The Amazing Ice Cream and Soda Diet

In my book I talk about how you can lose weight eating nothing but ice cream and soda if you were so inclined. This statement raised a few eyebrows from some of the fitness gurus I associate with. Basically my statement referred to the fact that to your body a calorie is a calorie regardless of where it comes from. This has been proven in numerous scientific studies time and time again.

Basically the concept boils down to if you want to lose weight you have to eat less than your body requires to function so that it is forced to tap into fat reserves and burn off the fat. You can accomplish this by eating less or exercising more in its simplest terms. So even though you could eat nothing but ice cream and soda in small enough portions to remain in a calorie deficit it is not really that practical. The problem comes in when you start looking at the calorie density of these foods. A 12 oz can of regular soda has about 150 calories and a half a cup of vanilla ice cream has about 150 calories depending on the brand.

So if I were going to go on a diet that consisted of nothing but ice cream and soda and needed to stay at about 1800 calories to maintain my calorie deficit I could have a half of cup of ice cream and a soda 6 times a day and lose weight. Now I would probably be starving, have almost no energy, and have a belly ache but I would lose weight.

These are the points that the fitness gurus started rambling off.

• Energy levels
• Ability to train
• Hunger
• Insulin spikes

Yep, they are absolutely correct. I would feel like crap but…

I would lose weight!

I actually took this advice and put it to the test for a week. I have been pretty stable in my weight and body fat for quite awhile now and have a good idea of how food makes me feel so I went on an ice cream and soda diet. Everything mentioned above turned out to be absolutely true. I felt like crap, I had no energy, training was painful, and I had a belly ache.

I lost 2 pounds that week.

Now the point is not that you should go on a diet that consist of nothing but ice cream and soda but that as long as you are within your calorie limit there is no reason you can’t have the foods you enjoy. If you want to have a cup of ice cream for 300 calories then have a cup of ice cream, just don’t have a gallon and stay within your calorie limit.

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