Iowa science teacher loses 37 pounds on McDonald's diet

After watching the 2004 documentary Supersize Me, Iowa science teacher John Cisna decided to see what would happen if he went on a McDonald’s-only diet for 90 days.

Cisna, who teaches in the Colo-Nesco School District, figured he would be fine dining on McDonad’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner as long as he restricted himself to 2,000 calories and kept an eye on the recommended daily allowances for vitamins and nutrients. He ended up losing 37 pounds and lowering his cholesterol from 249 to 170.

"I can eat any food at McDonald's (that) I want as long as I'm smart for the rest of the day with what I balance it out with," Cisna said.

In addition to eating foods like maple oatmeal and salads, Cisna also started walking 45 minutes a day. He still had his fair share of meals from the value menu.

"So this isn't something where you say 'well he went to McDonalds and he only had the salads. No, I had the Big Macs, the Quarter Pounders with Cheese. I had sundaes, I had ice cream cones," he said.

The Big Mac contains 550 calories, and the Quarter Pounder with Cheese packs 520 calories.

Cisna’s students documented the experiment in a documentary of their own.

"The point behind this documentary is, ‘Hey, it's (a) choice. We all have choices. It's our choices that make us fat not McDonald's," Cisna said.

[KCCI] [McDonald's]