Chocolate

Well ever since I limited my soda since moving to my dads.. I've lost 10 lbs in 2 months with no exercise or actual dieting.. I still eat fatty foods and stuff like that, just a lot less of it... And I maybe drink 3-4 cans of soda a week now, which is a really big leap to me. I already know what I have to do to lose weight, I lost 30 pounds earlier this year... I was at 250 pounds in January, I dropped to 220 around April, went up to 230 during the summer, and I'm at 215 now. I haven't worked out since I lost the 30 pounds... And controlling my food intake is easy for me now since I'm used to not eating a lot.

If you're going to gorge on McDonalds 50% of your intake has to be the fries.

I'm surprised myself when I found out that was the top answer in Family Feud for things that remind people (Americans really) of McDonalds. My answer was the big mac.

Well ever since I limited my soda since moving to my dads.. I've lost 10 lbs in 2 months with no exercise or actual dieting..

...that's dieting.

No idea how we got to this idea that "diet" and "diet control" = weight loss plans. Paying attention to your diet just means getting what you need/want. Lots of people think of it to lose weight because they're fat, but there's also low salt, low carbs, low sugar, no meat, South Beach, etc. All diets, weight loss only being one benefit of many of them.

I still eat fatty foods and stuff like that, just a lot less of it...

Fat isn't a big issue, your body is conditioned to take in fats and tear them apart efficiently. Same with a number of other things like proteins. Carbs and sugars (we'll differentiate for no clear reason) are way more complex. There's obviously more details if you look at all those icky sciences and facts, but fats, proteins and the like our body says "let me take that apart real quick like for fun om nom nom nom", the other stuff it's all "dewd that's hard let's keep it around until we can figure it out."

And yes, portion control is the easiest method. Lots of people eat too much for reasons unrelated to diet/hunger/etc. though. The perils of being a first world nation.

And I maybe drink 3-4 cans of soda a week now, which is a really big leap to me.

Compared to what you were doing before that's still a major accomplishment. Soda (here in third world America we call it pop) is basically as addictive as smoking, alcohol, etc. but it's only recently being recognized as such. The fact that it's so much cheaper is overlooked as well. Cutting down on it can be, as you've shown, a major assistance in weight loss. Cutting it out altogether can drastically remove excess sugar consumption.

3-4 cans a week probably is a good level if you still want to drink it. You could drink more cans of beer than that and be in that "moderate ideal" regarding the positive effects of alcohol.

I haven't worked out since I lost the 30 pounds... And controlling my food intake is easy for me now since I'm used to not eating a lot.

And that's the key to losing weight, we've created industries around complex work out plans to lose weight. Being more active is a good idea just because, doing it to lose weight is really more difficult for people than controlling portions. For obvious reasons, if you're gorging and then spending a half hour working out and not seeing results. It's the work out you're going to give up. (Again, for most people.)

One problem with diets, especially the commercialized ones is that they're focused around drastic changes in lifestyle. People who hop from fad diet to fad diet can do this. Most people won't bother. But a gradual draw down of consumption overall is a more realistic goal. Take your earlier example just because it can be quantified. Going from 30 nuggets to zero is far more difficult than working down from 30 to 25 to 20 to 15 and so on. Or ditching the nuggets completely for something else. There's a reason they give you something similar for a major heroin withdrawal and work you down from there.

In the end, and I hate to pull another koberulz, but as the Penn and Teller episode notes, the key is willpower. If food is a comfort (which it is omg it's soooo goood) it can be difficult to break habits. It's like anything you start to depend on and just think about getting the next serving. The fact there's so much hysteria and misinformation about food doesn't make it special, just throws it in with all the other things the Puritanical Prohibitionists wish to control for everyone.

I'm surprised myself when I found out that was the top answer in Family Feud for things that remind people (Americans really) of McDonalds. My answer was the big mac.

Blech. The Big Mac is overrated. We all know what the special sauce is, I won't pay a premium for thousand island dressing. Nor being forced to eat a second bottom bun.

Those fries though. Oh god.

Yes, they did have a setback when they first changed the oil to placate all the nannies, and they were dark ages where you couldn't go out at night due to the roving gangs, but they eventually figured out something the nannies would accept (for now) and they've been back and delicious again for the last seven or eight years.

Only Culver's and Wendy's (when done right) can get close. (If Wendy's nails a batch I could buy the argument it's better than McDonalds, but they just don't have anywhere near the consistency.) Burger King went in another direction, and I respect that, but it can't compare.

yeah i would agree mcd's fries are more popular than the big mac. i actually like the taste of burger king fries, although it makes me miss the old Jack fries (not the ones they have now, and not the ones before what they have now but the fries before that)