Double Take: ‘Supersize Me Too’ flips original concept
By Casey Gillis on Jan. 31, 2008
After the birth of his second son two years ago, Dan Taulbee says he got lazy and stopped going to the gym.
“You’ve got a baby at home, and you don’t feel like you want to go anywhere,” says the 31-year-old Lynchburg resident.
As a result, he put on some weight, and saw his blood pressure and cholesterol rise to dangerously high levels.
Taulbee knew he had to get moving again to lose weight and improve his health. But he didn’t want to go on just any old diet.
He’d seen Morgan Spurlock’s 2003 documentary “Super Size Me,” in which the filmmaker only ate at McDonald’s for an entire month, gained 25 pounds, and experienced other physical and emotional problems.
Taulbee says he was troubled because Spurlock went from eating a mostly vegan diet to consuming 5,000 calories a day. He also reduced his exercise regimen to reflect that of an average person.
“There was no way his digestive system was able to handle that,” says Taulbee, who never contacted Spurlock.
Always an exercise enthusiast until his post-baby laziness set in, Taulbee set out to perform an experiment: “I wanted to link the obesity epidemic to lack of exercise and not (to) fat intake.”
“In my mind, we’ve always eaten high fat foods,” he says. “But we’re fatter than ever now. The real problem is laziness.”
His goal was to improve his health and lose 50 pounds while eating every meal, plus two snacks a day, at McDonald’s for three months. He paired the new diet with approximately 10 hours of exercise a week, everything from working out in the gym to running the steps at Monument Terrace.
“When I told people what I was doing, they thought I would inevitably kill myself,” he says.
The result of Taulbee’s experiment — which lasted from December 2006 to March 2007 — is “Super Size Me Too,” a documentary directed by Chris Townsend, owner of Lynchburg-based Fan Productions.
The film, Fan Productions’ first full-length feature, is set for a Feb. 2 release. A DVD release party is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. that day at Amazement Square (see box for more party details).
In addition to Taulbee’s experiences with the McDonald’s diet, the film includes interviews with doctors, fitness experts and other people talking about their own dieting experiences (one of them is Bubba the Love Sponge, a Tampa radio talk show host who lost 250 pounds through conventional weight lifting).
In the beginning, Townsend only intended for a portion of the doc to focus on Taulbee’s experience. But as they went along, he felt compelled to tell Taulbee’s whole story.
“Him being as real as he is … I think people are going to relate to him,” Townsend says. “He’s a real guy who’s living his life.
“We went with him to McDonald’s or (to) the gym. If he had something to say, great. I said, ‘I don’t care if it looks very raw, I want it to be as real as possible.’”
Adds production manager Chris Acorn: “Dan’s a real person. Some days he didn’t want to talk.”
“Super Size Me Too” also includes footage of Taulbee’s personal and professional life — he’s an accomplished concert pianist who gives lessons — as well as his appointments with his physician, Dr. Craig Petry of Wyndhurst Family Medicine.
Petry says he does not recommend this diet.
“I think I told Dan I have probably eaten fast food … maybe five times since high school,” he says. “I don’t ever eat it, and I don’t ever recommend it. But I think what Dan was trying to do was to underscore that everything in life (should be done) in moderation.
“You can pretty much eat anything you want, as long as you pay for the calories (by exercising).”
And that’s what Taulbee did. He consumed somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 calories and 200 fat grams a day, anchored by three full value meals (he says he was partial to Big Macs). Then he’d snack on McFlurries, parfaits and salads.
“I don’t endorse what I was doing as a diet,” says Taulbee, who spent around $2,000 on the endeavor and received no endorsement from the fast food chain. “My experiment was: how effective is exercise? Is it effective in the worst-case scenario?”
Taulbee says that it was, though he’s not at liberty to reveal the results of the experiment until the film is released.
But “you’d be surprised,” he says.
“I still feel better than I did at this point last year. I tried to improve myself in every aspect: mentally, spiritually, emotionally.”
Petry says Taulbee, a former fitness director at Gold’s Gym, had an advantage because of his already high metabolism.
“Dan’s kind of a unique beast because he had so much muscle mass beneath the fat going in,” which made his metabolism higher, Petry says.
“I think the only reason I thought he might have such positive results with any of this was he does have (that) muscle mass.”
Still, even Petry was taken aback by Taulbee’s stats at the end of the experiment.
“I was surprised he did as well as he did, and that things turned out as well as they did.”
Taulbee says having the cameras around kept him motivated.
“It was a great accountability tool,” he says. “I worked out harder. I pushed myself harder.”
And those intense workouts fueled his appetite even more.
At times, Townsend says, it wasn’t always easy being on the other side of the camera as Taulbee indulged in his appetite.
“He eats a bite of a sandwich, eats a fry and takes a sip (of soda),” he says. “Breakfast was the worst to videotape. To sit there and watch him drown everything with syrup at 7 in the morning was just disgusting.”
Still, being a part of Taulbee’s journey inspired Townsend.
“I think what I got from Dan … is determination,” he says. “Watching him go through those things really helped (me) a lot.”
Taulbee says he hopes his experience will encourage others to be more active.
“The main message I’m trying to get across is to increase your activity, especially if you have a family,” he says. “A lot of families spend their leisure time sitting on the couch, watching TV. Spend time (together) off the couch. Take the kids to the park. You’re not necessarily exercising, but you’re being active.”
COMMENTS
Interesting idea! Sorry I am only seeing this on Feb. 3! I would love to have seen the release.
I’m a trainer and generally I tell clients it’s much easier to not eat the calories in the first place than it is to eat them and then burn them off later. But Dan has shown that it can be done even in an extreme caloric situation. Congratulations, Dan!
check out http://www.nyfakid.com to see the trailer and order a copy of the film.
This story is very similar to a bulimia treatment and the manifestation of such an illness. It is quite an achievement what Mr. Spurlock did but eating fats and exercising will not improve your health. You have to keep a balanced diet if you want a healthier life. That is scientifically demonstrated so I suggest giving up eating so many fats and trying other delicious products that are healthy and mind stimulating. http://www.casapalmera.com/
Balance is the answer as Cristian said above and I think that seeking help at a professional therapist can also be of great help to the person that wants to make a difference, a big difference. http://vitanetonline.com/description/14/vitamins/Super-Fat-Bloc-(1000mg-Chitosan)/
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