Teacher Eats Only McDonald’s For 180 Days And It Saved His Life — Lost 60 Pounds

Many people have seen the documentary called Super Size Me, which shows Morgan Spurlock eating nothing but McDonald’s and the horrible effects it had on his body. Well, it could have turned out differently. A science teacher named John Cisna took on the same experiment of eating nothing but McDonald’s, and it not only changed his life, but saved it when he lost 60 pounds.

Cisna, an Iowa high school science teacher, ate only McDonald’s for six months. He ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and when all was said and done, he had gone from 280 pounds down to 220 pounds and got out of those size 51 pants to a size 36.

“In all those (previous) years, my nickname with my buddies was ‘Snack Bar’. You know what they call me now? ‘Snack Bar Jr.’ “

In January of 2014, the experiment began with three students in Cisna’s sophomore science class at Colo-Nesco High School in Colo, Iowa. He knew the three kids were going to be in the medical industry in the future, and he wanted to help them out, as the New York Daily News reported.

“Because three of the kids were going on to college in the medical field, I had an idea, ‘Hey, how would you like to prove or disprove this hypothesis: Is it possible for a person to become better off eating nothing but McDonald’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 90 days?’ That’s how it got started.”

The three students came up with 56 different McDonald’s meal combinations for a period of three months. They were the Egg White Delight McMuffin and the Fruit & Maple Oatmeal for breakfast. Later, he could have had the Premium Southwest Salad with the Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait for lunch.

Dinner could then be a splurge like a Big Mac and Fries meal, which would be a little bit of a change for him. These meals were put in place, as the diet did have some stipulations, such as no more than 2,000 calories a day and he had to stay within the FDA’s recommended daily allowances for fat, sugar, protein, carbohydrates, and other nutrients.

He also walked for 45 minutes four to five days a week.

The diet led him to write a book called My McDonald’s Diet, which details how he lost 37 pounds in 90 days. He doesn’t mention a whole lot on how it worked so well that he continued the diet for a full 180 days and lost a total of 60 pounds.

John Cisna is still amazed that some of his colleagues across the United States still show Spurlock’s Super Size Me in their classrooms. He just doesn’t “get it.”

“As a science teacher, I would never show ‘Super Size Me’ because when I watched that, I never saw the educational value in that. I mean, a guy eats uncontrollable amounts of food, stops exercising, and the whole world is surprised he puts on weight?’ “

Seventeen months after beginning the specially-designed diet, John Cisna still does eat one meal a day at McDonald’s. He’s proud to say that he has kept the weight off while still exercising and even upping his daily calorie intake.

John Cisna is a science teacher, and he’s brought a lot of change and inspiration to the lives of many people. He’s extremely thankful for the three students that brought a lot of change to his life with their McDonald’s diet, which actually saved his life.

[Image via John Cisna / Facebook]