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Everyday I drive by three McDonald’s, three Burger Kings, one KFC, one Harvey’s, one Subway, and an Arby’s. That is 10 fast food joints in the span of 25 minutes. I have stopped at each and every one of them. I can tell you what the King Deal at Burger King is tomorrow or how much two double cheeseburgers and a large fries from McDonald’s costs. I would easily go out five times a week. People would ask me, “Don’t you feel gross afterward?”. Sure I did, but do you think the hangover stops an alcoholic? Yeah didn’t think so. However, this was becoming a problem. I would spend anywhere from $150 to $300 a month on $1.39 double cheeseburgers. Let me tell you a few steps I took to solve it.
Plan A: Learn about how fast food is bad for me
I shared my addiction with a client of mine named Lori. She is a great client. Someone I really enjoy training. She always would always give me that gross look whenever I told her I had a couple of rounds of fast food during the week. After a few months training together, we decided to trade a couple books. I threw her a few books by Malcolm Gladwell, and she returned the favor with Fast Food Nation
“An avalanche of facts and observations… A fine piece of muckraking, alarming without being an alarmist… Schlosser makes it hard to go on eating fast food in blissful ignorance.”
I went through the whole book in a week. I also had McDonald’s four times that week. Four times, just not in blissful ignorance. (Take that NY Times!) Same thing happened when I saw Supersize Me. Great movie, interesting and entertaining; and right after it was done, I went out for McDonald’s for supper. I also had McDonald’s for breakfast the following day.
In this day in age the unhealthy nature of fast food is obvious. It doesn’t matter if it is the food processing, the trans fats, the carbs, or the salt. Animals are often treated cruelly and pumped full of whatever the drug of the day seems to be. It looks like the consensus is that it is bad for you. I knew how bad it was for me. Doesn’t help. So plan one, shock myself into quitting certainly didn’t work.
Fast food consumption after Plan A: Five times a week.
Lesson to take from Plan A: Education is never a waste. Did you know that 70% of fast food purchases are bought on impulse? I read that in Fast Food Nation and that little tidbit led me to devise Plan D, E and F.
Plan B: Try eating healthier when I actually go
This lasted a grand total of the 30 seconds it took to walk into the joint. There is no way I was going to waste a perfectly good trip to McDonald’s on a salad. Some iceberg lettuce ridden salad. Ugh. However, I did make a few minor changes. I asked for water instead of pop and would opt for two double cheeseburgers instead of three. Those baby steps helped. Switching to salad didn’t.
Fast food consumption after Plan B: Five times a week
Fast food salad consumption after Plan B: Nil.
Lesson to take from Plan B: Taking healthier steps was the right choice but salad just didn’t work for me. Water and cutting back did. Find out what works for you. After Plan B I was still eating fast food four times a week, but I was making slightly healthier choices.
Plan C: Call a friend
I figured I would tell a friend. Not just one, I told a bunch. This would give me more pressure to cut back. This worked until I realized I could just lie to them. So I found it really didn’t help. I would hide burger wrappers or chuck them out at the gas station. But peer pressure did help. It seemed like I constantly had someone in my face about the problem. I told my clients and they constantly asked me about it. Hell, I would lie about it, but it started to always be on my mind.
Fast food consumption after Plan C: Four to five times a week.
Lesson to take from Plan C: Use your network of friends. You will try the easy way out and lie, but you will get caught. Sometimes you need an outside influence to fix a bad habit. If you want to eat healthier to be able to throw the football around with your kids, use it. Every time you drive by a fast food joint, think about your kids. They can be a pretty strong influence.
Plan D: Avoid it like the plague
Remember that 70% stat? I bought fast food on impluse alot. My mouth would water each time I passed by a fast food joint. By the 8th one, I had a puddle by my feet. So I had to lose the temptation. I couldn’t quit my job, so I changed the route I took home. It took me about 5 minutes longer, but with the new route, I only drove by one McDonald’s, one Burger King, one Subway, one Harvey’s and that Arby’s. I just cut out five restaurants. Piece of cake.
Do you know what that meant for me? I gave those five restaurants all my business. It felt like I was trying to quit smoking and just changed cigarette brands. But I started to see some progress.
Fast food consumption after Plan D: Three to five times a week.
Lesson to take from Plan D: Avoid your triggers. If you crave smoking whenever you drink socially, try to find a new activity for Saturday night. If you buy cookies every time you walk by that aisle, avoid it altogether. I couldn’t cut out all of the restaurants I drove by, but if I could, I would. At the same time, 90% of my fast food eating occurred on that drive. Once I looked after that temptation, I would be comfortable with my moderate fast food eating.
So here I am. Still eating fast food up to four times a week. Read the rest of this two part series here and find out how I finally kicked the habit.
Your Digital Trainer,
Jeremiah
Images by striatic, pointnshoot, gestione del caos, and found_drama
Comments: Having trouble with fast food? Have you tried any of these habit changing ideas and failed? What works for you? Let us know!
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