Make Fast Food Equal Fast Weight Loss

Make Fast Food Equal Fast Weight Loss!


Like a lot of American teenagers, my first job was at a fast-food restaurant. And even though I prepared and served the food, I didn’t know what was in it. And sure enough, helping myself to the product helped make me an overweight teen--by age 15, I was about 25 pounds overweight, a whopping 210 pounds! What I didn’t realize is it’s okay to eat fast food as long as you know exactly what you’re eating. A dollar or two at a fast-food restaurant can buy a lot of nutrition, but it can also buy you a lot of empty calories. How are you going to spend your money?

Eat This, Not That! The Best (and Worst!) Foods in America identifies the foods in our fast-food and chain restaurants that are so unbelievably loaded with calories, fat and sodium, and offers you the smartest alternatives that can strip away 10, 20, 30 pounds or more. Simple swaps like the ones listed below are an easy and effective way to lose weight without giving up the foods you love. Our research will show you, for example, how just one smart 150-calorie switch a day can strip away more than 15 pounds of fat in just one year. Indulge and enjoy!

YOUR DRIVE-THRU BREAKFAST SWAP

Not That!
McDonald’s Deluxe Breakfast (large-sized biscuit) with syrup and margarine
1,370 calories
64.5 g fat (21.5 g saturated)
2,335 mg sodium
161 g carbohydrates

This breakfast comes with the works—scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuit, hash browns, you name it. Problem is, it also comes with more than half your day’s allotment of calories and an entire day’s worth of sodium. It’s the caloric equivalent of 4 McDonald’s cheeseburgers—can you imagine starting your day off like that? (Check out our list of the 8 worst breakfasts.) The best egg-based breakfasts are breakfast sandwiches on English muffins, if possible. Biscuits and croissants add extra carbohydrates and calories when what you really need to start your day off right is a healthy dose of protein.

Eat This, Instead!
Egg McMuffin
300 calories
12 g fat (5 g saturated)
820 mg sodium
30 g carbohydrates

The Eat This, Not That! reality: The 1000 calories you save here, realized three times a week, saves you nearly 50 pounds of fat over the course of a year!


YOUR DRIVE-THRU BURGER SWAP

Not That!
Hardee’s 2/3-lb Monster Thickburger
1,420 calories
108 g fat (43 g saturated)
2,770 mg sodium
46 g carbs

Many of Hardee’s burgers break the perilous 1,000-calorie barrier, but this bun-buster goes even further: It has nearly 75 percent of your entire day’s calories and as much fat as a dozen Taco Bell soft tacos. Make the switch to Hardee's Low-Carb Thickburger.

Eat This Instead!
1/3-lb Low Carb Thickburger
420 calories
32 g fat (12 g saturated)
1,010 mg sodium

The Eat This, Not That! reality: Again, the 1000 calories you save here, realized three times a week, saves you nearly 50 pounds of fat over the course of a year--without your ever having to diet.


YOUR DESSERT SWAP

Not That!
Così Double Trouble Brownie Sundae
1,594 calories
95 g fat
1,039 mg sodium
163 g carbohydrates
(sugar content not provided)

This dessert is dubbed Double Trouble for a reason. Così doesn’t provide sugar content, but the 163 grams of carbohydrates suggests that this sundae wracks up at least 100 grams of the sweet stuff, easily. That's around 25 spoonfuls of sugar, and the equivalent of 10 Krispy Kreme original glazed donuts. (For more examples of sickly sweet fare, see our list of the 20 most sugar-packed foods in America). Add to that enough calories to fill you up for almost an entire day (not to mention a confusingly high level of sodium) and this dessert is sure to absolutely trash your diet.


Eat This, Instead!
S’Mores
361 calories
10 g fat
234 mg sodium
61 g carbohydrates

The Eat This, Not That! reality: The 1200 calories you save here, realized just once a week, strips away a pound of fat every three weeks--and you're still eating all of your favorite foods!


YOUR CHICKEN SWAP

Not That!
Dairy Queen 6-Piece Chicken Strip Basket with Country Gravy
1,640 calories
74 g fat (12 g saturated, 1 g trans)
3,690 mg sodium
121 g carbohydrates

It’s amazing how many calories DQ can pack into 6 strips of fatty, fried chicken. Don’t blame the trans-fatty gravy alone—it adds only about 400 extra calories. This disastrous basket will send your blood pressure soaring with the sodium equivalent of 112 Saltine crackers, and it’ll drag you down for the rest of the day with its carbohydrate overload.


Eat This, Instead!
Grilled Flamethrower Chicken Sandwich
590 calories
36 g fat (9 g saturated)
1,480 mg sodium
34 g carbohydrates

The Eat This, Not That! reality: The 1000 calories you save here, realized three times a week, saves you nearly 50 pounds of fat over the course of a year--without diet or deprivation!


YOUR SANDWICH SWAP

Not That!
Quizno’s Tuna Melt (large)
1,760 calories
133 g fat (25 g saturated, 1.5 g trans)
2,190 mg sodium
92 g carbohydrates

When we first launched Eat This, Not That!, we singled out this troublesome tuna sandwich for its massive caloric load. In response, Quizno’s claims to have shaved a good 300 calories from between the buns. But incredibly enough, it’s still the most atrocious sandwich we found in our latest round of menu-scouring. Blame the gobs of calorie- and fat-packed mayo, the endless inches of carb-heavy bread, and the full day’s worth of sodium. (See more diet-sinking sandwiches.)

Eat This, Instead!
Small Honey Bourbon Chicken on Wheat Bread
310 calories
4 g fat (1 g saturated)
920 mg sodium

The Eat This, Not That! reality: The nearly 1500 calories you'd save with this swap, realized just twice a month, saves you nearly 24 pounds of fat over the course of a year--without having to take up a dreadful diet.


YOUR MILKSHAKE SWAP

Not That!
Baskin-Robbins Large Chocolate Oreo Shake
2,600 calories
135 g fat (59 g saturated, 2.5 g trans)
263 g sugars
1,700 mg sodium

It’s not even a food! It’s a drink! We didn’t think anything could be worse than Baskin-Robbins’ 2008 bombshell, the Heath Bar Shake. After all, it had more sugar (266 grams) than 20 bowls of Froot Loops, more calories (2,310) than 11 actual Heath Bars, and more ingredients (73) than you’ll find in most chemistry sets.

Yet the folks at Baskin-Robbins have shown that when it comes to making America fat, they are the masters. The Large Chocolate Oreo Shake is soiled with more than a day’s worth of calories and 3 days’ worth of saturated fat. Worst of all, it takes fewer than 10 minutes to sip through a straw. Skip the milkshake for a small fruit blast, and you’ll save yourself over a day’s worth of calories that can be better allocated to more nutritious options.

Drink This, Instead!
Peach Passion Fruit Blast (small)
270 calories
0 g fat
65 g sugars
10 mg sodium

The Eat This, Not That! reality: The 2300 calories you save here, realized a couple times a week, could strip away around 70 pounds over the course of a year. You just need to know all of the easy swaps that the food industry doesn't want you to know!