Staying away from fast food

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Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I figured out why I was eating it. At first I thought it was for time and convenience so I made sure I had some quick goto meals I could make at home faster than fast food. Which was all well and good for awhile but I still found myself eating that food more than I wanted to.

    That's when I realized that my "healthy" meals (lean meat, whole grains etc.) weren't satisfying. I liked them well enough but they didn't taste anywhere near as good as say, a pizza, for an example. I started eating a low carb high fat diet and that resolved that issue. Roast chicken, pot roasts, gravy, steaks and the like are really delicious, nourishing and just really satisfying to me so I no longer looked for an excuse to ditch my healthy food plan in favor of fast food.

    The final bit for me was just keeping my kitchen clean. If I needed to clean my kitchen before I could cook dinner I realized I was more likely to pick up fast food or order take out.

    Take some time and think about why you're eating fast food when you don't really want to and then you can make the needed changes. Best wishes.

    Your 2nd and 3rd paragraphs are so true for me.

    I find it's easy for me to resist buying fast food at lunch when I pack lunches with foods that I truly enjoy eating. When I bring things I'm not looking forward to, that's when it's difficult to resist the temptation to go grab something.

    And having a clean and organized kitchen (that is stocked with ingredients for meals that I find delicious) really cuts down on the motivation to either pick something up on the way home or order in. Another thing I found helpful was getting the right tools for certain cooking jobs. It's so much easier to prep vegetables with a decent knife, for example. When you're not struggling with your tools or your surroundings (or piles of dishes from previous meals), cooking can be fun.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    slomo22 wrote: »
    To stop eating at fast food you need to learn how to eat right. Try to learn 1 simply recipe a week to have a few other go-to options. Most importantly, remember that you will gain the weight back if you don't change your lifestyle. You can loose weight by eating fast food and staying under your calorie limit, but that goes out the window once you reach your goal weight. Of course the occasional drunk taco bell is perfectly acceptable.

    That's just not true. I eat fast food on a regular basis and I'm approaching 4 years of maintaining a bmi of around 21.

    Yeah I didn't understand that at all. How is it possible to eat fast food while losing weight, but when you reach goal weight, and presumably have more calories to work with, it's impossible?

    probably depends on starting weight - A deficit at morbidly obese might be more calories than maintenance at a healthy weight?
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    ritzvin wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    slomo22 wrote: »
    To stop eating at fast food you need to learn how to eat right. Try to learn 1 simply recipe a week to have a few other go-to options. Most importantly, remember that you will gain the weight back if you don't change your lifestyle. You can loose weight by eating fast food and staying under your calorie limit, but that goes out the window once you reach your goal weight. Of course the occasional drunk taco bell is perfectly acceptable.

    That's just not true. I eat fast food on a regular basis and I'm approaching 4 years of maintaining a bmi of around 21.

    Yeah I didn't understand that at all. How is it possible to eat fast food while losing weight, but when you reach goal weight, and presumably have more calories to work with, it's impossible?

    probably depends on starting weight - A deficit at morbidly obese might be more calories than maintenance at a healthy weight?

    Maybe, but then the ability to eat FF and hit your Calorie goal would go away well before hitting your GW, not when you do.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    ritzvin wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    slomo22 wrote: »
    To stop eating at fast food you need to learn how to eat right. Try to learn 1 simply recipe a week to have a few other go-to options. Most importantly, remember that you will gain the weight back if you don't change your lifestyle. You can loose weight by eating fast food and staying under your calorie limit, but that goes out the window once you reach your goal weight. Of course the occasional drunk taco bell is perfectly acceptable.

    That's just not true. I eat fast food on a regular basis and I'm approaching 4 years of maintaining a bmi of around 21.

    Yeah I didn't understand that at all. How is it possible to eat fast food while losing weight, but when you reach goal weight, and presumably have more calories to work with, it's impossible?

    probably depends on starting weight - A deficit at morbidly obese might be more calories than maintenance at a healthy weight?

    Maybe...my maintenance calories are actually higher at goal weight than they were when I was sedentary and overweight...namely because I'm not sedentary. I maintain on about 3,000 calories per day.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    edited February 2017
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    slomo22 wrote: »
    To stop eating at fast food you need to learn how to eat right. Try to learn 1 simply recipe a week to have a few other go-to options. Most importantly, remember that you will gain the weight back if you don't change your lifestyle. You can loose weight by eating fast food and staying under your calorie limit, but that goes out the window once you reach your goal weight. Of course the occasional drunk taco bell is perfectly acceptable.

    That's just not true. I eat fast food on a regular basis and I'm approaching 4 years of maintaining a bmi of around 21.

    Yeah I didn't understand that at all. How is it possible to eat fast food while losing weight, but when you reach goal weight, and presumably have more calories to work with, it's impossible?

    probably depends on starting weight - A deficit at morbidly obese might be more calories than maintenance at a healthy weight?

    Maybe...my maintenance calories are actually higher at goal weight than they were when I was sedentary and overweight...namely because I'm not sedentary. I maintain on about 3,000 calories per day.

    Same. I maintain at a fairly high calorie level, and while I wasn't tracking when I was overweight, I'm pretty sure I eat more total calories now to maintain than I did when I was overweight, because of my activity level now compared to the sedentary me...
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    slomo22 wrote: »
    To stop eating at fast food you need to learn how to eat right. Try to learn 1 simply recipe a week to have a few other go-to options. Most importantly, remember that you will gain the weight back if you don't change your lifestyle. You can loose weight by eating fast food and staying under your calorie limit, but that goes out the window once you reach your goal weight. Of course the occasional drunk taco bell is perfectly acceptable.

    That's just not true. I eat fast food on a regular basis and I'm approaching 4 years of maintaining a bmi of around 21.

    Yeah I didn't understand that at all. How is it possible to eat fast food while losing weight, but when you reach goal weight, and presumably have more calories to work with, it's impossible?

    probably depends on starting weight - A deficit at morbidly obese might be more calories than maintenance at a healthy weight?

    Maybe...my maintenance calories are actually higher at goal weight than they were when I was sedentary and overweight...namely because I'm not sedentary. I maintain on about 3,000 calories per day.

    Same. I maintain at a fairly high calorie level, and while I wasn't tracking when I was overweight, I'm pretty sure I eat more total calories now to maintain than I did when I was overweight, because of my activity level now compared to the sedentary me...

    I didn't count either...but MFP gave me about 2,400 calories @220 Lbs to maintain without exercise which seems to jive with the deficit I had and my average rate of loss. I think I actually ate about the same as I'm eating now calorie wise, but I got fat because I didn't move...like at all, unless it was to get up and grab another beer or open a new pack of smokes whereas now I maintain at a lower weight on what I think is probably a similar calorie intake.
  • DoneWorking
    DoneWorking Posts: 247 Member
    edited February 2017
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  • DoneWorking
    DoneWorking Posts: 247 Member
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  • jcraig10
    jcraig10 Posts: 477 Member
    Maybe once a week I'll go grab nuggets from chikfila if I didn't prep anything for my lunch. I also keep things like chicken patties and boneless wings in my freezer for nights that I don't feel like cooking. Like many others have said, it's because of the money. I do not like to spend money.
  • Boland_D
    Boland_D Posts: 85 Member
    I keep a mini calender in my purse and will write in when i've had fastfood.
    I only alow myself it once a week, so if I see that I've had my meal already then that's it.
    The main problem with fastfood for me is money and empty calories. I don't mind having fastfood if it has good micros and stays within my calorie goal for the day.

    Keeping a clean kitchen helps a lot. I'm more likely to go out and get something because I don't feel like washing dishes.
  • sstini55
    sstini55 Posts: 36 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    For the most part I find it to be basically on par with pig slop, so it's not much of an issue. I've never been a big fan. Occasionally I will get a salad and/or baked potato from Wendy's and that's about it.

    Admittedly I'm a total food snob...fast food is just gross to me for the most part.

    ****** I totally agree.....pig slop...disgusting
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    I cook and freeze individual portions of things like soup, casseroles, lasagne, enchiladas, etc. It's great for both grab-and-go meals and for nights when I don't feel like cooking. Also, defrosting and reheating my own food is faster and more convenient than driving to a fast food place. It tastes better too, if I do say so myself. ;)

    Same. Almost 10 years and I'll never go back!
  • Dnarules
    Dnarules Posts: 2,081 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    ..and fast food IS pretty cheap. I see a lot of people referring to spending ~$10 in posts about fast food. Unless you're getting one of their ~3000 calorie 'meals' or a specialty sandwich, it's closer to $2.

    In Canada a combo is $8+ and there are tons of combos that are way less than 3000 calories

    Maybe it's different there?..every fast food chain I've been to in Buffalo (McDonald's, Burger King, Arby's,..) has a dollar menu, and pretty much every reasonable-portioned item is on it. So cheeseburger + small/'value' fries = $2+tax.

    I'm amazed that anyone could find a cheeseburger and a small fries filling.

    Exactly. If I don't want to be hungry in an hour, it is more than $2 for sure.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    Dnarules wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    ritzvin wrote: »
    ..and fast food IS pretty cheap. I see a lot of people referring to spending ~$10 in posts about fast food. Unless you're getting one of their ~3000 calorie 'meals' or a specialty sandwich, it's closer to $2.

    In Canada a combo is $8+ and there are tons of combos that are way less than 3000 calories

    Maybe it's different there?..every fast food chain I've been to in Buffalo (McDonald's, Burger King, Arby's,..) has a dollar menu, and pretty much every reasonable-portioned item is on it. So cheeseburger + small/'value' fries = $2+tax.

    I'm amazed that anyone could find a cheeseburger and a small fries filling.

    Exactly. If I don't want to be hungry in an hour, it is more than $2 for sure.

    I don't eat fries any more, just not worth the calories. However, a Mcdouble at 380 calories will keep me full till the next meal. If I am exceptionally hungry I will add another patty to it for another 80 calories or have a Big Mac which will fill me up and keep me full.

    I on the other hand, find it amazing that people can stay full on veggies. I eat meals with more than a pound of veggies as part of it, and while the bulk fills me up initially, I am hungry again in an hour.
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