Junkfood all day everyday and still lose weight!

[fundmark19]

This prof went on a twinkie diet and lost 27 lbs over 2 months. Anyone interested in eating twinkies for a month or two?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08...iet.professor/


For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these sugary cakelets every three hours, instead of meals. To add variety in his steady stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Haub munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too.
His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food.
The premise held up: On his "convenience store diet," he shed 27 pounds in two months.

[fredr123]

I was ready to sign up until I read this part:

Two-thirds of his total intake came from junk food. He also took a multivitamin pill and drank a protein shake daily. And he ate vegetables, typically a can of green beans or three to four celery stalks.

Green beans suck.

[fundmark19]

But celery is good

[CaptainCrunch]

Then one day his liver screamed out in rage, packed a suitcase and exited out of his anus.

[DownhillGoat]

Interesting read, but hardly based on anything concrete to state that it's only calories that matter.

If you could replicate that EXACT test with the same drop in calories, and eating healthy foods instead, would he have lost more weight? How much of that weight loss was in muscle mass? There's a whole lot of variables that weren't and can no longer be factored in, as it's pretty much impossible to recreate that test.

[Weiser Wonder]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Then one day his liver screamed out in rage, packed a suitcase and exited out of his anus.

And he lost 10 more pounds!

[Roof-Daddy]

The three hour diet works, as long as you figure out what your calorie intake should be to lose weight at a healthy rate, and don't exceed it.

I lost 15 pounds this summer eating 2000-2200 calories a day. (not twinkies, but relatively healthy food)

Spread those calories out with meals at 7:00am, 10:00am, 1:00pm, 4:00pm, 7:00pm and a snack at 10:00pm if I wasn't going to sleep before 11:00pm.

Drank 2-3 liters of water per day as well.

[fundmark19]

I also read he is going to eat only healthy food for a month and try and gain weight. I will have to try and find the article for it.

[Weiser Wonder]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

Interesting read, but hardly based on anything concrete to state that it's only calories that matter.

If you could replicate that EXACT test with the same drop in calories, and eating healthy foods instead, would he have lost more weight? How much of that weight loss was in muscle mass? There's a whole lot of variables that weren't and can no longer be factored in, as it's pretty much impossible to recreate that test.

Haub's body fat dropped from 33.4 to 24.9 percent.

So it wasn't muscle, it was fat.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Weiser Wonder

So it wasn't muscle, it was fat.

Exactly.

I am no doctor, but it's my understanding that if you keep feeding your body small meals on a regular basis (3 hours +/-) it will burn your fat stores for energy.

If you starve yourself all day your body goes into a sort of "starvation mode" and will store/save your fat and burn lean muscle tissue for energy.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Weiser Wonder

So it wasn't muscle, it was fat.

There's nothing saying he didn't lose any muscle... you can drop your body fat % and still lose muscle if you're losing fat more rapidly.

[Weiser Wonder]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

There's nothing saying he didn't lose any muscle... you can drop your body fat % and still lose muscle if you're losing fat more rapidly.

Yeah but it's not like he lost that much weight. If you are already at 33% (which seems REALLY high, although I don't know much about that), and cut all the way to 25% on 27 pounds, how much muscle could he have conceivably lost?

[peter12]

After three months, he found out that he had lymphoma. Yep, it was cancer all along.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Weiser Wonder

Yeah but it's not like he lost that much weight. If you are already at 33% (which seems REALLY high, although I don't know much about that), and cut all the way to 25% on 27 pounds, how much muscle could he have conceivably lost?

It entirely depends on the method of determining body fat he used. They can differ rather suprising amount. The raw data is always better to go by than %, as the % is always muddled by calculations.

[billybob123]

Was any of his weight loss because of the diarrhea that eating that many twinkies must have caused?

[bc-chris]

yuck - couldn't do it

i'm sure i'd feel sooooo gross. i find even now if i go a day or two with out primarily healthy food i feel nasty - no energy and just over all blah.

it sounds like he went from sugar high to sugar high - and consuming that much fat everyday can't be good for you.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

yuck - couldn't do it

i'm sure i'd feel sooooo gross. i find even now if i go a day or two with out primarily healthy food i feel nasty - no energy and just over all blah.

it sounds like he went from sugar high to sugar high - and consuming that much fat everyday can't be good for you.

Thats exactly why he did it. Eating that much fat "can't" be good for you but all of his blood and body tests showed that eating all that fat did in fact make him "healthier"

[macker]

sounds like a recipe for diabetes.

[Burninator]

I don't know if this ground breaking science but it makes for a interesting sounding study. I thought the science behind this was pretty well established.


Sort of off topic, but I have seen a couple episodes of the Biggest Loser and one thing always bugged me. Their focus on working out and not the diet. Every time I watched it they are either getting weighed or that big nose chick is yelling at them while they work out. Obviously exercise is good, but I thought the science says that the diet (calories in/calories out) was a much bigger factor in weight loss. I admire the idea of the show, but I would think it would be better for people watching if they talk more about the diet than working out. I am sure it wouldn't make for as good TV, but it would probably help more people lose weight than what I bet it actually does; sells gym memberships.

[CaptainCrunch]

A show where fat people just sit around and eat well balanced meals would be kinda boring. but fat people doing obstacle courses, and running 20 miles sells