# Fat Head



## jpani (Dec 18, 2012)

Hello! 

I've been lurking around the forums for the past few weeks. I figured I'd build up the nerve to post in other places if I started here first. 

Recently, I watched a documentary (available on Netflix and other sources) called Fat Head. A few years back, I watched Super Size Me and found it interesting. Fat Head was the response to it, and everything seemed to make more sense. If you aren't familiar with the details of Super Size Me, here is a quick synoposis: A man, Morgan Spurlock, goes to McDonalds every day for every meal. Gains 25 lbs in 28 days. I guess its important here to note that he also started living a very sedentary life style. 

Tom Naughton, creator of the documentary Fat Head, watched Super Size Me and immediately thought it was a load of crock. He covers Spurlock's flawed calculations, bad judgement, and postulates that the same diet can lead to weight loss results. Naughton eats at McDonald's every day for 28 days and does so under the assumption "that [he] has a brain". He ends up losing 12.5 lbs.

Naughton also looks at the FDA's findings for a healthy diet and questions the politics behind it. It is a good eye opener to examine how we really regulate ourselves. He also covers heart disease, historical diet info, and America's perception of what obese really is.

I highly suggest the documentary for anyone who is struggling with weight loss. Back at the end September, I started the Atkins diet and began losing weight (I started at 299). At the start of this year, I was down 25 lbs. It was great. I have to say, I ate more greens than ever before during those months, but I did miss carbs. For Christmas, I took a dieting break and realized that after eating at such a carb deficit for so long, my body did not adjust well to them when I started eating them again. That was when I realized that Atkins wouldn't be a sustainable lifestyle for me. 

In the documentary, Naughton kept track of a lot of things, but mostly tried to control his carbohydrate intake and his caloric intake. I took those two principles from him and track my calories and my carbs. The difference between his plan and Atkins is that I make sure I get enough carbs so that I don't throw my body into ketosis (which is what Atkins strives for). One additional thing I track that he didn't emphasis was fiber intake. 

I set a goal for each number and eat those daily. I'm usually under my goals, but if I go over, I don't beat myself up. I've learned by picking foods a little wiser, I can eat as much as I want and stay within the guidelines I set. I also try to eat 3 meals a day so my food is spread out. I don't eat overnight and hydrate during those hours (this I only mention because I work third shift). The most important thing is that I'm never hungry or feel I'm starving myself. When it's been some time between meals, my stomach lets me know it's time for another one. If the meal I made wasn't as satisfying as I hoped, I make some in addition. I've only gone over my calorie intake once. I've lost almost 4 additional lbs since adjusting my diet plan (it's been about 2 weeks). 

If you would like to know what my goals are for each day, here they are:
1500 calories (somehow, I stay under this and still feel full)
120g carbohydrates
40g net carbs
25g of fiber

My lifestyle has expanded to include breads, wraps, cereals, and frozen yogurt that are low carbs but tasty. Most of them you can find in your local grocery store and are not more expensive like most diet foods are, so it's really nice on my budget and self esteem to eat normal foods. Also, I know some people complain about having to track every thing they put in their mouth when they're eating. I don't even think about it when I'm eating. Tracking only takes about 5-10 minutes out of my day and has proven to be worth it. 

If you have any questions about what I'm eating, how I track my intake or have seen Fat Head and would like to weigh in on it (pun intended), please respond. 

Jules


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## Tinker (Apr 5, 2004)

Jules, welcome to the Forum. Lots of great people here. 

Sounds like you have a good plan with your carbs & calorie balance. Keep up the good work!

I saw Super Size Me. I have not seen Fat Head, but I am assuming the person in that stuck with the salads and yogurt. Even with that, I think it would be hard to eat 3 meals a day there and still loose weight. There is not much variety in their healthier selections.

Keep us posted with your results.


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## Travis in Louisiana (May 14, 2002)

JPANI, go to the website www.fitday.com and put your food in. It will automatically tally your carbs and such. I also try to eat more smaller meals aday than just three large meals. I work 12 hour shift, rotating days and night, so my eating changes depending on my shift. I am working nights tonight so I have my meals with me, so while I slept during the day, the first 7 hours, I did not eat. I ate a small supper and a few snacks before work and drank several cups of coffee. I am 200 pounds and would like to go down to at least 160. My "G" cup pot gut needs to go!!


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## jpani (Dec 18, 2012)

Hey Tinker!

You can see clips of his movie on Fathead-movie.com. He actually shows a bunch of clips from the movie. He mentions in the film that he was not going to eat a bunch of salads. His meals are your usual basic burgers and fries. He just made sure he had the diet information for each meal when he went and ordered calorie amounts to stay around 2000. He would skip the fries on some meals, I noticed, but he did have a strict carb goal. Besides breakfasts, he had a diet coke at every meal. 

Travis, thanks for the suggestion. I haven't tried online trackers before. I did try an app for my smart phone but it would yell at me if I hadn't tracked anything in 6 hours time. Most of my calculating and counting happens in the grocery store so that when I purchase items, I don't have to worry about their carb and calorie counts later (which is why I can make meals through out the day with little thought). I just try to keep a core group of foods that are incorporated into most meals that I like. I know the calorie count, fiber amount, carb amount, and serving size for all of them. So far, I've been using a spreadsheet that I keep on my flashdrive. I can log from anywhere and it doesn't yell at me.  But I may give Fit Day a whirl.


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