirror and just see HUGE, and worse, I see ugly, but I just have to keep telling myself it's not true.  Ask yourself: How can you have man boobs when you're underweight?  You are most definitely NOT fat and you do not have man boobs, OK?  And I know where you're coming from with the breakfasts, I find it hard to eat much in the morning as well, I think we just have to do what we can, and hopefully every day wil get a little bit easier...

Every little battle is a battle won, every little step is a step in the right direction.  We can do it.

Over and out!

THEO-hi, perhaps im confused, but what do you mean, "So many Jewish people have 'false memories' of having lived through the holocaust"?

Perhaps I didn't phrase it well, but Im not sure how to put it...I mean to say that several studies done have shown that a large number of Jewish people in the diaspora of the generation that lived through the holocaust have 'false' memories of concentration camps and persecution, in that they did not directly experience it themselves, but it is such a large part of their cultural identity that to maintain that link their subconscious has almost invented memories of having been there to reconcile their feelings with the events.

Or that's what the studies say anyway.  I know it's generalising but it's just what I was reading, for my anti-fascism module, and then S and I were discussing the truth of it today in the pub.  

hmm, well i dont know much about fascism, i admit, but i do know a bit about the holocaust, yes, i am jewish, and i also know a bit about post traumatic stress disorder which i think is a common effect that one experiences after living through such a terrible ordeal.  the effects of PTSD have net been 100% studied and are not completely reliable, but 1 effect may be thought distortion as is seen in soldiers returning from war.  but-i have never heard of this associated w/ holocaust survivors or survivors from any traumatic experience other than fighting in a war.

so i know this is not a discussion board on history and such so ill leave it at t hat.

Evening all

Sorry no time to post replies but food today

B: Porridge with banana, dried fruit and nuts

L: Burger!!! (FF) AND chips (FF) and I ate it all, even the bun. Was scared and didn't want to eat it but I think I'm starting to get over the mental stuff. It helped being with friends this weekend

S: Apple and cereal bar

D: Pasta and vegetables (My housemate made a big deal out of how much I was eating for my dinner even though she knows I'm trying to put on weight with annoyed me some and I almost put some back because of it but I didn't!)

Not sure of calories but hopefully I hit 3000 at least. My breakfast was definately 1000! Though when I don't count I'm sure I eat less as I don't feel as full and I'm sure I lose a bit of weight. Or maybe I'm just less bloated. Hmm

Hope food going ok for everyone. Dolly and Mashed did you get to 2000 again today? :D

Gibbit and Theo hope you feel better, lots of vitamin C is needed!

Sorry I missed out loads of peeps! (peeps?!)

xx

Theo: College is good, trying to set myself up for Uni. And no, not any more! And I am equally bloody glad, they're absolute balls. I miss my old GP though, she left my surgery. ]:

Hey all

Thank you to everyone who welcomed me to the board, it's good to be finally taking a step in the right direction :)

Well, today I did a scary thing and ended up cooking roast chicken, roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots, and peas for 7 people. In a student hall of residence with a cruddy oven and a lack of cooking equipment that is no easy task! But even more impressive was that I actually ate it. AND I had apple crumble and custard for pudding. I haven't had pudding in aaaaaaaages :P And I ate a couple of biscuits and I wasn't even hungry this afternoon. I just decided I wanted them, so I ate them. The weird thing is I don't even feel remotely guilty or whatever so that is a massive kick in the crotch for ED!

Not sure how many cals I ate today tho cos I've kinda been in a munchy mood and nibbled on stuff all day. Then I had roast dinner and pudding but I've never been very good at guessing amounts of food. Either way I feel physically stuffed and I'll try and keep a better track of things tomorrow. Although it will be tough to get time to eat cos I have lectures from 12-7pm pretty much and won't get home till 7.30 :S Wish me luck!

Theo: Shizzle ma' nizzle! (My attempt at gangster...I think it needs work somehow!) Bristol is awesome - such a stunning city! Just a shame that I haven't managed to get much out of my uni experience so far because of all this ED/depression crap and the tiredness that goes with it :( I'm studying Chemistry (god knows why!) so that's pretty tough. I'm up for getting a toupé when my hair is starting to thin haha - just becase I find them amusing!

Theo and Zebula: Comfort food is what is getting me through this right now I think - see the apple crumble and custard above! It reminds me of my childhood and so it makes me happy to eat it despite how much it makes my tummy hurt! The other fantastic thing I have devised is banana and custard porridge. Banana and custard = comfort food of my childhood and porridge = sheer aweseomeness! I'm already looking forward to tomorrow's bowlful and I'm still in agony from tonight's meal - sitting here with a hot water bottle pressed firmly against my stomach as per usual! But yeah - basically I am just having custard with everything :)

theo: Thanks for making me LAUGH! I actually told them to either have the guts to say something directly to me or the decency to wait until I'm out of earshot. I bet you're right though, definite Spam eaters. Hope you feel better very soon!

clay: I'm sure you don't have man boobs. Those are reserved for Kramer and Mr. Costanza. Did you ever see the "Bro" episode of Seinfeld?

lala: Glad the job is going well. I'll be sure to check out you journal. Are you feeling any better?

ukjane: Tell that housemate of your's to shove it! Way to go eating despite idiotic comments. The nerve!

gibbit: Aw, darn! I guess this means there's a better gentlemen in the wings. Thanks for the well wishes!

my friends house was so much fun! I was afraid there wouldnt be enough food so i ate lunch before going, ate a meal replacement bar at her house along with a massive bag of goLean CRUNCH

THEN her mom brought out massive fresh-baked fudge cupcakes and i ate FOUR with frosting, along with a massive plateful of spaghetti. The best time i've had in a while.. and i dont even think i gained weight from it :)

that just goes to show that thinking too much about food really sort of limits you to how much you can get out of life.. i mean i havent had cupcakes in about 6 months and they were just amazing... usually i'd stop at 1/2 or 1 but FOUR and they were massive i literally ate till I was stuffed. then had a bowl of oatmeal for dinner when i came home (bulking it up with low density stuff so my stomach didnt overload)

I really hope all of you are making your way to recovery :)

SLR-i m so happy for you, really, so happy bc you are so young and dont need this hanging over the rest of your life.  youre 100% rt, there is way more to life than just food and all thats related to it and you cant even see it or fathom it until you stop thinking about food.  its a great life out there if you only have the courage to take that step and go for it!  youre awesome, thanks for making me smile!!

oh, lol, and that was me last night at the restaurant, eating waaaay past fullness and then having more when i got home! ha

aqua and afon... thanks guys... night went well!

clay... its hard to do the big big meals it can be scary but when you have to get in the cals you have no other choice!  

charlie and gibbit.. miss u ladies!!!

heres my day......  wait for the big reveal at the end im bugging about it

b... usual french toast with honey and greek yogurt (500 cals)

l... coffee with 3 stevia, falafel and tofu sandwich on wheat pita with roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts and a bad of birdseye garlic cauliflower (620 cals)

d... 6 oz. CHICKEN and 2 cups brown rice ranchero with kidney beans and roasted veggies in oil (810 cals)  HOLY CHICKEN I AM HAVING MEAT!!! I AM SORRY ANIMALS!!!!!!!!!!!! FEAR FEAR FEAR MORAL WRONG!!!!!!!! IS THIS A SIN OR AN ED THING? Taking nutritionist advice and having real meat... having had real meat in many many years... hope i dont get sick... hope the poor chicken I am eating doesn't come haunt me in my sleep!  Ahhhhhhh.. ok breathe.

s... usual popcorn and strawberries but adding frozen yogurt at new cool place that just opened up that has soy frozen yogurt (570 cals)

total... 2500 cals

who else is at 2500 cals or above?? curious...

Eeeeeeeeee! I had a good time at the metro. food show. By some miracle, I was able to eat whatever I wanted without thinking of the cals! So.. that's all I have to say about food. We did go to Paula Deen's show but we left early. She was just talking the whole time, seriously! My dad, who was working back stage, said that she was half and hour behind schedule b/c of all the talking. She didn't even start to cook until the last 10 mins of the show! So yeah, we left like 20 mins into it and got more free food :] AND OH MY GOSH! I got chocolate banana peanut butter!!!! Can't wait to open it. Must finish one of my two jars of regular PB first though.

clay- ooooooh were you Dobby?? Def. post pics! Great job getting to 3050, even though the voices were screaming at you.

zebulan- Whole foods is one of my favorite stores! I really love the nutrition bar section too, especially lara bars! I also like the pasta aisle, and the asian food section. And oh yes, the yogurt! They have such a good variety.

gibbit- They have a holocaust museum near where I live too. It was really sad. Hope you feel better soon! Eat lots of orange. And btw, did you know that cabot cheese is lactose free?

raspberry- Good job eating all the yummy food you made! Apple crumble sounds good.. And okay, now that your ED is lying on the ground writhing in pain, stomp on his(?) face and stomach!

slr- Wow, you're so amazing!! I'm so freaking happy for you. I second everything agru said :] Keep it up.

Lunch- Veggie delite with provolone and OO from Subway

So I was at the convention until like 5, so rest of lunch/snack: pumpkin pound cake, 2 types of toffee, some weird cheese, two types of curry with rice, stir-fried veggies, dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts, almond butter, about 5 different kinds of PB (pb loco! check it out), Holly's oatmeal, nut clusters, and a marvelous concoction of popcorn clusters covered in chocolate

Dinner- Whole wheat pita pizza w/ mozzarella, tomatoes, OO, and black olives; carrots

Snacks- WM yogurt, tangerine, clif kid bar, ready grain

Hello! the museum was nice--well, ok, obviously not "nice" in that sense, it was the holocaust museum and actually really upsetting and moving, but as it should be. The speaker was one of the sweetest ladies I"ve ever spoken to, seriously she just radiated love and compassion. I went up to her afterwards to thank her for speaking to us and she gave me a big kiss and hug and said she loved me and even though she doesnt know me, coming from such a woman, it really did make me feel loved. And it also made me feel such such a selfish and undeserving person. These people went through so much, i cant even begin to fathom where they get the strength to keep going after what they've experienced, and here i am worrying that a cupcake was made with white flour, at least I have a damn cupcake! There are so many more important things I need to worry about. All of us here have demonstrated that we are very capable of extreme determination, will power, and strenght, let's use it for something good and worth while!

my eating was a bit messed up since i got caught up writing an essay before the museum and only had time for a quick snack, then didn't get back from the museum until after 3 so i've been stuffing in the cals since, but i've done well, and i had had seconds of breakfast so it wasnt too bad. i'm so ready to be done with these stupid obsessive food thoughts, i was actually getting so hungry halfway through the tour and found myself getting really panicky about getting my cals in and needing to go home and eat, but then gave myself a big mental slap (really Gaby, reading about concentration camps and still worrying about food, wtf???) so i realized i'd be ok, icould wait, and i'd eat an extra cal dense lunch.

l- 2 egg omellete made in liberally poured grapeseed oil (my latest find!) with prob 2 cups of sauteed spinach, big hemp seed bagel spread with tahini, hummus and black olives. ok now this doesnt sound like a lot, but it was and i ate past fullness...

d- more of my "soup" stew thing, and added in wheat germ and extra beans and carrots, baked sweet potato with margarine, nutmeg and lime. coconut juice

s- planning on making a cranberry cobbler style thing with almonds, and topping with ice cream and crumbled up lemon meringue cookies :)

slr- you make me so happy!!!!! i wanted to bake today but felt too tired and lazy, and my sense of taste is sort of gone due to the snifliness.

raspberry- hello! i don't think i've welcomed you yet, so welcome! I am loving the comfort foods lately too. you did so great today! your dinner sounds really good too, my friends and i take turns hosting dinner parties, you should join our crew and we'll take turns crossing the atlantic! take a bunch of snacks to class with you tomorrow, that's what i've always done, either smoothies if they don't like you eating in class, or granola bars, pb and j's, trail mix, etc.

jane- thanks! i'm using this cold as more reason to eat as much as possible bc i feel like more food will help me fight this off. your new pic is so cute!

theo- i'll admit the holocaust comment confused me too. I know we feel a sense of community and empathy by remembering what happened to other jewish people, and i think that's very important, bu tnot sure if people actually think it happened to them. unless of course it is related to some post traumatic stress as agru said. YOur afternoon sounds very interesting, i'd love to go join your intellectual/ tipsy discussions! The belgian guy is from the french part, but i think i'd be into that too. Belgians have amazing chocolate and waffles! Did i mention he used to work in a bakery? and he also loves my cat. Yes, a belgian engineer who bakes and likes animals and could potentially be my ticket into the EU, this needs to work!! If not i'm going to go steal one of your rugby boys.

mashed- i guess we posted at the same time, how strange! its good all of us are brushing up on history, and i completely agree that reminding ourselves of what others have been through puts this in perspective.

Charlie: I know, so rude. And she had eaten chocolate cake and raw broccoli for her dinner so who was she to judge.  Those women you saw sounded very rude too, we should tell them all to shove it - we only have ourselves to answer to, right?

Aqua: Ooh in the UK we have the Good Food Show which sounds similar - celebrity chefs and tonnes of free samples, is a great day out. And please update on the amazing PB - such a thing must be heavenly.

Also, I really want to go the a Whole Foods because it sounds sooo good but there isn't one near me. I'll have to make do with Holland and Barratt.

Dana: Way to go on the chicken, that must be a huge step for you - how did it taste? I'm at 3500! But I have 2 weeks to gain as much weight as possible. I have to have at least 800 for breakfast and lots of peanut butter to make it!

Raspberry: Banana custard porridge???? Where has this been all my life, I have to try it (with dairy free custard). Well done on the roast dinner and dessert and biscuits! Make sure to keep up the good work tomorrow!

Okie: Maybe you're just going through a granola bar phase? Nothing wrong with eating a few a day as long as you eat real food too - which you do. Could try substituting one for some nuts or dried fruit though....?

Couldn't sleep again so bowl of porridge!

Not quite done yet, but here are today's foods.

B: oatmeal

S: granola bar

L: Canadian bacon and cheese sandwich

D: chicken sesame noodle bowl, milk, banana

S: toaster pastry, granola bar, fun-size M&M's (haven't had the M&M's yet, but am planning on it!)

Ukjane23: Yeah, I know, it is kind of weird.  I guess it's because they fill me up, but not to the point of discomfort, you know?  And today I substituted one for a banana, a major fear food for me! ^^ So I had some good nutrition in a banana!

Edited to add: I had the M&M's, plus another fun-size chocolate bar.  Yum!