Skip to main content

Now that I'm paying attention...

Now that I'm paying attention to what I'm eating, I am starting to see how fast food chains contribute to us gaining weight (or how they have a helping hand in making us fat).

If you know me, you know that I LOVE my Starbucks. I love my iced mocha, I love the Gingerbread Latte at holiday time, and the Maple Pecan Latte in the fall. I also love their cheese danish and chocolate croissant.  And I used to go many times a week. If you don't know Starbucks, you earn 2 stars for every dollar you spend there, then once you have enough stars, you earn a free drink (we all love free stuff). Well, to add to the cravings for Starbucks, they entice you by offering BONUS stars if you purchase multiple times within a week (or a weekend). I used to go solely to get these bonus stars. But now that I only try to go twice a month, I see these bonus dashes twice a week or every week, and I think "they are trying to make me fat" for real. Because one coffee can be anywhere from 200 to 500 calories, depending on the milk you get, and if you get whip or not (I don't anymore seeing how it is like 100 calories for that).

But it isn't only Starbucks.
We went out last Thursday and decided to grab dinner out. The place we ate at has an app and you earn points when you eat there. Well, I guess if you eat there between Monday and Thursday, you earn a free fish sandwich. So we ate there Thursday, and Friday my husband had a free fish sandwich. Again, we aren't going to go eat there TWO DAYS IN A ROW.

If you look long enough, I bet you'll see so many places that "entice" you to visit their establishment multiple times a week for BONUS or FREE things.

We're all tight on money, right? And we all love free things. And that is what draws us in. If we aren't thinking about what we are putting in our bodies, and are just worried about not wasting that free food, we've already lost. Trust me, we've been there. Who wants to pass up free food? (especially free food that you don't have to make yourself)

Maybe it's just that I'm getting old and crotchety, or maybe it's that I'm just paying attention now, but the people in charge aren't stupid. Their promos work. They just don't work for those of us who are trying to shed those fast food pounds...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My nemisis

I am failing miserably at this diet thing... I just want to look better and feel better and be healthy. The pandemic did me in...I'm serious. Suddenly I was no longer alone in the house, which was nice, but it turned me from getting my steps in while watching tv, and trying a new on-demand exercise routine to sitting. Mr. G working in the other room has me more self conscious about doing any of those things that I used to. And yes, that's a ME problem. Then there was the community panic of "Stores are going to run out of food!" So we were buying anything we could find in anticipation for empty shelves. (Now we know the only shelves that went empty were toilet paper, paper towels, I'm hearing baby formula, and cat food. Then breakfast sandwiches-which was odd.) But I went from buying all fresh veggies and proteins to whatever I could find. I still don't eat frozen chicken nuggets or strips, and I do make frozen fresh chicken. BUT my eating habits went crazy. I ...

Not For Me

Yeah, I'm convinced that intermittent fasting is not for me. It works great for some people, but just like the keto diet, it isn't for me. Next week I'll go back to what I was doing before the Pandemic hit. My goal will be 2lbs a week, and in about a year I will hit my long term goal. I enjoyed what I was doing before. Fasting just confused me, since I was used to a couple small meals spaced out. It is great for some people, just not for me. (plus coffee on an empty stomach didn't work so well for me) If you have any lower carb and lower calorie recipes you love, send them my way! I am always looking for something to make for dinner and love a good muffin or cupcake that won't wreck my calorie count for the day! I'll update you next week as to how getting back at it is going...

baby steps

I haven't necessarily been following my healthy eating plan the last few weeks (which puts me about 3 weeks behind in my year plan) but today I chose to make a protein shake for lunch like I had planned instead of ordering fast food like Mr. G suggested. (granted, that fast food would've tasted yummy...lol) Baby steps, right?