"5 fast food that are high in protein and less than 600 calories"

 I shamelessly cribbed this from "Art of manliness", I am losing weight again and when the fast food munchies hit, I get tired of eating "rabbit food" I saw this and it helps keep the craving in check, and portion control.

If you’re trying to lose weight, one of the challenges you’ll face is what to do about those times when you find yourself at a fast-food restaurant.

The offerings at these establishments are typically incredibly high in calories. A Big Mac meal at McDonald’s can set you back 1,300 calories. Damn! If your calorie goal for the day is 2,400 calories, that’s more than half your daily calories in a single meal.

The typical advice for people losing weight is to just avoid fast-food restaurants altogether. And with some preparing, thinking ahead, and good decision-making, you can accomplish that most of the time.

But not 100% of the time. Sometimes, life throws a wrench in your plans.

Maybe you’re on a road trip, and your friends decide to stop at Carl’s Jr. for lunch.

Maybe your kid’s soccer team decided to go out to dinner to Chick-fil-A after the game.

Maybe you’re just really pressed for time and need to grab something fast at a drive-thru on the way from work to another engagement.

What to do?

Well, what if I told you you don’t have to choose between convenience and your fitness goals? You can have your fast-food burger and eat it too—all while staying on track with your weight loss.

When you want to lose weight, you want to choose foods that are lower in calories and higher in satiating, muscle-building protein.

Thankfully, most fast-food restaurants now offer options that meet this criteria. With a bit of creativity, you can easily select meals at pretty much all the major fast-food restaurants that will give you 30+ grams of protein (which is a good minimum goal for a meal) and only clock in at around 600 calories.

Below, we provide some suggestions for meals that meet these metrics that you can get at five popular fast-food restaurants. One thing to keep in mind is that while you can reduce the calories in your fast-food orders, it’s hard to reduce the amount of sodium. These are going to be sodium bombs. So they’re not great for everyday dining, but they’ll do in a pinch.

Whether you’re looking to shed a few pounds or maintain your hard-earned gains, this guide will show you how to navigate the pitfalls of fast-food menus and stay on track with your goals.

General Guidelines to Keep Your Fast-Food Meals Lower in Calories

Before we get into specific meals, here are some general guidelines to follow that will allow you to keep your meals lower in calories, regardless of the fast-food establishment you visit:

• Food tracking apps like MyFtinessPal are your friends. I use the app all the time when I’m at fast-food restaurants. Quickly look up the calorie and macro count of foods and piece together your meal with that info.
• Choose grilled over fried meats.
• Choose lean proteins. While you can still enjoy a beef burger, protein sources like turkey or chicken breast generally have fewer calories.
• Ask for extra protein. Adding extra protein, like extra meat, can help increase satiety while keeping calories low.
• Skip the fries. If you’re looking for a side, get fruit or salad instead. Also, hot take: fries aren’t that good anyway!
• Skip the high-fat sauces, dressings, and condiments. Ask for lower-calorie options instead.
• Load up on veggies. Satiety is premised in part on volume; calorically dense foods won’t fill you up and will leave you feeling hungry. To increase volume and nutrition, add low-calorie veggies to your meals like extra lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.
• Choose water or unsweetened drinks like diet sodas.

Finally, don’t be afraid to enjoy yourself with a no-holds-barred high-calorie fast-food meal every now and then. I love getting a double cheeseburger on occasion. You can just adjust your macros and calories accordingly and eat less the rest of the day. Or just chalk it up to an anomalous indulgence, and get back to your diet the next day. You don’t have to eat perfectly 100% of the time to still lose weight and stay healthy.

Fast-Food Meals That Are 600 Calories or Less With More than 30 Grams of Protein

McDonald’s

McDonald’s is a tricky place to get a high-protein meal that’s low in calories. They used to offer grilled chicken and salad options here in the United States, but they got rid of them back in 2020.

You can still get a meal that’s a little more than 500 calories and 30 grams of protein by pairing a McDouble burger with an order of McNuggets.

McDouble + 4-Count McNuggets

• On the burger, ask for no cheese and extra pickles, lettuce, and onion for added volume.

Total calories: 530 (If you don’t eat the burger’s bun, you can knock off an additional 100 calories.)
Protein: 30 grams
Fat: 27 grams
Carbs: 43 grams

Taco Bell

Do you want to Live Más but without all the extra calories? Try the Cantina Chicken Bowl at Taco Bell. Choose grilled chicken instead of roasted chicken to keep the calories down but the protein high.

Cantina Grilled Chicken Bowl

• Ask for three servings of grilled chicken.
• Ask for it with no rice and no avocado ranch sauce
• Keep the black beans, cheese, and low-fat sour cream.
• Ask for extra lettuce, pico de gallo, and cabbage for added volume.
• Use hot sauce packets to add flavor.

Total calories: 460
Protein: 56 grams
Fat: 18 grams
Carbs: 20 grams

Chick-fil-A

Boy, do I love Chick-fil-A. My usual go-to is the spicy chicken sandwich with extra pickles. I usually get two of them as a meal.

If I know I’ll be having Chick-fil-A for dinner, I’ll cut back on my other meals during the day to make room in my macro budget for those two spicy chicken sandwiches.

But sometimes we have nights where we have Chick-fil-A unexpectedly and getting my regular two-fisted sandwich order would put me way over my calorie count for the day.

Thankfully, Chick-fil-A offers some tasty high-protein, lower-calorie grilled options.

Here’s an order with just 420 calories and a whopping 50 grams of protein.

Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap + 4-Count Grilled Chicken Nuggets

• Use buffalo sauce to add some low-calorie flavor.

Total calories: 420
Protein: 50 grams
Fat: 15 grams
Carbs: 30 grams

Panda Express

A lot of take-out Chinese food is loaded with fat. But you can get a solid meal at Panda Express that has 600 total calories and 72(!) grams of protein.

Plate Meal: 2 servings of Grilled Teriyaki Chicken + 1 serving of Super Greens

Total Calories: 600
Protein: 72 grams
Fat: 30.5
Carbs: 25 grams

Subway

Sandwiches are a great fast-food option if you’re looking for something high in protein, but lower in calories. At pretty much every sandwich chain, you can create a custom sandwich that’s loaded with satiating, lean meats like chicken or turkey and plenty of filling, high-volume veggies.

Subway isn’t the tastiest of the sandwich chains, in my opinion (we’re bigger fans of Jersey Mike’s around here), but its outposts are ubiquitous. Here’s an example of a nutritionally solid sammie to get there:

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

• 6-inch artisanal bread
• 3 servings of grilled chicken
• 2 servings of provolone
• Lettuce, tomato, onion (ask for extra)
• Sweet teriyaki sauce

Total calories: 540
Protein: 70 grams
Fat: 16 grams
Carbs: 47 grams

Allowing for fast food in your weight loss journey isn’t just about damage control—it’s about creating a sustainable strategy for long-term success.

By being flexible with your diet, you’ll be more likely to stick with it in the long run. Research shows that a flexible approach to nutrition, allowing yourself to enjoy a variety of foods—yes, even fast food—can lead to better adherence and, ultimately, better results.

Fast Food Facts II

This is on the scheduler thingie I use....I am at camp running a range for the Boy Scouts...again.   I have been camping 3 out of 4 weekends......I don't mind, but things around the house need to get done and my Ranger is still disassembled in the front yard.  I need to get her done so when I go camping......again I can use my truck as is proper....rather than my Mercury.    Something about ground clearance I guess...

   Here are some more fast food facts....I tripped over them surfing on the internet and quickly saved them because I knew that I would be "out of town" camping and I hate to leave my blog with something on it at least a couple of days.   I will post some pics once I have them.

-While fast food is known to make those fat rolls grow, it can actually make your brain shrink. Studies have shown that diets high in trans-fats are linked to the same brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer's disease. 

-After receiving complaints that their "footlong" sub was only 11 inches long, Subway released a statement that said ""With regards to the size of the bread and calling it a footlong, 'Subway Footlong' is a registered trademark as a descriptive name for the sub sold in Subway Restaurants and not intended to be a measurement of length".

-McDonald's is Brazil's largest employer.

-Nearly 90 percent of America's children eat fast food on a monthly basis, and one-third of children visit these foods on a daily basis. Mix that fast food fact with the startling statistic that fast food children gain six more pounds each year than they should, multiply that by 15 years and do you really wonder why your fat kid is fat?

-Subway is the largest restaurant chain in the world. There are more Subways in the world than McDonald's.

-When McDonald's opened an outlet in Kuwait shortly after the end of the Gulf War, the line of cars waiting to eat there was seven miles long.

-The McRib doesn't have any rib bones in it because it's actually "restructured meat" made from pig innards, tripe, heart, and scalded stomach. Then it's doused in salt and all blended in a salt water solution which acts as glue to keep the meat mixture together. This bad boy contains 70 ingredients, one of which is azodicarbonamide, a flour-bleaching agent used in the production of foamed plastics like yoga mats.

-To accommodate workers at the World Trade Center construction site, Subway created a mobile restaurant that moved up the building as they finish each floor.

-Because McDonald's initially did not want its customers to stay and socialise, they installed uncomfortable chairs to deter customers from lingering.

-When you order a Quarter Pounder (or something similar at other fast food chains), what you're really getting is a quarter pound of additives including, lanolin -made from raw wool- and castoreum, which is an extract made from the anal secretions of beaver.

-A genetically engineered hormone called rBGH is given to cows in the U.S. to increase milk production - even though its chemical by-products may be carcinogenic. Residues of rBGH have been found in meat products, such as hamburgers sold in fast food chains.

-A single McDonald's hamburger can contain beef from up to 100 different cattle.

-Pizza Hut sued Papa John's once because they thought that "fresher ingredients" didn't really make "better pizza".

-Caffeine is the most commonly used drug in the world, and high doses can have serious health effects, including muscle weakness, heart irregularities, and infertility. Children and teenagers consume more than 64 gallons of soft drinks per year.

-McDonalds chicken McNuggets come in four basic shapes; the bell, bone, boot and ball.

-Pizza Hut uses 300 million pounds of cheese each year. That's about 3% of all the cheese produced in the United States.

-The spread of E.coli and mad cow disease are just a few of the dozen examples of food-born pathogens linked to beef. Some meatpackers have considered radiating meat to kill the bacteria in tainted meat. Some scholars also claim hamburger meat may cause Alzheimer's disease.

-Arby's got its name from the acronym "R.B." which stands for "Raffel brothers" who are the founders of the restaurant.

-Eating fast food can result in high levels of insulin, which has been linked to rising incidences of Diabetes. 

-The large fries at Five Guy's are the unhealthiest fries in America. They have nearly 1,500 calories and 71 grams of fat.

-A person would need to walk nine miles to burn off the 923 calories found in Burger King's Double Whopper with cheese. French fries and a large cola brings the total calories to an amazing 1,500 calories (2/3 of an adult man's recommended daily caloric intake).

-The first 100 people who go to a new Chick-Fil-A when it opens get a free meal every week for a year.

-About two new Starbucks have opened every day since 1987.

-When it was revealed in 1990 that McDonald's used beef tallow to flavour its French fries, Hindu vegetarian customers in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, ransacked a McDonald's restaurant and smeared cow dung on a statue of Ronald MacDonald.

-You're never more than 115 miles away from a McDonald's in the continental USA.

-The original Dunkin' Donut had a handle to make dunking easier.

-French fries are the single most popular fast food in America. In 1970, French fries surpassed 
regular potato sales in the United States. In 2004, Americans ate 7.5 billion pounds of frozen French fries.

-Domino's Pizza cancelled their "30 minutes or less" guarantee because drivers kept getting into accidents while rushing to deliver pizzas. The guarantee led to at least one fatality.

-In-N-Out Burger is one of the few fast food restaurants that actually slice each potato by hand shortly before it is placed in the deep fryer.

-Dairy Queen Restaurants in Texas have a different menu from all other DQ restaurants. You can only get a Steakfinger Basket at a Texas Dairy Queen.
 .
 A 32 ounce McDonald's sweet tea has more sugar in it than two Snickers bars. A Snickers bar has 27 grams of sugar and a McDonald's Sweet Tea has 69.

-IHOP adds pancake batter to their omelettes. They claim it makes them "fluffier".

Ben and Jerry's ice cream has chunks because Ben has anosmia, which means he can't smell, so he relies on "mouth-feel" while eating.

-The invention of the meat grinder in the mid nineteenth century gave rise to the hamburger.

Currently, between 40,000 and 50,000 meatpackers, many of whom pack meat for fast food chains, are injured every year, making meatpacking one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States.

-Because of the restaurant's reputation to stay open after disasters, the "Waffle House Index" was created as an informal assessment of the damage caused by a storm.

-McDonald's is the largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes and the second largest purchaser of chicken in the world. Its annual orders for French fries constitute 7.5% of America's entire potato crop.

-By the end of the twentieth century, one out of eight American workers had at some time been employed by McDonald's and 96% of Americans had visited McDonald's at least once. It was also serving an estimated 22 million Americans every day and even more abroad.
-White Castle is the first fast food restaurant.

-High-fructose corn syrup (which tricks your body into wanting to eat more and to store more fat) first appeared in 1967, and the average American now consumes 63 pounds of it a year. It is ubiquitous in fast foods. 

-Colonel Sanders' claimed that his favorite food was White Castle.

-In 1965, a college student named Fred De Luca and family friend Dr. Peter Buck started Subway in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The first restaurant was called Pete's Super Submarines. Subway currently is located in 87 countries.

-The founders of Outback Steakhouse never visited Australia.

Some Fast Food Facts....some of it scary....others well strange.

I am really feeling under the weather, I had to go home from work yesterday, they suspected a combination of exhaustion, food poisoning and dehydration.....I was ticked...I missed overtime:(.  I am taking it easy today.  I stayed home from work and am just relaxing a bit.  I was surfing around and saw this tidbits....I will post a second edition tomorrow.  I normally add pictures but I ain't feeling it right now.....Still feeling rough from yesterday.   After reading some of this stuff, My appetite is still suppressed.   And speaking of work, We had our annual bring our anklebiter to work day last Friday and I brought my son.  He got a tour of Techops and worked with me for half of the day.  I believe he enjoyed it.  

FAST FOOD FACTS WILL JUST MAKE YOU HUNGRY...

-Burger King's Triple Whopper with cheese has an amazing 1,230 calories. Hardies Monster Thickburger has 1,420 calories and 2,770 grams of sodium. Carl's Jr.'s Double Six hamburger has 1,520 calories and 111 grams of fat. Most people need only 44-66 grams of fat per day, and most of them should come from sources like nuts, fish, and olive oil.

-McDonald's hamburgers don't really rot. The burgers have very low moisture content, which basically leaves the meat dehydrated. It's more like jerky than burger.

-Every month, approximately nine out of 10 American children visit a McDonald's restaurant.
-In a study it was found the average fast food consumer ingests around 12 pubic hairs a year.
-McDonald's Filet-O-Fish was originally developed for Catholic customers, since they generally abstain from eating meat on Fridays.

-In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food. In 2006, the spending rose to nearly $142 billion. Nowadays its estimated Americans spend $1200 a year on fast food.

-Certain fast food chain fries are riddled with preservatives to prevent any sort of bacterial or mould growth. In this case it lasts for over three years.

-Burger King is called Hungry Jack's in Australia.

-During the early 1900's, the hamburger was thought of as  food for the poor. Street carts, not restaurants, typically served them.

-Cheese products labelled as processed are actually loaded with additives, chemicals and flavouring that make up 49 percent of the product. Half the product isn't even cheese.

-Wendy's founder Dave Thomas went back to school to earn his GED at the age of 61. He didn't want people to see his success and feel inspired to drop out of high school.

-Proportionally, hash browns have more fat and calories than a cheeseburger or Big Mac.

-The salads are actually loaded with propylene glycol to keep the leaves crisp. This ingredient can also be found in antifreeze and sexual lubricant.

-An Alabama law firm once sued Taco Bell, claiming that their meat mixture "does not meet the minimum requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be labelled as beef.

-To keep salaries low, McDonald's and other fast food chains have intentionally engaged in anti-union activities.

-Taco Bell has attempted to open stores in Mexico two different times. Their food was labelled as "American Food".

-There are more than 300,000 fast food restaurants in the U.S. alone.

-Silicon dioxide (aka sand) is used as an anti-caking agent in multiple fast-food items like buffalo wings and chili. The sand helps it to be able to stay in a heater for days. 

-Singer Jason Mraz supplies avocados to the local Chipotle restaurant.

-Due to anti-German sentiment during WWI, an alternative name for a hamburger (which was derived from the Hamburg steak sandwiches eaten on immigrant ships between Hamburg, Germany, and America in the 1800's) was "Salisbury steak". It was named after Dr. Salisbury who prescribed ground beef for patients suffering from anemia, asthma, and other illnesses.

-If you eat something that is bright red at a fast food joint, chances are that it has Carmine; a bright red food dye. It's made of the crushed abdomen of a female Dactylopius coccus - an African beetle-like insect.

-There is a secret menu item at Chipotle called a "quesarito". It's a burrito that's wrapped in a cheese quesadilla instead of a tortilla.

-The popularization of the automobile resulted in "flashier" fast food restaurant architecture to catch the attention of drivers. This lasted until the 1970's when communities began to complain about the exaggerated buildings.
-You know those grill marks on fast food burgers? They're actually put there during production in the factory.

-After he left KFC, Colonel Sanders grew to hate the company. He once described the food as "the worst fried chicken I've ever seen" and said the gravy was like "wallpaper paste".

-Television greatly expanded the ability of advertisers to reach children and try to develop brand loyalty early in life. Today the average American child sees more than 10,000 food advertisements each year on television.

-Most fast food milkshakes contain over 50 chemicals.

-Two companies prepare KFC's Original Recipe chicken

. One company only has half of the secret recipe, and the other company has the second half. The complete recipe only exists in one place: locked inside a vault at KFC's headquarters.

-Fast food companies, the movie industry, and theme parks have a long and financially lucrative relationship. The companies seek to promote and "product place" one another for incredible profit.

-The average fast food taco salad has more grams of fat than 16 average Boston crème pies.

-Subway's Italian B.M.T., is named after the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit.

-In 1949, Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald's restaurant in San Bernardino, California: the McDonald Brothers Burger Bar Drive-In.

-Pizza Hut made a delivery to the International Space Station in 2001. It cost around $1,000,000.

-The popularisation of the drive-thru led car manufacturers in the 1990's to install cup holders in the dashboards. As fast food drinks became larger, so did the cup holders.

-Before 2013, Pizza Hut was the number one purchaser of kale. They didn't even serve it though - they used it as a decoration in their salad bars.

-According to Waffle House, if you laid all of the bacon they serve in a year end-to-end, it would wrap all the way around the equator.

-McDonald's is one of the largest owners of real estate in the world and it earns the majority of its profits from collecting rent, not from selling food.

-White Castle burgers have five holes in them so that they can cook all the way through without being flipped.