76 pounds in 24 weeks?

When I first heard of Drew Manning, a fitness trainer from Utah, I couldn’t believe it. Drew decided to gain 70 pounds in eight months to find out what it’s like to be fat. He went from 193 to 263 pounds by eating a diet he knew was bad for him — processed, junky and white. He says he’s surprised about how easy it was to gain the weight, and in fact, he gained more than he intended by “letting himself go.”

Every aspect of his health declined (big surprise!), from his blood sugar levels, blood pressure to his cholesterol. Now he’s nearing the end of this part of his project, so he’s getting ready to hit the treadmill and get back into the gym. It’s pretty compelling stuff. You can follow along on his website, Fit2Fat2Fit.

I appreciate the effort and the spirit of the thing, but it does seem like a lot of showmanship to me. He’s now all over the news — on Dr. Oz, CNN, Good Morning America and even Jay Leno.

Here’s what bothers me about this story. Is it really useful to have someone who is obviously fit as a fiddle gain 73 pounds just to “empathize” with those of us who earned the 73 extra pounds we’re carrying over a number of years? The truth is, we all know what we did to gain those pounds.

The aches, pains and complaints we have from being fat are no surprise. While watching a personal trainer stuff a triple burger in his maw is gratifying in a sort of twisted way, we don’t need to see it to know that eating such a thing will cause him to gain weight. And I’m pretty sure that you’ll never see him do that again as he loses the weight over the next six months.

It’s going be lots of low-fat protein, steamed vegetables and water for Drew. All good, but we knew that already.

Can someone who is gaining and losing weight for demonstration purposes really understand the issues of the long-term overweight?

Is it inspirational to gain, and lose 73 pounds for the sake of demonstration? Let me know what you think in the comments below.