Shine OnLibrarian claims ‘Starbucks diet’ led to 80-pound weight loss
Starbucks executives are likely popping champagne and rubbing their hands together with glee, all thanks to a 66-year-old librarian named Christine Hall. The Virginia woman claims she lost 80 pounds in two years by eating almost exclusively at Starbucks, and is generating the kind of positive publicity for the coffee giant that money simply cannot buy.
Hall realized her weight was out of control when she applied to be a kidney donor and was rejected because, at 5-foot-4 and 190 pounds, she was obese, reports NBC. She began tracking her caloric intake online, and found that eating at Starbucks was convenient because everything was labelled with calorie information.
Also see: McDonald's sugary drink accepted as part of the 'fruits and vegetables' food group in U.K.
A typical day's food might include oatmeal and a black coffee for breakfast, a "bistro box" with fruit and cheese for lunch and a panini for dinner. Sometimes she would eat as little as 876 calories a day.
"It's not like I'm having a bagel every day," Hall tells NBC. "I'm mixing it up and making sure I get protein, fruits and vegetables."
This isn't the first time someone has shed pounds by eating almost exclusively at one food franchise.
Who can forget Jared Fogel holding up that giant pair of jeans? Fogel dropped 200-pounds by eating low-fat Subway sandwiches and was made the company's slim spokesperson for close to a decade.
Also see: Exercise actually reduces hunger pangs, says study
Eating fast food to lose weight seems counter-intuitive, but one doctor is recommending it as a realistic way to shed pounds. In his book The Fast Food Diet, Dr. Stephen Sinatra explains that while ideally we would all be cooking nutritious meals for ourselves every day, in reality, a lot of people depend on fast food because it's convenient, so why not point people towards the healthiest options available?
The Fast Food Diet is a guide that helps busy people make the healthiest selections from pretty much every major fast-food restaurant menu in North America. It also offers guidance on what to eat in food courts, proper restaurants, airports, and convenience stores. Those following the diet will eat about 1500 calories a day worth of baked, grilled and mayonnaise-free items from their favourite fast food joints.
The key to all of these weight-loss methods? Convenience. or some, it would seem that a diet that involves grilling a chicken breast or steaming a head of broccoli yourself is simply too much work. Grande skinny vanilla latte (130 calories), anyone?
