Have you ever wondered how much of a difference it could make in your weight loss journey, if you stopped eating fast food?

Lots of people want to stop eating fast food, because they know that making that single change can make them lose quite a bit of weight.

If fast food is a big part of your life right now, then cutting back on it or even quitting altogether will greatly reduce the excess calories and insulin spiking chemicals that you consume on a weekly basis, and therefore make you lose weight.

But quitting fast food is easier said than done… as with any other addictive thing that holds power over you. Fast food is terribly delicious, and even though most of it is high-calorie junk that we know will make us gain weight… it’s temptation is often too powerful to resist.

I know from personal experience how hard it can be to overcome the cravings for fast food, as fast food used to be one of the parts of my diet which I was highly addicted to and had very little control over.

But I also know from experience how amazing the impact of quitting fast food can be!

If you go about quitting fast food in the healthy way, with the right method and a positive mindset… you can assure your success not just in quitting fast food, but also in adopting a healthy diet and losing weight.

That’s exactly what I’m going to show you today… how to stop eating fast food, and at the same time how to start eating healthy and losing weight!

Some of you may be thinking, “but won’t I lose more weight if I just stop eating fast food and don’t replace the calories?”

I used to think like this, with a completely restrictive mindset… and the answer is that you can’t lose lots of weight AND maintain it by simply starving yourself.

For how long can you live with hunger?

For most people who cut out an unhealthy meal, the calorie deficit they create will only last until their next unhealthy meal where they make up for what was lost earlier.

That’s the vicious cycle of eating unhealthy foods that are high in calories and low in useful satisfying nutrients… you keep eating and eating but are never full.

I’ve been down the road of losing weight by restricting calories alone, and it’s a constant struggle against hunger to see any results at all, and in the end it cannot be sustained long-term.

There is a reason that your body is craving the unhealthy Foods, and it is simply because you are actually hungry.

So when you cut something unhealthy out of your diet you absolutely must replace it with something healthy.

The beauty of doing so is that since healthy food is so much lower in calories and so much higher in nutrients… replacing junk with super healthy foods makes you lose weight quickly AND without hunger.

So you can actually create a bigger and healthier calorie deficit, by focusing on eating more healthy foods, rather than eating less altogether.

Make fewer and fewer trips to the drive thru

The most obvious way to stop eating fast food would be to simply stop going right?

If it were only that simple!

If it was as easy as making the decision to stop driving to your favorite fast food place… then you wouldn’t even need this article, besides for the part about healthy eating.

Even if you are determined to quit fast food completely, it’s okay if you give in sometimes and find yourself waiting in line at the drive thru when you didn’t mean to.

Don’t get down on yourself for being imperfect… as a matter of fact embrace it!

Dedicate to making fewer and fewer trips to buy fast food.

When I was changing my eating habits to lose weight, every improvement that I made was gradual… and I never pressured myself to be perfect. This is exactly how I was able to quit eating fast food as well… one step at a time.

There were times that I would deliberately allow myself a fast food treat, and also times when I ended up going to the drive thru when I really hadn’t planned on it.

But rather than feeling as though indulging once in a while would ruin everything, therefore making me want to give up… instead I realized that as long as I kept improving my habits, I would continue to lose weight even if I was far from perfect.

I started buying fast food about once per week instead of once per day, and then once every month or so… and so on until it was gone from my life! There were of course occasional slip ups, but I never let them stop my forward momentum.

So even if it’s too hard to stop eating fast food altogether, dedicate to making fewer and fewer trips.

Pack a healthy lunch for work

One of the most common times to grab fast food is at lunch time.

Eating fast food for lunch is so highly convenient… and especially if you work near a fast food place, it makes an easy way to escape the work place while you have your break.

You might not plan on eating fast food everyday, but if you don’t pack a lunch or plan a meal otherwise, you may be left with no other option.

But if you pack a healthy lunch for yourself in the morning or even the night before, that alone may I help you completely get rid of your lunch time fast food habit.

Think of something healthy that you can actually look forward to eating, then buy what you need from the store to cook/prepare it, and then prepare yourself to start eating a healthier lunch in place of fast food on the following day!

Below I’ll share some tips on the types of foods that you can eat to replace fast food and lose weight.

Plan a healthy dinner for at home

In the evening right after work, on the way home… is another time when lots of people routinely stop for fast food.

If you don’t have anything planned for dinner then often fast food seems like the perfect option especially when you see those big bright signs on your way home.

Of course, after work you are hungry and want something to eat right away… but if you have something planned for dinner before hand, waiting just a little bit longer until you eat won’t seem as hard.

The key is to make sure that you have all of the ingredients that you need, ready at home.

You can even decide what you want to make for dinner while you’re at work, and that one little thing can completely prevent you from stopping for fast food!

When you make a conscious decision not just to have a healthy dinner but to eat a specific meal that you will enjoy, you actually start looking forward to your healthy meal, and avoiding the unhealthy food that you would have eaten otherwise becomes a simple and natural thing.

Practice moderation and order the smaller size

Even when you are determined to stop eating fast food you will sometimes find it too difficult to resist.

When the urge to make a trip to the drive thru is too much, and you give in to your craving for fast food… it makes a good time to practice moderation.

Just because you give in to your craving doesn’t mean you have to let go completely and order everything that you normally would.

You can still make it a positive experience and stay on track with your weight loss efforts by making it one of the steps towards a healthier diet and more controlled habits.

So instead of getting down on yourself and thinking of how you shouldn’t have went to get fast food, order a smaller size, THE smallest size if you can… and when it comes to items that you normally get more than one of, have half of what you normally would.

This is one of the ways that I was able to break my addiction to fast food, it’s flavor, and it’s convenience.

If you would normally order the large meal or sandwich, try to size it down and be proud that you did so, because it DOES make a big difference.

Not only does it actually reduce the amount of calories you are consuming, it helps you start improving your eating habits gradually and without too much pressure.

If you would normally order 4 chicken sandwiches, order 2 the next time, and then 1 the time after that.

Skip the fries, shake, and soda

Okay so now that we have talked about going to fast food restaurants less often, and ordering a smaller size when you do go… let’s add another level of improvement / calorie reduction, for times when you can’t resist a fast food meal.

Among the three worst items with the most calories in the least nutrition at a fast food place, are the milkshake, soda, and fries.

All of these items are filled with empty calories… even more so than the other fast food menu items… and contain little to no protein or valuable nutrition otherwise.

Although they are nowhere near being a great choice for health and weight loss, the other menu items that have meat such as sandwiches, at least contain protein and things like lettuce and tomato which will go towards satisfying your hunger.

These Foods still have an excess of calories, but passing on the mountain of calories from the accessory items (shake, soda, fries) will make a huge reduction in the total calories that you consume on a given day.

Also, just like the tips mentioned above, skipping the most unhealthy items doesn’t just make an improvement in your diet content, but more importantly it helps you build the permanent habits that you need to make long-term changes and continue improving your diet.

By making change like this you prove to yourself that you can continue to push forward, no matter the pace, and that you will eventually reach your goals!

So the next time that you indulge in your craving for fast food, challenge yourself to make an improvement. Stick to the main high protein items, pass on the shake, fries, and soda… and be proud that you took a step towards your weight loss goal!

Focus on eating MORE healthy foods

Although the main focus of this article is on how to stop eating fast food… the most effective thing that you can do when trying to stop eating fast food and/or to lose weight, is to actually focus your efforts on simply eating MORE healthy foods, rather than worrying about the foods that you should be restricting.

When you ADD healthy, super nutritious Foods into your diet, it will actually reduce the amount of calories and unhealthy food that you are consuming throughout the day, naturally and without having to think about it all of the time.

By consuming more healthy foods you fill your belly with lots of nutrients, yet very few calories, which replaces the unhealthy junk such as fast food that you would have eaten otherwise.

The good food takes up the space in your belly which reduces your hunger and cravings… and floods your body with tons of satisfying nutrients which further reduces your hunger and cravings.

All of this happens while you remain in a calorie deficit as long as you are always improving your diet content, i.e. eating more healthy food / less unhealthy food.

This is exactly how I was able to successfully lose lots of weight and keep it off, without ever having to be hungry and with rarely having to struggle with trying to outright battle against my cravings.

In the past there were so many times that I had failed to see any significant weight loss results when I tried to cut sugar or junk foods out of my diet, without the much-needed replacement of healthier foods.

When I finally realized that a healthy diet was the key to me reaching my long-term weight loss goals, I simplified everything by focusing my efforts on the absolute most important aspect of weight loss, which is eating a diet with quality foods.

The more healthy foods that I ate, the more weight that I lost and the easier it was for me to let go fast food and all of the foods that were making me fat and keeping me from reaching my goals.

If you eat a well-balanced healthy meal, you won’t have much room left for fast food, and even though you will feel full which we typically associate with gaining weight, having made the healthy choice… you will have reduced your calorie consumption significantly and will be able to enjoy hunger-free fat loss!

The trick to learning how to stop CRAVING fast food so much, is to be proactive and to eat healthy before the cravings even come, because once you get hungry and your mind gets set on fast food,it will be much harder to make the healthy decision and to wait for the craving to go away.

So as you work towards quitting fast food, remember to focus on the bigger and more important picture, which is improving the quality of your diet overall, and eating more healthy foods rather than less food altogether.

This content was originally written on TheShapeWithin.com

Foods that you can eat to lose weight

The very best foods for weight loss are called, “whole foods.” Whole foods are earth’s most natural foods… vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, whole grains, and meat.

What makes whole foods so special is that they have not been modified by manufacturers.

When foods are processed by companies, all of the qualities that originally made the foods healthy and great for weight loss are usually ruined… and then extra chemicals which are high in empty calories are added as well, making the situation worse.

But when you eat a whole food that has not been modified since it was harvested, such as a sweet potato, almonds, quinoa, or brown rice… you get all of the original nutrients that nature intended without any of the extra high-calorie chemicals.

Check out this article learn how eating more of these 5 super healthy whole foods will make you lose weight.

Or if you want to start losing weight with a complete plan that is filled with healthy whole foods to choose from, join the 8-Week Weight Loss Challenge! It is an amazing program that will help you transform your eating habits and body, one step at a time.