How to Drop Half Your Body Weight: Cut the Sugar

How to Drop Half Your Body Weight: Cut the Sugar

Earlier today I reviewed Fitness Confidential by Vinnie Tortorich. He is quite unequivocal on the path to weight loss success. Cut the sugar and cut the grains. If you ever wanted to know How to Drop Half Your Body Weight: Cut the Sugar, read on.

Then I came across two recent stories from the UK about people who lost half their body weight by cutting out sugar drinks.

Steve Hill shed more than half his bodyweight of 27 stone (378 pounds) after he ditched IRN BRU (Ed: a sugar drink famous in Scotland). At the height of Steve’s addiction, he was downing three two-litre bottles a day (1.5 US gallons) – 1,260 calories’ worth. His waist was a whopping 56 inches – as thick as the girders supposedly used to make Scotland’s favourite soft drink. “I had to give up Irn Bru or face dying young,” said Steve, 39, from Aberdeen. “My life was being ruled by it. Everyone loves a treat but it got out of hand for me.”

Steve’s life was turning into a problem. He was afraid to book a holiday in case he was asked to book two seats. He was struggling to walk home from work as he was short of breath. The biggest surprise was he did not believe that he was overweight – he took action because he saw he was heading for 30 stone ( a whopping 420 pounds). Not only has Steve ditched the IRN BRU, he has also switched to a calorie controlled diet packed with vegetables and fruit – apart from a weekly Chinese takeaway treat – and he also walks miles every day.  His weight is now down to 13 stone (182 pounds).

Image: Newsline Media

What does the manufacturer say? A spokesman for AG Barr, makers of Irn Bru, said they were delighted Steve has lost weight.  “Irn-Bru can be enjoyed in regular and sugar-free variants as part of a balanced diet and a healthy, active lifestyle and we provide nutritional information and clear guidelines on the sugar content of our products to enable consumers to make an informed choice. We would never advocate the over-consumption of any one product.”

Now to the story of Sara Turner who downed four litres (1 US gallon) of Coca-Cola a day has lost nearly half her body weight (from 17½ stone to just over nine –  245 to 126 pounds)  by giving Coke up. That is almost a pound of sugar a day.

 

“I was always tired and had no energy to do anything but now I can take my children out and run round in the park with them.”

Image: Mercury Press

She took action when she could no longer play with kids Spencer, eight, Grace, seven and Ava Mai, two.  She has dropped the Coke but still does not eat fruit, vegetables or salad. Some way to go but she does eat a lot more healthily than she used to.

“That look of disappointment in their eyes when I said I couldn’t go to the park – it upset me so much.”

A spokesperson for Coca-Cola Great Britain said: “All of our drinks can be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet and lifestyle.”

I know what Vinnie Tortorich would say. No Sugars and No Grains. He would applaud Steve who walks miles every day.

The message is simple. You are what you eat. The food (ie sugar) industry will hind behind platitudes like “as part of a balanced diet and lifestyle”. The truth is you have to follow the 3 D’s => Decide. Do. Double it. Then back it up with some bodyweight movement – walk more; walk further; carry the kids on your back.

Original articles from Daily Mirror UK: Steve Hill and Sara Turner