The tag team of diet and exercise is something that is mentioned often here on FitHacks. You just aren’t going to see drops on the scale without making some good dietary choices. However, life is busy. We can’t always plan our meals ahead. Occasionally, it would be nice to find something convenient AND healthy.
While I was rigorously counting my calories I still ate at fast food places pretty regularly. At the time I couldn’t cook (still can’t), and lived too far from work to come home for lunch. So, to make my diet work I made fast food choices that kept me on track. Yes, most drive-thru restaurants can be disastrous to a healthy diet plan. Nevertheless, if you make the right cuts and avoid the major high calorie items, it is possible to lose weight while eating at the golden arches.
Below are 8 obvious and easy ways you can cut calories while still eating fast food.
Coffee additives – If you are a coffee drinker who loads up on creamer and sugar then learning to drink black coffee can cut out a significant portion of useless calories. Trust me, if you make the switch to drink coffee without all the additives you definitely won’t regret it. It tastes better. Calories cut: 100
Mayonnaise - Some people love mayo, some don’t. Fortunately, I’m in the category that considers it gross and totally unnecessary to the taste of a sandwich. If you need a simple condiment to replace the dreaded mayo try honey mustard instead. Some types of honey mustard actually contain zero calories. Calories cut: 100
Soft drinks – Yes, we all know that soft drinks are bad for you. If you cut out all soft drinks from your diet (even the “diet drinks”) and replaced them with unsweet tea or water you could see a very significant reduction on the scale. Calories cut: 150
French fries – The de facto standard of fast food side items are the fries. Technically speaking, they were once a vegetable. However, after being deep fried in oil and covered in salt they are a major source of saturated fat, calories, and free radicals (bad things that cause disease). Order a side of fruit or baked chips if you need a healthier side item. Calories cut: 300-400
Fried chicken – Chicken can be a great source of lean protein but not if it is first battered and fried. Any restaurant that serves fried chicken probably serves grilled chicken as well. Instead of getting the Spicy Fried Chicken at Wendy’s switch to the Ultimate Chicken Grill. Calories cut: 100
Fruit juice – What?! Fruit juice is healthy right? Sure it contains vitamins but if you’re drinking juice from a carton found at a restaurant it is also very high in sugar. I don’t know of any fast food restaurant that serves fresh whole fruit, but if you can trade your morning glass of OJ for an actual whole orange instead, you’ll save yourself a lot of fructose. Natural sugar is still sugar. Calories cut: 100
Snack machine food – While technically still “fast food”, snack machines traditionally only contain the very worst in high calorie, processed foods. If some vendor ever considered selling healthy snacks from the machines instead they could make a killing. When you want a quick afternoon snack, reach for some unsalted nuts or popcorn. Calories cut: 200
(photo by luisvilla)
luisvilla
