Help! How do I break my fast food addiction!!!!

i have to admit that i loved fast food too. the gross mcd's burgers, burger K, chickFila...yum! the best way for me was to give it up entirely for a while, then introduce one of my fav meals once per month. my very fav is james coney island chili cheese dogs + chili cheese fries. or a double cheeseburger. it's easy to not eat it regularly b/c i know i'm going to get it on my "off" day once per month. i actually dont' crave it at all anymore. good luck and i hope you can lose that weight again. fast food really isn't healthy, it is so far from whole food, and i feel so much better overall when i avoid it. there was one month that my "off" meal was a salad b/c i just couldn't stomach a burger! hard to believe. LOL

I had the same problem with sugar. The first thing I did was I sat down and wrote a letter to my addiction saying all the negative thing that it has brought to my life and also why I am saying goodbye. The second thing I did was not go near it for about a week by replacing it with something else (I used fruit). Then, I know it sounds stupid, but I got my hands on my favorite candy, then I just threw it away...... it felt great :happy: Hope everything goes well!

If you would like some support you can friend me :flowerforyou:

Logging calories made me realize that I am not satiated after a fast food meal but I have burned up a half day's worth of calories on it. It is totally not worth it to me anymore. After not eating fast food for many months when I had a Quarter Pounder the other day I was not impressed, the taste is not as satisfying anymore. Addictions are difficult no matter what form they come in but having people who hold you accountable for your actions is important too.

Read "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser.

I was 15 when I read it. I can't say that I really ever had a fast food addiction though I would enjoy it occassionally. I was already kind of considering cutting out meat from my diet but wasn't really serious about it because I grew up eating meat and liked it. After reading the book, I decided not to eat fast food ever again, especially McDonald's. Not only that, learning what goes on in factory farms, especially learning what goes inside of ground meat, I stopped eating ground meat all together.
Within a couple months I switched to organic, grass fed meat, but the amount of meat in my diet drastically reduced. After a couple months I realized I didn't even miss it and stopped eating meat all together and became a pescatarian. Currently thinking about moving on to becoming a vegetarian.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you to become a vegetarian. My point is, reading this book, or doing some research about what goes inside what you eat can help you let go of things you never though were possible of letting go.
Perhaps if you know just how bad McDonald's really is, what goes inside the "meat", about the accidents that go on in the nations largest factory farms that supply most of our meat (such as arms, fingers, hands, and even an entire person falling in meat grinding machines and getting ground up accidentally and these accidents not getting reported most of the times, consequently the contaminated meat being sold to consumers), the environmental consequences of factory farming, it might help you at least give up your fast food addiction if not make you give up even more like I did.

Information is your best weapon.

I loved the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McD's and I wanted it dressed like a big mac. Crazy. Has to be 2000 calories for that alone! I haven't had one in 6 months probably, but I still want one every time I drive past McD's. If I do stop, I behave and get a grilled chicken sandwich with a Fruit and walnut salad for the side.

No fast food tastes as good as losing fat.

Here's what helped me break the habit about 4 years ago. (I still have fast food sometimes, sometimes you just need something fast, but its always planned and budgeted for)

1) I told myself I could have fast food as much as I wanted - But only if I walked there. I was in minnesota at the time and, while I lived less than a mile from every fast food I could want, ITS COLD!

2) I planned my meals for the week (usually 2 weeks) ahead, did the grocery shopping and any prep work. That way, I always knew what I was eating and if I craved fast food I could always say "no, self, you already have food for *meal* and if you dont eat it, you'll waste food and money." Sure, it takes time, but once you get in the habit, its easy peasy!

I feel your pain. I love fast food and have found it hard to give up. At this point, I can't do fast food, except subway, or I'll blow my goals outta the water. Every time I try, it back fires, so I just can't do it.

So it's going cold turkey for me.

A friend of mine lost a lot of weight by simply ordering off the kid's menu when she went to fast food restaurants (she was a total fast food junkie).

That's what I do and I get it with a Diet Coke.

But if you love it and you completely deprive yourself of it completely, it could cause you to crave/binge on it more. It's about moderation and portion control. I'm not much of a cook either and we got into the habit of picking up take-out on the way home probably 3-4 times a week, which I think lead to my weight gain. Now, I'll have take-out maybe once every two weeks and when I do, it's usually either Subway (6 inch turkey sub) or a kids' combo.