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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 :]

Hey there all, today was actually a pretty good day all in all. Had some porridge for breakfast and im going to have a little more later (It's about 6 in the morning here, DAMN INSOMNIA), top chef is on and i finished off my bagels today which means i get to go grocery shopping today. Im not gonna lie, i will take a date to buy food with, it is actually a pretty fun date if anyone is looking for an idea.

Made some big steps in the Ed world today. DIDNT COUNT! (until the end of the day). I wanted to try and eat intuitively to see if i could hit the 3000 mark by myself without being meticulous all day, i was only under by about 50 something!!! And that was after me thinking of having something else with late night snack, like a banana or another scop of pb. Then, i found it out and grabbed a s'mores luna bar. I dont care if they are for women they are delicious. Also went to early lunch/dinner with my friend Jarrett and had.... a ...... BURGER!!! ED was wiggin out the whole time  but i finished off the burger and it was amazing, then i washed it down wth fries! It probably workd out to like 1000+ calories, but i let myself be okay with that.

Today was not all fun and games though. I saw that girl that thinks im a 'nice guy' in the cofeehouse today with this other guy hanging al over her, so i assume they are together now, guys must be a dime a dozen. At first i was about to crawl into my ED and just go home and not eat, but i didnt giver her that power, girls will come and go but im with me forever. I also backed out of being in a play this febuary because i was worried about Ed using the play as an excuse for me to restrict, its happened before and i just noticed it. I felt good that i made a decision for just me regardless of consequences but i still miss acting. im feeling Artistically Contipated right now!!! Last, but not least, my friggin edema is out of control!!! I feel like im about to bust out of my skin here. HAs onyone else gone through this? and if you have then how did you cope/is there something i can do?

MEL: BEST STAR WARS QUOTE EVER!!!!! Well done.

OK: Way to not count, you totally inspired me to be breave today as well.

CHARLIE: You deserve a good trip, christmas trip nonetheless. Leave Ed at home, he is no fun on a trip.

MASHED: One night watching a Basketball game i saw Micheal Jordan only score 13 points. I was thinking... Really? Your Micheal Friggin Jordan!!!! You know what though? The next day he didnt get depressed and didn't second guess himself. Just went out there and got over 50 easy. Team CLASHED is exactly like this. TODAY IS MASHED THURSDAY!!!! PORRIDGE FOR ALL!

DOLLY: Love you too sis!!! SHOOT FOR 3000 TODAY!!! I dont like seeing question marks and you second guessing. I do like to see you get better, aim to overshoot today, just think 'im going to get better faster!'

ALSER: Remember Mary Poppins? Screw the spoonful of sugar... its really a spoonfull of PB. On days im under i actually eat it out of the jar. It feels like a binge but i never do it unless i know vaugely how much i need to hit my goal.

AQUA: Binge = Eating three pints by yourself. All you had was an extra scoop and a sprinkle of candy. You know who else does that? EVERYBODY!!! You know who deserved it? You, my dear. Enjoy.

LADY: You could have a cheese sangwich but use a bagel instead of bread. Put a little mayo an there too my not, if you want to be 'healthier' use avacado instead. There are so many food weapons out there! Do you have that stuff down under?

RASP: So glad i could help you, I used it as motivation or myself as well. Today is going to be amazing for us both. Can you smell that? IT'S SUCCESS!!!

LALA: You dont like Heroes? Were SO not okay. (lol). Seriously though, your sister is so lucky to have you and i know she will be better soon. im thinking of the both o you and sending all the good vibes i can!

The Food-ening...

B: Porridge, fage yougurt and some fiber one.

L: WW bagel with some Laughing cow, cottage cheese, kiwi and a banana

D: Burger and steak fries (RESTAURANT!!!)

S: WW bagel with pb, cottage cheese with fiber one, luna bar, homemade banana nut muffin.

LALA is right you guys, i dont wanna see anyone under 2500. Just do it for one day... i promise it will not hurt you and its only one day. You will totally feel accomplished at the end of the day. Ill also take those who make the mark out for ice cream!!! YOU BETTER FRIGGIN DO IT!!!!

Final Score: Me=3181 Ed=0. Go sit in the corner and portion out a salad ED!

clay: Way to go with the intuitive eating and the burger! Also, awesome with putting recovery before the play. Do you want me to come pull that stupid girl's hair? Thanks for the kind words about my trip. I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family, especially my nephew. As I am unemployed I can barely afford a seat on the plane for me, let alone Ed. Plus they charge for extra baggage now so won't be taking that either.

lala: I'm praying for your sister!

dolly: I saw your reply regarding the blood work. All the more reason to up those calories, no excuses! You CAN do it!

aqua: Aw, you didn't disappoint me. Wish your therapist was someone you could trust. I am glad you ate the ice cream. It's a very positive step.

hey i'm kind of new around here, i'm 5'1 hit a low of 68 in may and got transferred out of school to an inpatient clinic where i gained to 93 and since i haven't stuck to my meal plan i'm back at 86-87 which i'm fine with but everyone else is freaking out. i'm making a real effort to stop the losing though because i want to stay in school this time and not spiral back down into the disaster i was. i've been eating about 1300-1500 lately which has let me maintain pretty much but i'm supposed to be eating more around 2500+ since my metabolism is pretty fast from all the **** i put it through. 

i can't say i'm positive i want to recover but i know i have to and once i start getting less obsessive i know i can do it again.

today i had:

B- 1/2c dry oatmeal, 1/4c chopped dates,  1c fage, 1c grapes, coffee

L- nutz over chocolate luna bar, apple, 1/2c cottage cheese

S- 1cup Fiber One honey clusters, 1/2c milk , package reeses pieces

D- Veggie burger with honey mustard, tomatoes, carrots, 3/4c Jasmine Rice,8oz juice

S- 1c Raisin Bran, 1/4c Cottage Cheese, hot chocolate, lolipop

So I have these strange stomach cramps today, I'm unsure if I ate something dodgy or it's TOTM....which I haven't had for like over a year. Will keep you posted ;)

NGemma: Hi hun. Aw sorry you've gone back down, and yes you really need to eat waaaayyyy more than 1300 a day. I didn't want to put weight on but now I have put some on (a stone) I can see I DO look better and I am still thin (ok I have a lot of relapses and times when I don't think that but I'm working on it!) Update on the rest of your foods later?

Charlie: Hehe extra baggage, I like!

Clay:Wow I'm really impressed at the sacrifices you are making and it's so healthy to see you putting yourself first before things like your career and girls. Seriously, a healthy body and mind is the one thing most people can absolutely rely on to bring them happiness and they are far more important than the other crap.

Raspberry: Good that you didn't lose, but now you know what's next - gaining!

Lala: Hope your sister gets the care she needs

Naskigi: The exercise is something I struggled with too, it's easier just to go cold turkey and cut it all out. And do you actually go dancing with lions or was that a typo? O_O

Just going to add, the more people I see eating far too little here, the less I am going to post. Sorry, but I am getting far too quick to anger on this matter, lately.

Thankyou all of you for your well-wishes to my sister. She's seeing a GI specialist today.

Ngemma: I'm going to be frank. I've seen your more recent posts. This is a group aiming for a positive view of recovery. You need to be doing this for yourself and if you're not, quite honestly? I don't think it'd be smart for you to post here until you start seeing value in recovering because it will otherwise bring the other posters here down. If you want support to work you also have to support yourself.

I feel guilty posting lol as I should be doing revising, I've rather neglected the fact that I have prelims in less than a week :| i'm SCREWED lol

On a more positive note, im hoping for 2500 today cause I ate 8 squares of MILK chocolate my friend gave me in French:) + had some more dark choc with my lunch. and stuck to the rest of my meal plan so far. And my dinners gonna be this Mushroom shallot hotpot which looks amazing, its got like dry cider,sundriedtomatoes, shitake mushrooms , celery etc in it, it looks and smells amazing haha:)

Lala you're right, we need to just all get motivated and EAT instead of talking about it, its hard but we need to try, and posting about our failures is just brinigng us all down:( So lets all keep going okay :)
argh if only it wasnt for stupid exams i would be in a good mood ><

post me more of your motivation lol :)
xxxxxxxx

wow dolly that sounds delicious - i'd love to know the recipe if you have it?

congrats on the choc - remember, whatever ED tells us, recovery is NUMBER ONE PRIORITY for ALL of us. we can't let ANYTHING compromise it - not social life, not school, nothing. because if we don't get better, we won't have any of that left to go back to.

food going good for me today - last night i doubled the cals of my dessert after supper and also didn't weigh out my noodles for my stir fry and made sure what was on my plate was a lot more than what is normally there.

lala you are totally right. enough lip service of the verbal kind and more lip service of the eating kind!!!

i'm going to try and make dinner more cals than normal tonight too! not sure what i'm going to have yet but it's gonna be gooooood.

AND for AM snack i had the coconut cocoa brownie larabar flavour, which i've been wanting to try for ages but becuase it was more than the cherry or apple pie flavours (which are around 203 - this one is 236) i've been avoiding it and mmmm it was good. in hindsight it's so silly fussing about an extra 33 cals but that's what ED does *rolls eyes*

will post replies later, just sitting drinking a coffee and trying to plan dinner. mwah to all of you xxxxx

I know i already wrote a novel for today but there is something that just hit me so im posting quick before i head out.

1) There is a food out there that we have all been wanting. You knwo the one i mean. The one that always catched your eye at the store. The one that you always look at the nutrition information hoping that it changed since last week. The one that your friends eat and you tell them how jealous you are of them. Today is that foods day. Go out and get it, you have a free pass. And you know what? I wanna hear about it, so post up after you treat yourslef. Everything will be fine, i promise.

2) One thing i have recently aquired in fighting ED is that invaluable technique i like to call U-Turn. Here is what i do, when i think about a food, like a little thought saying 'do i want a muffin today', or 'im kinda craving some ice cream'. Right then, and we all know it, ED comes in like one of those acidy spit aliens from that movie with Sigourney Weaver about the aliens (i forget the name). Immediately, i take a risk and mechanically go or what i wanted. My body would not have given me that spot idea if i didnt want/require it in some way. You can enjoy these things now, you can even enjoy them later. I wanna hear about these too. MOTIVATE ME YOU GUYS.

Claire is spending another night in hospital, but I've spoken to her on the phone again and she just sounds better in herself already. You can hear it in her voice. The delay is due to our family having rare blood types; she is A rhesus negative, and I am O rhesus negative, hers the more tricky to obtain. They had to send for a bag of her blood type, so the transfusion only happened today and as it's taking time, they've decided to keep her another night.

Dolly and Mashed: Thanks for backing me up! But it's true. And it includes you two! x] You both need to reach 2500 if you haven't yet. You have done a lot to fight your ED already though and make me really smiley, so keep it up - and get those calories up!

Dolly: That dinner DOES sound delicious save for the fact I'm not a fan of alcohol in any form (cooked as part of something included). Bleck. Too strong! And it irritates my IBS, another pain in the bum. Uh, literally. >__< But the other combinations, ooh... I bet I could probably sub the cider for stewed apples. Hmm... wintery goodness...

Mashed: Yay on the larabar and other increases all round! Did you ever get a little pamphlet on portion sizes? I have a list of the ideal weights for a portion of food types, if you're ever curious. I used this to begin with, weighing, and then when I got used to what that portion looked like I stopped weighing and went by eyeball. It was very helpful, so if you or any other person here would like to know what I have down on this thing, do say so.

What do you have in the house you can have as part of your dinner and what calories are you upping the portion from? List some ingredients, we could probably give you a hand.

Clay: ... that'd be Alien. XD

Let this be a lesson: anyone who does not go out and conquer silly ED voices will be faced with the threat of a chest burster busting out of your stomach gripping the food you are denying yourself. And no one wants that, right?

Last treat I had? I bought myself a new bar of 85% dark chocolate. Yummm. x] I've honestly had all of the foods I can think of that I've seen and gone "Phwoar, I want one of those" at this point; I await the moment I want a new food I'm not having already! XD

Despite the general crappiness I've been feeling over the past few days, I've still managed to get all my cals in. I've been distracting myself with schoolwork so I just eat mindlessly and don't think about it, so I've been making 2700-2800 cals lately. I need to start making my oatmeal with milk or something though if it turns out that I have lost weight.

I have to play at a school thing today. Silent auction I believe, just making background music. My teacher mentioned that she might take us out to dinner afterward, but I don't know if she still will. Nervous!

lady- You don't like nuts? Wow. Have you tried nutella? It just tastes chocolate, not too nutty. If you don't like nuts, then you need to be using butter or cream cheese on bagels, english muffins, bread, etc. I think you should get a balance of protein, fat, and carbs, and not just fill up on carbs. Good luck in melbourne today!

clay- Food shopping is my favorite activity haha! Great job not counting!! That is more like a leap the size of a umm... rugby.. field than a step! Sorry about the girl, but there are other better girls out there who won't just take whatever guy they can get. And you can trust this advice because I'm 14 and obviously know exactly what I'm talking about!

charlie- Okay, thanks. How are you doing?

ngemma- Hey. I have to sort of agree with lala, everyone here has a mostly positive outlook on recovery, save a few slip ups. I have no problem with you posting here, but you need to have a good mindset when you post here. When I first started recovery I was in the same place as you, but as I gained my ED thoughts slowly started to go away and now I know I want to recover. Good luck!

mashed- Thanks for posting the lyrics to Simon on the forum a little while back. I bought the song on itunes and listened to it and it made me cry too! It's so true. Especially the "you lost yourself in your search to find something else to hide behind" part. I needed to cry, so, thanks again.

I realized I always say that I'll post food later, but I never do. So today so far:

Breakfast- Oatmeal w/ pumpkin, plain whole milk yogurt with honey and dried figs, egg, apple

Lunch- PB and banana sammich, Stonyfield Farms WM yogurt, chewy TLC bar, carrots

Snack- 1 oz. of almonds, WW cheddar bunnies, apple, YoBaby

Taa for all the advice, i'll get this replying down pat one day.

I hit 2500 yesterday, knew after dinner it was gonna be hard so had two yogurts and a resource plus(360 cals). About to have a huge breakfast before the long drive to Melbourne. With a **** of snacks INCLUDING.. a blueberry bagel. I've never had a bagel but i found one in Safeway yesterday(Not just one.. obviously it was a packet..)

And i bought a big jar of nutella and almond butter which i'd never seen.
You guys give the best darn advice and i get some WICKED meal ideas from you.

I definately want the eating normal back, so mealtimes i'm eating whatever the fmaily eats, and i usually just don't ask and eat it.

I can't believe how much my feelings and thoughts have changed since being on this board, the motivation and back bone you guys have has given me so much drive and the kick in the arse just to shake this ED !

I already lub you all.

x

Lady: Good job! Now you have to keep eating 2500 steadily. Don't let that one day be the only day or you're doing yourself no good. Almond butter is delicious! But ask yourself, on normal nuts: do you REALLY not like nuts, or is that your ED telling you you don't like them? Big difference. I used to "not like" nuts, then when I began eating them again I realised that was more to do with my ED and not actually a question of taste. Except for brazils, blerg.

By the way. Vegemite makes for an awesome marinade on chicken or tofu. :D Cornflour, vegemite, some garlic and spices, and a little oil, and you either shallow fry or bake it (usually depending on the protein - chicken is safer baked). Yum.

mashed: sure, i'll look it out for you tomorrow or something and type it up, it's out a vegetarian recipes book :) and you're totally right about recovery being number 1 priority. i wish i could keep that mentality ALL the time, im trying, i really am. congrats on all your successes of the day, the larabar sounds soo nice.
clay: you are a genius. im off to eat some more dark chocolate.
Lala: Sorry to hear about your sister, Im sure she'll be fine though:)  Yeah im sure you could substitute the cider, you couldnt taste it thatmuch anyway, but the smell was like heavenly :)
xxxx

i know, i find it hard to keep it up all the time too, but it's the times where anorexia it as it's strongest that we need to remember that part the hardest.

you go eat some more and i will too and we'll both know we're beating it together :)

aww aqua i'm so glad you liked the song - i love most of lifehouse's stuff, it's so beautiful, but that song has always managed to get under my skin the most.

finishing off notes on 1970s Britain (fun fun fun) for history, should really have done it earlier but was practising language aptitude tests for Oxford Classics (BLOODY IMPOSSIBLE) and generally stressing out.

just thought i'd post my food for the day :)

breakfast 1 cup all bran, banana, skim milk, grapefruit juice

snack cocoa coconut chew larabar :)

lunch BIG jacket potato (and i didn't cut any off!), shredded (probably full fat) cheese, 1/2 pat of butter (REAL butter from school dining room - major FF - even pre-ED i never ate real butter) and big salad.

snack fage, cashews, applesauce

dinner sweet potato (which was 203g instead of my usual 200 but again, managed not to cut the extra 3g off which is what ED normally gets me to do), light cream cheese, ratatouille, big salad with 2 tsp seeds!!!
fruit salad with blob of plain yoghurt

snack porridge with tsp brown sugar :)

defo over 2000 today - not sure how much over but i don't really want to count just in case i freak myself out. trying not to think about the 'fat feelings' and just 'go with it'.. blargh! but love all you guys and please know that i am trying so hard - only a few weeks ago i was still bumbling along at about 1200 and with the amazing support of you guys (as well as my mum and my nurse) i've managed to come such a long way. i've stopped kidding myself that 'ooh if i eat anything at all it means i'm recovering' because i know that's not true.

night night, off to do some more history notes then get some sleep,

xxxxxxx

Mashed: Fantastic job. I think you should try, now, to switch your milk to semi at breakfast. One extra step. You can make 2500 no problem! :D

just want to rant... scale jumped today... haven't felt like this in a while.  i am freaked out.  i feel fat but skinny.  i am not restricting but i feel like the weight is coming on soooooo fast for someone who is ONLY taking in 2500 cals a day.. what am i doing wrong?  i feel like its a lb. a day!  i feel gross and bloated and huge.

ugh.......

hey all,

Just a quick post but I wanted to say hell did I ever need to read these posts today. Got weighed and I'm up by 5 pounds, and it was only a week since my last weigh in. I'm now at the highest weight I've been in two years! I'm eating 3000 a day and when I was told my weight today the ED was horrified but the sane positive voice managed to step in and tell the ED to go to hell, I have to gain and if i'm gaining this quickly well so be it, I know I wasn't happy looking like the walking dead and I am more frightened of relapsing as it takes so much damn effort everyday to fight this bloody ED voice! I can't imagine having to do this again! Lala so sorry about your sister but thank goodness she has you, and keep on with the reality checks, we need them.....well I know I certainly do! And Clay, hell you couldn't have put that more perfectly...mine is the carrot cake sitting staring at me everday I go into my local coffee shop. Today my  victory over ED was to eat a chocolate mint cliff bar after my weigh in instead of the low fat yougart and berries my ED wanted me to eat! And I had the cliff bar because I was craving it!

Also everyone please send good vibes my way, I am applying for an incredible job that would change my life. It would allow me to move out of the appartment I am sharing with my partner who I have officially separated with. The job would also enable me to work around my two year old daughter, this position would really change our lives! And on that note I am off to write my cover letter. Keep going everyone..........we have to do this, we really do!

my friends passing made me realise a few really important things.

One is that your life on earth is way too short for you to worry about how many calories you eat in a day. If i were to die right now, i wouldn't want people talking about how glad they were that I was a small jeans size or any crap like that, i'd want them to remember me for my personality and how I treated others, which in the end is way more important in life. I'm so over trying to impress people with how I look when honestly, I look terrible, gaunt, tired, hair still thinning every day, and I HATE it. Life isn't worth living if you can't have fun with it and counting calories ISN'T fun, which is why i havent much lately.

this is what i've eaten today

b- big bowl of WM yogurt with 1.5 cups Kashi GoLean CRUNCH

s- apple

l- meal replacement bar, slice of pizza, milk

s- pack of gum (ortho appt), apple, cut veggies with chickpeas and olive oil

d- roti flat breads with chickpea curyr, lentil curry, bowl of raita yogurt sauce,

s- another bowl of WM yogurt with GoLean CRUNCH and cinnamon, big bowl of mango, hot chocolate

dont know how much, but to me i'm full but just FEEL like eating, so i probably will because being fat really isn't on my top list of fears right now. My friend died exactly 1 week ago, her cancer came out of nowhere, and she was 15 years old. THAT'S something to be afraid of.

mashed and slr: i think you're both absolutely amazing, i love you guys:) Youre right, there's nothing good about looking gaunt with thinning hair, and there are so many more important things.
gilly: well done for fighting ED, try not to worry, you are awesome and think of this as an achievement! :D

Hmmmm todays foods...
Breakfast: Soy Milk, Choc Complan, Bran Flakes,Shredded wheat Strawberries, Raspberries, handful of pecans
Snack: Plum, Trail Mix, Cantaloupe Melon
Lunch:  Pickle Sandwich with Cheddar Cheese. Yep, CC! I've always told myself I hate it, but tbh, it COULD be my ED talking, so I'mma gonna try it today. And yeah, it's full fat or whatever cause that's all we've got in the fridge so no alternatives anyway :') How many calories is a slice or so of cheddar then? Tracker cereal bar
Snack: Ryvita + Pb + Jam, pineapple
Dinner: Baked Beans on Toast with Marmite
Snack: Oatmeal + Cinnamon or Shredded Wheat,Soy Yoghurt + Strawberries (im undecided as to which one:P )

Does this look like it would make 2500? :)
xxxxxxx