The other day I overheard the “Important Doctor” giving some health advice to someone trying to lose weight. He said if you would eat healthy and responsible (low-fat and low-calorie and small portions) for 80% of your meals, then you could eat whatever you want for the other 20% of your meals and still lose weight.
Let it be noted that his actual words were “whatever you want” concerning 20% of your meals. So if you normally eat 21 meals per week, then 20% would be about 4 meals. That sounds like a plan I could follow. That would mean I could eat at a pizza buffet 4 times per week and still lose weight. Or have one of the meals be an all-you-can-eat donut bonanza. Or I could eat dishes like the bacon explosion. I think I could eat responsibly for the other meals of the week if I could splurge all I wanted on four meals per week.
However, I suspect that once again the (self-proclaimed) “Important Doctor” is blowing hot air. If I were to eat at a pizza buffet four times per week, I guarantee I wouldn’t be losing weight — I’d be gaining it. He’s probably just throwing figures out there to make it sound like he’s done research and knows what he’s talking about. But we’ve had this debate before, that he’s probably non-accredited (if he even is a doctor at all). His infamous bacon and cheese diet sounds great, but I don’t know of any research proving that it works long-term. (I imagine it does make people happy in the short-term, though!)
Buffet o' Blog 
Holiday Inn Express
No, the Important Doctor has got it correct. The key thing is to remember to calculate the number of meals consumed at an all you can eat buffet.
For buffet novices, a good buffet counts for around 2 meals. If you have eat it for lunch, you shouldn’t be hungry for dinner.
An expert buffet patron can get between 3 and 4 meals out of a buffet, depending on dedication. Assuming a lunch buffet, dinner will be skipped as with a novice, but the expert will also forgo breakfast prior to the buffet to maximize devourability. A true buffet master will also limit food on either dinner the night before or breakfast on the morning after, depending on if they belong to the ‘Buffet Hunger’ or ‘Massive Overeating’ schools of thought.
Opportunistic Researcher
It sounds like good logic to me.
Imagine if 80% of your meals were salads and other green stuff. Then those 4 meals of “splurge” wouldn’t really gain you much weight.
Hmmmm, maybe you should do a scientific study of the methods of our eteemed Important Doctor.
If you are able to lose weight based off his idea, then I will reward you with an all expense paid buffet at your local favorite mexican restuarant.
Sound like a plan?
Important Scientist
As an occasional guest researcher here at the Buffet, I would just like to say that the so-called “Opportunistic Researcher” has gone off the deep end. While eating 80% salads and green stuff may sound healthy from a traditional standpoint, the fact is that this method would be far to hard on the bowels. The bacon and cheese and bacon grease diets, while somewhat bowel-intensive, would not cause the abundance of bowel overuse that this “going green” diet would cause. Everybody jumping on the “go green” bandwagon is full of what we scientists like to call crappola most of the time anyway. Plus, as this blog has pointed out, some supposedly “healthy” things that people eat aren’t even food, or are at least evil. I’m sticking with the Buffet o’ Buffet diet.
Opportunistic Researcher
I only have a few things to say,
“LET’S RESEARCH IT!”
As for me, I have no need to shed extra poundage, otherwise I would personally join you in your endeavor.
However, I will subsidize Beppo’s and the Important Scientist’s lunches at their favorite local mexican restuarant if they are successful.
Let’s put these theories to the test. 😀
Why? Well, unlike our current government administration, I believe that people need to have an incentive in order to be motivated to pursue progress.
Only a demoncrat would think that throwing money at a problem would somehow make it go away.
Let’s do the math. An average heart bypass surgery in America costs around $20K-40k depending on needs of the patient. Treatment of a heart attack and the follow-up care can cost around $100k or more over the years after the initial heart attack.
And this is not considering the cost of trying to hold a job or raise a family while dealing with heart issues.
So if all I got to do is offer 2 intelligent, rather dashing young individuals 1 all-you-can-eat buffet to save them,potentially, $140k+ in healthcare costs, then I consider this topic worth researching.
And the result would be REAL change you can believe in.
🙂
Important Doctor
there are facts to back up this science*
However I do challenge you to prove me wrong with the 80/20 rule. I’ve seen how you eat so I doubt your up to my challenge… Keep in mind when you aren’t eating your ‘splurge meals’ that a male will need to keep his calorie intake at or below 2200 calories per day. Most people should aim for at least five to nine servings of vegetables and fruits a day, and potatoes don’t count… a serving of fruit or vegetables typically is about 1/2 cup. Also a serving of lean beef or fish is about 2 to 3 oz (about the size of a deck of cards).
so there you have it… If you actually ate ONLY what was recommended 80% of the time then the occasional trip to the Local all-you-can-eat-buffet is not out of the question and yes, you might actually lose some weight**.
*somewhere
**it’s possible anyway!