Super, super, super-size me: a 2142 calorie meal

Now that more and more places have gotten into the habit of listing calories for their menu items, it can be a sobering experience to look at a single slice of, say, chocolate mud pie at Red Robin and see 1080 calories next to it.

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Please tell me that is a meal for three.

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…true, but which one tastes better?

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To be enjoyed with a side of Calorie Mate.

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Trick question, right?

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That sounded like a starvation diet to me, too. I just searched and found these plans, but most sound like they are short term. Most are full of things I never eat (of course). After trying something like this for a month, I’d be very upset if it made no difference.

https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/plans/1500/

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I advise people against standing on the upper deck at night to look at the stars unless the skies are clear. I tried it on a cloudy night once. Dread is the perfect word for how I felt staring into the void, unable to distinguish the ocean from the sky.

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I was maybe between 8-12 when i was in a relatively small fishing boat owned by a family member, making our way to a small island. Staring down into deep (seemingly) endless ocean, seeing occasional mystery ocean life… but mostly just emptiness was a hypnotic and nihilist experience. My older brother actually has a deep seated fear of the ocean because of this exact same moment. For me, despite the intense fear and dread, it gave me a healthy respect and love for the ocean.

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I know what you mean. I’m drawn to it, and love spending time fishing or cruising. At the same time, I steer clear of very small vessels, storms, and solo trips on deck at night. I highly recommend astronomy lectures on cruises, although it can be surprising to watch presenters using laser pointers.

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That will be Roger the cabin boy.

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It’s not far off from a calorie-reduction diet plan. In a typical day, I eat a rye cracker with peanut butter for breakfast (100 calories), some carrot sticks and hummus for lunch (200-300 calories) and cook a dinner involving mostly skinless chicken breast and roasted veggies. A day under 1500 calories is typical.

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The United States may lead the world in the sheer number of overweight people but you have to remember that Japan actually developed morbid obesity into a professional sport.

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Since I’ve had to cut down on salt I’ve had a hard time getting in enough calories, I’ve been dropping below 1500 too often, since I started tracking recently.

I’ve got a small appetite so when I drop the occasional fast food and most processed junk, my calories go too far down. At least my weight does seem pretty stable now on my current dose of anti-thyroid meds.

I’m really worried that eventually they will give me some protien or dairy fat restrictions eventually because of my kidney problems. But I haven’t started any treatment yet so I have no idea really. I read they won’t restrict protein as long as your blood protien is still too low, which mine is. And I hate low fat dairy so much.

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Why does salt affect your caloric intake so? Less snacks?

Do you have Grave disease? My mom had that and dropped a ton of weight until they figured out why.

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Yet Japan imports sumo wrestlers as of late.

There at least two foreign Yokozunas who I can identify on sight (I have TV-Japan at home). One is from Mongolia, the other Bulgaria.

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Yup, Graves’ and it’s cutting out fast food, cutting down on take out and cutting out processed snacks, salted meat, and hard cheese.

And cutting out most fried food, except for the lemon chicken we make at home with no salt. At this point I might try salt free breaded pork chops if my taste buds have adapted enough.

Basically I don’t have much calorie dense padding outside of nuts, olive oil and avocado. I eat full fat dairy but I’m not supposed to go overboard with it.

I didn’t eat a lot of junk before but a little would keep me from dropping a pound here and there whenever I wasn’t eating enough.

In my mid 20’s I accidentally dropped to 105 with just some extra walking and cutting out some sugar and some meat when my partner was on a diet. And as far as I know my thyroid was still ok then.

I was 120 before the Graves’ and I’m trying to avoid dropping below 115, currently. 108 is the threshold for underweight for my height, and I’m in my later 30’s.

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Due to my shocking cholesterol levels (entirely genetic, not environment), I’ve been on a meagerly salted, very low saturated fat, and medium-to-low glycemic diet for decades. I have ZERO problems gaining and maintaining weight! Have you tried chili peppers? They make everything better. I love making smoothies with peanut butter. And yes, you can stuff jalapenos with peanut butter - I give them two burning, oily thumbs up.

You should either move into the spare bedroom or we should just start trading recipes/meal plans.

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Oh yeah, I’ve been leaning on spicy to make up for the lack of salt. I think I sometimes get full faster though, with spicy food. When I do get Indian or Chinese take out I get very spicy stuff too so I can go very light on the sauce so it’s not as much salt.

I unfortunately hate peanut butter smoothies. I’m still having to mix a small amount of salted peanut butter in with my unsalted for sandwiches, but I’m working on it.

I’ve only been doing low salt for a couple months so I’m aggressively reducing in bursts and then getting used to the new normal before looking to reduce even more.

I’ve pretty quickly gotten to the point where most commercial stuff does taste way too salty now.

The days I most easily get enough calories are the ones where I just eat a little bowl of mixed nuts.

I’ll also make crepes with unsalted butter but those are a good bit of sugar so I can’t do it all the time.

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In case anyone else was wondering: there are apparently two types of calories. Small calories measure the amount of energy it takes to raise 1g of water by 1 degree temperature. Large calories measure the amount of energy it takes to raise 1kg of water by one degree. The large calories are also used in measuring food. One large calorie is one thousand small ones or 1kcal.

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My neighbor is from Mexico. One day, we were talking about food (of course) and he said, “When I eat really hot peppers, it messes up my fingernails.” [while staring at his manicure]

Me: “Your fingernails? What do you mean?”

Neighbor: “It happens the next day, when I’m sitting on the toilet.” He grimaced and mimed clawing the bathroom walls in pain.

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