How do I break my fast food addiction?

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fastfoodietofitcutie
fastfoodietofitcutie Posts: 522 Member
edited February 2022 in Health and Weight Loss
I’m pretty good with staying within my calories/macros when eating fast food but it’s still hurting my weight loss. I barely lose when eating fast food, it’s probably the sodium. I’ve increased my water intake but that doesn’t help much. I lose so much better if I cut out the fast food and eat at home. The problem is I hate to cook and I’m just cooking for myself so I’m not going to spend a lot of time recreating fast food dishes just for me. I eat out A LOT for the convenience and I just like it. I know though it’s not good for me.

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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,969 Member
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    If you're able to lose weight while eating food you like I'd call that a win/win.

    I would just change up where and what I ate if I were eating out. So I'd pick some days where it was a big salad with chicken and other days with stir fries and then the regulars like Subway with all the vegetables and Chipotle with all the fixings.

    Salt/sodium is only a problem if you have blood pressure issues, otherwise just get enough fruit and vegetables to balance out the salt and drink enough water and then you'll stay balanced.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,171 Member
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    I lost 60 pounds and never really gave up fast food or restaurant food. I just stick to my calorie goal, which means most meals out end up actually being at least 2 meals. Like you, I hate cooking. For home meals though, I keep meal elements in the freezer. When I'm hungry I load up a bowl with frozen meat, veg, and starch, top it with some kind of sauce (marinara, BBQ, Asian). Then just zap it for a few minutes and you've got a meal. Bonus--you only dirty a bowl and a fork, so no dishes either. Not gourmet, but keeps body and soul together at a level of effort I'm willing to expend.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
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    While salty food does promote water retention, it will not stop your fat loss if you are in a caloric deficit. Your hydration level will stay roughly as consistent as your diet is, so regular fast food will not mask your fat loss. You will see the scale go down (on average) if you are eating in a deficit. IMHO the hard part about restaurant food is it is more difficult to log accurately. If you are not seeing loss on the scale with a consistent diet for several weeks, it's likely you are eating at maintenance calories. If you lose more when you eat at home, it might result from more accurate logging.

    Like @cmriverside says, there isn't anything wrong with salty meals unless a medical condition contraindicates it. And vigorous agreement it's best to eat what you like, just in the caloric deficit appropriate to your goal. Try eating less of it and see how you do--in terms of scale loss, satiety, energy level, etc.

    @musicfan68 has great ideas about changing habits, too. There are tons of meals that come together quickly. Especially if you do a little prep once/week.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    If you eat out fast food for every meal, I'd suggest first just cutting back on that first. You don't have to do much cooking wise to make a nutritious breakfast and/or lunch. You could also make some kind of soup or stew on a Sunday or something and have it for dinner but also leftovers for a few lunches during the week.

    Also, mix up your FF with different foods and different places. If you're always getting a burger and fries, it's going to be pretty hard to get anything resembling good nutrition.

    Experiment more with cooking...I have seen many times someone saying they don't like to cook, but in reality, they just don't know how or what to cook. Just start with basic stuff...often people surprise themselves when they make something tasty and they just realize...wow...I made this. I learned to cook when I was in my early 20s...the first thing I ever learned was a Bolognese, which is a very simple Italian red sauce with meat...super easy, but also super tasty, and in a weird way "fancy". It was my specialty when dating and having a lady over for the first time instead of going out.

    I'm not often a party of one these days, but occasionally my wife travels and I don't feel like cooking just for myself...I often stock up on meals that have already been prepared at the grocery store deli...they are fresher and you can get a pretty wide variety of good nutrition.

    I used to eat fast food pretty much everyday for lunch...I started losing weight in the fall of 2012 and cutting back on that was one of the first things I did. I've been at this whole good livin' thing now for almost a decade and looking back I have no idea how I ate that much fast food all of the time. I have it occasionally now, but it's pretty rare and doesn't really do much for me.
  • Beautyofdreams
    Beautyofdreams Posts: 1,009 Member
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    I eat breakfast at McDonald’s everyday just to socialize with family and friends. Otherwise, I see very few people each day. Consider investing in a portable food scale. You can find them on Amazon. Choose one that will weigh up to 1000 grams. This will help you to avoid the “portion distortion” so common in restaurant foods.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,404 Member
    edited February 2022
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    fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »
    I’m pretty good with staying within my calories/macros when eating fast food but it’s still hurting my weight loss. I barely lose when eating fast food, it’s probably the sodium. I’ve increased my water intake but that doesn’t help much. I lose so much better if I cut out the fast food and eat at home. The problem is I hate to cook and I’m just cooking for myself so I’m not going to spend a lot of time recreating fast food dishes just for me. I eat out A LOT for the convenience and I just like it. I know though it’s not good for me.

    It's quite possible you're not losing weight when eating out because you're eating a lot more than you think. Portions in restaurants are never really measured out to the gram, and more often then not you get a lot more than you think. Of course sodium can cause water retention, but the water retention doesn't increase week by week so you stay on the same weight. So it's likely calories.

    Hey, you know what? I live alone as well. I do cook, and I enjoy it. I usually cook for two, sometimes three days, and if I make soup or stew it's often for more days and then I freeze a few portions. This gives me the chance to spent a minimum time in the kitchen, to still experiment with lots of ingredients and try new things, and to eat lovely food that is so much better than what chain restaurants serve. Within my calories. At times I might go totally crazy and create my own marinades, spices mixes and sauces

    (this is mostly spices, in a stew of chicken, egg and onion basically)

    7vmz7bnhms0e.png

    ... or cut a pile of various veggies that cook themselves into a soup in the end (chickpea and pumpkin/carrot soup with baguette)

    jw5wmbqxhym3.png

    Also quick: Thai soups, fried rice, lots of other things, and all so tasty! Of course one needs to learn to like those things, and to break the habit of eating out and eating burgers. But it's totally possible. Btw, I also ate pizza this week.
  • Walkywalkerson
    Walkywalkerson Posts: 453 Member
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    Weaning yourself off of salty, fatty sugary food will take time and effort.
    When you eat like that healthier food isn't palatable and if you hate cooking then it's even harder.
    You probably will never hit your macros but doesn't fast food have a calorie count on the menu?
    Learn to cook - you might enjoy it!
    And you'll realise that home cooked food is 100 times better.
  • azuki84
    azuki84 Posts: 212 Member
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    Every lifestyle is different- but for me. I only ted to keep only stock of quick healthy foods- yogurt, pb powder, protein bars. I mainly will eat out on steak/chicken salads or stews of sorts.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited February 2022
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    It's a new habit that you have to work on getting into, like any new habits it takes some effort. IMO the key is to make it as easy as possible and build upon it from there. There are meals that you can throw together faster than you could drive to the restaurant and bring it back home. Get a bag of salad mix and a rotisserie chicken. Or cook up a batch of some type of grain, some type of protein, and some type of vegetable. Throw it all together with a sauce. Meals don't need to be complicated. I used to be "addicted" to going out to eat and we spent an obscene amount of money on it, but I'm at a point now where I really prefer to eat at home. I get annoyed at having to pick a place, drive there to get it, the money spent, and all the trash that we accumulate and have to throw out. And then also the high # of calories that I ate by not being able to prepare it myself.

    Also as a side note - you can absolutely fit eating out into your lifestyle. Either find low calorie options or only get take out on occasion.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »
    I’m pretty good with staying within my calories/macros when eating fast food but it’s still hurting my weight loss. I barely lose when eating fast food, it’s probably the sodium. I’ve increased my water intake but that doesn’t help much. I lose so much better if I cut out the fast food and eat at home. The problem is I hate to cook and I’m just cooking for myself so I’m not going to spend a lot of time recreating fast food dishes just for me. I eat out A LOT for the convenience and I just like it. I know though it’s not good for me.

    Your post raised a few questions in my mind. I’m personally reluctant to demonize specific foods. But I do have some foods I stay away from simply because they trigger me.

    How long have you been tracking calories?
    How often have you been weighing yourself?
    Can you share with us some general stats? (Age, height, weight, amount lost so far, etc)

    If you really like fast food you can still successfully lose weight while eating it as long as you are meeting your calorie goals. It’s up to you if you’d like to set goals for yourself to meet nutritional goals as well.

    I buy a lot of convenience foods to help me with meeting my nutritional goals. I find that buying produce that is already washed, peeled, cut or eggs that are already boiled and peeled results in me snacking on them more often. So if you are trying to add nutrition, I’d suggest that you start with what you want to add to your diet before deciding what you want to eliminate. For me, that encourages me to choose the fruit cup or salad as a side item to the fried chicken strips in my fast food meal.

  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,676 Member
    edited February 2022
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    As hesn92 said, cooking doesn't have to be difficult. Roast chicken, hamburgers, ham steaks, pork chops, etc. are very easy. In the meat section there are easy Hormel dishes like pot roast, pork roast, meatloaf, and turkey that microwave in a few minutes and just require a vegetable side or two. Pulled pork takes 2 minutes to put meat and sauce in a crockpot and then you have a couple of days worth of food. There are chicken strips or patties that just need to be warmed up and placed in a salad. I don't much like cooking, but I do like eating and don't like spending money for meals out all that often because it is so expensive and has so many calories, so I've learned a lot of easy meals that work for me and my husband.

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