This Teacher Ate Only McDonald’s For 90 Days, And The Results Will Surprise You

This-Teacher-Ate-Only-McDonalds-For-90-Days-And-The-Results-Will-Surprise-You

This teacher set out to reexamine the McDonald’s diet. He followed in the footsteps of Morgan Spurlock, who famously ate nothing but McDonald’s for his film “Supersize Me” and gained a tremendous amount of weight.

But John Cisna, a high school science teacher from Colo, Iowa, wanted to modify Spurlock’s plan. He had his students set up the experiment by creating meal plans, keeping in mind a daily maximum of 2,000 calories as well as goals for carbohydrates, protein, fat and sugar. He also added a bit of exercise to the mix, walking 45 minutes each day.

The Results: Weight Lost And Cholesterol Improved

Cisna, 54, stuck with the plan for 90 days, getting all his dietary needs met at McDonald’s. The 6′ man started at 280 pounds, and after 90 days he was down to 243 pounds, a weight loss of 37 pounds.

Cisna says the weight loss wasn’t surprising. “I knew I was going to lose weight,” he said in an interview with Today. “Math tells you, if you only eat 2,000 calories a day, your body has to use more calories than that just to operate, so I knew I was going to lose it.”

He concluded, “It’s our choices that make us fat, not McDonald’s.”

But he didn’t expect improvements in other aspects of his health. In addition to losing seven inches from his waist, Cisna’s cholesterol dropped by a third. He said he was so concerned about his cholesterol level that he insisted on getting it retested halfway through the 90-day experiment. But in the end, his cholesterol dropped from 249 to 170.

A dietician appearing on Today with him says the cholesterol improvement shouldn’t be surprising. “If you lose weight and you’re overweight to begin with, normally your cholesterol, your blood sugar, your triglycerides, they will come down too,” dietician Joy Bauer said to Today.

She added, “What John proved is it’s not where you eat; it’s what you eat. You eat less, you move more, it comes off.”

One thing she wasn’t happy about while looking over the meal plan was sodium intake, however, as fast foods tend to be high in salt.

Continuing On A Road To Health, One Big Mac At A Time

Cisna says that after 90 days, he’s still not sick of McDonald’s. He plans to continue the experiment for a second part since his results have been so encouraging. He’ll stay on the McDonald’s diet until March 15 but also ramp up his exercise during that time.

When he first started the experiment, he could barely walk the 45 minutes he had agreed to do each day. “When I started that first day, I thought I was going to die,” he said. “I couldn’t even walk 45 minutes carrying that [weight.]”

But now that he’s lighter, he wants to incorporate more intense exercises, such as lifting weights and jogging.

He hasn’t commented on whether the experiment has affected his mental well being in addition to physical health. Junk food can affect aspects of mental health including memory and mood.

Cisna says he plans to check back in with the media after the second part of his experiment ends on March 15.

Watch the full interview below: