Fat Girl Running: Fast Food Tips for Losing Weight Without Much Effort
Longest title ever? Also, this is mainly regarding foods you’re not cooking at home. If you never eat out or grab fast food, these probably won’t help you too much but I’ll post on at-home stuff later.
I just want to elaborate on the food topic for a quick post because people give me way too much credit for my weight loss. Let’s get some things straight.
- I didn’t really diet. I don’t deprive myself of anything I want ever really. I didn’t religiously count calories, I didn’t have weight goals to hit. Anyone on a diet plan with numbers you have to follow are far better than I.
- I weighed myself constantly. I know you’re not supposed to do this but I was just learning my body and whether I gained 2 pounds or lost 2 pounds, it didn’t matter to me because my focus was whether I had a happy, fulfilling day or not. If happy and fulfilling came at 260 or 160, so be it but the happy and fulfilling were not and are not contingent on those numbers.
- My weight came off over about a 2-year period, I’m still not at my goal weight and that’s fine if I never make it. I’m happy 80 pounds lighter and I have put back on zero pounds since 2007.
NOW my diet and exercise routine is very different and I’m active but that’s not how I started. I made simple changes that had huge effects on my mind and then on my body. They weren’t always easy but they eventually became habit so here’s a quick list.
1) Get a To-Go Box Immediately
You might get a funny look but it works like magic for me. If I go out to a restaurant, I’m getting what I want. I don’t want to go to a steakhouse and get a salad. I want a steak, maybe a burger. And I probably want mashed potatoes or fries or onion rings or mac and cheese. And bread. And if that’s what I want, that’s what I will be getting. I’m also the kind of person who feels obligated to clean her plate and who mindlessly eats. Doesn’t matter how many fries are in front of me, if we’re talking, I’ll eat them all.
So these days I order whatever I want off the menu and when it arrives, if the portions look out of control and sometimes even if they don’t, I’ll immediately ask a server to bring me a to-go box. I cut my burger or chicken parm or section off my orange chicken or whatever and toss half into the box. I throw half of all my side orders in there too. I put the box either in my purse or on the seat and eat what’s left on the plate. By the time I’ve finished that, I’m usually full. Not sickly full or tired but satisfied enough that there’s no point in going through the hassle of re-plating my take home box.
This doesn’t really work for fast food chains. The thought of eating cold McDonald’s makes me want to gag. You have to eat those fries on the way home because if they get cold, they’re done. That brings me to #2.
2) Kiddie menus are your friends
That is, if you’re allowed to order off of them. This mainly pertains to fast food but depending on the restaurant and the menu, it might work other places. For instance, at McDonald’s a value meal is gigantic. Nothing we haven’t heard a million times before. The Happy Meals are so small if you’re relearning (or learning for the first time as I was) what a portion is. That is why I love the Mighty Kids Meal. It’s the perfect in-between. A value meal will get you 10 chicken nuggets, a large fry and a large drink. A Mighty Kids Meal will get you 6 nuggets and a small fry. For comparison, the Happy Meal is 4 nuggets and a small fry.
My other suggestion for places like McDonald’s is to get a value meal and split it with your partner or your kid. Kid might not want to do that which is why you’re lucky you’re the parent and can just do stuff like that! That way you know you’re not going to eat the whole thing but you’re also not trying to salvage that Double Quarter Pounder for tomorrow *gag*.
Another place that has a great kiddie menu is Qdoba! I actually think they might have an age-limit on theirs but if you’re grabbing it to go, they don’t know if you have a kid back at the house! Their kids menu chicken quesadilla is the PERFECT size for an adult. I think you get a small drink and a small handful of nacho chips with it. I switched over to doing this when I worked in a plaza with Qdoba and I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much money every day or eat that much for one meal every day. After eating off kids menus, it’s really interesting to see how much extra they give adults and actually experience what children are putting into their bodies.
3) Don’t Keep Deliciousness in Your Home
For me it’s ice cream. I can’t have it in my house because I’ll eat it all really quickly and I won’t feel bad about it because I love ice cream. It’s not cost-effective to buy a single serving of ice cream at a time but that’s the point. Ice cream isn’t a necessity. I don’t need to get it at the best deal in the largest quantity. So I have to work for my ice cream. I have to decide if I REALLY want it. Maybe I’m just really thirsty? Maybe I just need calcium? Drink some water or some milk. Nope, still want ice cream. I’ll put on my shoes, walk or drive to the store or the ice cream place and pay for a cone what I could pay for a half-gallon at the supermarket. And then I have to walk or drive back. The nights that I really wanted that ice cream, it’s delicious and worth the time and gas. Most nights I just don’t want to put all the effort into it so I pour myself a huge glass of water and get over it. I had the choice and I opted for no ice cream. Deal with it and drink your water.
Is this healthy eating? No. But let’s be serious, jumping from a life of fast food and salt to kale, almond milk and quinoa salads isn’t easy and might not even be something your aspire to do. Never judge yourself for being honest with yourself and trying. It doesn’t matter if people around you don’t see the effort it takes to resist getting one or two value meals at a drive-thru, you know the effort it takes and you have every right to be incredibly proud of yourself for making different decisions – or the same decisions and acknowledging the consequences. It’s all about awareness.
These are AWESOME recommendations. I never take food home..i usually just leave it at the restaurant. But i never thought to order the to go box with the meal! Brilliant!
Kids meals are the best. They usually have them at all the places where you know you’d totally eat an entire adult portion but you really just need enough to satiate the craving (a recent trip to Friendly’s is what I’m thinking of). Also some have a mini dessert so…that is a good way to eat smaller portions. Another trick is to make yourself eat your veggies first! You won’t feel bad eating all those and leaving over a huge pile of mashed potatoes, etc. I like this entry. I’d eat it.
A great mindset to have about what you eat! I don’t buy sweets at all so Matt and I have to physically go somewhere if we have a craving like you do. I like the to-go box idea too.
I have actually used the take out box trick before! We have Red Robin here in town, and the fries are unlimited. It’s not very weight-control savy, but I cut the burger in half (super yummy reheated!) and throw half the basket of fries in and then get more fries and throw half of those in too. By then I’m stuffed anyways and have a huge lunch for the next day…I don’t do that now because we’re currently doing the jump from fast food to kale and quinoa salad, but I’m hoping at the end of it all there will be a balance that is struck between eating out and staying home. That’s what we’re working for!
(and I love the kids meal idea!)
I’m going to pass the “take-off” box trick off to a certain SO ASAP. Unfortunately, the kids portions works none at all for me. Nowhere I dine out offer such a thing. Speaking of ice cream — I swear churning ice cream non-stop in ’00 raised my cholesterol level to obscene levels. I was going through a carton of eggs and a pint of heavy cream per week just to make ice cream.
Dropping 80 lbs seems an amazing feat. Hopefully dropping 80 cholesterol points won’t be as difficult.