Thursday, October 20, 2011

fit to fat to fit?

In my internet travels yesterday I happened upon this personal trainer who, on purpose, is making himself go from fit to fat.  As in, he is in the process of gaining over 70 lbs in a 6 month period. 

Why in the world would anyone do this to themselves?  He says he wants to show others how to get fit and to experience what it feels like to be fat.  There is no way in hell you could get me to gain weight and get fat on purpose.  No freakin' way.  I would be so worried about what it was doing to my overall health that I just couldn't do it.  Not to mention, what if, by some freak of nature, you couldn't get the weight off and back to your previous self?? 

He has a blog which chronicals his journey.  The strange thing is, if you look at a sample of his daily food intake, that diet is not really that off the wall.  Here's a sample from his blog:

  • 8:00am – I big bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and few small sips of my wife’s spinach shake!
  • 10:00am – 2 handfuls of goldfish crackers and 1 large glass of Pepsi Max
  • 11:30am – 1 big bowl of white angel hair pasta, with 4 cheese marinara sauce and 1 small glass of Pepsi Max
  • 12:00pm -1 small package of swiss rolls
  • 3:15pm – 1 peanut butter and honey sandwich on white bread
  • 6:00pm – 1 large plate of white rice and bbq chicken
  • 7:30pm – A few pieces of licorice
  • 9:30pm – Small bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch

  • Except for the total lack of vegetables and fruit, it really isn't the gorging amounts of food that you might expect him to be eating to gain all that weight.  I mean, it is a lot of food, but I'll bet it's pretty average compared to the average American man's diet.  I am really anxious to see what his diet is when he goes from fat to fit.  I know that I can make changes to my diet to eat better than I am. 

    What do you think about this challenge?

    Would you ever gain weight on purpose?

    5 comments:

    Detroit Runner(Jeff) said...

    It took me a long time to lose my weight. I'm NOT going back. I do like what he trying to show but.... He is going to make a LOT of money doing this if he succeeds. Given what he looked like before, I'm sure he'll get back to what he had before - sort of. All that extra weight leaves extra skin so he probably won't look as good as before. I have abs but you just can't see them since I have a layer of skin(not fat) hiding them. He' crazy in my opinion.

    Bobbi said...

    O gosh....hot button....I could go on and on about this but I won't. Highlights: The diet above is nothing but sugar, processed carbs and starches....O and a hit of protein disguised in .....yes - more sugar. That will blow your stomach up like a balloon in a hurry... hence, photo B. Live food = energy. Dead food = poison. Our bodies are designed to be able to eliminate and protect itself from the occasional poison, but when it's bombarded all day every day with diets like this, it breaks down and we get sick. Hello flu, diabetes, cancer.....

    I knew a guy that did this exact scenario several years ago as he was being paid to be the "model" showing his progression from fat to fit for some nutritional supplement marketing. He went back to his former Roman-god self pretty easily. My thoughts on that: 1) If done in a short enough timeframe, our bodies have pretty good memory. 2) He didn't have to deal with the psychological mountains that a typical unfit person has to conquer. He just immediately switched to good habits and did the work. 3) You couldn't pay me enough to do that on purpose! I remember all too well what unfit me felt like. Like Detroit Runner says, I'm NOT going back. I refuse to climb that mountain again.

    Christi said...

    I saw this on the internet as well and was shocked that he would do such a thing. I wish him the best of luck but I don't think I would do something like that if I was as fit as him. Though, kudos for him for wanting to understand the process better and what his clients are going through.

    Lisa said...

    I'm happy to leaving "going fit to fat" as a mystery. I have no desire to gain weight on purpose. Just not healthy.

    Katie @ Will Race for Carbs said...

    Wow, that is really interesting. No, I would not get fat on purpose but I've gotten fat on accident a couple of times. It is interesting to see that he isn't gorging himself and that those extra calories add up fast! I wonder what he will find when he tries to lose the weight. Very interesting.