He proved the hypothesis that calories are what matter most for weight loss and his labs improved also. Note, he has kept it off a year, and that’s the more difficult part. He should be congratulated and he’s 100% correct, there’s no such thing as a “bad” food but foods that should be limited. While that’s certainly not the route I’d recommend people go for losing weight, he did good by his students and those who think the “secret” to weight loss is via Magical Macro Manipulations ™ pushed by “gurus.”
I saw on the news where some guy is doing the same thing with Taco Bell.
Which just demonstrates that the energy in/energy out model is the major driver of weight loss. It’s a lot more complex then that under the hood, but it’s still accurate.
One of my old managers used to talk about a study where some high activity water sports team ate complete garbage… burgers/fries, etc. But due to their high activity, they were as healthy as could be.
Lots of high level athletes eat like crap. That’s very common. Their age, genetics, and activity levels allow them to get away with it for a time. They’d likely be even better if their nutrition didn’t suck.
I’ve lost 30 pounds and have kept it off for almost two years using a calorie counter app. I also intermittent fast (no breakfast) along with abstaining from fast food, which I abhor anyway. I do believe the energy in/energy out is number one in losing weight and keeping it off.
The concept of ‘intermittent fasting’ is what I find curious. You nailed it, it’s merely skipping breakfast for the most part. If one stops eating at say 8pm and then eats again at 8 am, Wow ! You just completed a 12 hour fast ! And if you’re busy and can’t grab a meal till noon, then double wow, a 16 hour fast! The whole idea of this new weight loss phenomena is just nonsense, I’ve been doing this for years and not realizing it .
FYI: There’s now been several large studies that ran a full year, and find no benefits from IF as it applies to weight loss vs traditional approaches:
The biggest benefit to intermittent fasting, i.e. skipping breakfast, is that it helps me control my daily calories. It is fairly easy to keep under 1500 calories a day with no breakfast, a light lunch and a good dinner.
Which makes sense, but many think there’s magic in IF, and there’s not (as it applies to weight loss) , which is why when they match cals and compare to traditional dieting, no differences, hence what I said in the article "If you find IF works for you and helps get the fat off, then no harm done and carry on…"
I’ve always found some of the perceptions about fast food to be askew. For example, read the napkin at a Subway. It compares the least calorically dense subs to the most calorically dense fast-food cheeseburgers. Now, look at the calories for what you actually eat. Tuna with cheese and mayo on flatbread might have more calories than that hamburger.
People often fail to understand those issues, and surprised they are gaining weight yet “eating good.”
Yup, if anything, “Supersize Me” “Jared” and a few other things have been good reminders of how influenceable people are via propaganda vs unbiased facts.
One of the things that surprised me when I started using the Lose It calorie app a couple of years ago was how easy it is to over eat in a day. With folks who eat out regularly I can see a 3000+ calorie day being easily attainable.
My take away from ‘Supersize Me’ was his serial labs: they got perfectly awful over time; plus, if I recall, his energy level tanked, he just felt crappy.
To be fair, he stated that the students HAD to include 15 specific vitamins/nutrients/etc in each meal. It’s a little more complicated than just stuffing French fries in your face until you get 2000 calories.
There IS a difference between 2000 calories of sugar, and 2000 calories of decent nutrition.
Indeed. But, his approach was designed to be as unhealthy as possible. The bias was extreme. The results were unsurprising. McDonalds sold various salads during that time, and a fruit and yogurt parfait, along with water, but he wanted to make sure everyone knew that eating cheeseburgers with giant fry piles and buckets of soda was the only way. You could even substitute sliced apples or house salads for fries with meals.
Do you have any recent studies on longer fasts of more than 24 hours?
All he demonstrated was that by eating like too many typical American’s he succeeded in getting fat and unhealthy, like other typical Americans. Ground breaking nutritional science it was not…
Off the top of my head I don’t. Would have to take a look. Dr Stanfield has generally solid science based info and is a big fan of fasting:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DrBradStanfield/search?query=fasting