80 calorie comparison pic

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Replies

  • New_Heavens_Earth
    New_Heavens_Earth Posts: 610 Member
    https://youtu.be/1yAMU6Y4Iro

    Enjoyed his video.

    He also stated the difference between what he did vs. Supersize Me. He kept up a reasonable amount of daily activity and ate a balance of healthy foods, not McDonald's at every meal with no activity.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,427 Member
    edited October 2019
    https://youtu.be/1yAMU6Y4Iro

    Enjoyed his video.

    He also stated the difference between what he did vs. Supersize Me. He kept up a reasonable amount of daily activity and ate a balance of healthy foods, not McDonald's at every meal with no activity.

    Didn't take time to watch but in the article below he stated: "I don't want anybody doing this challenge," he said. "I do not think that this challenge is healthy. I don't think it's smart but sometimes you have to do something extreme in order to make a simple point."

    Syatt merely wanted to hammer that point home.

    "The whole point of it was to show people that you can include your favorite foods into your diet in moderation and not only not lose progress, but actually continue to make progress, because so many people worry about ruining their entire diet if they go off track for one meal, whatever it is."

    https://www.insider.com/instagram-fitness-coach-jordan-syatt-big-mac-challenge-lost-7-pounds-2019-10

    The bolded is my point. The trainer mentions incorporating your favorite foods in moderation which I noted above, I agree with. IMO, 35-40% of one's calories daily long term from a Big Mac or whatever your choice of typical fast food is not moderation,

  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I did not do well with the mentality of "bigger portion therefore better!". Too much jello, not enough fat in my diet.
  • bearly63
    bearly63 Posts: 734 Member
    I didn't watch the video tbh. But I would love to have seen a before and after detailed blood/cholesterol/glucose/etc work up and see what the Big Macs did to his body besides weight and calories. That stuff is not real food. Maybe just grill a really good grass fed burger ie make your own with real food. Nothing beats a good burger if your a meat eater IMHO.
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 1,979 Member
    bearly63 wrote: »
    I didn't watch the video tbh. But I would love to have seen a before and after detailed blood/cholesterol/glucose/etc work up and see what the Big Macs did to his body besides weight and calories. That stuff is not real food. Maybe just grill a really good grass fed burger ie make your own with real food. Nothing beats a good burger if your a meat eater IMHO.

    Oh you just committed a MFP sin. you said McD's wasn't real food! haha
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,023 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I really wish we didn't always get stuck on big macs. I have a harder time arguing in favor of something I, personally, have not eaten for quite a long time. They are a taste of my childhood so if I ever crave one I will make it fit but that just hasn't happened yet and I am not sure it ever will.

    Next time we debate this can we go for a quarter pounder with cheese, no ketchup, and extra mustard? TIA Or how about something from Taco Bell? I still crave Krystals (aka White Castles) on occasion that would work.

    The TB Chicken Quesadilla is 500 cals, and they don't even bother to put lettuce on it :lol:
    I used to get that with a Meximelt and a coke with no idea that was probably close to 1000 calories all together. Now I get it with a side of beans and a diet soda, and plan the rest of the day around it.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,023 Member
    edited October 2019
    NovusDies wrote: »
    kimny72 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I really wish we didn't always get stuck on big macs. I have a harder time arguing in favor of something I, personally, have not eaten for quite a long time. They are a taste of my childhood so if I ever crave one I will make it fit but that just hasn't happened yet and I am not sure it ever will.

    Next time we debate this can we go for a quarter pounder with cheese, no ketchup, and extra mustard? TIA Or how about something from Taco Bell? I still crave Krystals (aka White Castles) on occasion that would work.

    The TB Chicken Quesadilla is 500 cals, and they don't even bother to put lettuce on it :lol:
    I used to get that with a Meximelt and a coke with no idea that was probably close to 1000 calories all together. Now I get it with a side of beans and a diet soda, and plan the rest of the day around it.

    That is a dish I could get behind. I don't eat them often because they are not much food for the calories either but I would have that long before I had a big mac.

    I am an 80/20 guy so while I am sitting here eating my cod/kimchi salad I am also thinking about getting some Arby's potato cakes when I run some errands a little later.

    Me too. Even before I was logging, if I got fast food for lunch I'd have a big green salad with shrimp, or a bowl of veggie soup for dinner. I kind of naturally knew to balance out the types of food, and I thought I was balancing out the calories, but learned I was a little off on the calories when I started logging.

    I recently started getting the Shredded Chicken Burrito, I find it more filling. Or I'll get a couple of tacos with a side of beans. I assume it's the fiber that makes those combos more filling.

    If I want a burger, I'll get a Dave's single with cheese and fries at Wendy's. It's a big calorie/fat hit, but usually when I have that for lunch, I'm not even hungry at dinner so I'll just have some vegetables/beans to round out my macros.

    OP - sorry your thread got off track, but hope you're enjoying the ride :smiley: I guess we are still technically discussing the calorie payoff for treat foods!
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,427 Member
    edited October 2019
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    IMO, 35-40% of one's calories daily long term from a Big Mac or whatever your choice of typical fast food is not moderation,

    So I'm a 5'3, 125 lb woman, and it would be about 25% of my daily cals, so presumably for an athletic younger guy it would be a LOT less than 35-40% of one's calories. It would be harder on a woman's deficit calories, but that's not "long term," long term = maintenance.

    It's also a thought-experiment, no one is recommending it (I think no one would really want to do it).

    But you consistently resist explaining why the BigMac would be uniquely bad vs. other choices one might make in a typical diet. I suggested some possibilities, but you did not respond, and you cited generalities that don't address the issues under discussion.

    Basically, the BigMac is higher fat beef, the white bread bun, a little cheese (but you could eat it without it, I normally don't get cheese on a burger), and a high fat sauce similar to mayo (using soybean oil, which would not be my preference, but it's not like it's not a common ingredient in things people eat even when they aren't eating fast food).

    So how is the BigMac different than someone eating a mix of foods including some red meat, some sources of animal fat, white pasta or rice, and cooking some things in vegetable oil daily? It's really not. It's just that normally we eat meals that are a mix of more and less nutrient dense foods and in the hypothetical the person is eating 2 super healthy, lower fat, high in veg and fiber and low fat sources of protein type meals and one BigMac (or substitute with a homemade and tastier burger using 85% beef, a white bun, and cheese if you prefer).

    Is that a sustainable way to eat? Not for me, no. But is it so inherently unhealthy that one must call it out? (And if so, are you consistently calling out everyone who makes similar choices, like insisting that daily red meat is bad for us?) Because unless one is objecting to daily red meat (which I do think might not be a great idea, although the evidence is somewhat unclear given the nature of the studies) or eating ANY white bread/pasta/rice on a daily basis or ANY cheese or soybean oil on a daily basis, I'm not seeing the basis for the claim here. It might be work putting it on the table so we can actually discuss it.

    You apparently missed my earlier post:

    I like the guideline of many dietitians and people with PhD in nutrition behind their names, get 80-90% of your daily calories from nutrient dense foods (over time can have a total "off' day occasionally) and the other 10-20% whatever. Now if someone is a special snowflake who requires a lot of calories due to activity level, they could probably sneak down a bit on the 80% nutrient dense food. A Big Mac daily on a 1500 calorie a day diet would be between 35-40% of one's daily calories.

    The point I have been contesting is not whether anyone can fit in a Big Mac daily and get adequate nutrition, rather the assertion made by @AnnPT77 that this could be done daily, long term by a typical person on a 1500 calorie a day diet and get appropriate nutrition. I have mentioned early that potentially someone on a 1500 calorie a day diet could do so but that person would be very rare.

    Oh, and I don't have any particular hate for a Big Mac (that was just what the trainer chose to eat for his experiment), you can substitute any higher calorie, nutrient poor food.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,427 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I am eating my maintenance calories currently so I am taking this opportunity to clean out the freezer from some purchases I feel are questionable on calories. One of those purchases was for a bag of root vegetables that were intended to be roasted. The whole bag added to 360 calories. Full of nutrients yes but it was also an extremely small and unsatisfying amount of food even eating the entire bag. I would not want to try to make a big mac fit into each day but I would also not want to try to fit in a bag of those vegetables.

    Not sure what you have there, but 7-10 raw carrot would be about 350 calories. Can't imagine a lot of people that would not feel full after eating that.

    Maybe the item you pitched had a bunch of calories from some sort of sauce?
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 1,979 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I really wish we didn't always get stuck on big macs. I have a harder time arguing in favor of something I, personally, have not eaten for quite a long time. They are a taste of my childhood so if I ever crave one I will make it fit but that just hasn't happened yet and I am not sure it ever will.

    Next time we debate this can we go for a quarter pounder with cheese, no ketchup, and extra mustard? TIA Or how about something from Taco Bell? I still crave Krystals (aka White Castles) on occasion that would work.

    I would be down for some Taco Bell every so often if it was made like it was back in the 70s-80s. Then they used fresh ground beef with no fillers and fresh veggies. Total different taste than it is today. My favorite back then was the Enchirito and the original Burrito Supreme.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    mmapags wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    bearly63 wrote: »
    I didn't watch the video tbh. But I would love to have seen a before and after detailed blood/cholesterol/glucose/etc work up and see what the Big Macs did to his body besides weight and calories. That stuff is not real food. Maybe just grill a really good grass fed burger ie make your own with real food. Nothing beats a good burger if your a meat eater IMHO.

    This is what I'm kind of getting at --

    If you assert that eating a BigMac occasionally (which is the realistic application of this) has a different effect on health than eating a 540 cal homemade burger (with 85% beef and cheese and some kind of mayo-like sauce) occasionally, how? What are the specific reasons?

    And it's so funny that I'm arguing for this since I hate both mayo and BigMacs, but it just doesn't seem logical.
    I totally agree with the bolded. I don't eat them. Don't really like them. But they are just a set of macro nutrients and micro nutrients with a certain calorie load. At my maintenance calories, I could eat one everyday and still have almost 2000 calories left for fruits, veggies grains etc. Again, it's all about context and dose and, if one likes them, there would be nothing inherently unhealthy about eating one everyday in the context of a balanced and otherwise healthy diet.

    Even though I don't like them, I find the vague generalizations and the false appeals to authority, such as ascribing what a registered dietician would say, without producing actual proof sources specious. And that is objectionable to me.

    Exactly this.