is it acceptable to eat fast food once a week if you're on a strict diet?

First of all, what is your bodyweight, bf% and height.

Secondly, you have set an un-achievable goal, or you are underestimating your calorie intake. 1000 calories is nothing, I literally eat that for breakfast. You're diet will be much more succesful (as in you will stick to it) if you have slightly higher calories. Yes, you may loose weight slightly slower if you are eating more, but it is better in the long run. This I think is a more serious problem than the question you posed, but to answer it, I think that if it helps you stick to the rest of your diet fast food once a week is not a big deal.

 

That calorie deficit is too large, my man.

Google: TDEE calculator. That will tell you how many calories you need per day to maintain your current weight. To lose 1-2 pounds of weight per week, simply subtract 500 calories from your maintenance amount. As you lose weight, the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight continuously decreases, meaning you need to periodically recalculate your TDEE.

When you understand this, you realise you can eat whatever you like as long as you maintain that 500 calorie deficit and still lose weight. It’s a numbers game, like spread betting.

However, if you’re absolutely desperate to lose weight whatever the consequences, you could always get on the speed and cigarette diet. I can’t condone this approach, but I can guarantee results.

 

Not acceptable. It be different if you were eating fatty food that was actual food. It's never healthy to eat that stuff.

 

I wouldn't call it a "strict" diet if you're having fast food, that stuff is poison

 

First, I'm not sure what sort of diet and health advice you expect from this thread. I'd suggest looking at websites associated with real health expertise, or else looking up diets that have a track record.

But you asked, so here you go!

For one, there are different theories about dieting. One is that it's mainly about calories. Another is that if you can wring carbs out of your life, you will lose weight, even with lots and lots of calories. There are other theories that seem to be based on some fixed idea that a particular ingredient is uniquely bad or uniquely good: so you eat lots of grapefruits or cabbage, or else you avoid certain foods. Yet another idea is to focus on meal frequency and size, or the timing. Another is periodic fasting from early evening to early morning. Yet another is longer-term fasting. And then there's surgery.

They probably all work, although the more gimmicky ones I really question. A lot of people go for the low-carb because they don't feel constantly deprived. It has worked for me; but the problem still comes back to willpower, because at some point, you do miss certain things. Also, low-carb is tough when you are invited to events or other people's homes.

A lot of people will go off on this next point, but I think I'm right: "fast food" isn't necessarily bad for you, but obviously you may have to be choosy. A lot is high in calories. And low-carb isn't always easy with fast food. But from my reading, the notion that fried foods or high fat foods are uniquely bad for you is not well supported. There are always people claiming this or that ingredient -- MSG, red dye, artificial sweeteners -- are uniquely bad, but the evidence for this tends to be anecdotal and thin, so far; time will tell. (Remember, experts said for years that eggs were bad, sodium bad, caffeine bad, fat bad, meat bad, etc. Now all that is being called into question.)

Food is food. If you are starving, "fast food" or "junk food" will keep you alive. If you are sensible, you will be fine; if you stuff your face (as I have done too much of, for too long), you will get fat (alas!).

I think the best diet and weight loss approach is the one you will stick with longer, and which will lead you to some real change. For me, cutting down carbs has worked better for me, but not worked miracles.

 

I disagree with a low carb diet. I do agree you will lose weight, but not all weight loss is healthy. For example, cocaine and cancer make you lose weight, but they are not healthy. Low carb is not a good long-term or healthy solution. Take the longest living populations, they are called Blue Zones, and they are mostly on a high carb and whole food plant based diet. Look it up and learn more. Low carb is essentially high protein and or high fat, this causes increased constipation, increased risk of kidney stones, increased risk of death, and other bad things. Fried foods are not good for you, no science shows it is healthy.

The only diet that has been shown to reverse the #1 killer in the world (heart disease) is a strictly plant-based diet, no low carb diet has been shown to do this, and in fact increases the risk of heart disease.

I do agree that the best approach is the one you will stick with longer and lead to real change.

 

I wouldn't necessarily eat fast food every week, but I think if you're following a strict diet, it sometimes helps to have a cheat day when you can allow yourself a pizza or cheeseburger, or whatever your guilty pleasure is. A couple of not so healthy meals a week is not going to have a huge impact on your progress and can actually help you to stay on track. I've never been on a diet before, but I've always stuck to a 80/20 diet for the most part. The 80% being healthy Whole Foods.

 

I eat fast food everyday and feel great

 

You're young, your body will compensate

 

You hear people claiming that, oh this food is so terrible, terrible, you should only eat this or this or that. Here's why I think this is way overblown.

Human beings have evolved and lived in a wide variety of climates, and until fairly recently, their food options might be pretty limited. You have folks in extreme cold climates who would rarely get plants or fruit; only fish or animal flesh, and lots and lots and lots of fat. Similar limitations would happen in extremely dry climates. And then you have people who would have a fair number of options for certain times of the year, but few options the rest of the year. Important to note: this was the situation for humanity for 99% of our existence! Somehow human beings have not only survived, but flourished, with such limits.

Humans evolved to have among the widest options of foods we can eat. Lots of animals can only eat certain things; if that bamboo tree or small fish is endangered, so is the species that depends on it. Humans developed a powerful advantage: we can live on almost anything.

So you have these situations where someone is an alcoholic or strung out on drugs, and eats only Doritos and diet Coke -- and they don't die. Or people who live on the streets, eating out of trash cans; they don't die. Obviously this is far from optimal, but I think it calls into question the thesis that our systems are overly delicate and need a precisely calibrated diet in order to thrive. We are a lot hardier than that.

 

I agree, we can survive on many things, but to have optimal health is a different story. But that really depends on people's goals, we basically have two extremes: some are limited in money and their goal is just to survive and will eat anything (as they should) vs some want to live a life of optimum health and longevity and will follow a diet that is conducive to that (anti-inflammatory diet = whole food plant-based, there is also some research about fasting and a whole bunch of other stuff). Then you have a bunch of stuff in-between...

 

Trust me that will fade fast. I've felt shitty from eating fast food since I was about 20, unless it was something like subway or Jimmy John's.

 

I wouldn't say that fast food is terrible, even when I don't remember last time when I had it though if you are hungry and you don't have a meal with you then even unhealthy meal would be much better than skipping a meal.

 

I totally disagree with this. It is 100% terrible and it's way healthier to skip 1 meal than to eat fast food

 

I skipped meals and I destroyed that way health, as stomach acid created inflammation
Though I know who really didn't skip meals and didn't have any problems regarding that will not understand, but I can't skip meals at a otherwise I feel pain

 

Skipping meals doesn't cause stomach inflammation from acid. I'd like to know what condition causes this please. Maybe you should see a doctor because that doesn't sound normal. Plus, we were talking about skipping 1 meal, if you're constantly skipping meals, then you're not planning out your life very well and there is something wrong with that too.

 

Acid reflux, I need to eat regularly and I've been long time ago to doctors

 

You can take an antacid and still skip a meal with acid reflux. Fast food causes acid reflux.
This is from WebMD:
What Causes Acid Reflux Disease?
One common cause of acid reflux disease is a stomach abnormality called a hiatal hernia. This occurs when the upper part of the stomach and LES move above the diaphragm, a muscle that separates your stomach from your chest. Normally, the diaphragm helps keep acid in our stomach. But if you have a hiatal hernia, acid can move up into your esophagus and cause symptoms of acid reflux disease.

These are other common risk factors for acid reflux disease:

• Eating large meals or lying down right after a meal
• Being overweight or obese
• Eating a heavy meal and lying on your back or bending over at the waist
• Snacking close to bedtime
• Eating certain foods, such as citrus, tomato, chocolate, mint, garlic, onions, or spicy or fatty foods
• Drinking certain beverages, such as alcohol, carbonated drinks, coffee, or tea
• Smoking
• Being pregnant
• Taking aspirin, ibuprofen, certain muscle relaxers, or blood pressure medications

Fast food is usually a heavy and fatty meal. You're making yourself worse with fast food...