How to resist from eating fast foods?

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Try lower calorie options like snack wraps, plain hamburgers, nuggets. If careful, you can keep a fast food meal at or under 550 calories

I only eat out one meal a week. I plan for it and log it.
Choose 1 offer to take advantage of each week if you want fast food. Don't make it a big deal.

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Some things you can work with. For example, the chicken is perfectly healthy food if you get grilled or take the skin off the fried. You can eat one piece and use the others in a salad or wrap later.

Take someone with you to eat those one of those two for one sandwiches. You will probably have to limit how often you eat them, but they are probably low enough calorie to fit into your goals once a week or so. And there are ways to make them lower calorie and healthier - for example, Five Guys will wrap a burger in lettuce, which saves a lot of calories.

There are also some fast food options which are inexpensive and not bad at all, such as Wendy's chili.

Meanwhile, food prep - cook easy but healthier inexpensive foods for yourself in bulk so you always have something easy to eat. A big pot of chili, a pork tenderloin, a whole roasted chicken. You can make your favorite sides such as beans or cole slaw in a batch so you have it ready. If you cook it, you can control what goes into it and make it healthy.

dennisl31789 wrote: »

In current time and everywhere I go, fast food restaurants are really tempting me to eat their foods that I’m not supposed to. I did so well on resistance from eating there and eat healthy last year. However though, I keep let myself go there when they give coupons or make discount sales. McDonald’s = 2 for $5 Big Macs. Burger King = 2 for $6 Whoppers. Rally’s = 2 for $ 5 Big Burfords or others. Church’s Chicken > 2 leg and thigh for $1.79. It got really hard for me to be on diet and stay healthy. I need some suggestions on how to resist them. Anyone?

Everywhere I go, there's an increasing number of Fast Food restaurants as well, but I rarely but anything from them.

Do you live in a structured environment where the traditional three meals per day are prepared? Most of my eating is done at home, with food prepared at home.

Meanwhile, that Leg and Thigh meal you mention doesn't look unhealthy to me, although it's from a Fast Food place.It is sometimes possible to get something healthy at a place we might consider "unhealthy".

Once you get some momentum with logging all your calories every day it gets easier. For me it’s a matter of not wanting to spend nearly all my calories on one giant, unhealthy (and usually not as good as I imagine it will be) fast food meal. If I’m craving a cheeseburger or pizza or whatever, I plan for it and get something really delicious and “worth” all the calories. Good luck!

dennisl31789 wrote: »

Thank all of you for responding to my post. Your words are inspiring me to reconsider my choices with foods. Maybe I guess I’ll see if I can purchase smaller like buying one Whopper Jr. I have to make a habit of eating smaller portions.

Exactly! This is your first step. Also, learn to weigh, measure, and log your food here accurately. No drastic changes are needed. Just eat less than you do now and once you see and feel changes you can keep improving.

Also, don't get caught up in those specials and offers. Fast food places ALWAYS have deals and coupons and specials. If you don't use the ones you have, new ones will always be available so get rid of the mindset that you "can't pass up a good deal!". There will always be new deals.

There are a few things going on here, and hopefully being aware will help make things better.

First of all, this pattern of see the place, read the special, pull in for a quick treat has been specially formulated, created and curated by teams of highly trained specialists (sales, marketing, etc) who are dedicated to making sure you have given the company money before you even have time to really evaluate your decision. The good news is, now that you are aware, you can take steps to break free of the automatic behavior.

There are a few different plays these companies are making:
-familiarity: it's familiar, you know it, you love it
-treat yo self: You deserve this. After all, you work *hard*. You are a busy person.
-family times: This will allow you to spend more time with your family. You're busy. Don't just come home from work and spend the whole night cooking, spend time with your kids because they grow up so damn fast. Better yet, bring them in to play in the play area and get a new toy.
-FOMO (fear of missing out): if you don't act right meow, you will never get this chance again. May also disguise itself as "limited", "seasonal", or "special offer"

Obviously, not everyone responds to all of these. People have all kinds of different motivators. The company knows this. They may specialize in one or two of these motivators, or cast a wide net and try to get them all.

Now back to you, in your car (or walking through the mall or whathaveyou). You are used to seeing a fast food restaurant and pulling in to grab something to eat. I bet that most of the time you don't even think of it. Personally, I am very much this way with Starbucks (mmmm peppermint mocha) and leftover pizza. It is already mostly gone before it clicks what is going on.

1. If you feel the urge, delay it. Maybe for 10 minutes, maybe until tomorrow.
2. Try making a substitution. Want an egg mcmuffin? Can you make one at home?
3. Can you eat less than you normally would and still be satisfied? Get 1 piece of chicken and eat half the fries?
4. Take a different route home where you won't pass your favourite restaurants.
5. Pre log what you want to order (use best guesses and closest matches if the restaurant doesn't have an entry). Do you still want it? Then go for it. Enjoy it. This isn't a step back or a failure. This is part of life.
6. Make a plan to eat it on a certain day, that way you don't feel deprived, and you get to look forward to it.

In response to some of the specific triggers I listed above:
1. Create a new familiar. Maybe that's a workout, a different route home, or you become used to driving by fast food without pulling in.
2. You do deserve self care and to treat your self. However, self care isn't always about indulgence and forgoing all responsibility. It's eating a salad when you'd rather have chips. It's going to the gym when you'd rather be in bed. It's calling the doctor even when you are afraid. As for treats, there are lots of treats. New clothes, an in-game app purchase, a massage... what do you define as a treat?
3. Also an option: order differently. I used to always get a Sausage and egg McGriddle with 2 hashbrowns and an orange juice. Now, when I am treating myself, I get a bacon and egg McGriddle with 1 hash brown and a black coffee. If I have to stop at McDonald's for breakfast, most of the time I get a plain egg mcmuffin with apple slices and a black coffee. I don't feel like I'm missing out.
4. Especially if I'm hungry or tired, it's not hard to talk me into temptation. So I try not to let myself get too hungry or tired, but if I am, I try to avoid passing temptation and when I do, I have to work a bit harder to resist it.
5. A lot of times once I've pre logged my meal, my soul hurts so badly that I don't want it anymore. Sometimes I still want it, but can find ways to cut back over the rest of my day.
6. Plans are fun! When it's planned, you can also plan the rest of your meals around it.

Whether or not you believe food is an addiction or that you are addicted to food, there are a lot of behavioral and addiction treatment techniques that can be helpful in getting control. This does get easier with time. The more you reinforce that "see restaurant" =/= "eat at restaurant", the easier it will be to break that habit.

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