Fast-food myth buster

Deirdre Newman

Ridiculous.

That’s what Chazz Weaver has to say about people who blame fast

food restaurants for making them fat.

Instead of sitting on his couch and shaking his head over what he

considers the audacity of these so-called fast food “victims,” Weaver

is setting out to prove them wrong.

The Costa Mesa resident is eating at McDonald’s for every meal

every day for 30 days. And after the month is over, he will have less

body fat than when he started, he says.

Impossible, skeptics might say.

Not if you offset all those calories with a sufficient amount of

exercise, Weaver said. He has made it his mission to spread this

common sense in the most clear and simple fashion. And he’s doing it

totally on his own, with no nudge from McDonald’s or anyone else, he

said.

“There’s so much misinformation that people’s education regarding

health and fitness really comes from marketing and advertising and

that’s only to sell products and services,” Weaver said. “And then,

here we have all these so-called experts out there telling us about

health and fitness and nutrition. Yet they have done nothing to stop

the accelerated rate of obesity in America.”

Weaver, 48, said he has been a fitness enthusiast for the past 22

years. He had an epiphany about the importance of working out while

playing basketball one day when he was 29, he said.

“My brain thought I was still 18, but my body said, ‘There’s no

way you’re 18 anymore,’” Weaver said. “I started working out and

doing research into how to work out and then from there it led me to

research of nutrition and health overall.”

And staying fit is simple, Weaver said. All you have to do is

focus on three components; caloric intake, aerobic exercise -- like

jogging -- and anaerobic exercise, like weight training, he

explained. While he is eating at McDonald’s every day, he will

maintain his normal exercise routine, which is about 20 to 25 minutes

of aerobic activity every day and weight resistance 45 minutes a day,

six days a week.

“Not everybody has to do that,” Weaver said. “If you work out

three days a week, you’re going to maintain where you are. Four days

and beyond, you’ll start to improve. I have a particular routine that

I use, which is good for me. But overall health -- nutrition and

exercise -- has to be for the individual.”

Weaver was inspired to start his McDonald’s experiment in response

to Morgan Spurlock’s upcoming documentary, “Super Size Me.” Spurlock,

33, ate at McDonald’s every day for a month to show the harmful

effects of fast food. He gained close to 25 pounds as a result, his

cholesterol shot up 65% and he experienced mood swings.

Weaver scoffs at Spurlock’s goal in making the documentary.

“He’s trying to indicate that the obesity rate in America is

because of the fast food industry, which is completely ridiculous,”

Weaver said. “If I were to go to any restaurant, any store, and eat

the same amount of calories from any place and do nothing, the same

result would happen.”

But Weaver using the same source -- McDonald’s -- to prove the

opposite conclusion is just as specious of a connection, said Melanie

Tallakson, health education program coordinator for the UC Irvine

Health Education Center.

“If you eat over the calories you expend, you’re going to gain

weight,” Tallakson said. “Exercise is one form of burning calories,

so that is true. But it’s going to depend on your metabolism, how

fast you burn calories, genetics. The basic formula is -- if you eat

more calories during the day you’ll gain weight, if you eat less,

you’ll lose weight.”

Weaver started his McDonald’s diet Thursday. On his first day, he

ate items like an Egg McMuffin, a McGriddle Sandwich with bacon,

cheese and egg and a Quarter Pounder without cheese. He is tracking

his meals and how he is feeling online.

He remains confident that his simple approach and the positive

results he is hoping for will inspire more personal responsibility.

“Nobody wants to take accountability for their own actions,” he

said. “They eat fast food, get fat and what do they want to do? Sue

the companies. Come on, if it was just based on putting information

out there -- facts and figures -- no one would smoke, no one would

overeat. It’s coming out and putting it into simplistic terms and

understanding the fundamentals.”