Fast food lunch. Best option
carlaringuette
Posts: 158 Member
Hi folks. I'm sort of new. (Lifetime WW member, Plant based dabbler, MFP member a few years back got too busy to track)
Hit alt/control/delete and rebooted before I get too close to the number which shall never be mentioned again!!!!
Joined the gym last Friday. Took a rest day Sunday.
Tried to catch a Spin class at 5 am (the sore throat won) didn't make it but still had to scramble out the door by 7 am for a phone conference meeting.
Made the meeting but now have no lunch. Grrr!
Plan on doing a DVD tonight after choir practice.
In the meantime What's for lunch?
Also, do ya'll eat all of your exercise calories or do you just earn them and only use on a special occasion. Talking about a "normal " week.
Finally getting back to me after 3 years of chaos.
Hit alt/control/delete and rebooted before I get too close to the number which shall never be mentioned again!!!!
Joined the gym last Friday. Took a rest day Sunday.
Tried to catch a Spin class at 5 am (the sore throat won) didn't make it but still had to scramble out the door by 7 am for a phone conference meeting.
Made the meeting but now have no lunch. Grrr!
Plan on doing a DVD tonight after choir practice.
In the meantime What's for lunch?
Also, do ya'll eat all of your exercise calories or do you just earn them and only use on a special occasion. Talking about a "normal " week.
Finally getting back to me after 3 years of chaos.
0
Replies
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Options by me are Wendy's Taco bell but we're having tacos at home tonight
Chik fil a, Arby's Subway and Raising Caine's (chicken place)3 -
Wendy's salads are good but a bit pricey. Chick-Fil-A has great options if you can control yourself around the waffle fries
But I'm sure you could find something to fit your calorie budget at any of those places!
The site is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories. Most people start with only eating a portion (say 50% or 75%) to allow for over-estimating of burns and as a bit of a cushion for logging, watch the results, and adjust from there
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Limiting to fast food, I go for a couple of chicken soft tacos fresco style from Taco Bell. They are 140 cals each with a decent macro mix. Taco Bell always rates pretty highly for eating fast food on a diet because so many items have a decent amount of veggies, dairy, fiber and protein and reasonable portions (if you don't get one of their numbered meals).7
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My best options -
Wendy's: any combination of baked potato, chili, side salad, junior cheeseburger, grilled chicken wrap (no sauce)
McD: grilled chicken wrap (no sauce) or an egg mcmuffin, maybe a yogurt parfait.
Subway: 6" Turkey sub, loaded veggies, toasted, no sauce, feed Part of the bread to the birds, or a sub salad.
I don't eat back exercise calories daily - it becomes my beer and wine budget.10 -
As far as lunch is concerned, I'm a huge Chick Fil A fan, my go-to is a grilled chicken club (just sandwich) and go with grilled nuggets instead of fries, always water to drink. Not to say that I don't enjoy patronizing Taco Bell, but I've never successfully ordered anything but an embarrassingly amount of food there. Wendy's can be a decent option; JBC and nuggets for some cheap protein gets the job done for a few bucks. Subway always seems healthy but you can easily go high on calories and not a high enough protein % for my tastes.
Regarding exercise calories, on the whole, this is something very individual as trackers/calculators/estimations are only so good. There are numerous threads dedicated to that question and most seem to find a sweet spot eating back a portion of their exercise calories vs. all/none. I suggest starting by eating 50% consistently and see what your weight does over at least 2-3 weeks. If you're not loosing at the rate you expect and you're confident your logging in on point, dial back the amount of "earned" exercise calories you're eating and re-evaluate again after another 2-3 weeks.6 -
Generally speaking, just get Whateva I want from the kid's menu. Satisfying, simple, and portion control all at once.11
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carlaringuette wrote: »Options by me are Wendy's Taco bell but we're having tacos at home tonight
Chik fil a, Arby's Subway and Raising Caine's (chicken place)
Taco bell: Love the power menu bowl. ~500 calories as is. Get no rice, drop it to about 330 calories.
Arby's: Just a classic roast beef. Regular is 360 calories, double is 510.
Wendy's: Either grilled chicken sandwich (370 calories) or spicy chicken sandwich (510 calories)
As far as eating back exercise calories, I usually save them for the weekend unless I am particularly hungry. I know that when I go to the gym, I typically burn 250-300 calories so I know what to plan for.2 -
My go to at Wendy’s is a baked potato with a side salad and pomegranate vinaigrette dressing3
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Besides some of the Wendy's/Taco Bell options above, I like Subway's chopped salad. They'll do (theoretically anyway) any of the sub types as a salad - more expensive, but you get lots of veggies and lettuce/spinach for a really big salad. I just have them dress it with vinegar, salt, pepper, oregano. Filling, low in calories (with a reasonable sub variation).
WRT Taco Bell, it's worth visiting their nutrition calculator online in advance. They will make a bunch of different variations that aren't even on the posted menu, and on the web site you can play with "add this, subtract that" to hit calories/macros pretty close to what you want to target.9 -
Chick Fil A, grilled club and share the fries with the kids. I just take a hit. I used to get the side salad but with ranch dressing it isn't much better.
Wendy's - Jr bacon cheeseburger, Jr Fries, diet soda/water
Arby's - Regular Roast Beef (or Medium), Jr/snack size fries. diet/water, or forgo the fries. They give me gas anyway.3 -
Is there a grocery store with pre-made meals near you? Sometimes those options can be better.
The OP asked for food not taco bell.15 -
As far as eating back calories, it depends...
At the gym, I do mostly intense cardio; HR in the 150 range, occasionally creeping to 160, which is the recommended max for my age. I usually do that for 30 minutes to an hours and circuit train for a half hour; don't know HR for that but it is definitely lower. Sometimes I go paddle my SUP 5 to 10 miles and it is a short, slow inflatable, so long distance is a hard slog. At home I do TRX in 15 minute circuits every now and then. Yesterday I went to the gym and paddled. That was enough to log conservatively and still be over 500. Days when it's just a half hour of TRX I might log 150 or just ignore it.1 -
I'm honestly obsessed with Chik-fil-a's grilled chicken nuggets 😍 The only downfall is that I live pretty far from the place, so it's usually reserved for outings in the area lol3
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I like the chick fil a nuggets but they don't really fill me up very much lol. Unless I eat a lot of them. Taco bell actually has a lot of options. You can go on their website and play around with menu options (adding/subtracting) to figure out calories.
Subway is always an easy option for a lower calorie meal.2 -
Wendy's and Subway work well for me. Often I go for the patty only quarter pounder option since I prefer McD coffee. Locally the quarter pounder patty (320 calories???) is $1.20 each and the large coffee is $1 (240 calories per cup) due to the half and half I use. Typically that come out to 1100 calories in my case but it fits my macros well. I learned the hard way not to get in a stressful situation low on fuel.2
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My go-to fast food are Chick Fil A, Wendy's, or Subway.
Chick Fil A is usually a grilled chicken sandwich or grilled nuggets with fruit on the side, or a cobb salad with grilled nuggets and fat free honey mustard dressing.
Wendy's it's chili and a baked potato. Always.
Subway I shake it up a bit. Just about any 6" sandwich with lite mayo is what I'll get and loaded with veggies. If I'm really short on calories, I'll get a salad.3 -
I can find something to fit my needs where ever. Chicken sandwiches and small fries are usually my go to in drive thrus. I also like Panda Express - a Panda bowl with steamed veggies and teriyaki chicken is tasty and filling right around 370. Just skip the diet soda and drink ALL THE WATER.7
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ashliedelgado wrote: »I can find something to fit my needs where ever. Chicken sandwiches and small fries are usually my go to in drive thrus. I also like Panda Express - a Panda bowl with steamed veggies and teriyaki chicken is tasty and filling right around 370. Just skip the diet soda and drink ALL THE WATER.
Why does someone need to skip the diet soda?8 -
I dont eat much fast food but when I do it is usually Subway. I will get the 6 inch tuna on wheat with all the veggies.1
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DoubleUbea wrote: »Is there a grocery store with pre-made meals near you? Sometimes those options can be better.
The OP asked for food not taco bell.
Chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese and grain isn't food? That cuts a lot out of your diet. Granted, the tortilla is made from (gasp) processed flower. Their beef and refried beans have some mystery ingredients as does the gooey cheese sauce. That's why my suggestion is the chicken soft taco.4 -
I generally have around 400 calories for lunch. I have not really struggled to find choices at most places. A regular burger, side salad with vinaigrette dressing and unsweetened iced tea usually fits that. Wendy's baked potato and a side salad are a meatless choice I have had.
Chain fast food places have nutrition listed online and some have calorie counts right on the menu. Figure out the amount of calories you want and make a choice.0 -
Soooo.... What did you have?? We need to know who the winner is
4 -
I like the southwest salad with grilled chicken at McD's for a healthy/low calorie fast food lunch.
It is supposed to come with a cilantro lime glaze (though I'm finding that's not consistent lately depending on which store you go to), the glaze is included in the calories listed on McD's website. IF they actually put the glaze on their, I find I don't need to add any dressing (extra calories) to it.2 -
CarvedTones wrote: »Limiting to fast food, I go for a couple of chicken soft tacos fresco style from Taco Bell. They are 140 cals each with a decent macro mix. Taco Bell always rates pretty highly for eating fast food on a diet because so many items have a decent amount of veggies, dairy, fiber and protein and reasonable portions (if you don't get one of their numbered meals).
If I get taco bell, depending on how I am feeling about my carbs, I either go steak power burrito or steak power burrito bowl, no rice, double meat 0 -
My favorite fast food lunch is El Pollo Loco's double chicken avocado salad. They have a lot of other great choices on the menu, too, but I love that salad.0
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I love chic fil as grilled chicken sandwich with some honey mustard on top! Not too high calorie, a little veggies, carbs and lots of protein. Just avoid those waffle fries lol... I also like subways BMT. Usually if I eat out anywhere else I’ve always ordered off the kids menu, I have a thing for chicken nuggets.1
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WinoGelato wrote: »ashliedelgado wrote: »I can find something to fit my needs where ever. Chicken sandwiches and small fries are usually my go to in drive thrus. I also like Panda Express - a Panda bowl with steamed veggies and teriyaki chicken is tasty and filling right around 370. Just skip the diet soda and drink ALL THE WATER.
Why does someone need to skip the diet soda?
Fair, they don't have to. Personally, when I eat something sodium laden like the teriyaki bowl mentioned, I find it best to drink water instead - I realize there isn't a ton of sodium in diet soda but there is a ton in Panda Express.2 -
ashliedelgado wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »ashliedelgado wrote: »I can find something to fit my needs where ever. Chicken sandwiches and small fries are usually my go to in drive thrus. I also like Panda Express - a Panda bowl with steamed veggies and teriyaki chicken is tasty and filling right around 370. Just skip the diet soda and drink ALL THE WATER.
Why does someone need to skip the diet soda?
Fair, they don't have to. Personally, when I eat something sodium laden like the teriyaki bowl mentioned, I find it best to drink water instead - I realize there isn't a ton of sodium in diet soda but there is a ton in Panda Express.
Water itself has sodium, so a diet soda probably isn't going to be the breaking point for anyone.5 -
Double order of Flying Dutchmen at In-n-Out.0
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