Monday, June 18, 2012

Fast Food Failure



First of all I would like to express huge gratitude to everyone that has stopped by to peruse my blog. I am extremely excited to continue doing it because I have had such a large amount of people viewing it from all around the world. So for that I thank you. Please continue to follow, subscribe and share my blog with others. I appreciate you all for reading it but will appreciate it even more if you all would follow/subscribe, share and leave comments/feedback. Comments and feedback is very important to the success of this blog. Enough about that. On to my new post titled: Fast Food Failure.

You ever had one of those days that you crave every single fast food restaurant available in town? If you answered no to this question, I am willing to bet that you have never had fast food. Today was that day for me. For lunch, I craved 6 fast food restaurants today and went to 5 of the 6 and took pictures to prove it.

I had a mean craving for a pressure cooked and deep fried in peanut oil spicy Chic-Fil-A sandwich on a buttery toasted bun topped with a sliced pickle and cheese, a side of large waffle fries dipped in Polynesian sauce and a large lemonade. I knew to not go on a Sunday due to Founder and extremely rich owner Truett Cathy's strong Southern Baptist background. He believes that you should never become so committed to financial success that you abandon your principles and priorities. This is very honorable in my eyes but unfortunate to my taste buds. When I want to eat Chic-Fil-A the craving does not leave just because its Sunday! Come on! So what do you think I did? If you answered went to other fast food restaurants that don't have strong religious ties to their business model. You are right!!! Congratulations you are starting to learn my very predictable personality.

Next craving I had was Burger King where you can have it your way. I drove up to Burger King and got out of the car and it smelled like I was in Flame Broiled heaven. While I was walking up to the restaurant I imagined myself eating a Double Whopper with cheese no onions and light on the lettuce. A medium fry and a medium coke. Better yet, since I would be eating such a large burger that requires me to hold with both hands, I would just order a Large Diet Coke. That's for all you health freaks reading this and gasping in disbelief and disappointment. 
Burger King! Home of the Whopper. Where you can have it your way!

My next stop was McDonald's. I saw so many chubby kids with snotty noses and ketchup stains on their clothes running around in the play area. Way to work of that Big kids happy meal kid! Keep climbing! You can burn about 10 more calories if you jump from the top of the slide! That advice is free to you mom, don't worry about paying me , I don't work here. My menu items are 2 double cheeseburgers. No Ketchup. No Mustard. Add Big Mac Sauce.  Medium fry and a small strawberry shake. I love the triple thick shakes that you cant even suck through the straw until they melt. Drives me wild. Ohhh!!! and Apple Pies are 2 for $1.00.
McDonalds Bod-Dop-Bop-Ba-Baaa! I'm lovin it!
Next stop was Pizza Hut gather 'round for the good stuff. Since today was Father's day, a 17 year old girl told me that she was going to treat her dad to pizza because last year her cooking caused harm to his well being. She informs me that he told her he didn't want an episode of last year. She cooked him fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens and corn bread. Apparently she didn't cook the chicken all the way through which caused him to spend the majority of his fathers day in the Hospital for food poisoning of some sort. So she ordered a large meat lovers with extra cheese, half pan of Tuscani Alfredo pasta and an order of bread sticks. That sounded delicious. I wanted the same thing. 
Pizza Hut. Gather 'Round the good stuff!


Next stop was Popeyes. Love that chicken. I wanted an 8 piece dark meal with 4 biscuits and 1 side (Red Beans and Rice) all for $6.99!!! What a deal?!?!? Popeyes has been serving up Louisiana style fried chicken and seafood since 1972. The flavor is so amazing that you can wash your hands numerous times after eating it and lick your fingers hours later in the day and still taste the secret spices. The biscuits are so buttery and flaky that they literally melt in your mouth and not in your hands. As a bonus, if you are a good patron, you get a huge jalapeno pepper for only $0.30 In American currency that's the equivalence of a 5 stick pack of chewing gum. If you look across the street in the picture you will see Wendy's in the distance. That was my next and final stop of my fast food restaurant tour. 
Popeyes. Love that chicken from Popeyes!


Final stop was Wendy's. "Its better than fast food, It's Wendy's." Wendy's was the most popular fast food restaurant that I actually ate during my weight-loss journey. On Tuesday and Thursday I decided against taking a bag lunch to work. I would walk to the closest Wendy's near my job which was exactly 1.4 miles away from my job. I was able to clock 2.8 miles and walk at a 3.0 speed which burned around 650 calories when I was 380 pounds. I would order a spicy chicken sandwich plain and a 5 piece spicy chicken nugget with no sauce. Those 2 menu items were 555 calories. i was able to net 95 calories by walking to Wendy's and ordering those items. However today was different. I wanted to go all the way on the dark side. May I have a Double Baconator with a large fry and a small frosty?
Wendy's. "Its better than fast food. Its Wendy's."



For those of you that are slightly observant, I'm sure you noticed that all of my pictures are from outside of the fast food establishments. The plan was that I would go into the establishment and order ONLY if a staff member invited me inside. I knew exactly what I would order at every fast food joint that I toured. I would wait for 30 minutes at each fast food establishment and leave if no staff member invited me in after the 30 minutes expired. I was highly upset that no staff member from any of the fast food establishments even came outside to acknowledge me! Is that what they call customer service? Although I met and observed some very interesting patrons of these establishments, it did not pay dividends for how much time I spent attempting to get invited into the restaurants. It was heart breaking to know that my money was not useful at these delicious eateries. I know that they saw my puppy dog eyes looking through the windows. The crew at Wendy's just gazed at me and made comments that I couldn't hear from the outside of the restaurant. It had to be funny because I could tell they were laughing hysterically. I really pissed me off. This fast food restaurant tour was a complete and utter failure.

Although I didn't get to eat any fast food today I thought the tour was quite entertaining and yes I learned something from it. When I learn something that means that I have to teach others what I learned. Its just the way that I am. Always have been and probably always will be. This experience taught me that Fast Food is NOT the reason that many of us are Fat, Overweight, Obese or whatever term best describes our larger than average bodies. The reason that we are Fat, Overweight, Obese or whatever term to describe our large bodies is because we eat Fast Food and things that we shouldn't. If you don't understand what I am saying I will dissect it a little more. Yes Fast Food establishments have really unhealthy foods on the menu. That does not matter if you don't go to the Fast Food Establishments. The example I use should really explain this better if I haven't already. A gun sitting on a table can not kill a person. A gun sitting on a table and is picked up and the trigger is squeezed can kill a person. A Whopper sitting on a table can not assist in our weight gain. A whopper sitting on a table and is picked up and bitten and swallowed can assist in our weight gain. Get it? Good! 

Nobody pulled a gun on me and forced me to go into any of the fast food establishments. Nobody even asked me nicely to come inside. It is a decision that I had to make for myself. I hope that I have gotten my point across crystal clear. If not maybe you can find a first grader to explain it to you because it appears you are not smarter than a fifth grader. I will end this entry with some fun stats if I would have ordered the menu items listed above. 

By not inviting me inside of the Fast Food establishments they saved me the following amount of calories.

Chic-Fil-A: Spicy Chic-Fil-A sandwich with cheese, a side of large waffle fries with Polynesian sauce and a large lemonade. 1550 CALORIES

Burger King:  Double Whopper with cheese no onions and light on the lettuce. A medium fry and a Large Diet Coke. 1400 CALORIES

McDonalds: 2 Double Cheeseburgers. No Ketchup. No Mustard. Add Big Mac Sauce.  Medium fry and a small strawberry shake.  2 Apple Pies. 2440 CALORIES

Pizza Hut:  Large 14" Meat lovers with extra cheese, half pan of Tuscani Alfredo pasta and an order of breadsticks. (3 slices 1 serving of the pasta and 2 breadsticks) 2300 CALORIES

Popeyes:  8 piece dark meal with 4 biscuits and 1 side Red Beans and Rice (2 pieces 1 biscuit and 1 serving of red beans and rice) 1190 CALORIES

Wendy's: Double baconator with a large fry and a small frosty? 1800 CALORIES

15 comments:

  1. lvpthemvp@gmail.com said "My menu items are 2 double cheeseburgers. No Ketchup. No Mustard. Add Big Mac Sauce-" All I can say to that is YUCKO BUCKO!!!! And I think I feel the same about anything at Burger King. LOL. McDonald's was my first job. Interesting take on fast food and the calories saved. Why are your pics always from far away? I really wish you had a close up of your weight loss self AKA Healthy Mike.

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  2. lvpthemvp thanks for reading and commenting. Thats the beauty of fast food. What is disgusting to 1 person is delicious to someone else. Like it or not McDonalds and Burger King are two of the top money makers in the fast food industry. They understand what keeps people coming back. And my pictures are so far away because I don't want my good looks to take away from the points that I am trying to make. In all seriousness, I think my camera that I just found doesnt have high resolution. Its better suited for digital recording. If this continues to succeed I will invest in a better camera. Deal?

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  3. This was an awesome blog and thank goodness I read it before investing in a breakfast sandwich at McD's. I have a question about how you maintained your healthy eating habits while traveling?

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  4. Unknown user ask whatever you want. I would just prefer that you follow the blog if not already so that you can get the answer a little easier.

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  5. That was a great blog, and so well put too! Since we have known each other all of our lives, I know that there had to be a great hook ending. HA! HA! I am definately proud of you and all of your accomplishments. You look great! Keep Up the great work!

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    1. Thanks Cousin. I appreciate you stopping by. I am proud of you too and your career success. Keep it up.

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  6. Best entry yet. Man those descriptions brought back some awesome memories and food encounters but I know they're bad lol. Sadly, had I been present, we would have had an awesome lunch date frat. Anyway, I think what drove it home was seeing the actual amount of calories in each meal. Question is, where did you get those numbers? -Peace

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    1. Brother XD you liked this one? LOL. You know us fat people have a way of describing food. The actual amounts of calories that were calculated was from the website of each Fast Food Establishment. Its called nutritial Calculator or facts on each website. They were so kind for adding it up for us. The thing is that we can do this before we go and order this stuff and then decide weather we want it or not. That way the establishment can't say they didnt provide us with the information. Its a little scary to know that the amount of calories in one meal from these places surpasses the amount of calories that we should have in one day and in some cases two days.

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  7. OMG this entire blog made me want to vomit. *lmao*! I think I can finally say that I am officially CURED of my fast food desires, because NOTHING on any of your menus sounded good. AT ALL. The only thing I have gotten at a fast food restaurant in the past 2 years has been one of two different Wendy's half-size salads: the apple pecan or the berry almond.

    Great blog, and FANTASTIC look at personal responsibility! :)

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  8. Thanks Tricia! Looking at the preview of you comment from my email, I thoought that I had my first negative comment. LOL. I'm guilty of still wanting some of those foods. I don't eat them but still would. To me they taste good but I understand that just because something tastes good doesnt mean its good for you. Those salads from Wendy's are delicious as well! Please come back again and leave more feedback. I love it!

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  9. Wow!! I LOVE this one! I love that you're so honest and how I can relate to this! Man I drove by Wendy's, mcdonalds, taco bell, burger king ALL on the way home and wasn't tempted! All because I remembered your fast food blog today!!! Thank you sooooo much!!

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  10. aha!! My thoughts exactly!! Man fast food cravings are the WORST!! Especially on pay day! lol
    I'm learning that if I don't avoid them totally, I sure can look up the calories of stuff at the location and pick something sensible and suitable for my body.
    I can only imagine what the employees were saying about you!!! LOL

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  11. I think I will try this the next time I get a fast food craving. Dang I had no idea just how many calories are in some of my favorite foods.

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  12. I loved this blog post. Although we don't have half of those things over here, I've noticed that while I do choose to eat at fast food establishments, I make sure that the menu items I'm picking are lower calories. I don't NEED fries with a burger, since the burger is actually filling enough without the added 500cals.
    I'm also teaching my children that fast food is a treat, a one off social event rather than part of a lifestyle choice.

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