Where we last left off, I was still eating fast food up to four times a week. Let’s keep going to see what I did to finally give it up.

Plan E: Find a Distraction

In the great province of Ontario it is still legal for me to talk on my cellphone. So I made sure that I did. I called clients, family, friends all through that 25 minute drive. They started to expect it like clockwork. This helped, but only until I learned I can end the conversation as soon as I pulled up to the drive-through. But some days I wouldn’t even notice the Golden Arches. I just kept driving on by, chatting all the while.

Fast food consumption after Plan E: Three times a week.

Lesson to take from Plan E: Find a distraction that works. Some people like to run on a treadmill in front of a TV, others with some Zeppelin blasting in their ears. If you find music works really well for you, check out some tunes here that get me through a good workout.

Plan F: Call in a sub

Remembering that I probably would be tempted by fast food (70% of the time). I decided to plan for it. I started buying food and keeping it in the car. I would pack a huge lunch and not leave for home until everything was eaten. I would make sure to have a snack in the car and eat wasabi peas and almonds the whole ride home. This worked really well until I realized I had a hollow leg. I would literally eat five sandwiches throughout the day and grab some fast food on the way home. Have you ever been stuffed from a huge thanksgiving meal and still had room for pie? Yeah, same thing. But I would make sure I would not start the drive hungry. It worked, sometimes.

Fast food consumption after Plan F: Two to three times a week.

Lesson to take from Plan F: For the most part, you can only eat so much. So fill yourself up with something healthy. You can only drink one glass at a time, so fill it with water.

Plan G: Compromise

I made a deal with myself. I would eat out once a week. On Wednesday. The King Deal at Burger King was a Whopper and that was my favorite one. It cost my about 4 bucks and tasted great. Every week I would look forward to Wednesday. This actually worked pretty well until I realized that I didn’t have any consequence if I ate out on Friday as well. I could but a dollar into a jar, but I didn’t really care. It just meant that a bucket of chicken cost me 21 bucks instead of 20. Despite this, this plan worked for the longest period of time. I probably ate fast food only once or twice a week for two months. Then it started to get bad again.

Fast food consumption after Plan G: One to three times a week.

Lesson to take from Plan G: Compromise with yourself. Slowly take baby steps to eliminate your bad habit. I never tried to use positive or negative reinforcement but this does work for some people.

Plan H: Did you know they won’t give you fast food for free?

I got my last idea when I tried to use my AMEX at Subway. They turned me down. So I grabbed my Visa and went was on my way with a chicken, bacon sub lathered in mayo, delicious. But just as bad as a double cheeseburger. But that gave me the idea. The next day, before I left for work I went into my wallet and grabbed all my cash, my Visa card, and my debit card and left it at home. With the exception of my American Express. At the time McDonald’s didn’t take American Express, neither did Harvey’s, Subway, Burger King and Arby’s. But Shell did. I had a way I could buy gas and not fast food. The perfect plan. Until I realized I could cut into my back-up money. I keep about $100 hidden in my car in case of an emergency, tow truck, etc. This was now my new found fast food fund. So if you ever steal my car, don’t bother looking in the glove compartment. There’s nothing left.

But I didn’t give up. This was a good idea. I decided to take the next step and alter my glove compartment plan. I used my air miles and bought gas gift certificates. I realized I mostly used by emergency fund for gas when I forgot my wallet. Now I just used the gas gift certificates. Still have the emergency fund, but no way to get fast food.

Fast food consumption after Plan H: Nil

Lesson to take from Plan H: Set yourself up for success. I really had absolutely no choice but to avoid fast food. Problem solved. If you have problem with debt, then cut up your credit cards. Don’t rationalize, cut them up. If the cards got into debt, then chances are, you can’t control you finances. Remove your freedom of choice and then slowly give it back to yourself when you get some control. A fellow blogger, J.D. at Get Rich Slowly used this approach to remove his debt. He now owns a credit card and handles it well.

In Review

Eight plans. Seven failures. I seemed to have the will of a smoker who just quit an hour ago. But this wasn’t all the time. It was just during that one drive home after work everyday. Those 25 minutes of temptation. So I had to recognize the problem and devise a plan. Now a few months later, I really don’t get that temptation. A few months later and I drive by with my wallet in hand, and drive past each and every restaurant. I now have control, but in order to get over the hump I realized I couldn’t trust myself. So I didn’t and it worked.

Your Digital Trainer,

Jeremiah

Images by benbrown, tasteful_tn, xctmx, and g-ratphotos

Comments: Having trouble with fast food? Have you tried any of these habit changing ideas and failed? What works for you? Let us know!

Related posts:

1. What would you bring to a desert island?
2. Blog Action Day – Using the tools you were given
3. Trial I – One Hundred Pushups

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 by Eric Schlosser. This was her way of letting me see all the harm fast food does. It was a great read. I love the quote on the back by the NY Times:

“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!

Related posts:

1. Blog Action Day – Using the tools you were given
2. What would you bring to a desert island?
3. Trial I – One Hundred Pushups

There is nothing softer and weaker than water, and yet there is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things. For this reason there is no substitute for it.
- Lao-Tzu

Average Read Time: 00:01:41

I’m not a real consistent guy. There is only one thing I will do every morning without fail. It isn’t showering, push-ups or having breakfast. Not flossing, making my bed or putting on pants. I do these things often, but it isn’t a guarantee. But every morning without fail, I pee. Whether I am in the woods, at a friends house or in my home. But tomorrow on the advice from Helio Gracie, the father of Brazilian Jiu-Jitzu, that will change. Tomorrow I am going to add something else to my list, and it is going to be…

Drink a glass of water

It’s so simple that anyone can do it. Tomorrow as soon as I wake up, I am going to pee, and then grab a glass of water. I lose some water in the morning, I figure I should fill up the tank.

Why Helio Gracie? Why did he recommend it?

Gracie felt that water was important in order to stay in top fighting condition at all times. He felt water was a key factor in this, especially in the morning. So, he would get all of his sons to drink a glass of water upon waking up. For those of you who haven’t heard, he passed away two weeks ago at the age of 95. I think it would be suiting to carry on his recommendation and have a glass of water every morning.

Three reasons water will make you a better fighter

1. It makes your mind sharper – Your brain is mostly water, this is why when you are dehydrated, headaches can result. Keep your mind sharp by keeping hydrated.

2. It reduces fatigue – Dehydration causes your blood volume to decrease and then makes it harder for your heart to pump that molasses you call blood. You get tired. Prevent it by drinking up.

3. Your joints and muscles stay in better shape – Your joints need to be well lubricated in order to work well, and your muscles have a high water composition. Keep limber with a glass of water.

An easy habit

This habit doesn’t cost you a thing, and hardly takes any time out of your day. If your New Years resolutions have all failed by now, start anew, with something simple.

Your Digital Trainer,

Jeremiah

Image by vshioshvili

Comments: Does anyone else out there follow this habit? Let us know!

Related posts:

1. Blog Action Day – Using the tools you were given
2. What would you bring to a desert island?