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As one who has struggled with weight management (before I discovered McDougalling), this is the best part of McDougualling!

So this post is especially for those who have recently found this site.

If your food is not high in caloric density, you can eat as much as you like and manage your weight very well.

Based on my experience and what I have read here, I estimate that most McDougallers eat between four and eight pounds of food daily--YES--several pounds of cooked starches, one or two pounds of veggies and a bit of fruit. How many pounds of food do you eat daily?

So think about allowing yourself to get hungry and then eating until you are full three times/day. Doesn't it feel good to eat until you are full and watch the fat disappear?

Successful McDougallers, please vote in the poll and share your comments!

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I eat well under 4lbs. A meal to me is about 1-1.5 cups of food total. Three of those a day plus a small snack, so I'd estimate under 3lbs, maybe 2.5 on a day where I eat a lot of salad and veggies.

I think I'm the rarity on here in that I don't enjoy large meals. I read about the volume some folks are eating and it's quite amazing to me!

Please! I have no idea what the weight of food I eat daily might be.

I have no idea. I've never weighed my food!

These is not an option for I don't know. I don't measure or weigh my food so I really have no idea. Do you all measure and weigh?

You got me curious, so I used my recently purchased kitchen scale to do a rough estimate of some of my regular daily foods.

1 cup oatmeal (dry) + banana - .5 lbs
6 small/medium potatoes - 2 lbs (though I sometimes don't eat them all in a day)
large can of diced tomatoes + leafy greens - 2 lbs (rounded up a bit).
bag of frozen mixed vegs - 1 lb
medium onion - .75 lbs
1/2 cup brown rice (dry) - 3 oz.

Roughly 6 1/2 lbs. I selected 7 pounds for the poll. I didn't think including weight of water was important.

Hard to imagine myself eating 8 pounds of food in a day. Maybe in 2 days. I read that most people eat between 3 to 5 pounds of food a day. I probably fall close to the 3 end. Guess-timating.

I eat a combined total of approximately 2-3 lbs. grains and starchy veggies per day, usually potatoes and brown rice. Plus, I eat at least 1 lb. greens, 1 lb. other veggies, and 1 lb. fruit. I rarely eat any nuts, seeds, olives, or avocados and never any oil.

I started out on a salad centered plan but could not keep enough weight on my body. Adding in more starches, I at first I gained weight but have now leveled out at my perfect weight with a BMI of 19. I love that I am never hungry and feel so satiated and happy. We went on vacation for a few weeks. Usually, I gain lots of weight on vacation. I came home weighing the same as when I left after frequently enjoying Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Italian restaurants. I also cooked lots of Jeff's meals on the road.

So eat up and forget about your scale.

Actually, my scale is helping me get a better understanding of calorie density. As I learn to use CRON-o-meter, it's much easier to enter grams than to guess just how much a 1/2 cup of shredded this or a medium size of that might be.

This was an interesting little exercise. That list of food I posted comes to around 1900 calories. With my measured weight of 6.5 lbs, I'm looking at an average calorie density of 292 cal/lb.

Is that good?

I've never bothered with actually trying to keep track of my calories before. I know it's not good to get hung up on that, but it's helping me to realize what I'm doing to myself as far as the food I stuff down my gullet. I think the calorie density concept is an important one to understand.

Great idea, Rick!

bathroom scale

Oh.

Well, we're talking about measuring food, here.

I have no idea how much the food I eat each day weighs. The great advantage of this way of eating for me is that I don't need to weigh, measure, or count anything to be satisfied and maintain a healthy weight.

I suppose I eat 4 pounds or less, but I have small body frame and I was always skiny. At the beginning I was eating a lot more.