The fitness enthusiast previously shared her tips for eating fast food while trying to shed pounds
Calorie counting, ditching carbs, and piling your plate high with greens are often part of a ‘typical’ weight-loss diet. But what if you’re craving a McDonald’s?
One fat-loss coach has suggested that eating meals from the popular fast-food chain may actually help you shed pounds, provided you stick to other strict rules. In 2024, she explained her perspective in a brief Instagram video and stressed that it won’t require swapping burgers for salads.
At the time, Rosi May said: “This is how you lose weight by eating McDonald’s and don’t worry, I’m not about to tell you to swap your burger for a salad because nobody’s going to Maccies for a salad.”
She then added: “And I’m not going to expect you to change your beef burger to a plain chicken burger, I am going to show you some like-for-like swaps that you can make. If you watch my videos, then you know by now that when it comes to losing weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit.”
Rosie said that shedding pounds shouldn’t mean sacrificing tasty treats, highlighting how straightforward substitutions can slash over 500 calories from your order. Whilst 500 calories might sound modest, she insisted it adds up to 1lb across seven days and 52lb over 12 months.
She continued: “Meal number one, we have large fries, a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese and a large full fake Coke. Altogether, this meal comes in at 1,385 calories, which for most people is a big chunk of their daily calories.
“So, how can you still enjoy a McDonald’s but at much lower calories? The easiest swap to make is switching a full-fat Coke to a Coke Zero or a Diet Coke, which means that you save 212 calories. And to be honest, I think it tastes better.”
Following that, Rosi downgraded her large serving of chips to a medium-sized portion. Usually, large helpings contain roughly 444kcal whilst medium fries clock in at 337kcal – slashing over 100 calories.
“And then finally, you switch your double Quarter Pounder with cheese to a double cheeseburger,” she added. “Altogether this will save you over 500 calories and you still get to have a double cheeseburger, fries and a drink. But it doesn’t take up all your calories for the day.
“And that way you can still enjoy things like McDonald’s whilst you’re on a weight loss journey. But it doesn’t have to be boring, you just have to get clever with it.”
Rosi’s clip sparked a flood of enthusiastic responses on Instagram, with numerous people revealing they’d employed comparable tactics. At the time, one person wrote: “Love this!! I’ve lost 50lbs and now in the mindset of ‘eat what you want, add what you need’. Having a maccies for tea and making sure I prioritise high protein at breakfast & lunch.”
Another added: “When I was a teen, I was a little chubby. I ate McDonalds everyday but limited my calories to 1000/day and I lost a lb a day. A lot of people don’t understand that you can eat anything you want and lose weight, as long as you burn more calories than what you take in.”
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