Calorie counter 5 Ways To De-calorize Your Fast Food Meals Posted By: Charles Volcolatte

Believe it or not, you can still eat fast food while trying to lose weight. Because such foods are very much a part of your lifestyle, giving them up would result in a lot of inconvenience especially for dieters with full schedules that do not leave them with enough time to prepare home cooked meals.



You can create leaner, less calorie-laden fast food meals by making healthy food choices from among those listed in the menu. All you need to do is make a few simple switches. Keep the following tips in mind the next time you find yourself ordering a meal at a fast food joint.



1. Hold the mayo. You can cut down the amount of calories on your sandwich or burger if you forego the mayonnaise. By doing so, you would be able to reduce its fat content by up to 25 grams. You can substitute barbecue or honey mustard for mayonnaise. Going easy on the cheese will also lessen the caloric count of your meal because one slice of American cheese is equal to 6 grams of fat.



2. Love Mexican food? A Chipotle burrito contains 800 more calories than one from Taco Bell. If you eat breakfast at McDonald's, make it an Egg McMuffin because eating something else will cause you to gain 10 -30 pounds in one year's time.



3. With pizza, the crust makes a difference when it comes to calories. You can spare yourself 100 calories if you choose a slice of thin crust pizza over a pan or deep dish pizza. Also keep in mind that a piece of pepperoni is about 25 calories, therefore a slice of pizza with 4 pieces would contain an additional 100 calories.



4. Instead of the foot-long at Subway, order the six-inch sub, just double the meat. With a turkey sub, you save 230 calories and a few coins as well.



5. At Burger King, go for the Whopper Jr. without the mayo plus a garden salad. This combo meal has a total of 365 calories and 12 grams of fat which makes it a better choice than a BK Big Fish Sandwich which has 1,000 calories and 52 grams of fat. Also, keep away from the fries because one small order has even more calories than three garden salads.



Surprisingly, Burger King which is known for its grilled burgers offers 1,000 plus calorie burgers and has more trans fat in its meals than McDonald's and Wendy's which serve their burgers fried.



Chick-Fil-A is one of the fast food chains that serves the healthiest meals because all the entrees contain less than 500 calories. Subway is another place where you can eat meals with relatively fewer calories compared to those offered in other fast food restaurants. Just make sure you go easy on the cheese and dressing. The restaurant has several 6-inch sandwiches all containing less than 400 calories.



You can go ahead and enjoy fast food as you diet, it's simply a matter of knowing how to make the right food choices and food switches for healthier, lower calorie meals.