It is hard to avoid eating fast food if you work outside of the home for hours, or if you are too tired from school and work to cook and you have no one at home to cook healthy meals for you. Furthermore, fast food restaurants are often open until late while other healthier restaurants are long closed. Many people eat fast food often, or at least from time to time, but unfortunately, many fast food restaurants have a lot of unhealthy food options available that are terrible for your waist and not diet-friendly at all; it is these unhealthy fast food items that should be avoided when dieting and trying to lose weight. So, here are the fast food restaurants with the worst foods that dieters and people trying to lose weight should avoid.

McDonald’s

McDonald’s is many people’s go-to fast food restaurant since it is one of the few restaurants that are open 24 hours, or at least until midnight. Unfortunately, most of the foods on McDonald’s menu are extremely unhealthy and fattening with more calories than are found in some other fast food restaurants. For example, McDonald’s is most well-known for its burgers, which range in calories from 250-900 calories a burger. As a general rule, if you start an early day, you will likely eat 3-4 meals a day. The maximum daily calorie intake for most people is 2000 calories a day, so do you see the problem here?

Out of all of the McDonald’s hamburgers, only three are a reasonable number of calories, and since most people can not get full on only one small burger (most people will need to eat two hamburgers to feel full), this means that one meal can add up to as many as 1000-1400 calories. In order to avoid gaining weight, you will likely only be able to eat one more full meal that day to keep your calories under the healthy amount of 2000, so you may have to miss meals and go hungry for some of the day to accommodate eating such a high-calorie meal.

Another issue with McDonald’s is that it can have foods that are in the 1000 calorie range, which is very high. For example, their Big Breakfast meals can be more than half of one day’s calories (half of 2000 calories). The Big Breakfast is over 1000 calories, and with pancakes, it is over 1300 calories.

McDonald’s is very convenient because it is open very late at night every day, but it should be avoided when dieting and trying to lose weight, since eating fewer calories is essential for weight loss.

Burger King

Burger King is very similar to McDonald’s since they both are well-known for their burgers. They are also similar in the calorie department. Burgers at Burger King can be very high in calories, ranging from 240 to over 1000 calories per burger; few of their burgers are 400 calories or less, so most of the burgers at Burger King are way too high in calories for me to order them.

I have a diet rule that I like to follow. I eat 4 small portion meals a day in order to keep my calorie consumption under the recommended 2000 calories a day; I limit each meal to around 500 calories. Getting full on a meal that is around 500 calories at Burger King is possible, but what you can eat there is limited to keep calories low due to the high-calorie content of their burgers, so I recommend avoiding Burger King while dieting.

Fast Food Pizza: Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s

When dieting, pizza should definitely be avoided because you need quite a bit of it, several slices to feel full; each slice can contain a considerable amount of calories as well. It is easy to consume over 1000 calories with pizza in order to feel full, and even then, pizza tends to not keep you full for as long as other foods like salad, vegetables, and protein.

I love pizza, and I do order it on special occasions such as when the family is visiting, or if I have something to celebrate. Domino’s is my favorite go-to pizza place. I do not believe in restricting my food too much because then it would be extremely hard to diet long enough to actually lose weight.

You should allow yourself to eat things like pizza from time to time if you enjoy it; do this as a break from your diet one day a week if you like. For the rest of the week, you can avoid pizza for your weight loss goals since it is too high in calories and contains ingredients that are unhealthy for you, such as cheese, bread, and pork.

Arby’s

Arby’s is known for its sandwiches and their heavy doses of meat, so of course, their foods are quite high in calories. Out of all of the sandwiches that Arby’s offers, I can only eat about a handful of them because those are the only ones within my calorie limit. Unfortunately, most of the sandwiches at Arby’s are around 500, 600, 700, and 900 calories each, which is too high for dieters, so I recommend avoiding Arby’s while you are trying to lose weight.

Five Guys

A lot of my friends love Five Guys with its simple small menu that has popular American foods on it. Interestingly enough, I think a lot of people feel that Five Guys is healthier because they use peanut oil instead of the unhealthy vegetable oil that most restaurants use because it is cheaper.

I agree with my friends. I love Five Guys french fries because they are freshly cut and made with something other than vegetable oil, but their large french fry is over 1300 calories. Fries alone are also not filling; they will only keep you full for a short period of time, so to get full at Five Guys would require quite a high number of calories, since their burgers are between 480-900 calories. As a result, Five Guys should be avoided while dieting and trying to lose weight.

Checkers

Image Source: “Rallys/Checker’s Famous Fries [960×960]“, Reddit.com

I absolutely love Checkers! No one can beat their delicious french fries in my opinion. I know many people love their hamburgers as well, but their hamburgers are quite high in calories, ranging from 280-970 calories each. Unlike all of the other fast-food restaurants in this list that sell burgers, I consider Checkers to be better about the calories since they have numerous burgers and sandwiches on their menu that are within the 200 and 300 calorie range. This is quite good compared to some other sandwich and burger fast-food restaurants.

Checkers may not be very healthy, but it is fairly safe to eat if you have three meals a day; just be careful which sandwiches or burgers you order there so that your meals stay within the 600 calorie range.

Final Thoughts

Fast food can be quite unhealthy, but it can also be very convenient and enjoyable, but like all things, it should be eaten in moderation. Controlling your portions and pairing the items that you order carefully so that your meal is balanced and in the 500-600 calorie range can give you the freedom to indulge yourself a little, while still being able to lose weight, or maintain a consistent weight. There is no need to feel guilty about eating fast food from time to time; counting your calories and eating protein and vegetables together can make your meals healthier, and help you reach your weight loss goals! Choose your meals wisely and bon appetit everyone! Afiyet olsun!

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