I'm 19 years old..almost 20..im about 5 5 and i weigh 180 pounds. I'm not obese but i am overweight. My number one problem is fast food. I have no self control over it. Does anyone have any tips on how i can stop this? I know for a fact if i do id lose weight like crazy. I exercise twice a day ..half hour to an hour each time..i only eat twice a day and when i usually do its fast food. Help?

Hi KatyLynn -- I too struggled with a LOVE Of all things fast food! I kicked it once before a few years back, and I did it again recently (cold turkey). If that's all you're eating and you're addicted, my advice is to try SMALL but significant changes. Start out by buying chicken sandwiches instead of burgers, or get a baked potato or side salad instead of fries. As you gradually get used to NOT having fries and greasy burgers, you won't really miss them. I would also advise you to AVOID these places if you have that option, once you've weaned yourself off. Take a different route home that won't put you so close to temptation. Leave your $$ and debit card in the trunk, so you can't go through the drive through. Whatever tricks you need to make it work. I hope this helps! You can do it - I'm living proof! Good luck!

Kim

My key to avoiding fast food - planning! I used to eat pretty much ONLY fast food, and I had to cut myself off from it cold turkey. The only way I could do that? Plan, plan, plan! I made sure that, every week, I had my breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks all mapped out, shopped for, and packed. Knowing that I had dinner defrosting on the counter prevented that whole "what am I gonna have for dinner...oh well, Taco Bell is right here, I'll just go there" cycle. If you don't PLAN, it is really hard to avoid making last-minute decisions like that, so try to get your food all mapped out ahead of time. It really makes a difference!

I agree with mandalinn82--planning better will help you a lot!

Also, some fast food places are better than others. At Subway, you can get a healthy choice. Of course, you would be better off not having any chips with your healthy choice! And more restaurants are offering better foods--still, anything in a fast food restaurant is liable to be more food than you need.

Sometimes if I have no other choice, I will get ONE regular hamburger at a place like McD's. Not a Big Mac, not a Quarter Pounder, just the regular hamburger, with pickles and mustard, no mayo, no cheese. It has about 220 calories, which is about as many cals as I need for a lunch anyway, to be losing. I can have an apple and add another 80 cals.

NO FRIES. They are the path to disaster. A SMALL order of fries is also 220 cals--I can't afford that! I'd be hungry the rest of the day if that was all I could have for my lunch.

Why not think of things you can make yourself, or things you can have at home to eat for dinner--quick foods, if you're not into cooking. And what about taking your lunch? It's not hard to put together a sandwich and some fruit--get yourself a lunch bag that's insulated--things like that!

Just some ideas to get you started...

Jay

What worked for me, a former fast-food junkie: see the movie Supersize Me, if you haven't already. The guy in the movie eats nothing but McDonalds, all day, every day, for a month, while being constantly monitored by doctors. Once you see the terrible things all that fast food is doing to his body, it should be enough to gross you out forever! Every time you drive by a McDonalds, or Taco Bell, or Wendy's, you'll remember the movie and it just might give you reason enough to drive on past and don't look back!

I'd like to echo the above. Organisation is key! I'm currently working 2 jobs - 8:30am - 5pm and 7:00-12:00pm 5 days a week plus going to the gym in between the two on 4 out of those 5 days and without lots of planning I'd be living on fast food.

Every Sunday I do a grocery shop and I cook enough meals (lunches and dinners) to last me for the following week. I have all the meals in the fridge along with snacks ready to go when I walk out the door in the morning.

I allow myself pretty much anything I want food-wise in the weekends and have found that after eating so well all week I don't want to ruin my hard work with too much junk.

Perhaps you could limit yourself to having your absolute favourite take out food just once a week? If you work or are at school during the week then your treat could be on the weekend. Have it at a time when you can sit down and really enjoy it. By having it just once a week you can enjoy it without feeling bad about it too!

I see from your original post that you say that you only eat twice a day ... I'm sure you don't need us to tell you that that's not a good idea. Far from helping you lose weight, it's a recipe for disaster. If you're not a breakfast person then chuck down a protein shake/smoothie. The best advise most personal trainers and nutritionists will give you is that you need to eat little and often.

Hope this helps

KatyLynn: The heaviest I ever was in my entire life was when I was about your age and eating fast-food regularly...I usually had one huge, super-sized meal a day (McDonald's was a favorite, then Wendy's). That would be all I ate, this one "meal of the day", so I was at a loss as to how I had gained weight - after all, I was only eating 1 meal a day!!!

Now I count calories and I know that a) A supersized fry has 610 cals b) A double quarter pounder had 740 cals c) A supersized coke has 410 cals - and so does my free refill d) An apple pie has 260 cals.....so the total calories for my "meal-of-the-day" was 610+730+410+410+250 = DRUM ROLL PLEASE>>>>> 2,410 calories!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIKES!

And that, my dear, is how fast-food makes you fat. Now that I know what fast-food did to me - I hate it! How could I love something that ruined my body completely. My advice is to get off it. Completely. If you think you have the will to go to a drive thru and order a salad, then by all means do it. I just found that once I was staring at the drive thru sign words like 'Frosty' would pop out of my mouth before I even knew it!! LOL!

Try weening yourself with some healthier places, like Subway or Noodles and Co, or anywhere that sells soups or has a salad bar. In time you can learn to cook and make stuff for yourself at home. You can get over this 'addiction' - I call it that because I truly do believe it is an addiction. Choose to love yourself, and not all of the places that have made you become overweight.

thanks everyone for your advice!! i never thought of the whole planning thing..i just always have a craving for fast food that i cant get rid of but i will try everything you guys said! thanks so much! =]

yeah..it is not only avoid eating its a combination of things...gotta exercise...do something.. thats a must..doesnt have to be a lot of exercise not lifting weights...thats one of the major mistakes...gotta run!!..thats it..first burn the fat..then build muscle...watch what you eat..not obsessively..that will just make you hungry..hehe..just eat what you want as healthy as possible ..small amounts more times a day..and drink water

KatyLynn, I think you'll find that as you eat less fast food, your cravings for it will diminish. There's something addictive about all those chemicals and all that fat, but it is, strangely, an acquired taste (after all, it isn't real food) and you can lose the taste for it. It's also really, really terrible for your body. Getting off that stuff and eating real food grown in the ground will give you more energy and more balance overall.

I used to be addicted to fast food, too. I read the book Fast Food Nation and haven't eaten a fast food hamburger since. Not one, in nearly a year. I've had a couple of chicken sandwiches, but even that I could count on one hand. That book cured me once and for all of my fast food cravings.

Katy,
I could have written your post when I was 20 years old, only I didn't do anything about it.
Kudos to you for wanting to do something NOW... I was in major denial...
a brief timeline for you.. I was 130 at 18, probably 160 by 20... and by the time I was 23 I was 250. and still in denial. At 24 I started changing my eating habits and lost 75lbs only to gain back 25lbs because I never broke my fast food addiction. I maintained at 200 for about a year, but was still eating fast food, even though I am a very active person and avid exerciser.
I've found I've had to cut out the fast food completely. I haven't made many other changes in my eating habits (a little less complex carbs in general and more whole grains.. less red meat but nothing terribly drastic)
I haven't set foot in a fast food restaurant since October. I know now that I just can't. I still get cravings yes, but I have to completely consider them "off limits"
I've "lost back" 20 of the 25lbs I gained but starting over was discouraging and difficult.

So i guess what I'm saying is that FF is as addicting as many other chemicals and though it's hard to stay away, it may just be what you need to do.
Also, from reading your post you say you only eat 2x a day... If you can break that habit, I would suggest you do... eating over the course of the day helps keep your metabolism going.. breakfast is key.. some people say 7 small meals, etc.. but see what works for you. Eating more often, for me, keeps me from overeating at meals.. I have breakfast, a small snack midmorning, lunch, and a light dinner and it works really well for me. I'm never "starving" so i'm less prone to overeat.

Oh boy, I had a real craving for fast food yesterday... well, not real fast food, but I was itching for some Roly Poly (which does have some healthy options, but I try to keep my eating out to the weekends). I even went as far as driving into the parking lot, then remembered how badly I wanted to lose weight, and ended up going to the grocery store and buying a box of granola bars.
At first, I thougt I was way too hungry for "just" a granola bar, but when I was finished eating it, and had a glass of water, presto! I was full! And I felt so much better about myself for not giving in to temptation. So whenever you're feeling tempted to stop for fast food, remember that stopping at the grocery store or farmer's market usually takes about the same amount of time, and you can get something MUCH healthier, like a piece of fruit or veg, a granola bar, or some low-fat cheese to tide you over to your next sit-down meal.

One thing that helps me is to keep healthy snacks in the car. Keep a couple of granola bars or some dried fruit or something in your car. When you feel the urge to go get FF, eat a snack FIRST. Then if you still think you want the FF, you can reconsider it.

I've found a lot of times that just snacking on something makes me feel better and cuts the craving.

I'll echo what BlackBetty said - rent Supersize Me and watch it. I don't have a particluar problem with fast food, but I have been known to enjoy it on occasion. But since seeing that movie, I seriously don't have any interest in eating that crap. I'll do Subway, but if I never had another FF burger again (and don't get me wrong, I still love "home-cooked" burgers), I'd be OK with that.