I’m going to try to lose some weight this fall, so I’m swearing off McDonald’s and all of that fattening fast food. I’ll be having sit-down cooked-to-order lunches and dinners at Margarita’s instead. A press release indicates that they are bringing back a special taco for National Taco Day (October 4). Here’s what the weight-/health-conscious consumer will receive:
The two-pound goliath is hand-crafted, made-to-order and presented in distinctive tongue-and-cheek Margaritas style. The Taco Gigante is made with a crispy 12-inch tortilla shell and comes stuffed with lettuce, refried beans, Mexican rice, seasoned chicken, taco beef, pork carnitas, bacon, salsa fresca, cheese and queso sauce. Topped with crema, pickled jalapenos, picante sauce and hacienda sauce, the $9.99 gargantuan is worthy of its title.
I don’t want to overeat so I’ll be asking them to make mine without the lettuce.
Overheard at the Wal-Mart on the less affluent side of town:
Innocent looking little girl: [something about Mexican food]
Father with Southern accent: No, it’s too fattening.
Girl: No it isn’t.
Father: Now tell me: did you ever see a skinny Mexican?
I like the name “Taco the Town”.
For losing weight, what I discovered is that it is the portion size that counts. Consume 1/2 of what you usually do till you reach your goal, then after that you can increase your portion size by watching your weight.
If you already exercise (walk / run for at least 30 min a day) keep doing that. If not, add it to your weight lose plan as well. I was already exercising but couldn’t lose weight till I cut down on my portion size.
Your best bet (no garantuees) is to follow a low-carb/high fat style of eating. In Sweden officially anounced as the best way to lose weight. And it is good for your health. Just don’t quit after 6 months, because then you will regain you lost weight (or more).
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&tl=en&prev=_dd&u=http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/experter-lchf-den-mest-effektiva-dieten_8541310.svd
You will be surprised how hard is to overeat on such a diet, as the body regulates weight automatically provided with the right fuel. You can go to Margarita and have the special taco. Just skip the tortilla schell, beans and rice (given that the sauces are without sugar). You can even have your lettuce.
Tom Naughton showed in the fat head movie that you can actually lose weight eating at McDonald’s. Just skip the bad carbs (sugar/grain).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Head
Good luck and keep us posted on your results.
Trying to lose weight? Check out the 5-2 intermittent fasting diet: restrict your calories to 500-600 per day on 2 non-consecutive days per week (Mon+Thu), then the other 5 days you can eat anything, fatty foods included. Lose 2lbs/week, lower blood pressure, lower risk of diabetes, lower risk of cancer.
Here’s a BBC video explaining the science + studies that back it (skip to 37:00):
The Steve Ward Bang-Bang-Servo-Diet worked for me
http://philip.greenspun.com/writing/changed-by-web-and-weblog
Philip’s brother is right:
“Don’t eat anything that a Caveman wouldn’t have eaten; humans have not had enough time to adapt biologically to the agricultural revolution.” What does that mean? “You can eat meat, vegetables that you pick up from the ground and fruits that you pick out of a tree. Don’t eat pasta, bread, corn, potatoes, and other products of modern agriculture.”
I lost 50 pounds just by counting calories. I (still) eat a lot of Mexican food and tacos in particular, too, but less of it. The tacos I eat are in the 160-300 calorie range. I shudder to think of how many calories are in el taco gigante de Margarita’s. Maybe you can split one with your entire family.
I have never had weight issues, but have coached people (including my wife!) who have successfully lost weight. The formula that has worked includes various pieces previously mentioned: (1) Restrict carbs, especially grains and any type of processed foods, as Guido says above. (2) Adequate protein for your lean body mass (total body mass minus fat mass) – typical recommendation is 1 gram per kilogram of lean body mass, which I regard ast a starting point. (3) Get most of your calories from high quality fats – saturated + monounsaturated + essential polyunsaturated (Omega 3’s are the critical ones in practice). (4) Intermittent fasting – one or two 24-hour periods per week with zero or very low calorie intake.
Re point #3, this could be book-length tome in itself. Just note that meat from animals raised on grass has a very different and far better (for humans) fatty acid composition from those raised on grain, never mind the hormones and antibiotics which are par for the course with the later. Seed oils high in polyunsaturated fats are to be avoided, IMO. Polyunsaturated fats are inherently unstable, and if they have been subject to high heat in the extraction process you are basically ingesting concentrated body inflammation agent. Even high quality low temperature processed mechanically-extracted polyunsaturated fats should be monitored, in order to keep your Omega 3/Omega 6 intake ratio in line with what is best for our bodies.
Like a lot of things in life, it is easier to do something 100% than 97%, so I recommend being a fanatic for a month to start. Then once you have cultivated the habit you can trust yourself about when to back off a little.
Uh, guys, I wasn’t being completely serious when I said that I was going to be eating two-pound tacos as a weight-loss strategy. I just thought that the description of the menu item was worthy of a posting and needed an intro of some sort.
I have to say something to discussion too…
When I saw the posting, I thought OMG that is two meals in one sitting. In my previous professional life, I have travelled to US frequently. My observation has been when you move from West to East the meal portion size increases. So I would try to finish the meal purely not wanting to send it to garbage. I remember, once I had a burrito for lunch at MIT and it was quit filling.
Phil, how about you try move to Vancouver BC for 3 months, I am sure will see some change in your waist line. The biggest compliant I heard when my US colleagues come here for meetings is how small the meal portions are. After dinner most of them go to McDonalds grab something before the bed.
Some colleagues from China were visiting the U.S. office, and we decided to get them lunch from our favorite “Chinese” restaurant. They didn’t recognize anything on the menu, but ultimately went with some chicken and vegetables dish. About an hour after we got the food, I remarked that they hadn’t eaten all of theirs, and asked if it was all right.
“It’s fine, but this is just too much food for us! We can’t eat it all.”
“It’s too much for us as well,” I assured them, “but we eat it all anyway…”
The fattest I ever got was when I worked near a small Italian place which had delicious, large, and fairly cheap cooked-to-order lunches and sandwiches. Portion size was out of control there. And I have to say again, it was delicious, the best lunch place I know of. McDonalds has small portion sizes and relatively low calorie counts compared to a place like that, assuming you aren’t buying a Big Mac plus a 20-piece McNuggets. Even then, it probably wouldn’t be more calories than a pasta lunch at the place I mention.