Posted on 02/19/2005 11:02:55 AM PST by freedom44
Les Sayer hasn't cheated on his McDonald's-only diet. Not an apple, an orange, a cantaloupe or grapes in 17 days. Sayer, a teacher at NorQuest College and Metro Continuing Education, wanted to drive home the point to students that Morgan Spurlock's documentary, Supersize Me, was an opinion piece. He said he could eat McDonald's food for a month and lose weight, not gain it.
"The main reason for doing this is because my students thought (Supersize Me) was an objective piece," the 39-year-old Sayer said yesterday.
Sixteen days into the diet, Sayer says he's lost 13 pounds - he's down to 222 pounds from his 235 - and his blood pressure has dropped to 134/73 from 136/88.
His secret? One hour in the gym doing cardiovascular exercise and weight training five to six times weekly.
"The big surprise for me was the blood pressure."
Sayer has steadily chowed down on Big Macs, Bacon and Egg McMuffins and Chicken McNuggets.
"The magic here is in the exercise," he said. "The average Joe doesn't exercise."
Sayer said he's not being paid by McDonald's nor is he affiliated with the fast-food giant. But he said he has caught a lot of flak for taking on the diet.
"Some people are upset because they think I'm pandering to a huge, large corporation," he said.
"It's not McDonald's food that's unhealthy. It's the lifestyle you lead."
Sayer said the main message is that you should eat and enjoy a variety of foods as long as you exercise.
Ruth West, a registered dietitian at the Grey Nuns Hospital, said people who want to lose weight should be eating a variety of foods to benefit from all nutrients.
West said Sayer is likely expending more energy than he's consuming.
LOL THIS IS FUNNY AND BRILLIANT
McD's MAY (SHOULD) GIVE THIS GUY A GOOD $$$ TIP TOO!!!
Plus, it's really hard to sue yourself in a class action lawsuit.
"Some people are upset because they think I'm pandering to a huge, large corporation,"
No they're upset because he exposes the truth. "They" are the same kind of people who are afraid to put female penguins with so called "homosexual" penguins in a German zoo.
I don't know, I always thought the point of the film was, "Morgan Spurlock came to the table with a predetermined conclusion and deliberately stacked the deck to arrive at that conclusion. Therefore any statement he has made regarding his objectivity is hilariously false."
And are also busy Googling to find out the latest about Jeff Gannon's purported homosexual connections.
That too.
Even that overstates the case a bit. Remember your body needs about 2000 calories a day, just to live. Exercise adds caloric requirements above that level. So, you could eat 2-3 Big Macs a day, with no weight gain, if you did not eat anything else.
Walk 4-5 miles a day, and you can add a Big Mac *on top* of your ordinary diet, and not gain weight.
Most people do not realize that it is only a small amount of calories that make the difference in whether you gain or lose weight. Eat 100 calories a day less (half a can of soda pop) and you lose 10 lbs a year. Eat 100 calories a day more, and you gain 10 lbs a year.
Eat a little less, and exercise a little more, and most people can regulate their weight pretty close to where they want it. But, it takes will power and most people are not willing to make it high enough on their priority list.
The teacher says that the average Joe does not exercise. This is true. The filmmaker ate a bunch of crap (granted, more than a normal person typically eats) and didn't exercise. Therefore, he got fat. If he had exercised, he probably would've been much better off. I could care less about his "corporate machine kills us all" motif, but this filmmaker was correct with how bad that stuff is for the average person.
There, do you feel enlightened now?
Plus, regular exercise raises your metabolic rate throughout the day. So if you get in a good workout, you're still burning more calories sitting and freeping...
Good for him! Several of us watched this video with our homeschooled high school kids. It made for a great lesson in spotting propaganda, and the study of logic.
The point is, the average person could have eaten just about anything and it would have been bad for them - because they're not getting enough exercise. It ain't the food, it's the lifestyle. The Amish eat food that would plug just about anyone's arteries - except they do manual labor all day long, six days a week. And they are lean, skinny dudes.
Going to a doctor's office causes many people's blood pressure to go up. It stresses them.
So very true.
Still, I'd get literally sick of McD's for longer than 2 or 3 days straight...
Exactly, dirtboy. Thanks for making that clear.
The whole idea that certain foods are "bad for you" is just wrong. The problem is how much you take in in comparison to how much you burn. There are some problems if you eat only one thing to excess, but some people get fat just by eating lots of rice!
RE: blood pressure -
The second number is critical, the pressure when the heart is reasting between beats. He dropped this from 88 to 73, which is a significant drop, indeed.
The numbers in your post, without the second number, is nearly meaningless.
OK...thanks for reiterating my point...
I respectfully disagree. See dirtboy's response.
I don't believe these results. Exercise doesn't make that much difference in weight control. Not 13 lbs in 17 days worth. No way, no how. Maybe if he was swimming (fast) for 3-4 hours a day. Contrary to popular conception you can easily gain weight while working out hard. You don't have to starve to lose weight, but you can always eat enough crap to gain.
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