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How to lose weight while still eating fast food
Keep the fast food and size the rest of the day around it. Set a calorie target below maintenance, keep protein high, count the fast-food meal at its published nutrition, and fill the remaining calories and protein with other foods in the right amounts. The meal itself does not stop weight loss; going over the day's total does.
Why fast food can fit
Body weight follows total energy intake, not the source of the calories; at the same calories, the mix of carbs and fat makes only a small difference to fat loss.1,2 US chains publish nutrition for every menu item, which makes a fast-food meal one of the easiest things to count exactly.
The method
- Pick the meal first and look up its published calories and macros.
- Subtract it from your day: what is left is the budget for everything else.
- Spend the rest on protein: fast food is usually low in protein for its calories, so the other meals should be lean (chicken, yogurt, eggs, fish).3
- Get the amounts right: weigh the other foods, or let a solver calculate the grams.
- Watch drinks and sauces: a large soda or two dipping sauces can add more than a side of fries.
Most protein per calorie, by chain
The item with the most protein per calorie (among items with at least 20 g) at each chain, from the chains' published US nutrition data.
| Chain | Item | Protein | kcal |
|---|---|---|---|
| McDonald's | Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese | 48g | 742 |
| Burger King | Flame-Grilled Chicken Sandwich | 35g | 447 |
| Chipotle | Chicken (4 oz) | 32g | 191 |
| Chick-fil-A | Grilled Nuggets (8 ct) | 25g | 131 |
A real day: Whopper and fries, on target
Target about 2,200 kcal: 165 g protein, 220 g carbs, 73 g fat. The Burger King items are locked; vopti solved the rest.
| Food | Amount | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whopperlocked | 1 | 34 | 57 | 42 |
| French Fries (medium)locked | 1 | 5 | 50 | 17 |
| Chicken Breast | 340g | 105 | 0 | 12 |
| White Rice (cooked) | 223g | 6 | 63 | 1 |
| Greek Yogurt 0% | 122g | 12 | 4 | 0 |
| Banana | 201g | 2 | 46 | 1 |
| The day | 2,197kcal | 165 | 220 | 73 |
Worked days for each chain: McDonald's · Burger King · Chipotle · Chick-fil-A.
Pick 2–4 foods and a calorie target. No sign-up for the first run.
Disclosure: vopti is made by VirtueNeuro LLC, which publishes this page.
Questions
Can I eat fast food every day and lose weight?
Yes, if the day's total stays under your maintenance calories and protein stays high. Daily fast food makes fibre and micronutrients harder to reach, so the rest of the day should make up for it.
What is the healthiest thing to order for weight loss?
For weight, the order that fits your remaining calories. For keeping muscle while dieting, grilled chicken items give the most protein per calorie at most chains.
Do I need to count calories to lose weight on fast food?
You need to know roughly what you eat against a target. Fast-food meals are the easy part, because the chains publish exact numbers; the rest of the day is where the estimate usually goes wrong.
Sources
- Hall KD, Guo J. "Obesity Energetics: Body Weight Regulation and the Effects of Diet Composition." Gastroenterology, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2017.01.052
- Hall KD et al. "Calorie for Calorie, Dietary Fat Restriction Results in More Body Fat Loss than Carbohydrate Restriction in People with Obesity." Cell Metabolism, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2015.07.021
- Morton RW et al. "A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults." British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-097608
More answers: Can you eat whatever you want and still lose weight? · How much of each food should I eat to hit my macros?
Fit a chain into your macros: McDonald's · Burger King · Chipotle · Chick-fil-A