Welcome to part 1 of the “how to eat/drink healthier on the go” series. This week we will be talking about the most famous fast food restaurants.

Sometimes, you just don’t have the time or energy to meal prep for the week and that is fine!

Maybe you’re someone who is constantly on the go and you regularly eat out.

Maybe you’re not, but you’d like to eat out more often without sacrificing your calories/macros.

The good news is that there is a lighter option at almost every fast food chain with moderate protein levels.

This post we will dive into the most popular fast food restaurants and what you can order at them without sacrificing your calories/macros.

According to Google, these are the top fast food chains:

Now, apparently Tim Hortons is a Canada thing? I’m not sure. I’ve personally never seen one or been to one. I’ve also never been to a Pizza Hut so we are going to skip over those two but we will go over the other 11 below.

This post is for food only BUT… it inspired me to make next week’s post on healthier drink options to get from Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc.

I want to preface by saying I am not a nutritionist and I do not claim any of these options to be healthy. I am simply just stating these are healthier than some of the other options on the menus for each chain. There may or may not be “healthier” options available on the menu as well.

These are just lighter options that each chain offers and options that I personally eat and enjoy.

Starbucks –

Egg White & Roasted Red Pepper Egg Bites

170 calories, 8g fat, 11g carbs, 12g protein

Turkey Bacon and Egg White Sandwich

230 calories, 5g fat, 28g carbs, 17g protein

Mcdonald’s –

6 Piece McNugget

250 calories, 15g fat, 15g carbs, 14g protein

Egg McMuffin

310 calories, 13g fat, 30g carbs, 17g protein

Cheeseburger

300 calories, 13g fat, 32g carbs, 15g protein

KFC

Grilled chicken with sweet corn, mashed potatoes & gravy

210 calories, 7g fat, 0g carbs, 38g protein. This is for about 4.5oz.

70 calories, .5g fat, 16g carbs, 2g protein

130 calories, 4.5g fat, 20g carbs, 3g protein

Domino’s –

Chicken Caesar Salad, no dressing or lite balsamic

220 calories, 8g fat, 14g carbs, 19g protein

Classic Hot Buffalo Specialty Chicken, 8 pieces

380 calories, 22g fat, 28g carbs, 18g protein

Subway –

Steak protein bowl

380 calories, 19g fat, 12g carbs, 42g protein

Grilled chicken 6″ sub

290 calories, 4g fat, 40g carbs, 27g protein

Taco Bell –

Surprisingly, a lot of the taco options are reasonable to get. They range between 190-360 calories with an average of 13g of protein (list below).

The best (and tastiest) option in my opinion is to get 2 of these bad boys though.

3 Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt

They are 330 calories and have 20g of protein. Order extra chicken to add 9g of protein and 50 cals to each flatbread. 2 of these would land you at about 760 calories and 58g of protein.

Wendy’s –

Summer strawberry salad, no dressing included

340 calories, 18g fat, 16g carbs, 34g protein

Grilled chicken ranch wrap. You can ask for no ranch to make it less cals too!

420 calories, 16g fat, 41g carbs, 27g protein

Jr. Cheeseburger

290 calories, 14g fat, 26g carbs, 14g protein

Burger King –

8 piece chicken nugget

390 calories, 25g fat, 23g carbs, 18g protein

Classic cheeseburger

290 calories, 13g fat, 31g carbs, 15g protein

Chipotle –

Salad with chicken, black beans, pico, fajita veggies & cheese. No dressing

470 calories, 17g fat, 33g carbs, 47g protein

Burrito bowl with rice, chicken, black beans, pico, fajita veggies and romaine

570 calories, 13g fat, 72g carbs, 45g protein

Dunkin Donuts –

Turkey sausage, egg & cheese on an english muffin

470 calories, 25g fat, 39g carbs, 23g protein

Turkey sausage, egg & cheese wake up wrap

240 calories, 15g fat, 15g carbs, 11g protein

Chick-fil-A –

Grilled chicken sandwich

390 calories, 12g fat, 44g carbs, 28g protein

12-piece grilled nugget

200 calories, 4.5g fat, 2g carbs, 38g protein

Market salad with grilled nuggets. If you want, you can swap the dressing for lite Italian to drop calories more.

540 calories, 31g fat, 41g carbs, 28g protein

Conclusion

It can be hard trying to find lighter options when you’re on the go. Next time you’re in a pinch, pull up this guide as a reminder. There’s no need to blow your calories/macros for the day over one meal just because you weren’t sure what to order and panicked in the drive-thru. Always pull up menus beforehand and pick an option before you get there.

Until next time,

Coach Emily