How to Stop Fast Food Addictions. A Simple Plan of Action Anyone Can do.

Those fast food addictions are a killer. You could be on a diet, making great progress and then it hits you and while you always have the will power to stop it, those cravings can sometimes be unbearable. I know about this since I am guilty of it as well. But I also know how to stop them and I have 2 plans of action you can use right now to see results with. 

For many years I have had the fast food addiction, particularly to a McDonalds breakfast menu which included the bacon, egg and cheese biscuit (2 of them) and 4 hash browns, with 2 small drinks of coke. I also loved eating 2 or 3 big macs after working out (yes the perfect time to eat them…).

My weekly routine would have the following trend:

• I would eat the breakfast menu maybe 2-3 times a week.
• The big mac version would happen at night, maybe 2 times a week at most.

Being in my early 20’s and doing this, I could care less about the implications of getting fat. My metabolism was high, I was young and I trained a lot. 

I am 28 now, I still train a lot, but one thing has changed: My belly has been growing and for a guy who does as much working out as I do, it’s embarrassing to see this. My pictures are becoming more difficult to share with friends on FB since it’s SO obviously there. And he’s the perfect one:

I’m still trying to suck in my gut, but what I left out in that picture was that a friend of mine was standing to the left (my right) and showing off his abs. Not my best moment 🙁

But man, do I love those fast foods and it’s so hard to quit. So this cycle of trying to take action, only to go back and start eating them again went on for a few years, until I started taking real action.

I’ve been using 2 different strategies for several months now and have noticed a decline in my belly fat.

Strategy one: 

This one is transitional. My rule for eating fast foods when I started was this:

Eat no more than 1 breakfast menu and 1 evening menu a week, no exceptions. So that breakfast and big mac meal wouldn’t happen as often. 

For the first 2 or 3 months this was tough and I admit, I cracked a few times.

I also started forcing myself to eat much healthier foods, little to no bread, spinach, carrots, cherries and mostly egg dishes for breakfast and fish related meals for lunch and dinner. 

I also had a period where I did a master cleanse for 5 days and lost 14 pounds. I have never seen my belly shrink so fast, but after that, I fell of the fast food wagon and it all came back…

So instead of cleansing again for 5 days, I just decided I would stick to my long term plan.

After the 3 months were up, what has happened is amazing:

My fast food cravings are almost gone. I actually eat that same cheat meal once every 2 or 3 weeks now. The last time I ate that breakfast menu, I couldn’t even finish it because I just didn’t crave it anymore. 

Now that evening cheat meal with big mac’s has almost vanished too. I now just eat sushi instead. 

I workout more and do more strength training, but here’s the funny thing:

My weight actually went up from 176 to 183. Yet I’m skinnier. What went wrong?

Actually nothing. It’s that my muscle mass is increasing and muscle weights more than fat. If you work out a lot and eat healthy, you’re going to experience this too. For example, the P90X diet and workout program gets these type of results and yet people freak out because they think weight gain is something bad. It’s not if it’s muscle that’s growing, not fat!

Strategy 2:

This one is for those hardcore fast food eaters who really have a hard time stopping. I know from experience quitting cold turkey is one of the toughest things to do and you may also know how much easier it is to run right back to give into those addictions. 

Try the Every Other Day Diet. Here you’ll diet in a special way which would help you cheat every other day and then slowly you would transition out of it and eat more healthy and less unhealthy overtime, but you’ll also lose weight during the first stages, even up to a pound a day if you follow the strategy it sets up. 

How about dieting eating fast foods? 

It can actually happen and one man proved it, but let’s not forget that fat isn’t the only thing you’re putting on when you eat those foods, you’re also hurting your health in ways that adds on as the years go by. 

Sure celebration or cheat days should be around and people should enjoy what they eat, but you can actually enjoy and CRAVE healthy foods if you eat them long enough for your body and brain to get used to it. 

The hard part is getting rid of the bad foods and unless you have a health condition which requires that you quit eating bad foods immediately, you should aim for a transitional phase to get out of the bad habits and into the good ones.

These strategies do work:

They aren’t the easiest thing, but anyone can do them. Just remember to stick to it and if and when cravings do come, instead of submitting, force yourself to eat something healthy. That will curb the hunger and make you forget about it.

Do this a few times and not only will you be proud of yourself, but your cravings will change. You’re going to see it, feel it and eventually not even want to eat fast foods as often. This is the sign you’re headed to a healthier future!

I hope these strategies help you and I’d love to know if you have any personal stories of any fast food cravings and addictions you struggling with as well as were able to beat!