Stupid McDonalds... I will overcome this

It's a good first step. Well done. As you continue working on your eating, I suggest you gradually transition to the system of "worth it" instead of the "red alert" system. When I get McDonald's, I have a certain calorie allowance for these meals (850) and I decide what's worth putting into these calories. As much as I love fries, not having ice cream is less pleasant than having fewer fries, so I go with the more pleasant option. Small fries, McDouble (for the protein), a diet drink, and McFlurry. If I'm going to spend my calories, it sure as hell won't be a McDonald's salad (I don't like their salads much). I would feel like I'm wasting my calories when I could be using them on something tastier.

ShrinkingMama2 wrote: »

try2again wrote: »

ShrinkingMama2 wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

If you're getting so hungry between meals that you'll dig out cold fries, then you need to reassess your diet. It doesn't sound very sustainable?

I am breastfeeding and eat 2 000 calories a day. It's definitely sustainable. I am a binge eater and a boredom eater. Trying to learn better! I have a bad relationship with food.

Confused. If you have that many calories at your disposal, you have room for a burger, particularly if it will leave you more satisfied than a salad (or better yet, perhaps in addition to a salad). Are you saying you need the cushion to binge later?

What often trips people up is they think "healthy" means a diet entirely comprised of nutrient-dense food. There's absolutely no reason an overall healthy diet can't include the foods we love, in the proper portions. That and adequate quantity is what is typically meant by "sustainable".

I have 2,000 calories that I am allowed to eat. That does not mean that I am going to choose a burger over a salad. I am finding healthy foods since I sonr have a good relationship with food... especially fast food. I am doing great on my journey. Thank you!

If that's sustainable for you, that's great. Many of the posters on here who have successfully managed their weight & health long-term have improved their diets without the need to eliminate any particular food, and in fact found it to be unsustainable when they tried, but everyone is different.

Personally, I dread it when the kids want to go to McDonald's because anything that appeals to me there is not worth the calorie cost and/or price. As a rule, I hate ordering salads when eating out because it's so easy & cheap to do at home.

kam3190 wrote: »

I would fail miserably if i told myself i couldnt have the fries i really wanted. I would count out 10fries and log them the best i could and just make room for them in my calories. Because denying myself meand9 after a while I will order 3 xtra large fries and eat them in the McDonald's parking lot.

I'm the exact same way. I'd rather have a small amount of something I might be craving than to just cave in two days and get double the amount of it.

Gurl, I feel you. French fries are my Achilles heel. My best advice is to avoid them as a family, suggest something else if you must do fast food.

When I first started I only allowed myself "good" French fries for me that meant not fast food fries and ended up just not going to fast food places at all. I also only had to worry about myself though.

I have since come to a place where I'm content just getting a small but it took a long time to get here and there was war along the way.

Jordan Shrinks on YouTube made a good suggestion I think where you allow yourself one "bad" item in your meal as long as the others are good. In this example you have your French fries but then maybe get a bunless or lettuce wrap burger, and water or unsweet tea instead of soda.

amusedmonkey wrote: »

Dilvish wrote: »

Yep like others said, salads at a fast food restaurant are usually just as bad calorie wise as the regular menu items see for yourself http://www1.mcdonalds.ca/NutritionCalculator/NutritionFactsEN.pdf

It's okay to indulge once in a while but consider this. Feeding your kids McDonalds food should be very low on your list. It's not just about calories, but most fast food contains vast amounts of sugar (soft drinks) sodium and fat which are seriously bad for kids. It's also highly addictive...sodium can be just as bad as sugar.

I never understood the highly addictive stuff. I used to smoke and I know what addictive feels like. I eat McDonald's maybe once every 3 or 4 months and don't feel a push to have it again for a few months. If you mean habit-forming, well, everything can be habit-forming if you make a habit of it. McDonald's is not special in that regard.

Yeah, agreed. We'd have McD's or other fast food as an occasional treat when I was a kid, and back then we'd get a small soda and small burger and small fries (this was pre Happy Meal, I think), and I never really drank soda at any other time and don't even like fast food or sugary soda now. So hardly created some kind of addiction.

I think these days they tend to have other choices besides soda for kids also (and adults often get diet). Fast food = sugar has always seemed odd to me, as it's hardly required that one get sugary soda and it's not like soda isn't often consumed elsewhere by those who want it. I would limit soda for a kid (like when I was a kid), but once in a while is no biggy, IMO.

I think sometimes people who, for whatever reason, had bad habits where they ate fast food a bunch when not watching their diets can't imagine the possibility that others would eat it just occasionally with no ill effects.

For OP, I also prefer not to waste cals on fast food fries, as I don't think they are worth the cals. If forced to get fast food I'd probably just have a burger and then more veg/big homemade salad at other meals since the salads aren't appealing to me, but if you like the salad sounds like a reasonable choice. Even if eventually you will choose to have the fries occasionally (I have fries occasionally when they are IMO really good fries), I totally get wanting to take a break for a period of time to form new habits if they were traditionally a hard food for you to control.

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sammidelvecchio wrote: »

smoofinator wrote: »

I can't help it. This thread makes me think of George Costanza fishing an eclair out of his girlfriend's mom's garbage can.

Seinfeld aside, you do what you have to do to succeed!! I took half a pizza to a public dumpster in full view from the street so I couldn't dive in and grab it out again. No shame. I know myself and it sounds like you know yourself too, so good on you!

I'm also reminded of a SATC episode where Miranda gets a cake out of the garbage and calls Carrie and says "I fell that you need to know your good friend Miranda Hobbes has just taken a piece of cake out of the garbage and eaten it."

Must have been some damn good cake. LOL. That would not be me, and I love cake!

amusedmonkey wrote: »

Dilvish wrote: »

Yep like others said, salads at a fast food restaurant are usually just as bad calorie wise as the regular menu items see for yourself http://www1.mcdonalds.ca/NutritionCalculator/NutritionFactsEN.pdf

It's okay to indulge once in a while but consider this. Feeding your kids McDonalds food should be very low on your list. It's not just about calories, but most fast food contains vast amounts of sugar (soft drinks) sodium and fat which are seriously bad for kids. It's also highly addictive...sodium can be just as bad as sugar.

I never understood the highly addictive stuff. I used to smoke and I know what addictive feels like. I eat McDonald's maybe once every 3 or 4 months and don't feel a push to have it again for a few months. If you mean habit-forming, well, everything can be habit-forming if you make a habit of it. McDonald's is not special in that regard.

I agree.... I will get their cones, but the actual burgers just suck! Imho.. if I am going to "spend" the calories on a burger, the arches are not my personal choice.

All the scolding here about your family eating at McDonald's and the evils of fast food salads and not practicing moderation by eating just a few fries or, heck, working the entire meal into your day made me go back and reread your post. Which confirmed that you didn't ask for scolding, however polite and well-intentioned. You said, "I am proud of myself for staying true to my tracker and to my day and to my health."

And you should be. Period. You accomplished something huge, and that's awesome! Way to go @ShrinkingMama2

@try2again I didn't know that, and wouldn't have even considered trying to educate lurkers rather than straightforwardly responding to the OP. Well, that does reframe a lot of the comments! Thanks for that insight.

Idontcareyoupick wrote: »

I get the happy meal when I go with my son. Less than 600 cals and I get a decent amount of fries and chicken nuggets to not feel deprived and my son gets an extra toy. Maybe you can try that next time?

The OP made the point up-thread that she doesn't view things like fries and chicken nuggets as acceptable choices.