You can enjoy losing weight

Most everything you know about nutrition is bullshit

So, back in 2010, a nutrition professor did something that according to current beliefs on nutrition should kill him.

He ate nothing but Twinkies for 10 weeks. And he lost 27 lbs.

Sorry, he also ate Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too.

And guess what? He got healthier.

Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.

So how did this happen?

Well, he was out to prove one thing. And he did it pretty successfully. Which was that to lose weight, all you need is to eat fewer calories than your body is burning, a so called “caloric-deficit.” Additionally, that what you actually ate didn’t really matter…almost at all.

Now, to be clear, he took a multivitamin, hate an occasional protein shake, and did eat “vegetables, typically a can of green beans or three to four celery stalks”. But that’s not exactly a healthy diet no matter how you measure it. He was eating a Twinkie every three hours! Honestly, that’d disgusting.

But I have to say, I have learned from this study and used it with great effect. I’ve always struggled with my weight. First, I use eating as a form of comfort so I tend to overeat. Second, my body loves to put on weight and hates to shed it. In my 20s, I was significantly overweight. Except for a few times like in college where I got serious about dieting and exercise (I actually got to 185lbs at around 6% body fat and 6’ tall), it never lasted. By 30, I looked like a mess.

Thank God I threw that shirt out.

When I went to my brother’s wedding, I weighed around 233lbs. I saw my Godfather and went up to him to say hi. I put my hand out and he looked at me. I’ll never forget what he said.

“Why are you so fucking fat? You’re way to good looking to be so fat.”

And he just walked away.

I was best man at that wedding and single so I had high hopes. I didn’t get attention from a single member of the opposite sex. As it was a Jewish wedding, while we were lifting my brother and his wife in the chairs, I realized how difficult it was and that the group would have a very difficult time with me. Rather than burden them, I told my brother some excuse and left the room and hid. I cried myself to sleep that night.

It wasn’t until I met a great woman that I befriended in 2016 that I finally found my way with regards to my weight. We never dated; we just became very close friends. She took me under her wing and I started losing weight with a new approach. While I did initially use a trainer and do endless cardio at the gym, I remembered the study. So I started eating…natural peanut butter. About two tablespoons will fill you up as much as a large meal, and it’s extremely healthy. I also started using the other trick I learned which was intermittent fasting. I only ate once a day at dinnertime.

The weight came flying off.

By the end of 2016, a short 6 months later, I had lost close to 60 lbs, she had taught me how to dress, how to be more of a proper gentleman, how to act in high society, and overall be a better person.

But sadly, I managed to keep the weight off longer, but it didn’t stick. A particularly stressful job cratered my health. Eventually, by 2020, I was back up to 240.

Now, thanks to some clever moves of shorting the market right before Covid, I got to not work for about two years and instead focused on improving myself. On July 4, 2020, I had my last sip of alcohol. It was the best decision I ever made. One of which was how quickly I started losing weight after.

Now, to accelerate the process, I found a new food that I could consume endlessly and still end up in a caloric deficit. In this case, I picked Sabra Garlic Hummus.

Now, fortunately, I am a creature of habit, for better or worse. I can eat the exact same thing day in and day out for years and not get bothered. So, once a day, I would eat a piece of pita bread and one of these, and that would be my entire food consumption for the day.

I went from 240 to 165 - 75lbs lost.

I hit my lowest weight exactly on my wedding day, as intended. I had in fact always wanted to be at my best the day I got married and I managed to achieve that life goal. I’m rather proud of that.

Sadly, while my marriage didn’t last (we were completely incompatible and I would never say anything negative about her…she’s a lovely person), my weight loss has. In fact, numerous people told me I weighed too little. Specifically after seeing this picture.

I’ll let you decide for yourself.

So today I weigh 174 and it’s been a few years since those photos. I’ve turned 40 and personally, I’m feeling pretty good about my weight and looks. I certainly look better than I did at 30.

And I’ve done it all by ignoring almost every piece of “expert advice” on nutrition and exercise.

All of this is to say, you don’t need to eat tasteless vegetables and lean protein to lose weight. You can actually eat what you want, as long as you eat it in small portions. Portion control, that is to say, self control, is a much larger component of weight loss than whatever you actually eat. Now, I’m not saying healthy food is not important. I eat very healthy when I go out for instance. I rarely have desert, sweets, or sugar of any kind. So you can’t just completely ignore everything about nutrition.

But by being smart, you can actually enjoy weight loss. I know I did. And the reward I feel at 40 being fit and better looking than 30 is the best birthday present I can have.