The Best & Worst Fast Food For Weight Loss (According To Science)

All right, quick question. Out of all these fast food chains you see on the screen right now, which one do you think actually helps you lose fat the most? I'll give you a second. There is the answer. Are you surprised? Trust me, you're not alone. Over the years of coaching tens of thousands of clients with their fat loss journey, I've seen one thing repeat over and over, and that is people think eating fast food automatically means you're ruining your fat loss progress. But what if I told you some fast food restaurants are actually better than what you would cook at home for fat loss. I've tracked the calories, macros, portion sizes, and hunger satisfaction level across all the major fast food chains. And in this video, I'm gonna break the old myth that fast food is bad for fat loss and rank the best and worst chains that you should be eating at to help you lose fat. In the video, I'll break down which restaurants offer the most low-calorie options, how satisfying those meals are and how full they will keep you, some sneaky ingredients that might ruin your progress, and what you should be ordering at these restaurants to stay on track even if you eat out 5 times a week. So this video is for you if you're trying to lose fat but still eat out sometimes, you don't want to prep every meal forever, or you want to stop sabotaging your progress with the wrong orders when you eat out. Now before we dive into the first restaurant chain we're going to rank, let me explain to you how the ranking system will go. Each restaurant is scored on 5 distinct categories, and they will get a score of 0 to 5 points. The first category is low-calorie meal variety, which is how many meals under 500 calories are there. Number 2 is protein quality and amount. So do they have high-protein options, and are those high-protein options quality options? Number 3, the satiety factor, and that just means how full Are these meals actually going to keep you, which is important if you're trying to lose fat? Number 4, customizability. I said that wrong the first time. Customiz— customiza— And this is how easy is it to customize an order for you? And number 5, temptation risk. What is the likelihood that you will go off of the rails because of something delicious on that menu? This gives a maximum of 25 points. And the rankings and the tiers will be on the screen right here. So let's go ahead and dive into the first fast food chain, which is one of my favorites because I love pizza, and that is gonna be Pizza Hut. Now trust me, I love pizza probably as much as you, so I really hope this is gonna rank high, but let's see. For the first category, low-calorie variety meal options, unfortunately there's not a ton. Maybe if you eat one garlic Parmesan wing, for 80 calories, or maybe if you just eat one pizza slice for 120 to 250 calories. But let's be honest, who in their right mind is just eating one slice of pizza or one wing? Not this guy. So if you can keep it to one or two max, then maybe you'll be good. But their menu doesn't offer a ton of under 500 calorie options that can make a full meal. So unfortunately, We're gonna have to give this one a 1 out of 5. Now the second category, protein quality and amount. Because it's pizza, the main source of protein is gonna be cheese, which inherently is not the best protein option. It is an option, but it's usually higher calorie and higher fat. When we're looking for good quality protein, we're trying to get a very good protein to fat ratio. And generally speaking, for every 20 grams of protein you eat, you wanna have somewhere around 1 to 5 grams of fat. For something like a cheese or a pepperoni slice of pizza, you're probably looking at 7 grams of protein with about 7 grams or 10 grams of fat, depending on if you do extra cheese like I do. And even if you throw on the sausage or the pepperoni, it's more processed meat. And again, the protein to fat ratio isn't the best. So for here, unfortunately, we're gonna have to give it a 1 out of 5 as well. Now the third category is the satiety factor. And again, this is how full this is gonna keep you. Now, one could argue that the pizza is going to keep you full, but somebody else could argue you're probably going to be eating 3, 4, 5, 6 slices in order to get there, which would jack your calories up through the roof. And it's just not that much food volume. If you think about one slice of pizza versus a big bowl of salad, the salad is a lot of food volume, whereas it's just one slice of pizza. And last, because the protein ratio isn't that high, And they don't have a ton of fiber in their slices of pizza. Protein and fiber are the 2 main nutrients that keep you full. So if there's not a lot of those, it's not gonna keep you that full. So again, unfortunately, Pizza Hut, we're gonna have to give you a 1 out of 5. For the 4th category, customizability, you are able to take off or add on specific things if you would like, whether it's toppings or extra cheese or less cheese. And you are also able to ask for a thin slice crust, which could also decrease the calorie amount. But really, beyond those 2 things, it's hard to customize the meal towards your calorie needs. So with this being said, I'm going to give this ranking a 2 out of 5. There's some there, but not a lot. And last but not least, the 5th category, temptation risk. I don't know about you, but like I said, I'm not just eating one piece of pizza or one wing. Not to mention, they have some pretty bomb desserts. And if you tack on things like soda on top of that, or garlic breadsticks, you're easily looking at 1,000 calorie-plus meal. So for this, I'm gonna give it a 1 out of 5, meaning that it is not good for temptation risk. Adding all of the scores up, we get a 6 out of 25 for Pizza Hut, unfortunately putting it in the E category, which is the worst. I'm sorry, Pizza Hut, but I just have to be honest. But luckily, not all fast food is gonna go in the E category like our next chain coming up. Chain number 2, Subway. And Boy, do I love a good 6-incher. Wait, what? Anyway, let's see if Subway can help you reach your fat loss goals. Let's start with our first category, low-calorie variety options. At Subway, you have tons of sandwiches and salads that are going to be under 500 calories, especially if you go with their 6-inch subs with the lean meat like turkey breast or some of the chicken options that they have. And if you skip the cheese and/or the heavy sauces, and they have things like light cheese or light sauces or dressings you can put on there. So for these reasons, I'm actually going to give this a 5 out of 5. You have endless variety. Now the next category is protein quality and amount. Now I know some people have stigmas towards processed deli meats like turkey or ham, but oftentimes when you're eating out, you do have to pick the best of what's available to you. And not to mention, they do have turkey, chicken, and roast beef options, and they are usually going to give a very good protein-to-fat ratio, meaning high protein for low fat. So for this reason, I'm gonna give the protein quality and amount a 4 out of 5. And the only real knock is because I know some people are gonna freak out about the sodium in the processed meats. But remember, when we're trying to lose fat, it comes down to your overall calorie intake. Not to say sodium doesn't matter, but the biggest thing that matters is your calories and having high protein. And Subway is a great option for both those two things. Now the third category is the satiety factor. And with options like whole wheat bread that might be a little bit higher in fiber and slower digesting to keep you fuller for longer, a ton of low-fat, high-protein options like we just talked about, and the fact that you can load a ton of veggies on top of your sandwich or salad, all of these lead to a very filling and satisfying meal. And so for that reason, I'm gonna give it a 5 out of 5 on satiety factor. Now the 4th category, customizability. You pretty much customize everything. You can get things that are already on the menu and already built for you, but you could walk in there and put whatever you want on your sub or salad. So unlike other places where it's already made for you and you have to kind of make the best of what you get, you get to dictate what you eat. Which is critical if you're trying to stay on track with your diet and calorie deficit. So for this reason, I'm also gonna give it a 5 out of 5. And last but not least, temptation risk. And the biggest thing here I see for temptation risk are, number one, those damn cookies at the counter. God, those things are good, especially the macadamia white chocolate or something. Man, those are good. And the second thing is some of the higher calorie sauces and That are used. But overall, the menu is very easy to navigate with temptation, and there's not a ton of it. So I'm gonna give this a 4 out of 5. That brings Subway's total score to 23 out of 25, putting it in the highest tier, the S tier. So if you have a Subway near you, your belly fat will hate you because it's gonna start melting away if you use this as one of your options. Now, our next chain is only in the US, and they're closed on Sundays. Bastards. Our third chain, Chick-fil-A. And for those of you who aren't in the US and you don't have Chick-fil-A, first off, I'm sorry to hear that because it's amazing. But second, think of a comparable option like Nando's, for example, because the rankings and the reasoning behind the rankings will be very similar. So first category, low-calorie variety options. I think you've got a really good amount. You've got grilled nuggets, the grilled chicken sandwich, side salad, chicken noodle soup, fruit. You have more than enough variety to rotate through. My only knock on this is Some of the salads are pretty high calories, and if you're not careful, you could easily end up eating 1,000 calories in a salad, which most people would think, oh, salads are healthy. But if you don't look at the calories, they can add up. So for this reason, I'm gonna give Chick-fil-A a 4 out of 5 as their score. Now the second category, protein quality and amount. I mean, listen, I don't have much to knock here with all of the grilled chicken options that they have. And even some of the fried chicken options that they have, you could easily get 25 to 50 grams of protein with only 5 to 10 grams of fat, which makes this a phenomenal high protein and high protein quality source. And I'm telling you, look up the protein options for the grilled nuggets. It's got some absurd macros. So for this score, I'm going to give it a 5 out of 5. Third category, satiety factor. Again, the low fat, high protein options are going to do wonders for your satiety. And even adding in things like the fruit cup that we talked about earlier and/or the soup options can also give you some good low-calorie fruit and/or low-calorie soups that you can put a lot of food in your stomach without eating a lot of calories. I only have 2 major knocks, which is sometimes the portion sizes can be slightly smaller than I would like. Maybe that's just me though because I eat a lot of food. And sometimes the fiber is lacking a little bit. So for this reason, I'm going to give it a 4 out of 5 on how full it keeps you. The satiety factor. Fourth category, customizability. I actually really like what Chick-fil-A does here because, for example, you can ask for the sauces on the side. Now you got to be sure not to bathe yourself in the sauces, but at least you can ask for them on the side and you can do simple things like asking for the grilled options instead of the fried option. The only issue is sometimes you don't have full control over what's in the sandwich or the salad, for example. And so for that reason, I'm gonna give it a 4 out of 5. Still very good, but not as good as, say, the customizability of Subway, for example. And now the temptation risk. This is where I might be a bit biased, and so stick with me. I fucking love their milkshakes. If you are hungry and you've had a long day and you haven't eaten in a while, I don't know about you, but I can— it's very hard for me to say no to their milkshakes. And sometimes even being there, you might find it hard to swap out the french fries for the fruit cup or the soup, for example. Not to say that you have to, but again, the calorie options there are a bit different. So for that reason, I'm gonna give Chick-fil-A a 3 out of 5 for temptation risk. Now again, you might not give a shit about milkshakes and you might be fine, and That's good for you, but for us normal people, it's very hard to say no. So the 3 out of 5 temptation risk. That gives Chick-fil-A a 20 out of 25, putting it in the A tier, which is still very good for fat loss. And that actually leads us to our next fast food chain, the other chicken fast food chain, KFC, where things are finger-licking good. Now, as a business owner myself, I love that Colonel Sanders started KFC when he was 62. It just goes to show it's never too late. So I hope KFC is going to get a good ranking, but let's find out. First category, low-calorie variety options on the menu. The grilled chicken option is a great source, but the rest of the menu is pretty fried, hence Kentucky Fried Chicken, and it's also pretty carb and fat heavy, which means most of their calorie options are higher calories. Now again, don't get me wrong, you can order things like corn on the cob, you can order things like green beans to try to keep yourself low calorie, but— and this is a foreshadow to temptation risk— I don't know who's ordering the green beans from KFC. I'm getting the mashed potatoes all in. So for this reason, I'm gonna give KFC a 2 out of 5 on the low calorie variety options. Now the second category, protein quality and protein amount, this is where I think KFC is gonna do the best job because obviously the chicken option is great. Again, especially if you're going for some of the grilled options on the menu, whether it's the grilled breast, the grilled drumstick, or whether it's the chicken wing options or the spicy drumstick options. All of those can be great low-calorie, high-protein, but they obviously do have a ton of fried options which end up being higher in carbohydrates and higher in fat. So with that being said, I'm going to give KFC a 3 out of 5 on protein quality and amount. The third category, satiety factor. Even though they do have some good protein options, there's There's not much veggies or fiber that come along with it. And again, this could be a bias thing, but to me, the meals feel a little bit light unless you load up on the sides. But again, if you load up on the sides, that somewhat defeats the purpose because your calories shoot way up unless you have a lot of discipline and willpower and you can get some of those lower calorie sides. So for that reason, I'm going to give it a 2 out of 5 ranking. The 4th category, customizability. Again, you can technically build your meal based around grilled chicken options, green bean, corn on the cob. And don't get me wrong, that's certainly a possibility. So if you're gonna go into KFC, that's the route I would try to take. But beyond that, it makes it a little bit difficult because you don't have full control over what's going into the meals and what's going into the food. So for that reason, I'm also going to give it a 2 out of 5. And last, the temptation risk. Like I mentioned earlier, you got the fried chicken The mac and cheese, the biscuits, the desserts. Yeah, this place is a minefield. So for that reason, I'm gonna give it a 1 out of 5. This lands KFC with a total score of 10 out of 25, putting it in the D category. Not the worst, but I do think there's certainly better options you could go with, especially from the low calorie and satiety options. Which actually brings us to our next fast food chain, where I've never actually had before because I don't drink coffee. Starbucks is up for our next fast food review, and I actually meant what I said. I've never I hate the smell of it, I hate the taste of it, and I just don't ever drink it. But because there is seemingly one everywhere you turn, let's go ahead and give it a ranking, shall we? So for our first category, low-calorie variety, Starbucks offers several low-calorie, under 500 meal options. Things like the spinach, feta, and egg white wrap, the turkey bacon sandwich, protein boxes, oatmeal with fruit. You can eat here without automatically blowing your calorie budget. Now, the biggest thing I will say, I just talked about the food options. It can be very easy to load up your coffee with your favorite creamer and send those calories to Mars. So with a big asterisk on that part of it, I'm gonna give the actual food menu a 4 out of 5 on low-calorie variety. So as long as you don't load up your coffee with calories. Now the second category, protein quality and amount. There are definitely some higher protein and low calorie options like we just spoke about, but I will say many of the options are carb heavy with not as high of protein counts. Plus a lot of the proteins might be a bit more processed and come in smaller portion sizes. So it's certainly not the worst, but I wouldn't rank it up there as the best. I would go ahead and give it a 3 out of 5 ranking. Which bleeds into category number 3, the satiety factor. I feel like this can be a little bit hit or miss. You can get some meals that can really fill you up and have a good amount of protein and a good amount of fiber, whether it's the oatmeal, whether it's the egg bites, whether it's some of the wraps. But then I also feel like you can get meals that just have a ton of fat in them, very low protein, and if you pair it with a coffee, you're gonna be a ton of calories but not really keeping you full. So again, not the worst, but I wouldn't put it as the best. I would rank it a 3 out of 5. And for our 4th category, customizability, you have some flexibility here, like if you're swapping milk in your drinks or ordering no whip or just doing black coffee. But from an actual food perspective, unless I— unless if they've changed since I've been there and what I've researched on it, you're kind of stuck with the food options that they have. So it's good from the coffee perspective if you're being on your P's and Q's with your calories. You can really adjust those as you need to. The food options, not so much. So again, not terrible, but I'm going to give it a 3 out of 5. And the last category, temptation risk, from both a food perspective and from a coffee perspective. I'll talk to you coffee people here right now. I know it's probably pretty hard to go in there and order a lower calorie coffee, especially you love your coffee a certain way, you like the way it tastes and all these other things. And not to mention, I've been in there before and I have had some of their pastries, some of their cake pops, their banana bread. I feel like the temptation is pretty high on here, which can make it harder. So I'm going to give the temptation a 2 out of 5. This brings the total score to 15 out of 25, putting it right in the B-tier range. So not hateful for sure. I think this could be a great place for you to go if you're on a fat loss journey. And now we have to go to the most popular fast food chain ever. McDonald's, Mickey D's, Macca's, whatever you want to call it. McDonald's is going to be our next fast food chain we're reviewing. And a really quick story, I know the last time I ever went to McDonald's I was probably about 17 years old. Currently I'm 28 years old, and I just remember it was about 2 AM and I was throwing up outside of my best friend's car. And I think I swore after that I will not be back to McDonald's again. But let's see if it's okay for you to eat for a fat loss journey and you weren't a drunk, hungover 17-year-old. First up, we got low-calorie variety. And you know what, whether it's the hamburger, whether it's the 6-piece nuggets, whether it's the Egg McMuffin or even the Filet-O-Fish or small fries or McChicken, they actually have pretty good options for under 500 calories. So for this, I'm gonna give it a 4 out of 5 ranking. Now the next category, protein quality and protein amount, they do have some options on here like the nuggets that we talked about, but generally speaking, the protein per calorie is gonna be a little bit lower than what I would like. And that goes back to kind of the protein to fat ratio as well. that we were referring to. So for this reason, I'm going to give it a 3 out of 5 for this category. And the next category, satiety factor— again, you can certainly order in a way that can help, but they don't offer a ton of high-volume, low-calorie foods, and they also don't offer a ton of fiber as well. They may give you some good protein like we just spoke about, but those other 2 things are usually missing, and the meals aren't that big, so you might still be hungry 1 to 2 hours later. Again, obviously, if you're trying to be mindful of your calories, you could order a Big Mac, fries, and a shake and probably be full, but you'd be 2,000 calories deep. So for this reason, I'm gonna give it a 2 out of 5. Now, 4th category, customizability. I think they actually offer some decent options, whether it's taking things on or off your cheeseburger, putting things in or out of your salad, swapping the fries for something else if you'd like. They do a decent job, but you can't really build your meal from scratch like Subway, for example. So for this reason, not hateful, but I'll give it a 3 out of 5. And the last category, temptation risk. You are a fucking liar if you say you cannot resist the temptation of a McFlurry. Now, I will say, we all get lucky because the machine never fucking works anyway, so that's good. But whether it's the fries or the shakes or other desserts or menu item options, It's hard to keep yourself in check there. I understand. So for this reason, I'm gonna give it a 2 out of 5. That brings the total score to 14 out of 25. 14 or 13? I forget. I can't do math. Which lands Mickey D's in the C tier. Now, one may argue it could be even a tad bit higher, but maybe I'm a little biased because I'm not going there after my last experience. Now, our next chain always seems to be right next to McDonald's. And it sometimes makes you shit your brains out as well. Taco Bell is our next fast food chain that we're going to be covering, and I love me some tacos and Mexican food, so I hope this one does well. For low-calorie variety options, once again, there are quite a few menu item options for under 500 calories. Things like chicken soft tacos or bean burritos or the Power Bowl that you can customize, and even more if you go with the Fresco style. I actually think they do a really good job of this, and I'm gonna give it a 4 out of 5. The second category, protein quality and amount. I think at Taco Bell it's a little bit of a hit or miss. You have some pretty good chicken and/or steak and/or even ground beef options, but I do think they use a lot of the higher fat protein options, which then throws off the ratio a bit of the calorie to protein ratio. And sometimes they use a little bit more of the processed meats as well. So it's not terrible, but I'm gonna give it a 3 out of 5. Next up for the satiety factor, if you order in a smart way, I do think it can be beneficial. Now, I don't know about you, one taco is not keeping me full. I know that for a damn fact, especially at Taco Bell. But if maybe let's say you're ordering one of those power bowls that you can customize, or throwing in maybe one or two chicken soft tacos, you might be able to eat what you want, but then also put in some extra stuff there to keep you full. And so for this reason, I'm gonna give it a 3 out of 5 on the satiety factor. Now the fourth category, customizability. It's actually surprisingly good. I didn't know this about Taco Bell until I started to research this, but you can do things like build your own power bowl. You could also do things like remove sour cream or go light cheese or change the dressing or the sauces and even add things like extra veggies or extra beans for low-calorie foods and high-fiber foods. And I'm pretty sure, as long as it's still accurate, their website has a nutrition calculator on there. So I'm pretty surprised by this. I'm gonna give it a 4 out of 5. And the last category temptation risk, this is where maybe it's not the best. Whether it's the nachos or the Crunchwraps or the late night— I know Taco Bell does a lot of late night stuff— it can be pretty hard to not just binge on 1,500 calories of Taco Bell. You got to make sure you're on your P's and Q's when you go in here, when you order here. So for that, I'm gonna give it a 2 out of 5. And that puts Taco Bell with 16 out of 25, putting it right in the B tier. And this actually segues right into our next fast food chain, which is very similar Mexican-style food. Chipotle is going to be our next fast food chain that we cover, and I personally love me some Chipotle, so maybe I'm gonna be a bit biased here, even though their damn portion sizes, it seems like, keeps going down and I keep spending more money. But I won't hold that against them. Let's get into the rating. Category 1, low-calorie variety options. Chipotle gives you a ton of flexibility here. You can easily build meals under 500 calories with bowls, lean protein, fajita veggies, and you can easily skip the rice or the sour cream or the cheese, or just do light options of those. And the variety, I think, keeps it super easy to keep coming back without getting bored of it or without blowing your calories out of the water. So for this, I'm gonna give it a 5 out of 5 here. Now next up, protein quality and amount. The chicken, the steak, the barbacoa— all of those are real good quality, high protein, low fat options, and they're all minimally processed. One of Chipotle's biggest things is they cook all their food in the store. It's incredibly easy to hit 30+ grams of protein in a meal without getting a ton of processed items or having to add a bunch of junk to it. So again, I'm going to give this a 5 out of 5. Now for the third category, satiety factor, these meals are filling. You can get things like beans, lean proteins, a ton of veggies, whether it's the lettuce they have, whether it's the salsa they have, the fajita veggies. You're getting a lot of protein, a lot of low-calorie, high-volume foods, and a lot of fiber potentially. And those 3 things combined lead to one of the best satiety factors out there. You're not going to be starving an hour later. So for this reason, once again, 5 out of 5 for Chipotle. Which leads to the next category, customizability. Much like our friend Subway, you get to literally customize everything. You can customize the portion sizes with more or less. You got to pay double for the protein, but whatever. You can customize exactly what you put on it. For example, when I'm Not in a fat loss phase, I'm usually getting 2 burritos and chips. But when I'm in a fat loss phase, I will get 1 or 2 bowls depending on how many calories I have left, and that can be somewhere around 430 to 900 calories. You can build exactly what you need to reach your goals, and they also have a nutrition calculator on their website. So once again, 5 out of 5 for Chipotle here. And last but not least, temptation risk. Really, the biggest temptation is those damn chips, which I'm not gonna lie, they are good. But beyond that, there's not a ton of temptation there because it's all just quality ingredients that you can build yourself. And so just don't say the word, give me the chips. I guess those are multiple words, but you get what I'm saying. And really, your temptation is none. So I'm gonna give this a 5 out of 5 again. This means Chipotle gets a perfect score, 25 out of 25, ranking it not in the S tier but in the God tier for fast food chains that are the best if you're trying to lose fat. You'll be hard-pressed to find a better option than Chipotle. And if you found this video helpful, you can watch this video right here for even more simple tips to help you stick with your calorie deficit better and lose fat faster.