is there a fast food emergency drill?

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angelastates
angelastates Posts: 19
in Health and Weight Loss
I know it's sounds funny, but the other day I had nothing to eat so far and my friend bought me fast food because I couldn't eat due to waiting on her running her errands. I gave into eating McDonalds. When I got home it was about 4 at night. I felt so guilty about all the crap I ate from fast food, so I decided to work out...I kept working out for 3 hours with cardio aerobics from tv. I kept drinking water throughout, but I didn't stop working out until around 8pm.

Out of fear of breaking my rule about not eating after 7pm, I didn't eat anything and was under my calorie goal with a 300 total. I ended up eating a small salad and kept drinking tea the rest of the night.

Has anyone had a similar situation with having no choice but to eat fast food and having the guilt overwhelm you like this? I'm scared that my efforts are going to go to waste because of my body going into starvation mode and holding on to the junk I ate.
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Replies

  • chuckyp
    chuckyp Posts: 693 Member
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    I still eat fast food when I have a hankering. Don't beat yourself up over it, just don't eat it every day. I love me a Big Mac and fries now and then.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,110 Member
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    Relax. It is one day. You have the rest of your life to lose the weight. It didn't come on over night and won't be gone over night.


    You are going to have more days like this. The key is to pick up your skirt and keep on running. Keep going.


    Being "under" your calories by 300 is not going to affect you, nor will one McDonald's meal. This is about a pattern of good choices over a period of time. Life is going to get in the way.

    Start again, don't give up, make as many good choices as you can and don't give in to the negative thinking. You can do it.
  • beautifulalways0421
    beautifulalways0421 Posts: 9
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    I'm a vegetarian, but if you watch the documentary Food, Inc you probably won't eat anything bad from McDonald's or other fast food restaurants.

    You avoid feeling guilty by avoiding the bad food because it's fattening AND sick to put inside your body.

    I hope this did more good than bad...if you haven't watched it and don't want to hate fast food more than you obviously already do, then don't watch the documentary. But if you want a GOOD reason (other than the calories and fat in fast food) to avoid eating fast food, go ahead and watch it.
  • angelastates
    angelastates Posts: 19
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    You know what shocked me? When I ate my usual order of a double cheeseburger meal, I thought it looked so ugly and disgusting. Out of desperation for the calories since I had nothing to eat nor drink all day I ate the whole thing. I doubt I will be eating fast food for a long time. I think I have finally come to terms with hating bad food and enjoying more of the natural things to eat and I look at nutrition on the food I buy when I go grocery shopping. I was proud of myself today for refusing chocolate from my husband. How cool was that? :)

    I have watched "Supersize Me" a couple years ago, but since I skipped around on it, I don't think I quite understood it until I looked at myself in my wedding photos and saw the damage from experience.
  • LennyJeffrey
    LennyJeffrey Posts: 3
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    Friday night is Indian night for me, lots of food and beer, its not a sin once a week
  • allegoriedesoie
    allegoriedesoie Posts: 26
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    What put me off fast food before I became a Vegetarian? Super Size Me. After that movie, I stopped fast food cold turkey. What made me vegetarian? Reading "Skinny Bi*tch". After reading that book I became vegetarian cold turkey. What keeps me from cravings? Nothing, sometimes I give in hahahaha
  • elid
    elid Posts: 209 Member
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    Please don't beat yourself up! You don't deserve that kind of abuse, and it will just make you feel terrible about yourself. You need to love yourself, even though (like all people) you are not perfect. As a previous poster said, some nights you will just slip. It's okay to work out a little extra to make up for treats, but three hours seems almost like you're trying to punish yourself. Don't punish yourself for mistakes--just try to relax, drink a little extra water, go for a little walk, and then get right back on track with your next meal (whether it's the same day or the next day's breakfast). Next time something like this happens, either eat half of what you're given, or say "no thank you". It's ok to make mistakes, but it's even better to learn from them! :smile:

    Part of this lifestyle change is cultivating a healthy relationship with food. Food is not evil. It's not meant to punish us, and we don't need to do penance for eating it. Food is tasty, it's good, it's nourishing and it's vital to our lives. If you consider any food as "off limits", you'll find you're much more likely to snap and binge on it someday. Allow yourself small treats within your calorie limit. And if you keep a mindset of having to work out for three hours after a slip-up, you probably won't be able to sustain this lifestyle change. That is a huge amount of time for anyone, and will definitely get old quick. Again, just pick yourself up when you fall and try your best to get back on track!

    I know you can do it!
  • angelastates
    angelastates Posts: 19
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    The meal I ate came to 875 calories. I ate only that at 4pm. I freaked out and worked out...later I got hungry and ate a salad. This brought me to being under my calorie goal with only 864 for the day due to my workout.
  • Victorious_One
    Victorious_One Posts: 174 Member
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    I agree--don't beat yourself up. Some "emergency kit ingredients" and handy tidbits I've learned over time:

    1) Never get hungry. And I mean, never. A little tummy rumble to let you know it's time to eat is one thing; ravenous is another. Once we're starving, we're likely to eat anything handy. Always have a healthy snack that you can grab in a pinch to tide you over until your next (healthy) meal.

    2) Don't be afraid to carry your own lunch. Get a sack that you can keep cold and make something simple that will keep. Don't worry that people will be offended. This is your health!

    3) Look for the healthy alternatives in fast food. Some stuff is just better than others. McD's has salads and whatnot...

    4) Remind your companion that you're working hard to eat better, and suggest a location alternative (even if it is another fast food joint that serves more nutritious alternatives)

    5) Just eat it. And don't do it again for another few weeks/months. :-)
  • angelastates
    angelastates Posts: 19
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    I think the reason why I panicked so much was because eating so little so late in the day didn't really give me a lot of time to make up for not eating enough calories. We also didn't have much to eat at home because we needed to wait for grocery shopping. I figured if I worked out enough to get rid of all those bad calories and fat then I would be safe since I basically starved my whole day and my body wouldn't want to hold on to that junk. Strangely the food I ordered tasted nasty to me. It tasted the same as I recalled from eating it many times but somehow I felt that I shouldn't eat it because I knew it was bad for me, but I felt I had no choice in the matter and forced myself to eat.

    I have struggled with not eating enough and I have been pushing myself to meet my calorie goal of 1, 200. That is what sent me into a panic because I felt like I was going backwards. The next day after this "episode" I had the same problem with getting too busy and not eating all day until around 5 or 6 at night. I'm kind of freaking out because I had no time to myself today to workout.
  • angelastates
    angelastates Posts: 19
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    that is a great idea :) Thanks
  • KellieR56
    KellieR56 Posts: 135 Member
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    :/ I've watched Super Size Me and Peta videos. but I still eat meat. Vegetarians aren't going to stop me from eating protein. Animals were put on this earth for a reason. Yea, there are cruel people at the place that make and process the meat; but I can't bring myself to literally kill an animal.
    anyways....don't beat yourself over it. It's just fast food you can work off. But I don't recommend McDonald's. I worked there a year ago and....it's a horrible and evil corporation.
  • angelastates
    angelastates Posts: 19
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    I am definitely never going to be a vegetarian. I am being "coached" by my husband to learn to eat cooked vegetables haha. I love salads and raw veggies, but I have a texture issue with cooked ones.
  • AmeMahoney
    AmeMahoney Posts: 232
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    I'm still trying to figure out how your friend running errands is responsible for your eating habits. You should have meals at your home, and if you are out with someone, they should stop so you can eat, preferably somewhere healthy. If that doesn't happen (and of course there are going to be issues - it happened to me today), you can't punish yourself by exercising for 3 hours to make up for it. When I was a shrink we had diagnoses for that kind of behavior (not that one time is terribly, I'm just saying). Give yourself a break - it's not the end of the world. :)

    That's so funny you have texture issues with cooked veggies. I can't eat a lot of raw ones for the same reason, though I've been trying to get better at it the last couple of years.
  • elid
    elid Posts: 209 Member
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    It tasted the same as I recalled from eating it many times but somehow I felt that I shouldn't eat it because I knew it was bad for me, but I felt I had no choice in the matter and forced myself to eat.

    I understand this SO well. One thing I've had to work really hard at is getting over my fear of wasting food. If you eat food you aren't enjoying *and* you're eating unhealthily, that's wasted food in two ways (wasted on your enjoyment, and wasted on your hips!!)--rather than wasting it in just one way (throwing it away). If you don't like that fast food, unless you're literally starving to death and have absolutely nothing else to eat, it's ok to throw it away. Really. Throw it away, don't buy it again, and have something healthy instead. Count the few calories you did eat (1/3 a hamburger, for example) and then fill the rest of your meal with healthy stuff.

    This tactic has helped me both save calories and learn to make wiser choices in the future (I'm less likely to buy something I know I won't enjoy and will just end up throwing away...).
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,110 Member
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    You don't need to work out every day.


    Your biggest cheerleader and your biggest enemy is you. The "All Or Nothing" thinking will cause you to sabatogue your plan.

    *A* bad choice or two are not going to derail you. Perfectionist thinking will.

    Tomorrow, do not say anything bad about yourself. No "should" or "shouldn't have". No, "I'm freaking out."

    One day at a time.
  • angelastates
    angelastates Posts: 19
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    Well, she doesn't have a car and she called me when I woke up that day asking if I could take her into town to get her taxes done. I didn't think it would take 3 hours for her to get in because of all the people there waiting in front of her. When she finally finished that, she offered me lunch but didn't have much money so we went to McDonalds.
  • Painten
    Painten Posts: 499 Member
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    I am definitely never going to be a vegetarian. I am being "coached" by my husband to learn to eat cooked vegetables haha. I love salads and raw veggies, but I have a texture issue with cooked ones.

    That's weird, i have a texture issue with the raw ones, especially carrots *lol*

    Don't feel bad about the odd lapse. The worse you feel about things like this the more likely you are to give up. This wont be the last time you have an unhealthy meal.
  • girlofsun26
    girlofsun26 Posts: 140 Member
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    I was in the same situation the other day and we all had McDonalds..I however bypassed the hamburger meals and got a southwestern salad with no dressing and it was actually really good and filling! And it only was 320 calories! Not bad for a whole meal.. Just be careful not all salads are created equal and sometimes your better off with a burger, calorie wise!
    Don't beat yourself up about it either, cause the more stressed you are the less weight you'll loose..and plus sometimes we all need a little splurge every now and then..:) Keep your head up girly...You got this!!
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
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    thing I'd do to fight the cravings is I leave my wallet/money at home. no money can't get the fast food!

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