Fast Food ?'s

[Lambo2579]

Unfortunately, I understand eating out at fast food restaurants are going to prevent me from achieving my long-term workout goals...but sometimes it's just unavoidable with my schedule and family...example:

I have a 3 year old son who loves McDonald's (of course)...and so I take him there to eat and play. If it's during lunch, I may have a grilled chicken sandwich plain with only pickles. I obiously stay away from the fries and sodas, but is this really that bad for me?

Is it possible to eat fast food and modify it to fit your needs/goals? If you believe so, please give examples of what and where...

[lafemmeforte]

What are your goals? Are you trying to lose weight, gain, or just maintain?

Also does low carb work for you or are you going for pretty standard macros (40c/30p/30f or somewhere around there)?

[Lambo2579]

What are your goals? Are you trying to lose weight, gain, or just maintain?

Also does low carb work for you or are you going for pretty standard macros (40c/30p/30f or somewhere around there)?

my goal is the unobtainable trimming of a little fat (mainly just around the waste..not bad though) while at the same time gaining lean muscle everywhere else I would honestly just like a little more definition and maybe gain about 10 lbs.

As for the macros, I'm such a noob that I don't understand them much yet...but I would say standard. I watch my carbs, but not too closely.

[snorkelman]

short answer is yes. You are a newbie and you really should spend some time reading these threads, especially the stickies. You will learn a lot. actually the term "as long as it fits into your macros" actually applies exactly to your situation. You can eat the grilled chicken (lean protein) plain on a bun (carb) and it will actually be a pretty darn good meal. The biggest issue is the sodium, but unless you have some kind of soidium problem, once you start educating yourself on macros, and drinking a LOT of water, the sodium won't really matter because most of your other meals will probably be devoid of sodium anyway and you can afford to get half of your RDA from the mcdonalds grilled chicken.

Another tip is at BK to order a side salad and one (or two depending on your needs) grilled chicken pouches. Here is a link that shows the foods I eat during the week at work and you will see a pic of this mcdonalds meal a few pics down.

http://www.bodyforlife-tracker.com/b...fm?f=1&t=45151

[Negativecreep0]

nothing wrong with it...... get a diet coke too

[man0war]

A plain chicken sandwich with pickles will not be a problem , really

I don't want to look like I'm intruding , so please excuse me , but just as an honest note - your son should probably be kept away from fast food much more than you , he's Very young to be eating mcdonalds stuff.

I've eaten fat and sweets all my kid life and then it obviousely spread into my teen life, and I didn't even start eating out at fast food until about 11-12 years old and that was still enough to get me on the wrong way. Right now I'm doing loads of efforts to get back in shape. Was 330 , 270 now, gotta go to at least 220. Just saying, he will get very used to the foods he eats so young.

I pick on my mom every other day for giving me very fat food all my early childhood , seeing how much I gotta work now to get healthy.

[reefpicker]

Unfortunately, I understand eating out at fast food restaurants are going to prevent me from achieving my long-term workout goals...but sometimes it's just unavoidable with my schedule and family...example:

I have a 3 year old son who loves McDonald's (of course)...and so I take him there to eat and play. If it's during lunch, I may have a grilled chicken sandwich plain with only pickles. I obiously stay away from the fries and sodas, but is this really that bad for me?

Is it possible to eat fast food and modify it to fit your needs/goals? If you believe so, please give examples of what and where...

I got a lot of heat once here for complaining about how mcdonald's tries to look as a healthy alternative by providing you with a bunch of sides that are healthy but very little in the way of main sandwiches that are healthy and by pushing for more and more fries (e.g. so called value meals).

However, sometimes its all about what we do and what choices we make. I think you are making a good choice by avoiding the fries, and hopefully you are throwing away some of your kid's fries too (without him knowing!), so that he stays healthy too.

McDonald's plain egg sandwiches are also a great alternative. In fact, I read some article in the internet that was saying this precisely.

Avoid hashbrowns, dressings, mayonaise, and be very moderate with the fries.... Fries taste good, but gosh they have a lot of empty calories.

Oh, and if you want to control the calories even more: take out half of those buns... They are just bread...

And diet pepsi/coke or water if you are trying to control your weight...

[Richie_Awesome]

I was at my very leanest(220 lbs and abs) eating 2 double cheese burgers, a mc chicken, and 2 chicken wraps every day. Plus a foot long sub from subway.

The rest of my food was "clean," but that was all fast food.

[randysmith]

Its fine if its kept to once a week or so, however, if its routine, then it definitely a problem.

[man0war]

Indeed as Richie pointed out, chicken is still chicken. It will be made in loads of oil but won't be the death of you. Going bonkers on the french fries, loads of mayonnaise and normal coke will up your calories and fat like hell.

[Lambo2579]

A plain chicken sandwich with pickles will not be a problem , really

I don't want to look like I'm intruding , so please excuse me , but just as an honest note - your son should probably be kept away from fast food much more than you , he's Very young to be eating mcdonalds stuff.

I've eaten fat and sweets all my kid life and then it obviousely spread into my teen life, and I didn't even start eating out at fast food until about 11-12 years old and that was still enough to get me on the wrong way. Right now I'm doing loads of efforts to get back in shape. Was 330 , 270 now, gotta go to at least 220. Just saying, he will get very used to the foods he eats so young.

I pick on my mom every other day for giving me very fat food all my early childhood , seeing how much I gotta work now to get healthy.

Being in a public forum, I take nothing as intruding and welcome all input...but thanks for the concern. I totally understand AND agree with you about children's eating habits...unfortunately parenting takes two, and if the parents can't get on the same page, well...just makes it a little more difficult. We're working on it, though. Thanks again for looking out.