The Fast Food Chains Whose Customers Exercise The Least

On the face of it, fast food chains and exercising seem like the left and right, the fire and ice, the protons and electrons, the Starks and Lannisters of the fitness world. The exact opposite of one another. You wouldn't expect an avid exerciser to eat fast food and you wouldn't expect an avid eater of fast food to exercise much.

But a new study by consumer research group BIGInsight shows that you'd expect wrong.

According to BIGInsight's data, just 34.3 percent of all Americans over the age of 18 claim to exercise regularly. When the firm asked regular patrons of eight major fast food chains whether or not they regularly exercise, though, they found significantly higher rates.

There are a couple possible explanations. Perhaps survey respondents were more likely to lie about their exercise habits to pollsters after admitting to unhealthy eating habits. Maybe people who eat fast food are eager to burn off the calories they consume when downing a Big Mac. It could even be that picking up fast food cuts time spent eating and preparing food, freeing up regulars' schedule for Zumba classes.

Whatever the explanation for the broad trend, it's interesting to note that customers at different chains reported exercising regularly at wildly different rates. Click through the slideshow below to see which chains' customers are the most active -- and which are the most sedentary.

Comments

[ontariogirl]

08:11 PM on 03/26/2012

Does going through the drive-thru count as exercise?

[jenniferkizzy]

01:14 PM on 03/26/2012

uh that's pretty much all of them not just one set food chain all of them

[ttomdale]

10:35 AM on 03/26/2012

what do you want to bed that they surveyed people in the drive through lane---folks that are too dang lazy to even get out of the car and WALK in to get their "food". The only one I half-way believe is Subway because a good portion of the people that eat there are actually trying to lose wieght (thanks Jared). Walking from the car to your house does NOT constitute regular exercise. There's no way that 35%-50% of the people that eat fast "food" exercise regularly---NO FREAKIN WAY---I have eyes and see who eats fast "food". Look at the ingredients, most of what they serve is not food it's a mega preserved FOOD SUBSTITUTE.

[freddsky]

08:52 AM on 03/26/2012

Harder to do in the drive-thru, but....

Picking the pocket of the person in line in front of you is great fine motor control exercise.
Don't worry if you turn out to be a klutz, the brisk run will be most bracing.
Finally, putting together a Tai Chi group in the county slammer is a seamless way to get into community organizing.
Always check with a physician before starting any exercise program; an attorney on speed-dial is also helpful.

[thebarbecuemast]

08:18 AM on 03/26/2012

it makes sense the list doesnt have any quality food its all quick serve with lots of oil to make it taste good-except for subway and wendy. i dont like any of it so i make my own meals and if i eat out in these places i would only get a salad. thats if they know what a salad is.
the people who exercise eat in healthy places like thai food and real bbq.

[CAMatt]

07:55 AM on 03/26/2012

Was anyone surprised by this at all? Slow news day, mayhap?

[jenniferkizzy]

01:17 PM on 03/26/2012

i wasn't in the least

[Redpenmaster]

08:55 PM on 03/25/2012

It would be nice to have these numbers broken down to what people order. Like who is more likely to get super big stuff like the Wendy's triple with bacon, an exercising person who is indulging or a couch slouch just having a normal lunch. And what kind of person always orders the novelty thing on the menu when they're with a group so that everybody's waiting for their fru fru sammich to come out.

[rudy in la]

07:35 PM on 03/25/2012

Self reporting is an almost useless tool in analyzing data. Other than entertainment value, which is minimal at best in this case, silly article.

[chiara0]

12:40 PM on 03/25/2012

Well, duh.

[calypso50]

11:29 AM on 03/25/2012

I don't believe 34.8% of McDonald's customers exercise at all. Do you? :>)

[caveredecorator]

01:43 PM on 03/25/2012

they are to busy waiting in line to exercise.

[caveredecorator]

01:45 PM on 03/25/2012

they are to busy picking out the 4 hour old burnt fries to exercise.

[fjpoblam]

10:17 AM on 03/25/2012

What about Dunkin Donuts?

[rwnbns]

09:29 AM on 03/25/2012

mcdonalds would be number one...i wonder what sonic would rank? as much as i try not to, its the only fast food place i eat at

[Victoria4319]

08:11 AM on 03/25/2012

Subway is the healthiest of them all although no matter where you eat fast foods, you have to read the menu and still exercise regardless.

[truthinperson]

06:49 PM on 03/24/2012

Insert self-righteous claim to never eat any type of unhealthy food, combined with scornful judgement of those that do.

[Jeffrey Bryson]

03:36 AM on 03/25/2012

Agreed, with added arrogant list of healthy food eaten today, description of extensive yoga routine, and expressions of shock that people could consume such garbage.

[ttomdale]

10:36 AM on 03/26/2012

bet you eat healthy and exercise regularly.............................

[Free2BeMe]

03:20 PM on 03/24/2012

Combining different types of foods has a lot to do with improper digestion and weight gain. Starches seem to be the food group that needs to be avoided when you eat proteins or fruits. Of course there are other combining rules and the websites below offer much more information:

http://www.trustedhands.com/content/fcbeg.pdf
http://livingfoodvillage.com/7-food-combining-rules
http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/digestive-physiology-and-food-combining/food-combining-rules.html

[Cynical Canadian]

08:43 AM on 03/25/2012

And I'm sure that all the above advice has been peer-reviewed or is it just myth?

[Free2BeMe]

02:05 PM on 03/25/2012

Actually it has been around since the early 1900's. I heard about it first from a book called Edgar Cayce - The Sleeping Prophet by Jess Stearns. From my google search to find out how much interest there was on food combining, I picked up 37,100,000 hits in about 10 seconds.