Addicted to fast food.

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Mirelle242
Mirelle242 Posts: 63 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
HELP!
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  • Rushgirl82
    Rushgirl82 Posts: 223 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Mind over matter. It's like cutting back or quitting anything. You have to want to do it. I struggle with fast food too. But now before I head out I make sure I have some food in my belly and I make sure I have a banana or apple or some nuts and water with me now. It helps. When I'm tempted I eat the fruit or nuts and it works for me.
    Also as far as ordering in at home, I'm lucky I live in a small town so my favourites aren't at my finger tips. But I make sure not buy a bunch of crap food anymore too. If I don't have it, I can't eat it.
  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
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    No, you're not.
  • msr8898
    msr8898 Posts: 29 Member
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    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    You're not addicted to it, you just choose it over something else. Make different choices - plan meals, make a shopping list and stock your fridge and pantry with other options.

    ^THIS

    Also, take some time to look at what effect fast food has on health.The sheer volume of sodium alone is disturbing. https://www.google.com/search?q=truth+about+fast+food&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=fast+food+average+sodium+content+&* Nothing is more empowering than knowledge, and the more you know about what you are putting into your body, the more likely you are to make healthy choices
  • Sheisinlove109
    Sheisinlove109 Posts: 516 Member
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    I always knew there was interesting chemicals in fast food but it took one time if reading the ingredients on a very popular southern chicken chain restaurant for me never to eat it or any fast food every again. I just couldn't get over this ingredient and figured there are so many more that I would cry if I knew what they were.

    The ingredient that I saw that ended it all?!

    Foaming Agent
  • dudebro200
    dudebro200 Posts: 97 Member
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    I am addicted to fast food, but I still lose weight. You just have to eat stuff that fits your macros.

    I stick to eggwhite delights for breakfast during my deficit plan.

    My favorite fast food joint is Jack in the box. I usually eat a sourdough chicken sandwich or sourdough burger with fries. During a deficit plan, I will just eat a chicken fajita pita with no cheese (300 cals) plus chicken nuggets (about 300).

    Taco Bell tacos are about 150 cals a piece, and I usually get the fresco option which eliminates cheese and cream.

    I worked in fast food as a kid, food measurements are premade and very precise. I would get in trouble if portions were too high or too low. I trust the listed nutritional information and I haven't had any problems.


    The sodium levels are high, but my blood pressure has been around 114/70 for my whole so I am not worried about it.
  • Blitzia
    Blitzia Posts: 205 Member
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    What are your habits with fast food? Are you leaving your house to make a trip just to get fast food or is it usually something you get to eat while you're already out?

    If it's the first one, I recommend as other posters have said, try to make some homemade versions of your favorite fast food meals. If you're careful with substitutions and you're willing to experiment with a lot of recipes, you may find a version that is healthier and tastier than fast food. For recipe and substitution ideas, the forums here have a lot of good suggestions or you can try websites like skinnytaste.com.

    If your problem is just that whenever you're out, you keep stopping at fast food because it's easy and convenient, start planning ahead. Find some tasty portable snacks you can take with you. It's easier to skip McDonald's when you know you have pretty delicious turkey wrap in your purse that's only a fraction of the calories.

    The final option is to start studying the menus. You can still lose weight and eat fast food, you just have to do the math. It may mean skipping the fries and opting for the kids meal size or picking the grilled sandwich instead of the fried one. For me, I find that I can usually eat more food for fewer calories if I make it myself, but if you really like the convenience of fast food, you can at least make sure you choose the best option possible.
  • CynthiasChoice
    CynthiasChoice Posts: 1,047 Member
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    JohnnyPenso wrote: »
    I do believe that fast food is an addiction, physically and mentally. Most fast food is loaded with sugar or salt and both have a way of overwhelming the taste buds so that food you eat without massive loads of sugar and salt taste rather bland by comparison. That's the way it was for me anyway. When I ditched the fast food and sugar for homemade and more wholesome foods, I found my tastebuds came alive and I was much more in tune with all the subtle nuances of all the various aromas and flavours in homecooked food and the tremendous variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, grains etc.

    I've had the same experience. There are some who will argue over the appropriateness of the word addiction, so maybe I would say that I was compulsive and impulsive with fast food when I used to consume it. Now that I consume fresh produce, meat, eggs and dairy, I rarely feel compulsive or impulsive. What a relief to not have to deal with that!

    The fast food giants put a huge amount of effort into crafting these foods so that people will want a lot of it often. Their goal is your repeat business. Refuse to be a victim of industry-created franken-foods!
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,107 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Like many of the above posts suggest, making similar foods at home will help you have more control over what you're eating, I was a big fan of fakeaways when I first started out this time around - Pinterest has loads of great recipes. I've made my own donor kebab meat in the slow cooker, made baked "southern fried" chicken with instant potato powder, seasoning and a little butter, homemade burgers and curries.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Make whatever you're craving at home. You'll most likely save on calories, it will be tastier, more filling, and have less sodium.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    misskarne wrote: »
    No, you're not.

    +1
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    I think for most people fast food is more of a habit than it is an addiction. Recently, I've been limiting my eating out to only when I am riding my bicycle. It's interesting that when I'm picking a destination for a bike ride that a fast food restaurant is never a place I choose. Part of that may be because it is less convenient to stop at a fast food restaurant on a bicycle than it is at a regular restaurant.

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