thank god for diet coke

I was just reading this article in the Washington Post about a morbidly obese guy and was stopped short by this little statistic:

Fat

Since Keitz was 18 (he is 39 now) and 250 pounds, he has gained 375 pounds, or 1,312,500 calories. That’s 62,500 calories per year, or 171 per day.

Just 171 calories a day?

That’s roughly equivalent to going to McDonald’s and ordering a double cheeseburger (460 calories) instead of a cheeseburger (310). Or a quarter pounder (420) instead of a hamburger (260). Or large fries (520) instead of medium fries (350). Or a large Coke (32 ounces, 310 calories) instead of a small Coke (16 ounces, 150 calories).

Before you know it, you are supersized.

Wow, 171 calories a day for twenty years and you’ll have to use your own shoulder fat as a pillow.

Since I drink approx 30 ounces of diet coke per day, and have for six years, that means if diet coke hadn’t been invented I’d be 337 pounds instead of 155 — I’m 5’8”.

I actually did gain and lose about 30 pounds about six years ago largely due to my consumption of regular soda -> going to London for four months where the soda was always warm, forcing me into water or beer -> and upon returning home immediately switching to diet drinks only. I take a near-zero liquid calorie approach pretty seriously, I only drink juice in the tiniest of glasses, and treat calories like currency, spending them wisely.

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5 comments

  1. As a person gains weight, he or she would burn more calories doing the exact same act, such as walking to the fridge. The example above assumes that he burned the same amount of calories each day even though he got heavier, meaning he became less and less active.

    I’d saying all this to justify my drinking McDonald’s milkshakes, because as I get heavier, I should eventually reach the equilibrium point where the additional weight I gain will burn off the excess calories I consume.

  2. If you read the article, they talk about how we "went down" one day after making macaroni and velveeta and never got back up. And playstation 2 and heavy breathing dont’ count as physical excertion.

  3. Diet Coke is fine, but steer clear of the Coke Zero. 6 ounces of it and it’s like I injected olestra straight into my body.

  4. Well….thank God you blogged abt this!

    Splendor in diet Coke is nothing but chlorine. Google for this info! No gassy soda is non-toxic! Beware! Up to this day, the sugar association has been in a legal tussle with Coca Cola and most good physicians steer clear of any gassy drink.

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