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A man lost more than half a stone despite eating 10 slices of pizza every day for a month, and is now more defined than when he started.
Personal trainer Ryan Mercer, 34, from Bangor, Northern Ireland, ate pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner and managed to lose a pound during the 30-day challenge.
He took on the challenge of showing how calorie deficit diets allow people to lose weight without restricting their favorite foods.
Ryan carefully planned his diet and made all the pizzas himself, while maintaining his regular exercise regimen.
He said: ‘January is a tough month for people when it comes to fitness goals.
Personal trainer Ryan Mercer, 34, from Bangor, Northern Ireland, ate pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner and managed to lose half a stone during the 30-day challenge.
“My goal was to highlight not only fat loss about calories in and calories out, but it’s also not about restriction.
“We don’t have to restrict our favorite foods to get results and I also wanted to encourage more people to prepare their own food.”
Ryan’s usual diet is a flexible approach to eating, with a healthy intake of protein and seven to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
But for the challenge, Ryan ate nothing but pizza.
He added: ‘I had pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.
“I had two pita pizzas and one larger crust-based pizza per day, this equated to about 10 slices per day.
“Also, I left room for extra snacks.”
Pizza is one of Ryan’s favorite foods, but due to his busy schedule, he found it difficult to make time to make the pizzas himself.
Ryan’s favorite food is pizza, and he wanted to show that dieting doesn’t have to be restrictive to lose weight, as long as you expend more calories than you eat.
The fitness enthusiast filmed himself eating pizza three times a day for a month to record his progress.
At the end of the month, Ryan recorded himself to show how his body had changed, with a twist
“The hardest part of the whole diet was the preparation,” Ryan said.
“Pizza is one of my all-time favorite foods, so I enjoyed eating it all month, though I made sure to have a wide variety of different pizzas for some variation.”
Whilst preparing everything himself, Ryan spent just under £10 a day on food.
And he added: ‘I cooked everything at home. The estimated daily cost was around £6 per day for two pita pizzas, one dough based pizza and three salads.
“Also, I spent about £2 or £3 a day on snacks.”
At the end of the month, Ryan became slimmer, surprising many of his online followers.
Ryan before: personal trainer ate 1800-2100 calories on weekdays and 2700 kcal on Saturday and Sunday
The personal trainer, who made all the pizza he ate himself, said he wanted to “highlight the confusion” about what it means to be in a calorie deficit.
He said: ‘This was a carefully planned dietary strategy. I designed a system, and this is what got me to my goal.
“Daily calorie intake was set at 1800-2100 Monday to Friday, 2700 kcal on Saturday and Sunday, daily protein target 140g per day, daily fruit and vegetable serving target, minimum seven servings per day.”
Ryan only recommends the diet if it fits the person’s lifestyle, saying “everyone is different.”
Her reveal video garnered over 2 million views online and has generated a huge response.
He said: ‘I feel [that the video] has highlighted the confusion among the masses when it comes to fat loss and nutrition.
I have received some negative feedback, some very funny feedback, and of course some positive feedback.
“One thing we have in common is that we all eat, so everyone has some sort of opinion when it comes to nutrition.”