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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 :]

AQUA-really cute idea w the menus, we never did that, what are you up to this summer that youre so busy?  i hoenstly cant remember what+how much i ate when i was in HS, or if we ate as a family or what, maybe its ED denial or something.  i know that since the ED i dont really enjoy eating w/ my family and its still hard for me to eat other ppl's food, how do you do it?  also, my parents eat dinner at like 5:30, tahts like when im having a snack, so i guess im rigid, but i dunno.

psychoj- did you make the pancakes? If so, may I have the recipe :p I've been wanting to make pancakes all week but I'm lazy and when I look for recipes on cc it's like for 12 servings..

what kind of dried fruits do you guys choose?! I tried dried peaches a while back and I have to say I'm not really a fan.  I think I want to try dried bananas and apples.  I can't get past the look of dried apricots though :/.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing down in Florida.  I got the job of role hopper which I think means I will be put wherever they need me.  A little bit of rides, some merchandising, food and bev, and maybe main entrance operations.  It'll be nice to be around people though as I seem to coup myself up here.  I actually found out about this program through my school.  I am currently attending Northeastern University which has a year long program where you just do 6 month long (or in my case only five month) internships (they call it co-op).

Aqua- I know what you mean with the peanut butter, it is a fear of mine as well as I cannot seem to stick to only a 2 tbsp portion.  It's like potato chips, you can't have just one lol. 

My family used to be the same well my mom would choose the meal the day of and that's what everyone would have to eat.  I have two sisters and we all became really picky and my mom just got frusterated and so that changed throughout middle school/High School.  My little sister is the worst she only likes like five things, chicken nuggets, fruit loops, crackers, hot dogs, chips, and fries.  Shes so damn skinny too, but the worst eater.  I mean she'll occasionally eat some carrots or celery or even a small caesar salad.  I'm really worried about her and hope she decides to change her lifestylfe, but who am I to tell her what to eat when I lost way too much weight eating healthy and am now way smaller than my little sister.  the point is we started eating out more often and I think that's when my ED started to develop as I was gaining weight and starting college def. was no help.  Anyways enough about my boring life, the point was I wish I could back to the days where my mom cooked for us and I knew what to expect for the week, maybe I wouldn't worry about my calories throughout the day as much.

Aquaev-My family(mom) does that too! I like it. I love a schedule!

Angel-I have two really good pancake recipes! One is Oatmeal Pancakes(which I just half if I make it for myself, but I like a lot of pancakes :) ) and the other which I had this morning was Blueberry Oat Buttermilk Pancakes.

Here is the recipe for the Oatmeal Pancakes(this is not halved):

1 1/8 C. milk or soymilk      &n bsp;        ;       &n bsp;        ;    1 C. rolled oats

2 T. oil               &nb sp;               &nb sp;               &nb sp;               2 eggs, beaten

1/2 C. whole wheat flour      &nbs p;       & nbsp;      &nbs p;        1 T. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder      &nb sp;               &nb sp;              1/4 tsp. salt

Directions: Combine the milk and oats in a bowl and let them stand for at least 5 minutes. Add the oil and eggs, mixing well. Then stir in the dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened. Bake on a hot, lightly oiled (or use spray) griddle, using 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Turn them when the top is bubbly and the edges are slightly dry.

Blueberry Oat Buttermilk Pancakes:(makes 16 so you might want to do a fourth or half)

1 C. blueberries     &nbs p;       & nbsp;      &nbs p;       & nbsp;      &nbs p;        1 C. all purpose flour(or whole wheat)

1 1/3 C. rolled oats(regular, NOT quick oats) 1/4 C. whole wheat flour

1/4 C. brown sugar      &nbs p;       & nbsp;      &nbs p;       & nbsp;      &nbs p;  1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt        ;       &n bsp;        ;       &n bsp;        ;     2 cups buttermilk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten      &nb sp;               &nb sp;     3 T. vegetable oil

Place the blueberries in a small bowl. Sprinkle with 1 T. of the flour and toss to coat. Preheat Griddle to 350 F.

Place the remaining flour, oats, wheat flour, brown sugar (break up any lumps), baking soda, and salt in a med. bowl; stir with a whisk. Place the buttermilk, eggs and oil in a small bowl; stir. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a whisk until blended. Gently fold in the blueberries.

Cook like normal pancakes.(2-3 minutes) When the pancakes are bubbling at the top, turn and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes. (~120 cals per pancake....but that would have to be a rather big pancake I think)

Aero + Aquaev-I eat all natural or organic peanut butter and I totally understand the one serving is not enough. I have to have peanut butter everyday or else I eat a lot of it at night due to not having it during the day :)

Aero-As for the dried fruits, apricots are my FAVORITE! They are awesome, but most are really yummy.

hi everyone-

i understand the fear about PB and for the longest time would not allow it in the house bc i was scared id eat it all.  now that i have it everyday for bfast, i have yet to go nuts w/ it bc i know ill get my daily fix.  i use either skippy creamy or chunky, or a brand PB+CO that makes diff varieties, rt now im using cinnamon raisin and its great. 

my family doesnt cook healthy, never did.  lots of oil, salt, i know nothing about health bc we dont really do any of that.  thats sort of another reason why its hard to eat their cooking when i really want to so that i could be normal.  ANGEL-I LOVE ALL DRIED FRUIT, I HAVE A GREAT MIXED TRAIL MIX, arcadia I THINK IS THE BRAND BUT THEYRE ALL GOOD. woops, didt mean for caps.

so im not gaining fast enough, i used the calorie target on the site to figure out how to gain 8lbs in the next 4 wks and it says i need about 2400 cals, so yea...

I love dried fruit, but my favourites are apricots, prunes and dates. Eeee. Figs are icky though. :| Haha, sorry for the super short replies - we're trying to dislodge a stuck bulb from its socket! <3

For the one asking about dried fruit: DRIED MANGO!! Really. Go buy it. Now. ...And share with me? Hehe. =D

Good job guys!

Aqua - We plan our menus too!! It was a term that we agreed on in therapy to help me loosen the control over food and hand a little of it over to my mum. I have found that my anxiety is less know that i have a planned weekly menu, plus i have got my family to try lots of vegetarian foods like Quorn chilli and Veggie burgers. 

I am slowly edging my calories back up to where they were pre-holiday:

Breakfast: oatmeal made with 200ml semi skimmed milk, sliced banana and 25 sliced almonds

Snack: 3 dark rye ryvita's with 30g light cream cheese

Lunch: 2 slices whole wheat bread, 30g grated chedder cheese and sliced tomato. Activa strawberry yogurt.

Snack: Small apple sliced and dipped in 2 tbsp peanut butter

Dinner: Aubergine and lentil mousakka (unfortunatly not homemade :(

Snack: 250mls semi skimmed milk with sachet of options toffe hot chocolate.

Total: 1948

P.s for all those crazy about eat natural bars they now have cereals!! i saw some today in my local asda (in uk) and tesco's.

hi everyone-

so im seeing that most ppl here are able to eat other ppl's cooking, so then my q is, how do you know how much youre eating?  BUTTERFLY-i think its a great idea to have at least dinner made by someone else, but then how do you come to such an exact calorie total?  im never that exact even when i make my own food.

i deff need to increase my intake, and not w bulk.

mon so far-

bagel square, 1 tbspn pb, jelly, apple, hardboiled egg~430

protein shake, 1cup all bran extra fiber, 3/4c. milk, ~1tbspn trail mix~270

hamburger bun, tuna salad, some cut up veggies, ~1 1/2 tspn PB, fage, apricot~400

maybe 4 later-

~3/4 c. ice cream, fruit~250

kashi pizza, salad w/ trail mix, fruit~430

yogurt, apple~250    === mid 1900s

aero- Haha, I used to be the same as your little sister. I ate junk in excess all the time until I was like 12 and didn't gain a thing. But when my metabolism finally caught up to me, I gained a lot of weight, fast. I was used to eating however much and whatever I wanted and couldn't stop. That's probably the reason my ED started in the first place. HA HA My mom doesn't make the menu! I do! She used to anyway, but when I was trying to make everything low cal I told my mom I'd do her a favor and make the menu one week. But then I started doing it every week, and now I still can't give the control over to her. Eventually I'll have to let go and let my parents do it. But for now I would be so completely uncomfortable with giving up counting, and I'm sure my parents would pick the fattiest things possible for me. I also cook dinner for the whole family, unless it's something with meat.

butterfly- Read what I wrote to aero from HA HA down. I'm actually the one in control still, because I think my parents planning all the meals would freak me out even more. I'd be more anxious with them cooking dinner because I don't trust them with food. I trust them for everything else, but with food I just imagine that they'd dump like a cup of oil in to something and I wouldn't know it. Probably not true, but I can't let go yet.

ohhh, AQUA- you cook dinner every night?  so thats how you know whats in it?  my mom really does use a cup of oil, its so gross, but i figure, maybe thats how normal ppl cook so i dunno, i really need to somehow become comfy w/ other ppl's cooking..somehow.  i went shopping and got slightly higher cal stuff, i couldnt find much QUORN stuff though.  i need to increase my cals though...

Agruskin-Since I do not count calories, I do not really know.(although I am calorie CONSCIOUS[if that makes sense!]) Lots of cookbooks have nutrition information available. When I transitioned from counting to not, I felt a huge burden being taken off of me. Also, my mom/family is healthy and health conscious.(not to a weird extent though!) I mean, they do not like use a cup of olive oil and do not make pasta with fried shrimp and a cream sauce.(although that every now and then is FINE, do not get me wrong!) I think my family is the perfect balance :) I do help plan the menus and shop.(I love grocery stores!) I cook once or twice a week on my own and sometimes help my mom/dad. My nutritionist thinks(and I agree) that I am so young and I still need some nurturing from my mom and dad and one of the ways a mother nurtures is by making food. I trust my family enough to let them prepare meals. I suggest doing that at least a few times a week.(at least for younger ones) I felt way better and less burdened!

XXX

PSYCHOJ-i have to say that eating my mother's cooking last nite felt very liberating, eventho i scoured the sites looking fo cal counts and felt sort of upset that i couldnt find a number bc of the ranges.  its hard for me to also determine portions since i dont normally eat w my parents and they dont take normal portion sizes anyhow.  my parsnts dont always cook that much these days anyhow bc no one likes to come home after work and then start cooking.  im really so ahppy that youre doing well.  next year will be amazing for you, i know it, you should be excited!

i want to go to a greek rstaurant one of these days, an old fav from before the ED.  some thinfgs that scare me though, are that i love so many of the things and would want some of everything.  like some greek salad, about 350 cals at least, some pita (has oil on it) about 550 cals, some gyro meat, about 350, some greek pizza, about 400, thats about a days worth all at 1 meal.  how do ppl do it? lol

I love Greek/Mediterranean cuisine. It is probably my favorite food! Where I go the portions are PERFECT. Not too small, not too big. I like always get a chicken kabob WHEAT pita w/ a (small) side of hummus, and a Greek salad. That is awesome that it felt so awesome. It really makes you feel proud, doesn't it?

Today:

Breakfast: Three whole grain blueberry oat buttermilk pancakes(phew!!) topped w/ all natural peanut butter and organic honey

Lunch: NEW kashi pocket sandwiches(amazing btw!!!), lots of grapes

Snacks: String cheese and organic apple

Dinner: Organic salad greens topped w/ chicken, walnuts, and strawberries w/ an organic dressing

Snacks: grapes, blueberries, mini pretzels, and this minute maid thing(only 70 cals...does not really count)

Did an awesome spin class tonight. It was so much fun!

I think I did okay food wise, not enough, but I am not going to stress out over it right now :)

good lord PSYCHOJ, restaurants w/ whole wheat pita, ha!  thesse pitas are staurated in oil, as is the salad and the portions are huge.  which kashi did u have?  i think i might have added a yogurt w it and the grapes, maybe a carb w/ the dinner?  i feel like a fatty tho w/ these suggestions while youre the one whose recovered.  thanks for everything!

i stuck to what i had planned on eating today so i wont repost it.  finished the ice cream tho so off to the store tomm 4 more!

Hey, I'm once again just jumping in here haha..

bfast- chocolate ensure with protein, parfait with soy yougurt, almonds, seseme seeds, a cup of cereal, a mashed bannana, rasberries and sunflower feeds.

Snack- Cliff Mojo bar... tastyy!

Lunch- 3 oz turkey 2 slices whole grain bread, slice soy cheese, peppers and tomatoe, and one large apple.

Snack-HUGE protein shake (peanut butter bannana) with 500cals

Dinner- hamburger with mushrooms, tomatoe, lettuce, on a bunn with an ear of corn and a salty potato

Snack- 2/3 cup dry oatmeal (200 cals?) and a kashi granola bar

Agruskin-I know! I was shocked that it had wheat pitas! It was a happy though :D You are right. I actually knew I had needed a carb, but I had a spin class really soon and I did not want to get a cramp. Next time I will though! For the Kashi pocket sandwiches I had the Chicken Rustico. It was really really good, so soft and satisfying. I should have added a yogurt....I feel as though food and I are kind of "on edge" lately. Something is off, but I do not know what is wrong!

What do you think recovered truly means...I would call myself at least almost fully recovered, if not recovered, although I do struggle. Does recovered mean that I am never going to have "slip ups." Although what I did tonight was a very positive thing that reminded me how well I am doing :)

So I was planning on not eating anything else for the night. About an hour later I heard this sound coming from my stomach. My stomach was growling! I realized that this was a "test." I could either ignore it and backtrack, or listen to MY body and do the right thing for me. I chose the second. I grabbed the Half Baked (low fat) B+J'S. I got a spoon and ate it slowly so I could really savor it and realize when I was satisfied. I ate about a 1/3 of a pint and felt satisfied. I am really still proud is myself :D :D :D

I have posted a lot today; sorry! Wouldn't it be awesome if we could all meet one day???

XXX

lol, PSYCHOJ, i am so proud of you!  i know its ahrd to accept gains as well as maintaining sometimes.  dont back track!  if you see that youve lost a pund now that youre at a better healthier weight or whatever, act immediately!  i thouight carbs before a workout is good?  we all slip up, the importat thing is to get rt back in there, like you did!

im thinking that normal ppl, when they eat out, just eat more that day, that 1 day/wk eating tons more, wont be so bad?

i also posted a ton today, oh well! lol

hey! wow i'm having trouble keeping up with this thread! I'm sorry if i can't respond to everyone now, i'll try but it's hard to remember so many posts!

well, first, I also hate eating things if I don't know how it was made, it's not really a calorie thing, I think I"ve managed to overcome my fear of numbers, but I just need to know what's in something, especially purchased foods because I dont like to eat anything proccessed, aka, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenized oil, bleached flours. Plus I also have to look for hidden animal products, so many things have gelatin in them!!

next, I went to Disney world back in december, pretty much right when I was starting recovery. It was hard and I had to carry around a lot of snacks but they do have salads and many places also have veggie burgers. There are also some pretty good sandwich places and other options besides hot dogs and burgers. Plus you'll probably be super busy and running around a lot, so you'll be fine!

dried fruit is amazing! It definitely helps me get my calories up there and it makes a great snack or addition to oatmeals or yogurt, and actually I sometimes make toast with almond butter and dried apricots and tahts really really good!

someone was asking about pancake recipes- http://oatmealmix.wordpress.com/ I don't know if i've posted this before but I love this website. She makes all kinds of oatmeal creations, which I know many of you will appreciate :) and recently she started making oatmeal pancakes. Haven't tried them yet but they look good.

And finally, my day! I had a GREAT culinary day! I went to my parents house and decided to make french baguettes from scratch just to remind us of our trip. So i had fun pounding on dough and letting it rise on and off all day. It made 4 loaves and they turned out really good. It was white bread but I still ate some because I made it. Then for dinner my mom was working late so i decided to cook and have it ready when she got back and I made some orange roughy with a chipotle, cilantro marinade and baked it with artichoke, peas, and sauteed onion. Then I cut up some potato wedges and fried them in olive oil with pepper and spices. Made a good cilantro salad to go with it and of course served a baguette alongside. I feel quite accomplished

Heres the rest of the day-
b- fage total mixed with a banana, blueberries, coconut, walnuts, granola, protein powder. Glass of soy milk.
s- grapes, watermelon
l- scrambed eggs, corn tortilla, salad
s- cherries
s- strawberries, about a 1/4 loag of french bread with apricot jelly
s- banana with honey
d- the above mentioned fish, potatoes and salad
s- stonyfield wm chocolate underground yogurt, graham crackers with cashew butter and honey, extra spoonfuls of cashew butter