Is this vegan dude named Ryan in Cleveland, Ohio, USA legit? He’s down from 405 lbs to 260 lbs, but he recommends certain things that sound strange - like eating one pound of sugar a day and limiting fat to 10 grams a day.
So, about 10-15 years ago, you had a lot of fringe diet movements that were high carb, vegan, fruitarian, and basically promoted this idea that you can eat an unlimited number of calories, as long as it’s sugar.
It sounds like this guy is trying to make a comeback with this diet
As a former cyclist, who used to do 50+ milers in the sun… just as I thought, this guy is a cyclist. But, he’s a new cyclist, and an uneducated one. To provide context, cycling is very attractive to these high carb vegan types, because it’s an endurance sport - you do need carbs in order to ride well. You know what else you need? You need sodium, you need protein, you need lots of things. When I did long rides in the sun, did I support it by eating 10g of fat a day, all carbs, and no sodium? No I did not. I would have never done something so stupid. That’s a great way to fall very ill.
Also, calories matter. You can’t lose weight, especially not 100+ pounds, unless you’re in a calorie deficit. I don’t care that he claims he lost 100+ pounds without being in a deficit - matter of fact, I don’t care if he believes he lost weight without being in a deficit. It still doesn’t make it true. Calories are calories end of story. So him promoting that calories don’t matter is a complete lie. At best, it’s a confabulation, but I highly doubt he isn’t trying to be dishonest
In addition, you do not have any evidence that he achieved weight loss by eating this high carb diet that he promotes - or that he eats this way now. You don’t know if he just eats that way in front of the camera.
A few other red flags:
no qualifications whatsoever, that I can see. If he was qualified, it would be easily verifiable
he doesn’t seem to do anything outside of YouTube. This is his job, this is his income. He says what he says to make money. He seems astutely aware of the fact that other creators in the past have promoted this diet, and made money.
he is selling things. You should be wary of people who spew this kind of information, while selling products
I can go on and on, but if you want my opinion in the guy, or if he’s “legit,” no I do not think he’s legit. I think he’s just another charlatan on the internet. I think he knows that people stop by to gawk, and he wants to profit off of people who do that. He is unwilling to go to school and earn a diatetics degree, since that would require him to 1) put his biases aside and learn how to research, 2) actually work hard, instead of putting out videos and 3) risk being held accountable if he did become qualified, since qualified people can’t just go around saying whatever they want
I mean, if he’s eating less calories than he’s burning that explains weight loss but idk how he’s doing that by chugging a pound of sugar but in any case not a great idea, there was a guy that improved his health by only eating McDonald’s that doesn’t make it healthy though, it’s just healthier than what he was eating before