No Way

Patient is a hardworking father of two, 43, who is carrying a few extra pounds. Like 120 or so. He is in for symptomatic cholelithiasis (gallstones) and will have surgery tonight.

Probably because I’m fat, he confided in me that he would love to lose weight, but no matter how much he works out he doesn’t lose weight. Happens all the time .

OK, I don’t have time for this today, but let’s go.

We reviewed his diet. It’s fairly well-balanced and quite low fat by American standards. Snacks? No. Secret eating? No. Too many servings of the good food he eats? No. Beer? No. Sweet tooth? No.

Stumped, I asked him to take me through a typical day.

Aha!

The culprit? He drinks 64 ounces of Dr. Pepper a day. Every day. Full sugar variety.

I told him I would figure out how much he could lose in a year just by switching to plain iced tea or diet pop.

Simple math, my friends.

• 100 calories per 8 ounces, multiplied by 8 for 64 total ounces is 800 calories.
• 800 calories per day x 365 days/year = 292,000 calories.
• 292,000 calories/3,500 calories per pound = 83.4 pounds lost. In a year.

So I went back later in the day to see my gallbladder guy. I walked in and said, “83.4.”

“No way,” he said.