Has anyone seen the documentary "Fat Head"?

raiseyourgame
raiseyourgame Posts: 36
in Food and Nutrition
If not, it's basically a rebuttal to Supersize me. The guy eats fast food for 30 days BUT he limits his carbs to 100g per day and he ended up losing weight and lowering his cholesterol and his overall body fat percentage. I found the documentary pretty informative. He also talks about how the government and companies like the FDA are telling us to eat way too many carbs (I think 300g is the daily recommended amount) and a bunch of other stuff. I think it's worth watching! :)

If you've seen it, what are your thoughts on it?

More info on "Fat Head": http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/about/

Replies

  • LesterBlackstone
    LesterBlackstone Posts: 291 Member
    "Fat Head should be renamed Hollow Head for what it does to people's education of the various topics it butchers. A good way to make knowledgable people want to punch their monitor is have them sit through that raging piece of crap. " ~ Alan Aragon
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
    If not, it's basically a rebuttal to Supersize me. The guy eats fast food for 30 days BUT he limits his carbs to 100g per day and he ended up losing weight and lowering his cholesterol and his overall body fat percentage. I found the documentary pretty informative. He also talks about how the government and companies like the FDA are telling us to eat way too many carbs (I think 300g is the daily recommended amount) and a bunch of other stuff. I think it's worth watching! :)

    If you've seen it, what are your thoughts on it?

    More info on "Fat Head": http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/about/

    Seen it, liked it, bought the 'Wheat Is Murder' t-shirt ;)

    Some of the books and videos mentioned in my blog may be of interest to you:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/DeadVim
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
    "Fat Head should be renamed Hollow Head for what it does to people's education of the various topics it butchers. A good way to make knowledgable people want to punch their monitor is have them sit through that raging piece of crap. " ~ Alan Aragon

    And expect the usual suspects to turn up on the thread.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    "Fat Head should be renamed Hollow Head for what it does to people's education of the various topics it butchers. A good way to make knowledgable people want to punch their monitor is have them sit through that raging piece of crap. " ~ Alan Aragon
    Alan for the win.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    It made me feel angry for wasting my time. I guess the guy who made it is a comedian, but obviously not funny, so he's looking for another line of income.
  • meowmily
    meowmily Posts: 85
    "Fat Head should be renamed Hollow Head for what it does to people's education of the various topics it butchers. A good way to make knowledgable people want to punch their monitor is have them sit through that raging piece of crap. " ~ Alan Aragon

    I have to agree. Sorry, I watched 10 minutes of it and had to turn it off to avoid throwing something at my TV.
  • raiseyourgame
    raiseyourgame Posts: 36
    Fair opinions, you guys care to say why you thought it was a bad film?
  • raiseyourgame
    raiseyourgame Posts: 36
    "Fat Head should be renamed Hollow Head for what it does to people's education of the various topics it butchers. A good way to make knowledgable people want to punch their monitor is have them sit through that raging piece of crap. " ~ Alan Aragon

    I have to agree. Sorry, I watched 10 minutes of it and had to turn it off to avoid throwing something at my TV.

    Fair enough, but that would mean you wouldn't have taken any of the points made in the doc
  • kodakdigitalcamera
    kodakdigitalcamera Posts: 67
    It is very insightful but admittantly biased towards low carb diets.

    The documentary notes some facts about carbohydrates physicians and nutritionists seem to not mention to patients but they also fail to mention all the facts on the opposing point of view

    for example they say carbohydrates cause an insulin spike causing fat storage which is true. But what they leave out is that this can only happen if the glycogen reserve in the liver is full which if your following a low calorie/higher carb diet it wont be a problem.

    cutting carbs it the only way to lose weight though whether its through low calorie or low carb.
  • IronmanPanda
    IronmanPanda Posts: 2,083 Member
    Did it have anything to do with these guys?

    alice-in-wonderland-tweedle-dee-and-tweedle-dum.jpg
  • _TastySnoBalls_
    _TastySnoBalls_ Posts: 1,298 Member
    super size me was an extreme...fat head takes it to the other extreme...not too hard to figure out what is going to happen on either spectrum....i couldn't sit through it either...it was lame...i eat about 200-300g of carbs a day and i am losing lbs. by creating an adequate caloric deficit and getting plenty of exercise.
  • brunette824
    brunette824 Posts: 73 Member
    I liked it, I thought it was informative but it also shows there are more than one way to lose weight. btw I tried the low carb thing and its harder than it sounds, I eventually just went back to counting calories instead. To me it wasn't really a long-term approach more like a short term option. I still think it was better than "supersize me" which I thought was pretty narrow minded...
  • caraiselite
    caraiselite Posts: 2,631 Member
    i do low carb, so of course i liked this movie.

    wheat really is terrible.
  • Silverkittycat
    Silverkittycat Posts: 1,997 Member
    hahaha! Thank you friends! I needed to fall asleep smiling. :)
  • pg3ibew
    pg3ibew Posts: 1,026 Member
    I watched it. Not only did he watch his carbs, he COUNTED calories. I don't remember his calorie intake for the day, but he was very specific about that.

    Which I feel was more important to his weight loss than the carbs.
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    I surprisingly enjoyed it but I also enjoyed Supersize Me. The science talk was interesting but I'm not going to take the word of a (any) documentary as gospel truth.
  • Damiilla
    Damiilla Posts: 66
    I watched it but turned it off halfway through because it was already things I knew plus his tone of voice really annoyed me.
  • goatfishtwo
    goatfishtwo Posts: 21 Member
    I watched it. Not only did he watch his carbs, he COUNTED calories. I don't remember his calorie intake for the day, but he was very specific about that.

    Which I feel was more important to his weight loss than the carbs.

    Did you miss the part at the end where he said "according to the calories in/calories out theory I should've only lost 7.5 pounds" ?
  • raiseyourgame
    raiseyourgame Posts: 36
    I watched it. Not only did he watch his carbs, he COUNTED calories. I don't remember his calorie intake for the day, but he was very specific about that.

    Which I feel was more important to his weight loss than the carbs.

    Did you miss the part at the end where he said "according to the calories in/calories out theory I should've only lost 7.5 pounds" ?

    +1
  • raiseyourgame
    raiseyourgame Posts: 36
    I surprisingly enjoyed it but I also enjoyed Supersize Me. The science talk was interesting but I'm not going to take the word of a (any) documentary as gospel truth.

    I 100% agree with your statement, I loved Supersize Me!
  • Silverkittycat
    Silverkittycat Posts: 1,997 Member
    I watched it. Not only did he watch his carbs, he COUNTED calories. I don't remember his calorie intake for the day, but he was very specific about that.

    Which I feel was more important to his weight loss than the carbs.

    Did you miss the part at the end where he said "according to the calories in/calories out theory I should've only lost 7.5 pounds" ?

    you no like carbs? Is there a reason?
  • pg3ibew
    pg3ibew Posts: 1,026 Member
    I watched it. Not only did he watch his carbs, he COUNTED calories. I don't remember his calorie intake for the day, but he was very specific about that.

    Which I feel was more important to his weight loss than the carbs.

    Did you miss the part at the end where he said "according to the calories in/calories out theory I should've only lost 7.5 pounds" ?

    +1

    That is all well and good in theory. So, go and eat McDonalds every day . It has been a while since I saw the documentary, but I don't recall him eating back his exercise calories. Which probably accounted for the additional weight loss.
  • laus_8882
    laus_8882 Posts: 217 Member
    I watched it. Not only did he watch his carbs, he COUNTED calories. I don't remember his calorie intake for the day, but he was very specific about that.

    Which I feel was more important to his weight loss than the carbs.

    Did you miss the part at the end where he said "according to the calories in/calories out theory I should've only lost 7.5 pounds" ?

    What's to say he wasn't upping his activity level? The man has an agenda to push and if he can skewer the results by taking the stairs instead of the lift (off camera) or adding other incidental effort to his day, then of course there'll be more weight loss. There's no money to be made if he reduces his calories and loses the expected amount of weight... but if he doctors it by technically staying within the diet, there's a mint to be made from the ill-educated low carb crowd.

    If I had any less self-respect I'd be jumping on that bandwagon too. Mmmm, nothing says success like filming myself eating a whole bunch of McMeat.
  • miss_greene89
    miss_greene89 Posts: 10
    You can lose weight eating 1 wheat thin a day too doesnt mean you will be healthy.... There is lots of ways to lose weight, and even though this movie may be informitive and maybe some people think its funny, thats all awesome, but it shouldnt make people think it would be fine to eat GARBAGE and lose weight that way thats just evil... its a big enough f*cking problem as is
  • miss_greene89
    miss_greene89 Posts: 10
    I actually DID lose like 30 LBS this way a few years ago, i ate kraft dinner and hot dogs.... I was very unhealthy and pale. I eat awesome now and feel amazing, and am still loseing weight just as fast... (I lost a bunch a long time ago then gained like 10 lbs back and now i am getting rid of that..4 more to go)
  • pg3ibew
    pg3ibew Posts: 1,026 Member
    I watched it. Not only did he watch his carbs, he COUNTED calories. I don't remember his calorie intake for the day, but he was very specific about that.

    Which I feel was more important to his weight loss than the carbs.

    Did you miss the part at the end where he said "according to the calories in/calories out theory I should've only lost 7.5 pounds" ?

    What's to say he wasn't upping his activity level? The man has an agenda to push and if he can skewer the results by taking the stairs instead of the lift (off camera) or adding other incidental effort to his day, then of course there'll be more weight loss. There's no money to be made if he reduces his calories and loses the expected amount of weight... but if he doctors it by technically staying within the diet, there's a mint to be made from the ill-educated low carb crowd.

    If I had any less self-respect I'd be jumping on that bandwagon too. Mmmm, nothing says success like filming myself eating a whole bunch of McMeat.

    He WALKED 6 mights per week. But I guess no one wants to factor in EXERCISE as attributing to his weight loss. He aso LIMITED his caloric intake to under 2000 per day.

    So, all of the LO-Carbers or other VOODOOO Dieters could turn this any way they want. Bottom line is, he kept his calories down and exercised.

    Educate yourselves people. Don't just take a snipit of info and try to turn it into Gospel. Read. RE-READ, Comprehend.
  • raiseyourgame
    raiseyourgame Posts: 36
    He WALKED 6 mights per week. But I guess no one wants to factor in EXERCISE as attributing to his weight loss. He aso LIMITED his caloric intake to under 2000 per day.

    So, all of the LO-Carbers or other VOODOOO Dieters could turn this any way they want. Bottom line is, he kept his calories down and exercised.

    Educate yourselves people. Don't just take a snipit of info and try to turn it into Gospel. Read. RE-READ, Comprehend.

    Nobody turned it into a gospel.. I realize that there are many ways to lose weight, and he DID say that his 28 day diet was not healthy. Thats why he only did it for a short period of time. I think he makes some good points, but like everything you have to take it with a grain of salt.
  • volume77
    volume77 Posts: 670 Member
    Not here to argue


    I watched the movie and loved it


    He brings up alot of truths about government food regulations and other info I never knew

    He does a great job in his research and from what I understand did not make alot of money on this documentary
  • pg3ibew
    pg3ibew Posts: 1,026 Member
    He WALKED 6 mights per week. But I guess no one wants to factor in EXERCISE as attributing to his weight loss. He aso LIMITED his caloric intake to under 2000 per day.

    So, all of the LO-Carbers or other VOODOOO Dieters could turn this any way they want. Bottom line is, he kept his calories down and exercised.

    Educate yourselves people. Don't just take a snipit of info and try to turn it into Gospel. Read. RE-READ, Comprehend.

    Nobody turned it into a gospel.. I realize that there are many ways to lose weight, and he DID say that his 28 day diet was not healthy. Thats why he only did it for a short period of time. I think he makes some good points, but like everything you have to take it with a grain of salt.

    My post was in response to the people disagreeing with calories In and out and the fact that he did indeed up his exercise. People were neglecting to mention those factors .
  • HorseWithNoName27
    HorseWithNoName27 Posts: 188 Member
    I admired his rebuttal of "Super Size Me". That movie has a bunch of lies in it. Fast food is not the devil; one of his demons, maybe, but surely no devil. :devil:

    On the other hand, I don't credit his weight loss due to low-carb dieting. Most low-carb diets go less than 100 grams of carbs a day, which is what he was eating. He also DOUBLED his exercise for the week (walking six days instead of three) and ate around 2,000 calories a day (less than he was eating before). By his math, oh, he magically lost more weight than calories in-calories out...but he wasn't accounting for exercise. Like Morgan Spurlock he skewed some things to fit his agenda. :laugh:

    The problem with this "the government told us to eat low fat and now we are all obese!!!11!!" theory is that most overweight people didn't get fat eating a low-fat diet, or a low-calorie diet, or a low-carb diet. Most of us got here by eating too much in general--too much fat, too many calories, too many carbs, too often--and not one macronutrient is to blame.

    Leave the demonizing to the demons...carbs are not the bane of the food groups, neither is fat. But you shouldn't be eating 300 grams of each per day, in general, unless you're working your butt off in the gym. Just my two cents.

Categories