Teacher Lost 37 Pounds Eating McDonald's
 

I'm sort of surprised I haven't seen this posted here yet.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrel...iment-where-he

Very interesting... An endorsement for calorie counting :D

And some good old fashioned activity!

The only way I could lose weight eating fast food every day, would be from inside a cage.

Most fast food ramps up my hunger to the point that limiting myself to fewer than 2,000 calories would be miserable at best and impossible at worst.

I envy people who have the willpower to stick to their calore budget no matter what they eat, but I'm not one of them. High carb foods, especially the salt/fat/carb combo Kessler talks about in his book, The End of Overeating, scramble my willpower.

I find it easier to avoid fast food and other trigger foods than to eat them and then try to fight the insane hunger and craving rebound that is inevitable.

Even so, I never once doubted that I could and would lose weight on 1200 calories of McDonalds. The miracle, though would be in sticking to the 1200 calories wothout being caged or muzzled

What about the cholesterol and sugar and carbs! And the money!?
I became very ill back in high school calorie counting 1200 calories a day….WHY? Because I ate nothing but junk food and Jack in the box. I lost 100 pounds in three months because I restricted myself in an unhealthy manner. I hope he's HEALTHY. It's not all about being thin.
((((And yes, maybe I'm a bit jealous. LOL))))

I'm with Kaplods. There's no way I could stop at 1200 calories of Mcdonalds. Even now with 17 months of dieting under my belt, I can still put away 2 big macs in one sitting. (Not something I'm proud of).

I could easily do this. But then, what was risked in this? Did he lose fat or did he lose weight,which includes muscle mass? What nutrients did he go without? I know a calorie is a calorie...but there is more to it than just that. If you want to lose weight, this kind of practice works in theory. But if you want to get healthy and lose weight, this is the worst kind of idea. Just saying.

There's a documentary called "Fat Head", which is a response to "Super Size Me" and it also talks about losing weight whilst eating at McDonalds. It's been a while since I saw it, so I don't even want to paraphrase what it's about, but it has interviews from Mary Enig, Sally Fallon and Michael Eades, so you can guess what the general gist is.

As for the experiment, of course he's going to lose weight. If he weighed 280lbs in the beginning and exercised 45 minutes every day, then his expenditure must've been around 3650kcal per day. That would mean a 1650kcal daily deficit on a 2000kcal diet. So...duh :-)

EDIT: I calculated his BMR by approximating his height and age and used the 1.55 multiplier, which is moderate exercise 3-5 times per week, since he was only walking every day. That said, he looked pretty out of shape even when just walking, so his expenditure might've been even higher.

What surprised me most is that he brought his cholesterol down.

Nah. Didn't seem to work for me with my large strawberry shake (850 calories right there), two Big Macs (another 1100 calories) and two large fries (another 1000 calories) on the way home...to dinner!

He can keep his McDonalds. And his calorie counting.

This can not be healthy! After not eating fast food for two months, i ate mcdonald's yesterday and had the WORST stomach cramps! What happened to good old fashion dieting and exercise? :?::snooty:

I find this intriguing (as well as unappetizing!)

I still go thru the drive-thru at McDonald's for my children sometimes. On rare occasions I will order a grilled chicken chipotle snack wrap or the Sweet Chile grilled Chicken premium McWrap. For kids there are choices that can be made to make it reasonable... sliced apples instead of fries, yoghurt, grilled snack wrap without condiments, some sort of okayish options in breakfast - nothing earth shattering. I'm impressed he was able to stay under 2k calories a day there! Perhaps this amount of calories was far less than what he was previously consuming. Perhaps McDonald's food chosen more carefully for calories and nutrition was legit a more healthy way of eating than what he was previously eating - what a thought! 45 minutes a day of walking/exercise is quite laudable, though. This guy is way ahead of me in that regard; kudos!

I consider myself a (former) junk food lover and I can't even imagine being forced to eat a Value Meal every day, lawd, gross. Even though I still crave fries or a burger every now and then, honestly, the fried grease smell wafting from the drive thru window is one seriously unappetizing odor. Good for this fellow, but, wow, I couldn't even imagine going to McDonald's every day for however long he did. I think I would get seriously depressed, lol.

@kaplods, fast food "cage" :lol: oh man, can I just say that it is still super hard for me to say, "No" to foods and treats when I'm hauling my kids around. They are active, slim, and eat totally fine, but they still have a dairy queen treat, for example, every now and then. I have to like walk in, order 3 Blizzards, get nothing for myself, and walk out. Sometimes I order a large Diet Coke to be a rebel. They passed out coupons for free Pizza Hut Personal Pan pizzas to students who reached reading goals for the month at school. I had the pleasure of picking that up last week (nothing for myself, again, lol.)

This really isn't such a mystery, because he had his students choose the menu to match FDA guidelines.

He stresses that he did eat burgers, not just salads, but you can't forget that he didn't just randomly pick from the menu to get his 2,000 calories.

He didn't even have to do the work of balancing his diet or counting his calories for himself - he had his students doing this work for him.

What does this really prove? That if you have a team of people planning your meals for you, you can lose weight and perhaps even eat reasonably healthfully (at least in the context of 90 days)?

How many people eating at McDonald's have the skills to do what these students were doing for this teacher? Of those who have the skills, how many have the time?

And if you have the skills and time, why wouldn't you put those resources to better, cheaper, tastier use?

Who couldn't lose weight with a classroom of students putting together all your meals, where the only work you have to do is show up to eat.

If the teacher was single, he wouldn't even have to keep any food in his house during the 90 days (and I would wonder if he did).

He ate the cheeseburger value meal for most times dinner. That is a reasonable choice if one is craving junk food.

This story kinda reminds me of the Subway Sandwich guy who lost all that weight.

Yes, it is counting calories and up your walking. . .:D

re:
 

It really just proves that you can lose weight eating just about anything. Does it mean it's the healthiest way to? Probably not.

I count calories, but will never eat at McDonalds now that I have been 'enlightened' on proper nutrition and GMO's. Thinking about McD's just makes me ill. You would have thought, as a teacher, that his 'experiment' would have been more nutritionally sound.

I wouldn't want to do that everyday and sure anybody who has a team of people helping them will do better than a single lonely person on their own. At least the students were learning skills that they can use later in life or even now with childhood obesity being what it is today. I hope he brought home the lesson that you can lose weight no matter what your circumstances. If you really think about it many kids and teens don't get to control the grocery shopping, fast food or restaurants they will eat in, the food options on the cafeteria lunch menu, etc. They have to make the best choices they can based on what is made available to them by the adults in their life.

i think the point they were making is you can lose weight and eat anywhere is you have the right information....unortunately most people dont have that information or the time to find it

I think it was a great lesson for the kids, I just don't think it teaches veteran dieters anything new.

Especially since most people are going to walk away with the idea " I can eat at McDonald's if I want to" and gloss over or forget the three most important aspects of the teacher's experiment:

1. Calorie intake
2. Exercise
3. Meeting nutritional guidelines (if not from the FDA, then from another reputable source, such as the American Diabetic Association or the American Dietetics Association, or a trusted dietitian).

I'm guessing that the teacher stressed these elements to the students, and I'm very glad to see the topic of nutrition, fitness, and weight control being taught in high school (I'd like to see it in middle schools and grade schools too).

In my opinion, the article is written on a way that just doesn't stress enough those 3 important elements I listed above. Elements any veteran dieter should know, but very often doesn't.

Another fact that (which I hope the teacher stressed to his students) that an experiment with one subject is not a large enough sample to prove anything. Just because one middle-aged man lost weight and improved some of his health markers, doesn't mean anything. Coincidence alone could be responsible for the effects, as could the diet alone, or the exercise alone.

We also don't know what other variables may be at play. What was the man's dietary habits before the experiment (was he eating 5,000 calories a day at McDonald's?) Did his doctor recently put him on cholesterol meds? What were the foods, if any, on the McDonald's menu that couldn't be included in his diet? Did he experience any adverse health effects (headaches, fatigue, abdominal pain, digestive issues, nausea, hunger, cravings, brain fog or lack of mental clarity, dizziness....) and how often? Did he seek and get clearance from his doctor before starting the experiment? Did he have a family history of heart disease, stroke, diabetes...?

Anyone with a basic understanding of nutrition (say, one high school class or a college/university 100-level class, or its equivalent self-study devoted to nutrition and fitness), will find no new information here. Unfortunately, anyone without this knowledge can easily misinterpret the situation to their detriment, by assuming one guy's experience proves anything or that it will apply equally to themselves).

To me, a troubling aspect of mainstream science (and lay culture as well) is an almost universal assumption that we all have identical dietary needs.

Most of us say, "everyone is different," but our words and actions generally prove we don't really mean it, or we take it too literally. Just the divisiveness in our community here illustrates this. We don't try very hard to determine which types of diet best address an individual's unique health needs and goals. Instead, we assume everyone should be on the same diet, or conversely (and just as naively) that "everyone is different" means that finding the "right" diet is entirely random.

Science needs to start exploring what types of diets are best for which people, instead of trying to find a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead of asking "which diet is best?" We need to start asking, "for whom?" and "for what purpose?"

The "best diets" for heart disease or cancer prevention may be very different than the best diet for weight loss. The best diets for a sedentary, overweight, menopausal woman may (and probably are) quite different than for a lean, athletic, male adolescent.

While we "know this" on some level, the science doesn't always reflect this knowledge. The research being done currently, still too often reflects a one-size approach.

Compared to other sciences, nutrition and weight management science (and wellness in general) are in there infancy. Medical science in general, in the western world, focuses on fixing what is broken, rather than preventing breakdown in the first place.

I think the science is starting (finally) to ask the more complex questions, but it will be a while before we have the answers.

I'm starting to rant and ramble, so I'll end here.

Did he keep a record of his blood work like Morgan Spurlock did?

I will never say weight isn't an important part of overall health. I personally am running and generally working out. Healthier than ever. If the goal is health that is more complex than just your weight.

I saw the video. He said he ate two of the egg white delights for breakfast. Well those things have 770 ml of sodium for just one!!! How in the world he swallowed down two of those is incredible! Because I no longer eat salt like I used to, when I eat something with high sodium it burns my lips. Good for him for doing it though but wow!

At the end of the day, I absolutely hate these things. I started watching on Netflix the guy trying to 'debunk' Supersize. It really angered me. This is just a horrible thing to be getting stories about.

There is some small bit of good info in there, amount of calories matters. But like much of processed food and junk food and especially fast food it is wrapped in so much unhealthiness.

How about all the studies that show your mortality increases...a lot if you eat fast food. And people have plotted Subway densities and obesity rates and they are nearly one to one. Of course that doesn't mean causality.

But I personally HATE these stories. Do a lot of disservice to the public IMO. No you cannot be or get healthy going to fast food. Not as a regular part of your diet. At least 99.9% of the population can't. And this guy can feel free to do this the rest of his life if he wants. I would not want to be him at 60 or even in my 50s.

I wouldn't be surprised if McDonalds' PR department was behind this...

WHICH PROVES HOW OH-SO-DIFFERENT WE ALL ARE. I guess a few people will be tempted to follow this diet and expect to lose weight like this man? IMMATURITY!

No thanks! Can't be healthy at all.