Fast food....need I say more...

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sclabbatz
sclabbatz Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
I am a new mom who recently turned 26. I have been overweight my whole life. I have recently come to the conclusion that I have an issue with my diet. I have never thought of myself as lazy, as I am a very physically active overweight person, however lazy is the first work that comes to mind when it comes to how much fast food I eat. Instead of taking the time to pack my lunch/breakfast, I get it on the way to work at fast food places. Since I have been doing this for so long its become what I would probably call an addiction. I just want to start eating healty but every time I do, it doesn't seem to last. Any suggestions and/or life experience would be helpful!
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Replies

  • kp82883
    kp82883 Posts: 53 Member
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    I absolutely love fast food...and it is very tempting in morning and lunch. The way that I overcome eating it for those meals is preparing ahead of time. Generally when I hit a drive thru in the morning its because I don't want to take the time to make something. I meal prep in advance for 5 days for the work week for both breakfast and lunch. I give into the temptation generally 1 or 2 times on the weekend.
  • MaxPower0102
    MaxPower0102 Posts: 2,654 Member
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    As a single guy, I relate to not spending hours in the kitchen preparing meals for the week. There are healthy choices to make should Fast Food be the Meal Du Jour. I order Double cheeseburgers from McDonalds, but without the bun. I get the Fiesta Chicken from Taco Bell with Double Meat and no shell. I like the variety of Wendy's salads. I started packing Greek Yogurt for breakfast at work. Although they are high in Sodium, I enjoy the Jimmy Dean breakfast bowls (not every day). 3 minutes in the microwave make them do-able at work, too.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    When I was taking lunch to work, I would take a loaf of bread, make it into sandwiches and then put them all back in the bag to store in the freezer. When it came time to pack my lunch in the morning, I would pull a sandwich out of freezer and throw it in the lunch bag. By lunch time, it was thawed enough to eat it. To me, that was a lot less trouble than stopping at a fast food place.
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
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    You could make up a bunch of eggs, sausage, veggies like peppers, onions and mushrooms, and maybe some cheese. Mix it well, throw in a muffin tin and bake. Then store in freezer and microwave in the mornings.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    That's not an addiction. It's a habit, and you need to treat it like one.

    Breaking a habit is tough, because it takes lots of repetition of an alternate behavior. If you really want to stop, you need to make a commitment to prepare lunch and breakfast in advance, and then do it come hell or high water. It doesn't matter what you prepare, as long as it gets done.

    Plan on it taking 1-2 months for that to become your new habit.
  • Mediocrates55
    Mediocrates55 Posts: 326 Member
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    A lot of time people get stressed trying to change too much at once. Focus on one thing, like packing a lunch three days a week for work. Make it Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, if you like. Stick with it until it becomes habit. Then add in the other two days. When that is routine, fix breakfast the same way. Breaking it down into mini-goals and retraining your habits makes it sustainable, instead of trying to get it all in one fell swoop and ditching a week into it because it's such a huge change.
  • wannabeskinnycat
    wannabeskinnycat Posts: 205 Member
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    Great comments above.

    I changed everything overnight and it hurt. A lot. I craved fast food but was determined not to give in. After a few weeks of weighing and logging everything I didn't want fast food as it wasn't worth the calories, trans fats etc. Once it became my choice it was much easier and I didn't feel like I was missing out.

    For me, fast food was part of my old diet that got me to be obese. My diet will now get me to be healthy. Fast food was just one of the casualties on the way. And I'm saving an absolute fortune by cooking a fair bit from scratch.

    This is your journey so do it your way. And it might take you a few goes to find out the best way for you. Take it easy on yourself and if you're happy to have 3 or 6 fast foods a week then do that.

    Good luck x



  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    stealthq wrote: »
    That's not an addiction. It's a habit, and you need to treat it like one.

    Breaking a habit is tough, because it takes lots of repetition of an alternate behavior. If you really want to stop, you need to make a commitment to prepare lunch and breakfast in advance, and then do it come hell or high water. It doesn't matter what you prepare, as long as it gets done.

    Plan on it taking 1-2 months for that to become your new habit.

    ^This. There are a lot of other foods to love. Take the time and make food ahead to take with you. When I make supper, I make extra servings and then pack those up right away so they are all ready the next day to take to work for us. It saves time in the morning rather than rushing around trying to pack up early.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    It's cheap, it's quick, it's yummy and requires no effort! What's not to love?

    I loved fast food. And slow (restaurant to-go) food. It was a daily thing, if not more than once a day. Now, it's a rare treat.

    That stuff will kill you.
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    I still eat fast food, so I'm probably not much help. I just eat smaller meals than I used to. Like I'll get a happy meal instead of the "large" #5 or whatever. You'd be amazed at how full a happy meal can make you feel after a month or so.

    If you don't feel like you can just cut down, or you don't want that as an option, then I'd pack my breakfast/lunch. Every day you do so, put roughly the cost of the meal you didn't buy into a jar. If you break your make at home streak before x days (your choice), the money goes to your husband/mom/sister/best friend. But if you make it the full amount of days, you buy yourself something pretty. It's a fun way to establish good habits with a little prize at the end.
  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
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    Tinabob777 wrote: »
    I meet my DH for lunch every day. We eat out. It may not be the most healthy, but just because it's fast food, doesn't mean you can't make good choices. Like mjtunney, I special order.
    I just offer this, because you have to make this work for you. If you hate packing your lunch you may not stick to the long term.

    This. I eat out with my husband quite often too. You just have to start ordering differently. A grilled chicken sandwich, no mayo, skip the fries. Or a kids meal, a salad. Most places have nutrition info so you can figure out what fits into your day.

  • Jessalynn54
    Jessalynn54 Posts: 44 Member
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    I carpool with someone that doesn't like to stop in the mornings, saves gas money. But I am fortunate that my work provides fruit and stuff if I don't pack something
  • KylaDenay
    KylaDenay Posts: 1,585 Member
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    stealthq wrote: »
    That's not an addiction. It's a habit, and you need to treat it like one.

    Breaking a habit is tough, because it takes lots of repetition of an alternate behavior. If you really want to stop, you need to make a commitment to prepare lunch and breakfast in advance, and then do it come hell or high water. It doesn't matter what you prepare, as long as it gets done.

    Plan on it taking 1-2 months for that to become your new habit.
    This....it is only a bad habit that you can break. It is your choice.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    sclabbatz wrote: »
    Since I have been doing this for so long its become what I would probably call an addiction. I just want to start eating healty but every time I do, it doesn't seem to last. Any suggestions and/or life experience would be helpful!

    You just need a plan that will allow you to have food you like as easily. IMO, it's an issue of establishing a new routine. Once you have, it won't seem as difficult.

    One thing is figuring out what the barriers for you are. For example, for many they have no time in the morning so want to grab something on the way to work (I used to do this). If you don't think you can make time in the morning, you might want to figure out something that you can prepare in advance or otherwise grab and go. It should be consistent with what you want to eat in the morning and find filling. (For me that means some protein.) I could make suggestions but it's so taste specific that that probably wouldn't be helpful.

    The same is basically true for lunch. When I first started this I started bringing my lunch and gradually fell out of the habit (my office is surrounded by lunch places that actually fit into my calories and nutritional goals just fine, but it's still extra money I could save). What I try to do is make an extra couple of servings of dinner and pack them immediately into a container to bring to work, as we have a microwave and refrigerator.
  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    edited November 2014
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    Even when I was a full-time working single parent, I never did much fast food. I get that people get busy (my own case makes that point - I had NO time of my own until 9:00 at night when my son went to bed, and then, I stole the opportunity to do the laundry or clean). But I mean...we would get home, I would put a bunch of veggies and some cut up chicken into a pan and stir-fry...it took maybe 10 minutes...less time than I would have sat at the drive-thru at dinner time.

    For breakfasts I tended to grab something quick from my own house. If it had to be portable, it would be a muffin or something (I wasn't GF then). For lunch I'd grab soups and the like, quick and simple, and heating them up in the microwave at work took less time than leaving the office, going to the drive-thru and coming back.

    Honestly, it was more lazy for me to do things that way than to haul myself out over and over again to go drive to a joint and sit there through the drive-thru or stand in line waiting for someone to take my order, then driving back home or back to the office. It was faster and all my food was right there at hand.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    First off it's not addiction, it's called no self control.

    Prepare food ahead of time and in containers so it's easy to throw into a bag. Treat yourself once in awhile to fast food, there is nothing wrong with it and it won't kill you, LOL!!! :wink:
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    I don't spend a lot of time on the forums lately so please forgive me that I skipped over all of the other advice and am probably repeating others' suggestion(s).

    But I really think the KEY for your success here will be routines/habits. Prepping and planning out what you will eat, and making it a truly appealing blend of foods that you will want to eat. I've seen many people fail and revert to their former fast food "addictions" because they went too hardcore, trying to exchange McDonald's breakfast for egg whites with spinach. While egg whites with spinach can be a delicious part of one's breakfast, I think it's important to mix it up (for every meal) and make sure you are getting yummy stuff in there too! After awhile it just becomes habit. And then if you DO indulge in fast food you will either realize how much you don't even miss it...or it will be just that, a "treat" rather than an everyday thing.

    You will probably save money, too. If you don't, then you are doing it wrong.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    Kalikel wrote: »

    That stuff will kill you.

    LOL!!!

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    seltzermint wrote: »
    I've seen many people fail and revert to their former fast food "addictions" because they went too hardcore, trying to exchange McDonald's breakfast for egg whites with spinach. While egg whites with spinach can be a delicious part of one's breakfast, I think it's important to mix it up (for every meal) and make sure you are getting yummy stuff in there too!

    I think this is a really important point. Too often people create a dichotomy between "healthy food" (which means foods that they think they should eat but don't particularly like) and everything else. So since they aren't excited about the alternative it becomes really easy to forget it and end up with no choice but fast food or some such, or just to eventually decide the diet isn't sustainable and fall off the wagon (so to speak) entirely. I also think this is one of many reasons behind the common "I can't eat my 1200 calories" posts--they are trying to eat foods they don't like much, because that's what they see as diet food.

    I'm helped by the fact that I really enjoy (and know how to cook) vegetables, but for me losing weight wouldn't have been possible if I couldn't enjoy what I'm eating as much or more than most of the stuff I ate more regularly when I was gaining weight, or if I was too restrictive. That's why I said that you need to figure out what your barriers are and what you like to eat at those times. Then you can figure out how to create new habits that will address those issues and work.

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