Fast food

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cnjg420
cnjg420 Posts: 405 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Can you still lose or maintain weight eating out every day

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  • MichelleSilverleaf
    MichelleSilverleaf Posts: 2,028 Member
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    As long as what you're eating keeps you at or below your calorie needs, yes. What you have to watch out for is that take-out/restaurant meals can often easily be very high in calories even when they don't seem like it, and can be high in sodium. It can be done you just may have to do some digging as to the calorie numbers on their meals and plan accordingly.
  • kkens2017
    kkens2017 Posts: 5 Member
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    I looked up my favorite meal at Fatburger and it was 2200 calories :'( I haven't been back since I started counting.
  • sexymamadraeger
    sexymamadraeger Posts: 239 Member
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    Not very easily. Fast food has way more fat than you would cook with at home.
  • Lesscookies1
    Lesscookies1 Posts: 250 Member
    edited November 2017
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    Sure as long as it fits into your calories. I used to work at a call center, and I used to go to Taco Bell for lunch almost every day and still lost weight during that time. However, be careful about the sodium content could cause your weight to fluctuate even more.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    http://abc7.com/health/teacher-loses-60-pounds-while-eating-nothing-but-mcdonalds/705916/

    ^You absolutely can lose weight while eating predominantly fast food. How well it works and whether or not it's healthy will depend on the balance of your choices, not the speed of the food.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
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    cnjg420 wrote: »
    Can you still lose or maintain weight eating out every day

    Yes as long as you accurately log what you eat and monitor the total calories against your total allowance.
  • CyberDraco
    CyberDraco Posts: 3 Member
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    Yes, Iost weight and gained muscle while eating Wendy's and or McDonald's 3 times a week while working 3 jobs.
    Get your macros on point. Get to exercise.
    Also look into Intermittent Fasting.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    If you’re in a calorie deficit, yes, but I hope you’re getting other nutrients that wouldn’t be provided by them from other foods.
  • spiro413x
    spiro413x Posts: 11 Member
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    There's a difference between health and weightless. And although they commonly overlape they are not dependent on each other. Calories are not a "substance" - calories are a unit of measurement that we use to manipulate our weight. If you are eating under your caloric needs. (Your TDEE) you are going to lose weight regardless if it's a diet of nothing but Twinkies. However, the nutritional make up of Twinkies vs veggies is radically different and going to effect your body differently. But yeah - no matter the substance of what you are eating (junk food, fast food, ect...) as long as you are eating under your caloric needs you are going to lose weight. But I would highly advise you to eat more nutritionally sounds food for your health. While weight does play an important factor in your health. Just because you are skinny doesn't mean you are healthy.
  • sksk1026
    sksk1026 Posts: 213 Member
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    Yes. As long as you eat fewer calories than you expend. I eat fast food regularly as part of my calories. Look up 'Fast food' on the forum and you'll get tips on what to eat. I insert a weight watcher's rice and beans meal into 2 taco bell chicken fresco tacos - delicious. I go for a cheeseburger or an egg mcmuffin meal at McD, often. Lots of people on the forums have recommended Wendy's chilli. All of the fast food chains list their calories so it's easy to put it into MFP.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    sexymamadraeger wrote: »
    Not very easily. Fast food has way more fat than you would cook with at home.

    Every major fast food chain publishes their nutritional information. Eating higher fat foods (in the context of a calorie deficit) isn't going to prevent weight loss and if someone wants to limit fat, they can just use the nutritional information to choose lower fat options (virtually every chain will offer menu items that are lower in fat or that can be modified to make them lower in fat).
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
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    CyberDraco wrote: »
    Yes, Iost weight and gained muscle while eating Wendy's and or McDonald's 3 times a week while working 3 jobs.
    Get your macros on point. Get to exercise.
    Also look into Intermittent Fasting.


    That's randomly weird advice for a thread about eating fast food. I don't get the connection at all.
  • SundropEclipse
    SundropEclipse Posts: 84 Member
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    Lost 60lbs last summer eating ice cream and fastfood daily. Just ditch the side dishes and stick to water or diet drinks. It's not as hard as some people claim it is, and frankly I found it much easier to keep track of my intake. No more than one fastfood meal a day tho8gh or else you'll put your sodium through the roof, adding water weight to the scale and straining your liver + kidneys.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    You can. It might well be more difficult to stick to your calories and be satisfied or to eat a healthful diet depending on what you choose. Then again, for some people it might make starting out and controlling calories feel easier and less about deprivation or feel easier to avoid something like cooking which may seem like a chore for some. I know someone for whom that was true, although over time she reduced her fast food consumption a lot. Knowing that she didn't have to made things easier for her at first.
  • sdolan91
    sdolan91 Posts: 250 Member
    edited November 2017
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    I eat out many times a week and I'm still losing.
    I stay in calories and just plug in verified menu items (check the websites and make sure they're accurate too).

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