Man loses 37 pounds by eating exclusively at McDonald's for 90 days

[Loren Wade]

Pretty interesting!!!

 

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/man-loses-37-pounds-by-eating-exclusively-at-mcdonalds-1496972541

[Maledictus]

Man goes from 279 to 242 by restricting to 2000 calories and walking for 45 minutes a day.

Sounds like whatever he was doing before was suboptimal ...

Dictated over the phone to trained howler monkeys who post it on the Internet for me.

[Loren Wade]

Man goes from 279 to 242 by restricting to 2000 calories and walking for 45 minutes a day.

Sounds like whatever he was doing before was suboptimal ...

Dictated over the phone to trained howler monkeys who post it on the Internet for me.

Yup.

 

Basically the point is you can lose weight by reducing your intake and eat anything.

 

However, that still doesn't mean the food is good for you.

[Maledictus]

Yup.

Basically the point is you can lose weight by reducing your intake and eat anything.

However, that still doesn't mean the food is good for you.

There was that guy that lost weight eating twinkles as well. I think until you get to 10%? 15%? Body fat you can literally eat anything IIFYM ...

Dictated over the phone to trained howler monkeys who post it on the Internet for me.

[Delerey09]

Stories like this are misleading. I don't think he was having Big Macs and chocolate shakes. From what I saw on Yahoo a few days ago, it was more like salads with grilled chicken.

[Loren Wade]

Stories like this are misleading. I don't think he was having Big Macs and chocolate shakes. From what I saw on Yahoo a few days ago, it was more like salads with grilled chicken.

Did you read the article?

 

It specifically says he ate everything on the menu, including big macs and shakes, but kept his calorie intake to 2000.

[Waldo]

There was that guy that lost weight eating twinkles as well. I think until you get to 4% to 5% Body fat you can literally eat anything IIFYM ... To get lower than that you pretty much have to die.

Dictated over the phone to trained howler monkeys who post it on the Internet for me.

FIFY

 

IIFYM is a bodybuilding dietary philosophy.  The acronym was coined on the Bodybuilding.com forums as a meme to noobs that didn't/don't understand flexible dieting, which is the prevailing bodybuilding dietary philosophy practiced by all current bodybuilding nutritional gurus, for bulking, cutting (including to stage leanness), and everything in-between.  (Clean eating is so 20th century)

 

Though a McDonald's only diet would not fit a Flexible/IIFYM plan, as it would be near impossible to reach your protein target eating only McDonalds, there is practically nothing on the menu with a good protein to calorie ratio.  Protein matters for body composition, but it doesn't matter for weight.

[CombatBoot]

Just a matter of calories in versus calories out. Merely for weight gain/weight loss all calories are equal. Of course, the "McDonalds diet" will probably have some long term consequences if he'd keep eating like that.

 

I especially liked the article's conclusion:

 

 

So don't blame McDonald's. Blame yourself if you gain weight. If you eat like a pig—like the Supersize Me guy—you will be fat like a pig no matter where you eat.

[guest439437484421]

I'm curious what his blood work (besides just cholesterol) shows.  and i wonder what it would look like 5 years from now with this diet.

[rocky555]

I'm curious what his blood work (besides just cholesterol) shows.  and i wonder what it would look like 5 years from now with this diet.

 

+1

 

Totally idiotic experiment IMHO.

It would be interesting to see him after 5-10 years if he will be alive at all

Of course he lost the weight with daily caloric deficit + 45min of extra walking.

[Waldo]

Something worth reading:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/hormonal-responses-to-a-fast-food-meal-compared-with-nutritionally-comparable-meals-of-different-composition-research-review.html

[Waldo]

+1

 

Totally idiotic experiment IMHO.

It would be interesting to see him after 5-10 years if he will be alive at all

Of course he lost the weight with daily caloric deficit + 45min of extra walking.

 

 

Eating a calorie deficit for 5-10 years would leave anyone dead, no matter what they are eating, unless the starting point is well into morbidly obese.

[Ceasefire]

How I feel after eating just ONE McDonald's cheeseburger leads me to believe he can't be feeling all too great, even if he did lose weight...

[Loren Wade]

How I feel after eating just ONE McDonald's cheeseburger leads me to believe he can't be feeling all too great, even if he did lose weight...

Problem is, with this line of thinking, is it's anecdotal. While you might feel crappy after one, he may not. Some people handle different foods better than others. 

[rocky555]

Eating a calorie deficit for 5-10 years would leave anyone dead, no matter what they are eating, unless the starting point is well into morbidly obese.

 

LOL right indeed...

 

I meant to say eating McD food exclusively for 5-10 years while keeping calorie intake in check. That would be interesting experiment.

[ColoQ]

He also didn't invalidate the point of the Supersize Me movie. The movie basically uses the "I ate for 30 days at McDonalds" as a gimmick to discuss Nutritional Value of the food, over-loading of calories in said foods, and the harm that having a culture where the "supersize" is sort of the default portion option.

 

Basically all this science teacher did was communicate that you have to buck cultural norms,  be intensely selective about your food choices in order to eat better. Not exactly a headline news statement.

[Kaylya]

At some point, weight loss is calories in vs. calories out - if you restrict calories, you will lose weight.

 

However, the problem with food from McDonald's tends to be that it doesn't fill you up very much relative to the number of calories consumed, and they're constantly asking you to make something a combo or upsize it etc. making it much harder to stick to said diet. I'll admit that the upsizing stuff is easier to resist if you're conscious that you really don't need those calories.

 

I note that when exclaiming that he ate a variety of foods including ice cream, he doesn't mention pop or french fries.

[MariahSnow]

I just can't help but think... how did he restrict his calories to 2000? I just "built' a meal on the McDonalds website: quarter pounder with cheese, medium fries and medium drink and it was 1100 calories.

 

What I'm getting at here is that that food certainly has a lot of calories, but it doesn't actually make you feel full. That's why its so easy to eat 1100 calories and be hungry a few hours later. I have to think that this guy was pretty hungry on this diet (which, to me, means its a bad diet!)

[ColoQ]

I just can't help but think... how did he restrict his calories to 2000? I just "built' a meal on the McDonalds website: quarter pounder with cheese, medium fries and medium drink and it was 1100 calories.

I was thinking that too, but didn't feel froggy enough to jump out and do what you did.

[MetalNinja]

Yeah, there was another response documentary on eating at McDonalds that jumped all over the guy from Supersize Me for eating soooo much food, but as far as I'm aware he wasn't counting his calories, he was getting a meal and eating it three times a day.  Like, there's one scene in Supersize Me when he gets his first super sized meal, and he *has* to finish it, because that's the experiment, and he ends up vomiting.  The point he was making is that "a meal at McDonalds is ridiculous and not sustainable" not that "eating McDonalds will definitely make you fat."

 

Plus the problem with calories in/calories out is that, while thermodynamically true, the "calories out" part is highly variable and based on your basal metabolic rate, which can be affected easily by how much and what you're eating.  So "a calorie is a calorie" is tautologically true, but eating 200 calories of sugar is not the same as eating 200 calories of protein in terms of its effect on your metabolism.  This is why there's no one single universal magic diet - each person has their own little system made up of their health history and their genetics, so you have to figure out what works for you, personally.

[Waldo]

I get a kick out of all the "yeah but" disclaimers on topics like this.

Lotta experts out there.

Look what this is in reality. A test run of a common "calories in/out vs. clean/poison" clean eater's strawman. No different than proving you can lose weight subsisting entirely on vitamins, protein powder, and pop tarts. Strawman arguments are meant to illustrate an extreme and oversimplified example that has little grounding in reality but makes a great argument opponent as it appeals to common sense and logic. I mean, it just has to be bad for you, that is obvious.

Though cal in/out really doesn't need to be proven anymore. It is how it works, anyone that says otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about. 99% of the world of fitness and exercise is the blind leading the blinder. Fat people telling other fat people how to become less fat, convinced that their plan for becoming less fat is the best. There are precious few that have actually accomplished anything, including many whom have become famous for their health and fitness ideas.

[Delerey09]

Did you read the article?

 

It specifically says he ate everything on the menu, including big macs and shakes, but kept his calorie intake to 2000.

I admit I skimmed the Yahoo article and didn't read this one until just now.  I wonder if they have his food log posted anywhere to see what his ratio of salad to big mac was.  I find that people see stories like this as an excuse to load up on non-nutritious "foods."  In other words, read what they want to read.  Point of fact, my boss is the one that told me about this article and she worked as a mentor in a popular nationwide dieting company.  She was ready to jump on some Mickey D's.

[Loren Wade]

I get a kick out of all the "yeah but" disclaimers on topics like this.

Lotta experts out there.

Look what this is in reality. A test run of a common "calories in/out vs. clean/poison" clean eater's strawman. No different than proving you can lose weight subsisting entirely on vitamins, protein powder, and pop tarts. Strawman arguments are meant to illustrate an extreme and oversimplified example that has little grounding in reality but makes a great argument opponent as it appeals to common sense and logic. I mean, it just has to be bad for you, that is obvious.

Though cal in/out really doesn't need to be proven anymore. It is how it works, anyone that says otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about. 99% of the world of fitness and exercise is the blind leading the blinder. Fat people telling other fat people how to become less fat, convinced that their plan for becoming less fat is the best. There are precious few that have actually accomplished anything, including many whom have become famous for their health and fitness ideas.

I don't think this makes an argument at towards whether it is good for you or not. The point of the article is that counting calories works. Nothing I read explains why it is good for you or bad for you... so I'm not sure why you're bringing up the clean/poisoin thing (again).

[Waldo]

I don't think this makes an argument at towards whether it is good for you or not. The point of the article is that counting calories works. Nothing I read explains why it is good for you or bad for you... so I'm not sure why you're bringing up the clean/poisoin thing (again).

When the discussion centers around a common argument strawman, however from a different angle, it is worth pointing out what discussion is in fact taking place. Just read the thread.

"...however, unclean processed poisonous junk is unhealthy and bad for you..."

[FalseAesop]

The super size me documentary is bunk. The guy gas never released his food log on repeated request. Several universities have had studies with groups of students following the rules of his challenge and no one has had similar results. No one has been able to independently reproduce his results.

It was propaganda.

Would eating like that be healthy? Probably not, but not to the extent he portrayed.