Not just for you, but TASTING. Also, the service sucks.
I've been planning a cheat meal for months, "10 days clean" I tell myself, and you get to go to McDonalds and order an entire meal (sans the drink..300 calories of sugar water is worth nothing)! "It will be delicious, you deprive yourself of incredible satiating, savory fast food, to which millions have gone to perfectly engineer irresistible morsels of flavor. That's what you get to eat. In 10 days."
Well, binge eating once a week meant I never my 10 goal, for 2 months I never met my goal and I still haven't. Today is only Day 8, but I decided I would have a 'diet' cheat meal within my normal lunch time calorie range (400-600 depending on how active I am). I went to McDonalds to order a deluxe quarter pounder (350cal w/out the bread) and an ice cream cone (170cal but they often overfill the cone so I allotted 250cal for this). I pull up the drive through window and wait for the girl to take my order. And I wait. 6 minutes starving in 90 degree weather I wait with my windows down for this girl to take my order getting more and more agitated by the second. Finally, I order, a deluxe quarter pounder and an ice cream cone, $5 for a beef patty. I pay and pull up to the next window and wait another 3 minutes before being handed a quarter pounder and an iced coffee. "I didn't order a coffee, I ordered an ice cream cone" I say, sort of fuming. "The machine is broken" I am told.
More frustrated than ever, I get my money back, bolt across the street to Wendy's for a jr. frosty (200cal, these have a top on the cup so I can count on the calorie count being accurate) and speed home so I can devour everything in time to go the gym before they close.
I get home and pull the long belated burger out of the package. The bread is barely toasted, there is only one piece of lettuce and one slice of tomato, the burger appeared microwaved and is poorly seasoned, there's hardly any onion and the pickles are only in the center. I toss the bread out (okay, I had one bite of the bread for research purposes...) and take a bite. The meat is rubbery and bland, the tomato is grainy (you know how tomato gets that's been sitting in the fridge for too long), and the whole thing needs salt or something.
This burger sucks, and like that, my mystical interpretation of fast food has faded. Completely ignoring nutrition, with $5 and 15 minutes (about the time I spent in line at the drive through + driving in and out of the lot) I could make something that tastes much better than what I once thought were immaculately crafted recipes to be sought after and designed to addict.
I recommend everyone try a fast food meal with a mind free of stress and cravings, when you're hungry but aren't particularly craving fast food. It really doesn't taste too good and will serve to disassociate fast food from ultimate culinary pleasure. I like these 'diet' cheat meals though, they fit within my normal calorie slot, they're psychologically satisfying, and I as long I go the gym right after, I don't have to worry about the meal not being totally filling (I never get hungry when working out). I'll probably go somewhere else next week but the occasion has been knocked off its pedestal.
I should say though that the frosty was delicious...
You should've picked a better burger joint than McD's. They suck, lol. I always find that local fares are always better than mass chains -- we have Rush's and Zesto's that are only available in my state and their burgers are superb. If y'all have anything like that, maybe make your burger meal from one of those places so you'll actually enjoy it next time you get a craving or want a decent cheat fast food meal if that's your thing.
I'm still a bit nervous, if I'm honest with myself, about going to a fast food place. I'm lucky enough to have not had the need to go, and I do keep a notepad document on my smartphone that has smarter choices for some of the more popular fast food chains, but it's scary to go back and eat something that I used to eat before starting my weight loss. Same with Soda...I used to drink several cans of diet soda a day, and I haven't had a drop.
I guess what I'm worried about is the thought that I won't be able to resist these things after eating/drinking them again. I hope I still have a ways yet before I need to eat fast food (it's inevitable at some point), but it's good to know that the fast food is a turn off for some people so maybe I won't get hooked back on it!
I was never a fan of fast food myself, in fact I'd say I avoided fast food like the plague all my life. I don't know what a deluxe quarter pounder has on it but it seems that if you wanted to, you could make a much better one at home? When I ate meat, I used to make burgers on my George Foreman grill.
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Ugh, McDonalds. If I want fast food, I'll go to a local fried chicken place, or this fantastic locally-owned joint where they make actual burgers and not just some approximation of one. I actually kind of shudder when I think of the "burgers" at McD's.
A friend of mine has a nickname for McDonalds that I think is pretty appropriate: Rotten Ronnie's. *L*
Great Kevin James skit! I used to be able to eat fast food and I really liked it, I'm not going to lie....now, oh forget it. Hubby and I have agreed that we have gotten to the point that our bodies do not handle it well any more.
Fast food burgers are gross. If I want a burger, I get a BURGER! I go to a place that makes good ones (and there don't seem to be any shortage of burger places here ) and go all out.
...Ok, I don't really go all out—I just can't. But avocado, cheese, and tomato on a lettuce-bun burger is simply delectable.
Yep! I have about four specialty burger places within ten miles of my house!
Fast Food is horrible.
) and go all out. 
