Burger upheavel

Throughout my weight-loss journey, one thing I had given up mostly was hamburgers. Like many others, I at lots of hamburgers before simply because it was convenient and relatively inexpensive.

But I went a good two years without eating hardly any hamburgers. It was difficult but also not as bad as I would have thought. It was the hardest when I was around others who were eating burgers, which still happens, and is still hard.

Still, there are times when burgers are unavoidable, at least for me. Backyard barbecues, unplanned restaurant visits... there are just some situations where burgers are among the only option I have. And sometimes, I just feel like a burger and I want to give in. Sure, those situations are few and far between but it's not like they don't happen.

To help keep the damage low, here's a list from The Mag that helps. They have the worst burger from the following chains: Chili's, TGI Friday's, Red Robin, Denny's, Dairy Queen, Hardee's and Ruby Tuesday, and also have five burgers who made their "Hall of Fame."

Here are two of the worst gut-busters.

Worst Burger: Chili's - Smokehouse Bacon Triple-The-Cheese Big Mouth Burger with Jalapeno Ranch Dressing. 2,040 calories, 150 g fat (53 g saturated), 110 g protein, 4,900 mg sodium

This one is particularly insane. More than 2,000 calories and nearly 5,000 mg sodium. That's more than you need of each in one day, and you're getting it in a few bites. Insanity!

Worst Burger: Denny's - Double Cheeseburger. 1,540 calories, 116 g fat (52 g saturated, 7 g trans), 3,880 mg sodium

That's quite a lot of calories for one burger. It's probably an excess of cheese and ground beef that makes this soar. According to The Mag, this has as much saturated fat as 52 strips of bacon.

But not all is lost. There are actually five burgers that are decent to good options at places.

Quarter-pounder options at Wendy's (430 calories, 20 g fat) and McDonald's (410 calories, 19 g fat) are not bad compared to the previous burgers while the Burger King Whopper Jr (without mayo) has only 370 calories. The best option is the In-n-Out Protein-style cheeseburger. Of course, In-n-Out is only around here in Cali. I'm not sure if the protein style means it's wrapped in lettuce or not. I ordered a burger once like that, that had a lot less calories than other burgers, but it was like that because it was wrapped in lettuce. It wasn't the best burger I ever had.

Here's the entire list.

Anyway, for those times when you just can't avoid hamburgers or you want to indulge without risking too much, The Mag kicks down with some options. Because really, sometimes you just feel like chowing down on a good old-fashioned hamburger.