NO MCDONALDS

Deipneus

I go to McDonald's once a month or so. A McDouble from the dollar menu and a small fries are about 750 calories. It's not very healthy food but in small amounts, it's not likely to make a difference.

257_Lag

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kkerri

Yes. Eating out is high in calories.

redladywitch

Booo to the McDonald haters. Their french fries are awesome. So are a lot of things on their menu. Mmmmmm!

jonnythan

Yes. Eating out is high in calories.

Only if you make it so.

Grilled chicken sandwich with no mayo and an ice cream cone from McD's is 470 calories. A grilled chicken salad with vinaigrette dressing is under 300 calories. Both of these options have 30+ grams of protein too.

Applebee's, The Ninety Nine, IHOP, Denny's, and many other restaurants have full menus that are under 500-600 calories with tons of protein.

Three crunchy tacos at Taco Bell is under 500 calories. A turkey sub with veggies from Subway is under 300 calories.

"Eating out" is not high in calories. Overeating is high in calories.

redladywitch

"Eating out" is not high in calories. Overeating is high in calories.

Bahahahahaaa! :drinker:

kkerri

At 1200 calories a day, I find that not eating out works better for me. Restaurant food is higher in calories than what I make at home. I don't know the menu items at Denny's or iHop because I don't frequent those restaurants. I guess if we want to battle semantics, I find that I can get a better use of my calories when fast food and restaurant food is not part of my equation.

If I am being honest though, my problem is not overeating. It's wine ;-)

ncl1313

Kraft Singles

Ingredients: MILK, WHEY, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, MILKFAT, SODIUM CITRATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SALT, LACTIC ACID, SORBIC ACID AS A PRESERVATIVE, CHEESE CULTURE, ANNATTO AND PAPRIKA EXTRACT (COLOR), ENZYMES, VITAMIN D3. CONTAINS: MILK.


Smart Balance Buttery Spread (15 oz)

Ingredients (21):
Oil Blend Natural (Palm Fruit, Soybean(s), Canola, Olive Oil) , Water, Contains less than 22% of Salt, Whey from Milk, Monoglycerides of Vegetable Fatty Acids, Sorbitan Ester of Fatty Acids, Soybean(s) Lecithin, Potassium Sorbate, Lactic Acid, Flavor(s) Natural & Artificial, Calcium Disodium EDTA, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Di Alpha Tocopherol Acetate, Beta Carotene

Congrats to OP for sticking to a goal. Whether or not we all agree or disagree with the motivations behind the goal are moot.

Life's too short to not make a homemade breakfast sandwich with all the joys that are real cheese and real butter.

Cuts the ingredient list down by quite a bit!

"Real" cheese still goes through a process, one that includes the following ingredients (cheddar cheese): milk, starter culture, rennet, salt, flavor/color agents (annato, b-carotene, chlorophyll, paprika to name a few possibilities), calcium chloride, preservatives (propionic acid, sorbic acid, etc). I don't actually eat margarine since I prefer butter, so you've got me there. The point I was making is that if you eat a bread, a meat, and a cheese on your breakfast sandwich, all of these things have a laundry list of ingredients, McDonald's or home prepared makes little difference. You make your sammich how you want, I'll grab a McMuffin because it's quick and on my way to work and I like their coffee too. Your sammich choice doesn't affect me, and mine doesn't affect you, so let's just leave it at that.

OP, I totally get it. Some of us have trigger foods or foods that we have a hard time not overeating. If yours is McDonald's, then congrats on fighting that trigger. Best of luck to you!

jonnythan

At 1200 calories a day, I find that not eating out works better for me. Restaurant food is higher in calories than what I make at home. I don't know the menu items at Denny's or iHop because I don't frequent those restaurants. I guess if we want to battle semantics, I find that I can get a better use of my calories when fast food and restaurant food is not part of my equation.

If I am being honest though, my problem is not overeating. It's wine ;-)

Well at 1200 calories a day, you're either running a huge calorie deficit or you're extremely sedentary. Neither of which is good for your long term health. Once you're doing this for more than a few weeks or months you'll start to see 1200 calories a day isn't going to cut it. Perhaps then you'll start to realize that a 300 calorie lunch from Subway or McDonald's isn't some terrible waste of precious calories.

kkerri

I am a lawyer. Sedentary is my life. It's an unfortunate job hazard that I am trying to change, but with 2 kids and 12+ hour work days, it's a sad reality.

I do workout, but not like I should for sure.

kkerri

I did find that to keep my weigh low, it's low-carb, low-calories and lots of cardio. I stop that, let fast food creep in, the cardio goes by the wayside, the wine is more fun than the cardio and before I know it, 10 pounds are back and I end up back here again.

Mario_Az

good for you if it works do it, i do bro foods works for me so to each their own.

jonnythan

I did find that to keep my weigh low, it's low-carb, low-calories and lots of cardio. I stop that, let fast food creep in, the cardio goes by the wayside, the wine is more fun than the cardio and before I know it, 10 pounds are back and I end up back here again.

This is what I'm talking about. As long as you view "fast food" as evil or a failure, that occasional indulgence leads to more and more indulgences as you fail and get away from your "diet." It's much healthier to view those options as perfectly valid and in line with your nutritional and fitness goals, allowing you to fit them in responsibly without the inevitable guilt and yoyoing.

emaggs66

Try a Dunkin Donuts veggie egg white wake up wrap!! It's really good and a good alternative!!!!

kkerri

You may be right there, but I have been dieting so long that it's ingrained. Good news is that I have never been overweight (technically) due to always dieting. Bad news is that I am always dieting.

I am one of those who do view those foods as trigger foods. I am sure some of it is mental (although, I do maintain that you can eat for less calories w/out restaurant food), but I am an old dog so new tricks are hard to learn.

I don't go on food benders when I eat out (I had lunch out today). But, if I am looking at times when I kept my weight low, it was times where I was more on the strict side.

zyxst

All I want is a breakfast muffin, either from McDonald's or Tim's, whichever still has the biscuit instead of the English muffin.

jonnythan

You may be right there, but I have been dieting so long that it's ingrained. Good news is that I have never been overweight (technically) due to always dieting. Bad news is that I am always dieting.

I am one of those who do view those foods as trigger foods. I am sure some of it is mental (although, I do maintain that you can eat for less calories w/out restaurant food), but I am an old dog so new tricks are hard to learn.

I don't go on food benders when I eat out (I had lunch out today). But, if I am looking at times when I kept my weight low, it was times where I was more on the strict side.

If you have never been overweight, how is it possible you've been dieting for so long?

Do you yoyo diet? Lose 10, gain 10? That kind of thing?

mfpszizza

That is wonderful. I promise, promise once you stop eating it and it gets out of your system, you will not want to go back. It is just addictive. You should look up on YouTube the studies about McDonald's food. It will help you break your habit.

AlongCame_Molly

McDonald's is NOT poison! It won't kill you.



It just tastes like it will.

Lolz!

BusyRaeNOTBusty

I like their new wraps. And the cheeseburgers. And the Egg McMuffins....