Prefer not to eat then eating fast food?
Options
johnnyh55
Posts: 5 Member
I am a fussy eater and therefore don't always eat healthy options when I eat out. I often don't bring a lunch at work because I didn't prepare one and then when the time comes to eat, I wouldn't eat anything healthy probably except subway because I put some vegetables on my sandwich. So I decide to hold off and resist eating and wait till supper. Is it really bad to do this? Is is better to eat unhealthy food than not eating at all?
0
Replies
-
Skipping one meal isn't going to hurt you.
Making undereating* a habit is not good for you.
* By undereating I'm talking about eating less than a safe calorie goal, with or without weight loss.0 -
Under eating daily is not a good habit to get into. If you are doing this, you are most likely at a starving point by the time you go home and eat more than you would have if you had eaten something throughout the day. Have you though about prepping a lunch the night before so that it's just ready to grab and go in the morning? Something like some fruits and veggies, lunch meat roll ups or tuna. If that's too much to prep, maybe even keep some protein bars, nuts or dried fruit at your desk to snack on so you don't have to resort to eating out and "bad" take out restaurants.0
-
It just gives you more calories to eat at dinner. Count total calories for the day not meals.0
-
I always don't eat then eat. Otherwise I would always be eating or not eating.0
-
Personally, unless I plan to eat fast food, I avoid it. I have maybe a burger a month from a fast food joint, if that. It just doesn't taste good to me - I'd much rather wait and stick it out and enjoy a really yummy thing than shove a greaseball in my mouth.
Skipping a meal won't hurt you, as jemhh said.
That being said, carve out your time to do meal prep. If you have a fridge at work and enough space, bring things that'll last you the week so you only worry about it once. If not, invest in a good lunch bag and do your meal prep faithfully. Make that the habit, rather than skipping lunch. It'll help you better with feeling hungry (unless you'd like to adapt to not eating lunch, which you can also do) and you'll save money versus buying Subway all the time.
Meal prep in advance, save yourself the trouble.0 -
What exactly is unhealthy? raw sewage? Listen, skipping a meal is not going to kill you, I do it every day, sometimes skipping two meals a day. Likewise, a Big Mac is not unhealthy either. Think about it, you're still getting carbs, protein and fat, and depending on what you get, it's in good balance too. Don't buy into all that crap about fast food being bad for you, it's just food.
Rigger0 -
First, healthy/unhealthy are fairly broad subjective value judgements regarding food that cannot be easily quantified since there are so many factors to consider: Calories, macros, micros, your individual tastes, allergies, etc.
Second, there is no weight loss benefit to either fasting or eating, so long as you are eating enough during the course of a typical day to meet your minimum nutritional needs.
Third, if eating a "healthy for you" lunch is important enough, you must commit to taking responsibility and preparing it at home or finding options you like around your office. Most fast food establishments have some form of salad or low calorie options, you don't have to have a giant burger and huge serving of fries.
0 -
you can eat once a day, or 8 times a day - just make sure to stay in your calories goals and dont go too far under.0
-
There are a few "healthy" fast food options out there....you just need to look. I'm not sure what "healthy" is to you, but I just try to fit macros (protein, fat, and then carbs)....I also look for fiber.
My question is this.....what is maintenance going to look like? Do you expect to go back to "regular" eating habits when you get to goal and keep the weight off? I you foresee never packing a lunch....find some lower calorie fast food go tos. Look up nutritional information on the websites for your favorite fast food restaurants. Planning will help you stay on track.
0 -
I am a fussy eater and therefore don't always eat healthy options when I eat out. I often don't bring a lunch at work because I didn't prepare one and then when the time comes to eat, I wouldn't eat anything healthy probably except subway because I put some vegetables on my sandwich. So I decide to hold off and resist eating and wait till supper. Is it really bad to do this? Is is better to eat unhealthy food than not eating at all?
Eating at specific times only matters if you end up having a harder time sticking to your calorie goal because of it. So in theory you could have a big breakfast and dinner and get the same number of calories as if you'd had lunch.
I'd be hungry/not enjoy that, though, and IME a lot of people with weight to lose end up eating more through skipping meals and then overeating/having no self control.
What strikes me about your post is that you need to improve your planning. For example, I know the lunch places around me, so if I don't feel like bringing lunch and am up for spending money on lunch I have identified several options that fit with my nutrition goals and taste preferences. If that were not the case, I'd be sure to either bring lunch -- it's really quite easy, just make extras when you make dinner and bring the leftovers -- or at least bring snack stuff that I could eat during the day (yogurt and veggies or fruit or nuts, etc.).
So is it bad to skip lunch? Depends on how it affects you.
Does skipping lunch mean you must undereat? No, eat more at other meals or add a snack.
Is it better to eat "unhealthy food" rather than skipping a meal? The problem here is your idea of "healthy" vs. "unhealthy" foods, I think. I mean, I think it's great that you prioritize having veggies at a meal and I do too, but if I had a choice between a meal without veggies or no meal at all (and I wasn't planning to replace the calories later and I was hungry), I'd eat the meal which presumably has other good things, like protein and carbs/fat (for energy) and various micronutrients. However, if I found myself getting into this situation regularly, I'd improve my planning.0 -
Being hungry is not the worst thing on the planet. I would skip the fast food and opt for better options later. No problem with that.0
-
Why not try planning ahead? It doesn't take that long to pack a lunch.0
-
navyrigger46 wrote: »What exactly is unhealthy? raw sewage? Listen, skipping a meal is not going to kill you, I do it every day, sometimes skipping two meals a day. Likewise, a Big Mac is not unhealthy either. Think about it, you're still getting carbs, protein and fat, and depending on what you get, it's in good balance too. Don't buy into all that crap about fast food being bad for you, it's just food.
Rigger
And a bunch of unnecessary and toxic chemicals, artificial flavor enhancers that wreak havoc on your digestive system and taste buds, cancer causing trans fats, an unnatural ratio of omega 6 to 3, I could go on...0 -
If you have not planned for lunch, why do you have to eat fast food. Is there a grocery store nearby? I have several including a Whole Foods and Sprouts which I will sometimes go to, but I drive about 10 minutes to a farther grocery store (Homeland) and will purchase a rotisserie chicken, veggies, fruit, etc instead of grabbing a fast food burger/taco. I will more than likely have leftovers for the next couple of days also. (Our kitchen is small at work, but I will stand there and debone that rotisserie chicken!)0
-
How are you functioning on the days you skip lunch? Are you still getting all your calories on those days or falling short? If you feel fine and are getting enough calories then it doesn't matter if you skip lunch. If you spend a good share of the day hungry, irritable, or low energy then eating is better for you than not eating.
Get rid of the healthy and unhealthy labels for food. Think of foods in terms of nutrients. Think of how it fits in your who,e day. You don't have to eat a vegetable for a meal to contain nutrients your body needs. Your body needs protein for example and a basic hamburger or chicken from a fast food place would give you that as much as food you prepare at home.
You could pack food for lunch the night before. If you use dinner leftovers just pack the lunch when you are putting food away. You could make a weeks worth of lunches at one time so you just have to grab one that day. If you can't be bothered to pack food in advance and are hungry then just eat fast food for lunch or go to the grocery store and purchase food from there. Eat more fruits or vegetables for breakfast, snacks or dinner.0 -
KombuchaCat wrote: »navyrigger46 wrote: »What exactly is unhealthy? raw sewage? Listen, skipping a meal is not going to kill you, I do it every day, sometimes skipping two meals a day. Likewise, a Big Mac is not unhealthy either. Think about it, you're still getting carbs, protein and fat, and depending on what you get, it's in good balance too. Don't buy into all that crap about fast food being bad for you, it's just food.
Rigger
And a bunch of unnecessary and toxic chemicals, artificial flavor enhancers that wreak havoc on your digestive system and taste buds, cancer causing trans fats, an unnatural ratio of omega 6 to 3, I could go on...
Ah yes, all the fear-mongering in one concise post.
OP, I'm with the consensus that as long as you are otherwise meeting your macro and calorie goals each day, neither skipping a meal nor a fast food lunch every now and then is going to hurt you.0 -
I would need to do more planning but probably change my lifestyle altogether. I don't often cook at home and it's because the kitchen is not clean enough for my taste. I live with family roommates and they have a cat and it sheds it's hair everywhere on the kitchen table, on the couch, on the kitchen floor and sometimes on the kitchen counter. This is one of the reason I almost always eat out and never feel like cooking. I hardly ever do groceries because of this. I basically just use my room in the apartment and that's it. I would need to move out to get my life back on track but then rent would go up and well I would have less money for food but probably I wouldn't eat out as much. Anyway those are my life problems and don't concern any of you but thanks for the help. Maybe ill buy some on-the-go foods that I can bring and munch on them all day at work.0
-
I would need to do more planning but probably change my lifestyle altogether. I don't often cook at home and it's because the kitchen is not clean enough for my taste. I live with family roommates and they have a cat and it sheds it's hair everywhere on the kitchen table, on the couch, on the kitchen floor and sometimes on the kitchen counter. This is one of the reason I almost always eat out and never feel like cooking. I hardly ever do groceries because of this. I basically just use my room in the apartment and that's it. I would need to move out to get my life back on track but then rent would go up and well I would have less money for food but probably I wouldn't eat out as much. Anyway those are my life problems and don't concern any of you but thanks for the help. Maybe ill buy some on-the-go foods that I can bring and munch on them all day at work.
Honestly, if you want to lose weight & keep it off you WILL have to make a lifestyle change.0 -
KombuchaCat wrote: »navyrigger46 wrote: »What exactly is unhealthy? raw sewage? Listen, skipping a meal is not going to kill you, I do it every day, sometimes skipping two meals a day. Likewise, a Big Mac is not unhealthy either. Think about it, you're still getting carbs, protein and fat, and depending on what you get, it's in good balance too. Don't buy into all that crap about fast food being bad for you, it's just food.
Rigger
And a bunch of unnecessary and toxic chemicals, artificial flavor enhancers that wreak havoc on your digestive system and taste buds, cancer causing trans fats, an unnatural ratio of omega 6 to 3, I could go on...
Wow, really? So much fear and ignorance in three little lines. Do you know what's in all food? Chemicals, one of the compounds in an apple is arsenic, that's pretty toxic. Don't fear fast food.
Rigger
0 -
I would need to do more planning but probably change my lifestyle altogether. I don't often cook at home and it's because the kitchen is not clean enough for my taste. I live with family roommates and they have a cat and it sheds it's hair everywhere on the kitchen table, on the couch, on the kitchen floor and sometimes on the kitchen counter. This is one of the reason I almost always eat out and never feel like cooking. I hardly ever do groceries because of this. I basically just use my room in the apartment and that's it. I would need to move out to get my life back on track but then rent would go up and well I would have less money for food but probably I wouldn't eat out as much. Anyway those are my life problems and don't concern any of you but thanks for the help. Maybe ill buy some on-the-go foods that I can bring and munch on them all day at work.
Gotcha. I was in a living situation like this, moved out, and lost 30 #.
My rent did go up, but so did my quality of life.
0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 388 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 918 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions