How You Can Cut Calories From Fast Food

By Mira Burton

From the moment you walk through the door it's safe to say you're fighting a losing battle. Fast food chains aren't famed for their healthy options. Nonetheless there's plenty to get by on.

First things first, cut out the chips. They're one of the highest sources of saturated fat out there, and you could just about stuff yourself with chicken instead and get better results. Fortunately, most chains offer substitution deals on their meals now, chips for beans or corn on the cob, for instance. Straight away you've shaved about 400 calories off of your meal, and it only gets better from there.

Now, fried chicken isn't healthy. Frying isn't healthy at the best of times, and most fast food outlets are using so much oil they might even be responsible for the fuel crisis. If you must eat fried chicken, go for a drumstick. Prices are the same and they have a smaller surface area, which means less deep-fried badness. A KFC drumstick comes out at about 140 calories, with 8g of fat, 2g of it saturated. It's hardly good for you, but a couple of those with beans and corn might even let you stay under 500 calories for a surprisingly filling meal. You're not going to set any records in the field of healthy eating, but it's better than nothing. Or it's better than chips, at least.

If you have to pick a fatty side try the coleslaw. The medium tubs most places give you might even out at 200 calories, just under if you're lucky. But coleslaw is pretty much just cabbage and carrots, both of which are stuffed with handy vitamins, potassium and fiber. Again, you could do better, but at least you're not doing worse, right?

Moving back to chicken, it's not always served on the bone. There are plenty of nuggets and sandwiches floating around out there, Now, if you're happy to eat a small meal nuggets might suffice, they usually come in at around 220 calories for four, and with a diet drink and non-fried side you might just get away with it at under 500. For something more filling there are usually friend and grilled sandwiches going spare. Firstly, pick the grilled option, obviously. Try and stick to one with less mayonnaise and bread if at all possible. Bear in mind fried options often are generally smaller, to try and even the calories out in the menu. Grilled is still the healthier choice, though.

Fast food isn't healthy. We all know it, as much as the advertising campaigns would have us think otherwise. But you don't have to go hungry after a long day's work, or eat alone when your friends are finished. Think about your meals, and you'll usually find a sensible option among the chaff.

Lose Weight Eating Candy, Cheesecake, and Chocolate

By Joel Broughton

Throw out the crash diets, cabbage soup diets, and salad plans. It's possible to lose weight and enjoy yourself too. In fact, most people that restrict themselves from sugars, desserts, or other foods that they crave end up worse off at the end of a diet because their bodies naturally want what they can't have.

If you don't believe me I'll prove it to you right now in the next 20 seconds.

Do this. Pinch yourself in the arm as hard as you can. Go ahead, it's for science. Hurt didn't it? And for those of you reading this article that didn't pinch your arm as hard as you can, that's okay you also proved my point anyway. Chances are you won't pinch yourself again that hard because it caused your body pain, right? In fact, many of you didn't do it at all because you knew that it would cause you pain.

Humans are naturally programmed to seek pleasure and avoid pain. That's how we work internally. So when you start behaving in a way that brings you pain, your body and mind naturally start to defend against that pain. Your mind and body will fight hard too, because they simply want to protect you and bring you pleasure in your life.

So what's this have to do with losing weight?

If you starve your body of anything that it desires, it will fight you! Go ahead and try it. That's why these super crash diets never work. That's why eating cabbage soup for weeks on end doesn't work. These diets gain you short term results, but the pendulum will swing so far back the other way because your body wants to overcompensate for the pain you just put it through, that you end up gaining the weight back, binging on treats or high calorie foods, and end up with nothing more to show than another failed diet.

If you want to lose weight, you can eat candy, cheesecake, and chocolate. Just do it in moderation. Don't put your body through the pain of completely depriving yourself of treats of foods you love. For most of us, eating is emotional. We get great satisfaction and pleasure from great tasting food or a wonderful treat. So don't be your own worst enemy when it comes to these treats, just remember the golden rule: moderation.

Slow subtle lifestyle changes; eating smaller portions more often, drinking more water, getting proper exercise, will help you lose the weight you want. And you can eat cheesecake, just not the whole cheesecake. Set up a cheat day once a week where you reward yourself for all the good things you've done all week. If you can sustain 6 great days and let your body relax on the 7th, you'll have much better results with your weight loss, you'll feel better about it emotionally, and you'll get yourself off of the rollercoaster diets that don't work.