I eat at fast food places a lot too. I have drive 40 miles to get to school every day, so it is easy and cheap to eat at those places if i work late or whatever.

What i have done is make a list of all the fast food items that i like. with their nutrition info and print it out to put in my car.

Every now and then i find new stuff and redo my list. It reminds me of how many calories double cheeseburgers and milkshakes have and also points out the healthier choices. I am currently into chicken wraps, they are tasty, quick, easy to eat and usually low in calories.

I just redid my list today, i'll attach it in case any of you want to use it.

Thanks for the Fast Food tips Photochick. Some good advice for us when we are on the run. With 2 sons and the nearest McDonald's 15 miles away, we don't often end up dining at fast food joints, but we do occasionally go as a treat. (As well as Subway and Runza). We are not over indulger's of fast food simply because they are not available in our area, but we go and I have learned better choices.

Another trick to add to your list is to keep a notebook in the car with nutritional information from your favorites chain restaurants. I aways ask for a list where ever we go and keep it in a 3 ring binder in my car. I have also printed several out from websites like Applebees and Outback for when we go to the big city. This is helpful when I know we are going to be traveling to other areas with many more choices. I keep my collection in 3 hole plastic page protectors which fit in the notebook. It's pretty nifty and it keeps me from making (uninformed) bad choices.

I often find myself eating fast food, for two reasons. First, my office is upstairs in a fast food restaurant. I eat a small grilled chicken sandwich with only lettuce, tom & pickle for lunch most every day, 208 calories according to our nutritional study. Two, I have a three year old stepson who is at the will only eat nuggets and fries or pizza stage of his life. We also get him sometimes by surprise when we aren't prepared for meals - fast food is the result all too often. We know that now is the time to teach him to eat better, he does at school, he just won't at home and we feel guilty not giving him any dinner if he doesn't eat what we have... I believe that once we get through the holiday we will change that pattern and prepare more meals at home...

That being said, I ate a 1200-1300 calorie per day, pretty balanced diet for a while with fast food meals a night or so per week and almost every meal every other weekend for a while. Grilled chicken without sauce, salads without dressing (love the CFA chargrilled and fruit, will eat the berry dressing now that I have more room), small plain hamburgers if I had a little extra. All the things PhotoChick said - no fried sides, love the fruit and walnut snack salad at McDonalds... I can go into pretty much any fast food place now and come out okay.

Billies, thanks for the list! I have one at work that I'll post tomorrow if anyone wants it!

Billies- thanks for the list i love it.

Billie- Thanks for the list!! I made a list like that after I read "Eat this, not that!" I just refer to it before I go out to eat so I can make a good choice!

Here is another great link. This is Dottie's Weight Loss Zone. She has the nutritional information and weight watchers points listed for over 570 restaurants. I use this ALL the time.

http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html[/B][/COLOR]

I love the list. I have gotten to the point where I know (roughly) the calorie count of all the "acceptable" things at the major FF chains. I also keep a list of items on my Blackberry, so I can check quickly when I need to.

Actually the worst for me is not FF, but as a wedding photographer, weekends kill me. I shoot a wedding and HAVE to eat what's served to me at the reception. (A lot of reception facilities don't allow outside food to be brought in - even a lunch cooler for a vendor.) So often my choice is some kind of very rich dinner plate (sauces and butter and so forth) or eating off of a buffet. And it's hard to work a physically grueling 14-hour day on raw veggies. So I've really learned to pare down food to it's base ingredient and make the best of a bad situation. and I've de-breaded a lot of chicken tenders at some pretty upscale venues in my day!

FF is a breeze, compared to that!

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I'm glad you guys like my fast food list. One of the things it is good for is pointing out how a double cheeseburger at Sonic has twice the calories as other places.

Great list Billies....awesome idea. I think I'm going to do something like that and carry it in my purse with my food journal at all times!

~Utterly Absurd~

There is always something decent to eat. I stopped at McDonalds between work & school last night & grabbed an order of apple dippers, hold the caramel & a bottled water. it was enough to hold me over until class was over & I could eat dinner at home but the apples are only 35 calories. :-)

Hey Photochick~may I ask which application you use on your Blackberry? I was thinking of downloading one, but there were two to choose from and I couldn't decide.

I am one of those folks who likes an occasional fast food meal. In fact, we often have fast food for lunch on the weekends. I was terribly disappointed when Del Taco removed their grilled chicken Caesar salad from their menu. Without the dressing, it was a really good (and tasty) option. I even called them to complain (but of course got no reply--what is it with customer service these days? Oh that could be a whole new post.). Anyway, I go to either the restaurant website or Calorie Count to check on calories and so on before I visit so I know what is a better choice. While I agree with Cakses that water and a side salad is probably the best, there are some days when I really want what the restaurant is famous for (think burgers here).

Thanks for the post and all the suggestions. It really is helpful.

I agree...fries are the Devil. I ate a large fries at the diner on Tuesday night and now my tummy is sitting outside of my core. I'm so depressed. Don't eat fries!!!

I actually don't use any specific calorie counting application. I just use the memo function and keep a list of things and their calories. So I can scroll down quickly to Sonic or Chick-fil-a or whatever and see what is reasonable and within my calorie range for the day.

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Curious, how much does 'apple dipper' cost at mcdonalds? I guess I would've never thought to stop at McDonalds to buy an apple.