McDonald's doesn't exactly count as a healthier food choice, but I wanted to share with you...

Tomorrow is McHappy Day, when a portion of the proceeds from the sale of every happy meal, Big Mac & mcmuffin is donated to Ronald McDonald House. I'm having breakfast there for two reasons - there are no groceries in my house and it's for a good cause!

My better version of what I'll be eating is an egg mcmuffin with no ham, no butter on the muffin, and half cheese.

Of course, I could do a MUCH healthier version at home - and I do, the rest of the 364 days in a year. Tomorrow will be a 'treat' - all for a good cause!

Maybe I'll just write a 10.00 check to the Ronald McDonald house

Yup, that is what I'd do

I can understand why you would feel the need to avoid fast food, especially at the stage where you are still losing. For me, an important part of losing and maintaining has been to allow myself a reasonable amount of anything on an occasional basis

It's all personal, I'm 2 years in maintenance and one of the things I wanted/needed to give up forever was fast food. It was a slippery slope convenience indulgence for me and led to bad habits (sooo easy to just go to the drive through and if I ate in my car, no one could see me or what I was eating - this led to v.v. bad things for me). And for me - Supersize Me and Fast Food Nation scared the **** out of me, I don't want any of that in my body - ever! Now, the occasional piece of fine dark chocolate - that's a reasonable treat for me

It is for a good cause, I completely support the Ronald McDonald house!

I still like fast food once in a while. I have a particular thing for McD french fries. I know they last forever in a jar, and that they're disgusting, but I find them extremely yummy. One of my rules, as yet unbroken, made when I undertook my bigger weight loss effort a couple of years ago, is that if I want to eat fast food, I have to get out of the car and eat in the restaurant or take it home and eat it there. (Unless I'm on a long road trip. Those don't count.) I had developed a very bad habit of sneaking out to eat fast food in the car and there was something very furtive and unpleasant (not to mention fat-making) about the entire business. Eating in fast food restaurants is so uncongenial that I find the rule helps me to resist the lure of french fries fairly often.

But this really is one of those things where everyone is different.

just_a_dreamy... I've been losing for 3 years and actually I've never liked fast food. Even at my heaviest, I shunned fast food for things like loafs of bread An important part of my life is being healthy and eating healthy and that includes food that isn't loaded with tons of fat and calories. The only good thing that McD's has is their soft serve but I don't even eat a whole one when I do get it. I eat part of it and throw the rest away.

I just really think that we each have our own version of what a "treat" is. And for lots of us, well, it's just not McD's.

I ate a Big Mac the other day for the first time in 3 years. Of course I got it without cheese. Not that it matters, but it *does* cut the fat and calorie content a little. I've been having a "Big Mac Attack" for a long time now and I decided to just go ahead and have one and count it in with my calories. And it was totally awesome, LOL.

Every once in a great while I allow myself these 'sinful' little treats. And because the Big Mac is high on my list of sinfulness, it was an extremely RARE treat. 3 years later, in fact. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, didn't feel guilty about it, the calories were counted and life moved on.

And no doubt that will be the last time I have a Big Mac for probably another 3 years. However, I didn't do it because of the "McHappy Day". In fact I didn't even know McHappy Day existed until I read this thread. I ate it simply because I wanted it. And loved every second of it.

I think robin said it best in that some people would consider McD's a treat and others wouldn't...

If you want to talk about treat.... Trader Joe's Lowfat chocolate torte... That is my idea of a treat, not a sad looking hamburger Also, I used to eat fries occassionally (Red Robin) but since I found out about my gall stones, I don't eat them at all anymore and have no desire to do so.

I think when we are losing weight and maintaining our weight loss we can pick and choose our treats and that is fine as long as every day isn't a treat day.

LLV, I'm glad you enjoyed your Big Mac. I think that's great and absolutelly nothiing at all wrong with it. I mean every 3 years. I'd call that moderation.

But for me, cause again, we're all different. Getting one of those down would be a torture, not a treat. I don't think I've been to a McD's since high school, some 25 years ago or so.

I have my little treats when I go to a party or something of that sort. This way I get to sample 4 or 5 different things, a bite or 2 of each, without having to deal with an entire serving. And I have no guilt. That's been working out very well for me. I had a big party last weekend and one coming up again in 2 weeks.

I definitely won't do THAT again for a while! But it was wonderful. When I was heavy and eating a lot of fast food, a Big Mac was my favorite thing. Then, for obvious reasons, I swore them off. But lately I've just been really wanting one. So I went to a website that 'customizes' your fast food choices (where you can add or omit ingredients), got the calorie info for a Big Mac without cheese (hey, it helped a little! lol) stuck it into fitday and went and got it. Naturally I had to be really careful the rest of the day with my calories and I wasn't able to eat as much food in a day as I normally would, but it was worth it

That's right, we're all different and what's important is we know our danger zones. I can't bring donuts into the house or I'll eat them all. But I don't have a problem with fast food. It's a once-in-a-while treat and I leave it at that

That sounds great! Because we all need these little treats now and then. I think they're important.