Cheeseburger Diet

No joke. You can eat giant burgers like this one and still lose weight.

How to Lose Weight Eating Giant Cheeseburgers

I always found it funny that whenever media or print advertisers wanted to portray “junk food,” they more often than not showed pictures of burgers. I know they are likely thinking of fast food joints like McDonald’s whose burgers are NOT that good for you, but not all burgers are alike.

The cheeseburgers you find at lower end restaurants generally are made with lesser quality ingredients. For instance the burger patty usually has breadcrumbs and other grains in it to “water it down” so to speak, so that you can be eating up to 50% cheap carbs and 50% meat.

Those places usually don’t have large beef patties either so the amount of actual meat you get is limited. Then they have large buns (more cheap carbs) and sauces like ketchup and others that are high in sugar.

So yeah if you eat lots of “those” burgers you’ll have a hard time losing weight as they aren’t real burgers in my opinion. They are what I’d call a burger product and if you enjoy them then that’s fine. We all do from time to time.

But they’re generally not good for your health and you won’t really be able to fit them in to many diet plans to lose weight. The reason being that to lose weight you generally have to limit your carbs. There are other ways of eating high carb diets and losing weight but they involve willpower, a dirty word for many people who want to lose weight.

Where’s the Beef?

Goey cheeseburger that is tall with Bacon

Beefy Cheeseburger

When looking for cheeseburgers to diet with and lose weight with we want to find the exact opposite of what I just described above. We want pure beef and lots of it, with a regular to small bun. Sugar free sauces and condiments with veggie toppings and of course cheese and bacon.

Yes, bacon. You can eat bacon everyday and lose weight, making this blog post much more interesting all of a sudden.

When you prepare your cheeseburger in this way you are partitioning the macro nutrients so that you have lots of protein, fat and veggies with low to moderate carbs. Keeping carbs low as we all know is key to losing weight as it keeps your insulin down.

In general, having lots other foods (like meat) mixed in with your carbs (bun) is also beneficial for your metabolism as they slow down the rate at which the carbs enter your bloodstream which again helps to keep insulin low.

HOW EXACTLY YOU LOSE WEIGHT

You can include cheeseburgers in your diet and lose weight by using 2 different approaches.

The first is using the calorie counting method. The typical woman needs 2000 calories per day and so to lose weight needs to drop that to 1500.

Now let’s construct a juicy burger and see what we’re dealing with.

Hamburger Bun – 250 cal
3 Beef Patties – 600 cal
Cheese + bacon – 150 cal

That’s 1000 calories total and a hefty burger. The only problem is that it leaves you with only 250 calories each for breakfast and lunch which means you’ll have small meals until dinner. Some people can work with that and even thrive on it knowing that the reward is waiting for them at the end of the day.

But it isn’t for everyone. Many people will have a hard time having to discipline themselves all day every day and will either give the diet up or end up just doing what they want. For those people there is approach number two.

This second approach uses the low carb or Keto like diet. It also has you eating that 1000 calorie, mega cheeseburger at dinner but allows for more calories during the other 2 meals.

Because you’re following a low carb/Keto diet those extra calories will mostly consist of fat and protein. Foods like eggs, cheese, chicken Caesar salad and Greek yogurt are good examples of that.

With these types of diets you can usually eat the amount of calories you’d need to maintain your weight (2000w/2500m) and still lose pounds. Sometimes you can even eat more.

Your Cheeseburger is a Creation

“If you build it, they will come.”

Cheeseburgers are delicious, we all agree. But we’re not here to merely have a good tasting cheeseburger for dinner, we’re here to build a monument to this deity. A work of art where the losing weight part becomes secondary and the appeal is to create a masterpiece of a burger.

Check out these examples below:

The Bacon Double

Bacon Double Cheeseburger

So big it’s spilling out of the bun. Look at how much care was put into making this look and taste good. Two big patties with cheese melting all over it, fresh lettuce, bacon, firm tomato and pickles. Who wouldn’t look forward to coming home to that? Only second to your spouse of course.

Fried Mushroom Delight

Burger with Swiss Cheese & Mushrooms

For mushroom lovers this is a treat that can all be yours if the diet is right. Swiss cheese, loads of mushrooms and a giant beef patty. The only thing this burger needs is more mushrooms. Low in calories they’re a whopping 2 cals each. So load up and feel satisfaction at the end of your meal, without guilt.

Cheeseburger on a Keto Pretzel Bun

Burger on a Keto Pretzel Bun

Living the fantasy. If you love lots of bread then making some yourself out of ingredients like almond flour and others that are Keto friendly will allow you to eat as much as you like. It’s not “exactly” like real bread but it is pretty good, tasty and enjoyable. Unlike the comparisons made between tofu and real meat, keto breads are good substitutes.

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Make it Tasty, Easy & Quick

By now you’re either sold on the idea of making cheeseburgers a part of your weight loss diet or you’re not and simply want to eat a delicious cheeseburger. Either way it won’t happen if it’s bland, difficult and time consuming.

So let’s look at ways to make the dream happen with as little effort as possible. Here’s a quick recipe for the burger patties.

EPIC GRILLED or OVEN BURGERS

– 2 lbs of medium ground beef (too lean and it won’t taste like a patty should)
– 1 egg
– 2 tbsp mustard
– 2 cloves garlic
– 2 tsp onion powder
– 2 tsp paprika
– 2 tsp taco seasoning
– Salt, pepper, pinch of cayenne pepper.

The secret is always in the spices. Combine all ingredients together and make patties. Grill on BBQ or bake in the oven at 350 (175c) for 20 minutes or until patty is fully cooked.

That’s it. Simple enough and tasty.

Once you have your recipe down the way you like it I suggest making them in bulk. By cooking 3-4 days worth of burgers (and bacon) you’re adding maybe 10 more minutes to your total prep time but saving 4 days worth of cooking during the week.

Over the next 4 days all you have to do to eat a dinner made for a king is to warm everything up, toast a bun, add some cheese, slice some tomato and pickles, and gorge.

The above is an example of burgers that are easy to make, flavorful and require little effort once the cooking is done.

To make them even more enjoyable you can add toppings such as:

– Salsa
– Roasted red pepper
– Guacamole or avocado
– Brie cheese
– fried onions
– Chili
– Fried egg
– Mayo
– Ham
– Fried pepperoni

The list goes on. Like I said, it’s not just a cheeseburger, it’s a creation and it should be enjoyed as such.

Cheeseburgers in a Diet

By now you may have forgotten but the subject of this article was to enjoy these things while also losing weight. These bad boys can be enjoyed each and every night as specified in the paragraphs above.

If you want or need carbs in your diet then you’ll have to be on the calorie counting style diet and be eating tiny breakfasts and lunches. Then this mega burger at night.

If you don’t then you can have bigger, more filling meals in the day but they have to be carb free or be very low in carbs (again eggs, cheese etc.)

Having a cheeseburger as part of a weight loss diet I know seems weird because for so long it’s been in the category of foods that were “bad” or junky for you so it may feel like you’re having a cheat meal every night.

In a sense you are because you’re taking a food you thought was reserved for cheat days and bringing it onto the table as one that will help you lose weight and improve your health.

It will take time to orient your thinking to this newer, “protein/fats are good for weight loss, and bacon, cheese and eggs will make me slim.”

Well they are and it will. That’s why the Paleo, Keto movements have taken off so quickly in the last few years. They work and you feel full after eating.

You want to lose weight sure, but don’t just change your diet around to see what will happen. Attack this plan like you’re on a mission.

Build your epic cheeseburger like you are building your life’s work. Enjoy the process and devour the meal. Then you won’t need to worry about whether or not you’ll stick to your new diet. It will stick to you.

The result will be that it’ll be fun and you won’t want to look back.

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