How much work does it take to equal one fast-food meal

Subway - Male - 870 - Daily calories for maintenance ~2400 - Amount of time to burn off = 8.7 hrs - Intensity level : Existing.

1 Meal fueling your body for 1/3rd of a day ... that's just horrible.

It doesn't make good headlines if they show how long you have to run to burn off a chicken salad.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

There's a total fallacy of logic going on here though....my BMR is around 1900 calories...so I'm going to burn off an 800 calorie fast food meal simply by existing on this planet...more than two of them in fact...and that's just existing...like someone shoving the McDonalds down my throat while I was sleeping and I never woke up for 24 hours and I'll burn off two+ of these meals.

Yep.

I don't care for fast food (and especially not McD's), but one BigMac is 540 calories, 25 g protein, 28 g fat, 47 g carbs. The main thing about this that is out of whack is the fat (and sat fat, I imagine) compared to what I usually eat for lunch. Also, too few vegetables, but if you buy lunch vegetables can be difficult.

The comparison with vegetables doesn't make sense, as just vegetables isn't a good lunch, IMO (need protein and more calories).

If I were buying lunch, a few options I consider to fit into my overall healthy diet include:

Protein Bar (local chain) Southwest salad (http://www.theproteinbar.com/location-details.html?loc=120sriverside): 480 calories, 40 g protein, 53 g carbs.

Hannah's Bretzel (local chain) Sergio's Special (http://hannahsbretzel.com/food, this is a splurge, but totally worth it because so tasty): 560 calories, 29 g protein, 69 g carbs (it also comes with about 80 calories of almonds, so total lunch value easily is 640).

Chipotle fajita bowl with chicken, no rice (but yes on the black beans): 370 calories (not bad for fast food), 41 g protein, 31 g carbs

While these others fit into my plan better than the BigMac (and taste far better to me), I don't consider the BigMac calories out of the ordinary for lunch or difficult to fit into a day, by comparison. Even the Sergio's isn't hard to fit in should I want to. I'm in favor of bringing lunch, as it gives more flexibility, but I don't think buying lunch means you have to burn it off in a special way -- I buy lunch more than I should without being over my calories.

(I do exercise, of course, but that's based on my workout plan, not what I eat for lunch.)

cwolfman13 wrote: »

There's a total fallacy of logic going on here though....my BMR is around 1900 calories...so I'm going to burn off an 800 calorie fast food meal simply by existing on this planet...more than two of them in fact...and that's just existing...like someone shoving the McDonalds down my throat while I was sleeping and I never woke up for 24 hours and I'll burn off two+ of these meals.

ETA: I'm not much of one for fast food...but I regularly have meals in the 600 - 800 calorie range...I need around 2800 - 3000 to maintain my weight...other than my meal typically being far more nutrient dense than a typical fast food meal, 800 calories of dinner is 800 calories of dinner.

Yeah I hate those articles for this reason. I don't have to workout extra to burn that 700 calories meal - I burn 3x as much in a normal day!

Although yeah some items are harder to fit in because they don't fill me up as much (like a filet-o-fish. Like eating air. Guessing it's pretty much the same for most fast food burgers though).

My favorite chick-fil-a meal is right around 1k! I love it, but I don't eat it very often.

Sooo... this is only relevant if I have otherwise already eaten to my maintenance level before eating the fast food meal, yeah?

I also read it 524 burpees to burn one large fry.

ernestrodgers82 wrote: »

lorrpb wrote: »

The other day I saw 524 burpees for 1 large order of fries !

That would make me think twice before "super sizing" it! I think that's the real point of the article. It's very easy to pile on some massive calories from both fast and restaurant food.

Absolutely. Maintenance level calories for the average American would also keep them their same weight! That's not usually a good thing. I like fast food* but I never have the calories to get those big meals and still eat normally the rest of my day. Some folks eat like that multiple times a day, too, while being sedentary, etc.

* It's too carby for me now -- blood sugar Bye, bye fries. But I do still eat some sandwiches with the most of the bun taken off. No soft drink, of course. The biggest problem is the lack of good veggies and whole grain options, imho (if I'm eating any bread, I like to get protein and fiber from it).