Eat fast food for a month, drop five pounds?

by Mary Kearl (Subscribe to Mary Kearl's posts)
May 8th 2008 3:45PM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

That's what Credit Suisse restaurant analyst Keith Siegner did for all of April 2008 and somehow managed to lose five pounds. Yep, that's right, he only ate at fast-food chains like McDonald's, Wendy's, Subway and Domino's for 30 days straight. But unlike Morgan Spurlock, of 'Super Size Me' fame, he actually lost weight.

His diet consisted of about 30 chicken sandwiches, 27 salads, and 14 burgers, amounting to a total of 52,020 calories, 1,534 grams of fat, including 472 grams of saturated fat, 142.3 grams of sodium and 3,165 grams of protein, reports Markets-Hub.com.

That's a lot, but Siegner really did lose five pounds as well as lower his LDL (bad) cholesterol by 36 points. Plus, his overall cholesterol dropped by over 20 percent and his blood pressure declined.

How did he do it? He apparently controlled his portions and ordered off kids' menus.

Siegner says he took in an average of 4,755 milligrams of sodium a day, double the amount suggested by the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans, reports Bloomberg, but on the plus side, he also averaged 47.5 daily grams of fat, 27 percent less than the recommended maximum daily allowance.

I wouldn't recommend his diet, but I guess it's true that as long as you stay away from the more outrageous fast-food items, there really can be some healthier, better fast-food choices.

Comments (49)

Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)

flilguy 5-10-2008 @ 10:37PM

Well once again this article really doesn't provide detailed facts. The fast food restaurants need to make the nutrition information of the foods easier to find. Then people are more able to make decisions about what is best to eat.

Tom Stoneburner 5-10-2008 @ 10:27PM

Post 10: "Thats actually not true; muscle is denser than fat, but a pound of muscle is equal to a pound of fat."

It's perfectly true if you're not a twit that takes joy in pointing out perceived errors online or a personal trainer that doesn't understand how people talk. A given amount, say a fistful, of fat will weigh less than the same amount of muscle.

As for the BS Spurlock spread in his crockumentary, you can eat McD's and be in great shape. Choose the right menu items and exercise. Spurlock pretty much eliminated exercise from his daily regimen and did everything possible to ruin his body. I'm a solid 180 and eat out whenever I feel like it. Spurlock was just trying to sell more copies of his DVD by hooking the overweght people with something to hate and an excuse.

Bart 5-10-2008 @ 10:51PM

We this person ate a mere 1734 calories per day. Most somewhat active adults require 2200 calories per day. Now if you burn or eat less 500 calories per day x 30 days per month that will equal 15000 less calories consumed for that month. Since there are 3500 calories that make up one pound, just divide 15000 calories by 3500 calories and you will have 4.28 Pounds lost. There is the number of pounds he lost for the month. This is because he ate (since it didn't mention exercise) less calories than his body required to maintain the same weight.

pjarra 5-10-2008 @ 11:01PM

Bottom line is he only consumed an average of 1,734 calories per day. We don't know his weight, size or activity level, but if we assume that he should have a normal caloric intake of 2300 calories per day that would account for the 5 lb weight loss. It's not a healthy way to eat, but it proves that if you just cut calories you will lose weight.

cynicritic 5-11-2008 @ 12:07AM

eat eat eat, fries, chicken, a salad, a footlong sub, some late night diner, some home cooked goodness, and drink a 12 pack. just have the metabolism to hack it. do some yoga while your at it. just becase i can should have the disclamer kids dont try this at home. know your body and act accordingly.

Marcus Williamson 5-10-2008 @ 11:39PM

Ultimately, its down to personal choice where and what you eat, unfortunately the big "food" (alledgedly) chains have vast amounts of funds to market their product to the nutritionaly uneducated people of the US. They make it easy, cheap and a way of life, it is the individual that has the choice, if they have the knowledge. My wife and I have a wellness company, http://www.puriti.org if you don't have the knowledge and the tools to kick the "dead food" habit, then visit our site for loads of free info and an organic, natural program to empower you on your journey to optimum health and vitality. Wishing you all perpetual wellness.

julie 5-10-2008 @ 11:41PM

Crockumentary! I love it!!!
I sure don't have all the answers, but I'm 47, 5 feet 2 inches, weigh 109 pounds, have a BFI of 15... and haven't eaten at any kind of FF restaurant in 11 years. I travel extensively, but no matter where you go you can usually find a soyburger, a handful of almonds (NOT SMOKED!) or some sliced turkey (AGAIN, NS!!!) If you ingest grease, hormones, steroids, antibiotics, chemicals and sugar... your body and ultimately longevity will reflect that.
End of lecture... I'm borin' myself :-)

Jenn 5-10-2008 @ 11:50PM

My son is 4, and Ive never fed him fries. He knows that fries are garbage, and when offered, he says no thank you, Id like apples. However,My step son is 13, and his Mother weights 300lbs. The kid wont eat anything but fast food... At home, if it doesnt come out of a box, he wont eat it. Im sure hes going to be 300lbs too! If you love your kids, you feed them well. Its not easy, but its the right thing to do!

camp 5-10-2008 @ 11:52PM

Actually do the damned math. He only consumed 1700 calories a day and 15 sat fat grams a day. The normal diet is 2000 calories and 20 grams of sat fat. I eat 3500 calories per day and stay 190 lbs at 6'1" but I can shit like a seagull.

R Lambert 5-10-2008 @ 11:55PM

Think I'll go get a pizza

Jim 5-11-2008 @ 12:05AM

Uh to you assholes that don't know. Muscle weighs less that fat. Get a clue dick wads.

John 5-11-2008 @ 12:23AM

Hey Jim, your the asshole that needs to get a clue. Anyone with any intelligence at all knows that muscle weighs more than fat. That's common knowlege. You aren't very brilliant at all.

Jordan 5-11-2008 @ 12:36AM

im 15 and your a freaking idiot. 1pound of fat = 1 pound of muscle... what the hell are you stupid... Muscle is just more dense. Mad stupid people on here. u need 2 get ripped like me

joi 5-11-2008 @ 12:34AM

"do some yoga while your at it."

"Hey Jim, your the asshole that needs to get a clue."

all this fast food must be frying our brains, too!

how about, "do some yoga while YOU'RE at it." and "Hey Jim, YOU'Re the asshole that needs to get a clue."

haha.

Jordan 5-11-2008 @ 12:42AM

and calorie cutting doesnt help, cut your fat and carbs and replace it with protein. And if you are eating carbs make sure they are complex carbs like multi-grain bread or pasta. try some flax seeds for omega 3's.

You guys think you are so smart and know everything but all you do here is just write random crap and talk about how smart and healty you are. You dont know anything about healthy foods. So keep eating your cheesecake fattys!

Joe 5-11-2008 @ 12:17PM

You don't sound to smart yourself you stupid moron. It appears to me that a lot of people here know what they are talking about but you sure don't. Calorie cutting does help and everyone knows (or should) that. You think you know everything but you talk a lot of random crap yourself. Talk about freaking idiots, you sure sound like one to me.

anne 5-11-2008 @ 1:00AM

speaking of assholes...where's the fiber and "real" nutrition in most of this fast food? It is dead. Reading this type of surface-laden bull-**** gives me more indigestion and potential high blood pressure than eating any of this crap. Get a life and do some research-based nutritional research, those of you touting this guy as credible enough to publish.

truthslayer 5-11-2008 @ 1:11AM

Mr. "Credit Suisse", how about including what your diet consisted of prior to the month of "fast food." What were you eating? Creme Brulee, T-Bone Steaks and Brie? Give the public a little credit for being able to cut through the hype.

jvan 5-11-2008 @ 2:03AM

Who Cares... Have you ever seen a fat person order something from the kids' menus? Wait, I take that back, I did see a fat person order about two dozen kids' meals to get the "free" toys in the meal. Then I saw her sit and eat them all (well almost all - I had to leave).

Afterthoughts 5-30-2008 @ 1:09PM

His previous diet and lifestyle definitely need to be included. If he's the type of person who can eat 2 cheesesburgers, large fries, and a soda regularly and not gain weight, then it's no big surprise that he lost when he ate less, is it?
I wonder what type of point they were trying to make. Certainly not that the average American would follow these habits or has such a metabolism.