Can you eat fast food and still lose weight? Well, you may be curious to know about the methods of losing weight since you are a fast-food lover.
Fast foods make us all go crazy, and we cannot control when we see such food. But eating fast foods every day is not good for our health.
You can put on weight and suffer from several health issues. So, you have to find out how you can keep control of both.
We provide information about “can you eat fast food and still lose weight” in this article. If you are interested in knowing more about “can you eat fast food and still lose weight,” you must read our article till last.
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Can you eat fast food and still lose weight
We are sharing with you the methods by which you can maintain your weight. If you want to lose weight, you have to keep the calories balanced. Though eating fast food and losing weight is very tough, it is still possible for you.
You have to do some exercise like running regularly. You will not gain any extra bodyweight if you run for 30 minutes at least thrice a week.
In addition, you have to follow a disciplined diet by drinking water, eating high amounts of protein, light breakfast, salads, and calorie-rich foods every day.
Your body needs a minimum of 2,000 – 2,500 calories per day to stay healthy. If you are a woman and want to maintain your weight, your body needs a minimum of 2,000 calories in a single day.
You need to lose 1,500 calories in a single week, whereas if you are a man and want to maintain your weight, your body needs minimum 2,500 calories in a single day and you need to lose 2,000 calories in a single week.
The fast-food option is only for those who don’t get any time to cook and stay at home alone. It is a convenient and quick option for you if you don’t know how to cook or dislike to cook.
Avoid consuming fast food if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or hypertension because fast foods are rich in saturated fat, sugar, and sodium.
There are various ways for you to know about “can you eat fast food and still lose weight.” They are as follows:
Choose your breakfast wisely
The breakfast will accumulate a total amount of low calories in your body. But if you choose a fast-food breakfast, you will get a high amount of saturated fat and calories. Therefore, do not consume cheese and meat in your breakfast.
You can eat plain egg sandwiches (such as McDonald’s Egg McMuffin), oatmeal, or egg-white wraps (such as Egg wrap, Starbucks Spinach, Feta, and Roasted Tomato) instead because these foods contain below 300 calories.
Remove the fries
Potatoes are affordable and healthy vegetables for you. But if you fry them in oil, they become unhealthy. The French fries you eat don’t have the potato’s skin which is its healthiest part. They are rich in calories which result in weight gain. Therefore, if you want to stay healthy, avoid eating French fries in your diet daily.
Eat bowls
You can eat nutritious burrito bowls for dinner. Make sure to make the burrito bowl with the right ingredients. Avoid using the ingredients like guacamole, cheese, and sour cream while making a burrito bowl – you can use salsas, legumes, and vegetables instead.
If you eat Chipotle Mexican Grill’s vegetarian sofritas bowl made with the ingredients like tomatillo salsa, fajita vegetables, and white rice, you will get 12.5 grams protein, 1.36 grams sodium, and 14.5 grams fat. This means if you consume it, you will get 365 calories only.
Include salad
Salad is one of the best options for you to lose weight. You can have salads like McDonald’s bacon ranch grilled chicken salad, Burger King’s cranberry, apple, and chicken salad, and Subway’s chopped turkey breast salad because they have less than 350 calories.
If you consume McDonald’s bacon ranch grilled chicken salad, you will get a total of 320 calories only since it contains 9 grams of carbohydrates and 42 grams of protein.
Drink coffee or water
You can drink water before your meals to maintain weight. It will increase the metabolism rate of your body, and you will consume fewer calories. You can also drink coffee daily to stay healthy. It will decrease the chance of several diseases like dementia, certain cancers, and type 2 diabetes.
Have falafel
You can consume delicious falafel or fried, spicy chickpea balls for your weight loss. It is a source of vegetarian protein with a high amount of fiber. You can pair it with salad greens perfectly. It is rich in minerals and vitamins and contains below 400 calories in total.
Go grilled
You can eat wraps, steaks, or grilling nuggets that are tasty but contain fewer calories. If you eat Taco Bell’s A.M. Grilled Taco, you will get a total of 230 calories only since it contains 12 grams of protein, 590 milligrams of sodium, and 14 grams of fat.
It is a good option for your breakfast. You can eat eight-piece grilled chicken nuggets of Chick-fil-A in place of McDonald’s deep-fried nuggets, which contain 350 calories since it has 22 grams of fat because Chick-fil-A contains only 140 calories total since it has 3grams fat.
If I eat unhealthy but exercise will I lose weight
If you eat unhealthily but exercise regularly, you will not lose weight. Unhealthy foods can drain your body’s energy. So, though you are doing exercise regularly, you may not benefit from workouts.
Your aim of losing weight will not be fulfilled if you consume junk foods daily. It is essential to eat nutritious and healthy foods after your exercise. It helps you rebuild muscle, refuel your body, and maintain the blood glucose and metabolism rate. You will get the energy of working out the next day.
You should also know that eating complex carbohydrates and protein can also obstruct the process of your workout. Complex carbohydrates like whole-wheat oats, whole wheat bread, or sweet potatoes will not allow you to maintain your daily exercise routine.
You should avoid eating some of the complex carbohydrates and protein of legumes, lean meats, or fish because they slow down digestion. However, some complex carbohydrates and protein help fuel your body during exercise. You will get energy from them to complete a successful workout.
Exercise can decrease your unhealthy eating habits since it decreases your stress problem, responsible for unhealthy eating habits. It also can reduce some fast food’s bad health effects. If you want to stay away from the obesity risk and many other chronic diseases, you must check your consumption of unhealthy foods.
If you like junk food very much and cannot keep it in check, you can make your fast food a little healthier in some ways.
In fast-food restaurants, you must look out for healthier options of food. If you are ordering a hamburger, you have to avoid fries with it. So, you can take side salad with your hamburger as a healthier option in place of fries.
You can blend some honey with Greek yogurt and use fresh fruit and walnuts toppings. Moreover, you can select light toppings, processed cheese, salad dressings, and sauces. If you are eating pepperoni pizza, you can select vegetables over it. It would help if you first tried to decrease eating unhealthy foods slowly instead of eating them every day.
You can eat some protein sources such as beans, salmon, and tuna as they have low sodium. If you are eating banana or toast, you can take some almond butter or peanut with it, and if you like to eat cereal, you can select whole-grain cereals in place of sugar-packed cereals as a healthy option. It would help if you had a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, protein, and carbohydrates after your workouts.
A balanced diet will help your body gain energy and lose weight. If you follow a balanced diet regularly, it will not matter to your health when you eat a big hamburger or any other fast food meal once in a while. Therefore, you should maintain your healthy foods and physical activity habits. The occasional cheeseburger will not have any negative effect on you.
How often is it okay to eat fast food
You can eat fast food a maximum of once a week. Therefore, if you are a junk food lover, there is no need to give up your junk food habits altogether.
If you eat junk food once a week, it will not harm your body and keep you safe from various diseases. It will help your body increase metabolism rate, control added sugar, salt, and saturated fat in your body. Moreover, if you aim to lose weight and exercise regularly, eating fast food once a week will not affect your weight loss aim.
No junk food for a month results
If you do not eat junk food for a month, you will get various changes in your body. You need to avoid junk food or decrease eating junk food for your weight loss and prevent yourself from various diseases because it increases the saturated fat, sodium, and calories in your body. There will be several changes in your body for your no consumption of junk food. They are as follows:
Weight loss
No junk food for a month will result in your weight loss. It will decrease the total amount of calories in your body.
Decrease health risks
Unhealthy foods increase diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease risk. Even sodium consumption raises your high blood pressure and kidney disease risk. If you do not consume any junk food for a month, the risk of having chronic health diseases will decrease.
Having good nutrition
If you eliminate junk food from your diet for a month and eat healthy foods instead, you will get the nutritional benefits and stay healthy. Therefore, eat sufficient vegetables, fruits, lean protein, and whole grains because these foods will get important nutrients like protein, vitamins, fiber, calcium, etc.
Glowing and clear skin
You will find that your skin is becoming better after reducing your junk food intake. If you eat healthy foods, you will get glowing and pimple-free clear skin.
Good sleep
If you decrease eating junk food for a month, you will get sound sleep. Junk food’s added sugar raises the blood sugar level of your body. As a result of which you may experience sleep problems.
Better mood
Eating adequate nutrition is necessary for your body. Your body will function properly, and you will feel happy. Therefore, if you avoid eating junk food, you will remain in a good mood.
Improve your muscle tone
Eating high amounts of lean protein and whole-food will make your muscles strong. You must avoid fried food and eat healthy foods like roasted, grilled, and baked food for toned muscles.
Can you eat anything on a calorie deficit
If you want to lose weight, you have to try to lose calories. You have to burn out more calories than taking in. You can eat everything if you are on a calorie deficit because your weight loss does not depend on the food consumed; instead, it depends on the energy deficit. So, you can lose weight even if you are eating everything daily by doing more caloric expenditure regularly.
This article has provided information about “can you eat fast food and still lose weight.” Hopefully, our information about “can you eat fast food and still lose weight” will come to your help.