I like to think that the best (and easiest) way to get the body of your dreams is simply to drastically lower your standards and expectations. Getting a six pack, perfectly-sculpted biceps or whatever will take months of dedicated training and careful eating, and I simply do not have the patience for that. Not one bit. The dad bod will do for me.
So, you can understand my excitement when I heard there was an ice cream diet; even more so when you find out that this isn't some glib, social media term for not going on a diet, either. It seems to be a legit way of losing weight. At least, that's what Anthony Howard-Crow thought.
The 33-year-old from Loveland, Colorado who splits his time between photography and fitness, started a YouTube channel called Abs & Ice Cream back in 2011, and over the years, has tried to show us all that the key to losing weight might actually be the quintessential comfort dessert.
He underwent the diet for around 100 days, and for each day of that period, he'd chow down on 500 calories of protein supplements, a bit of recreational alcohol and 2,000 calories of pure cold, sugary bliss. Not only did it not kill him, he actually lost weight while employing the weight-loss program, shedding an impressive 32 lbs.
You'd think that would be the end of it, but it wasn't.
Y'see, Howard-Crow took to the internet after his groundbreaking weight-loss regime with a simple message: whatever you do, do not go on the ice cream diet. When asked about the efficacy of his highly-envied diet plan, he said: “This diet was, hands down, without a doubt, the most miserable dieting adventure I have ever embarked upon.”
Strong words, Anthony. Surely eating ice cream can't be that bad, can it? But as he revealed, the diet slowly started to drain him of his life, even as it made him look great. Howard-Crow said that he lost his zeal for life about halfway through the project, losing interest in the things he loved, and even stopping going to the gym.
“I was moody, and just generally unenjoyable to be around,” he says, and while he didn't explicitly talk about his sex drive, he did hint that his wife wanted the experiment to end just as much as he did. “The overall goal of my projects is never to present them as healthy, real ways to lose weight,” revealed Howard-Crow.
Anthony Howard-Crow never really wanted to present ice cream as a viable weight-loss option; instead, he wanted to teach a valuable lesson about the role of calories in weight loss. Too often, we look at our portions of carbs, protein or fats to decide how we can lose weight, but Anthony's experiments showed in a roundabout way that simple calorie intake is all you need to drop the pounds.
Even after the disastrous effects of his last experiment, Anthony Howard-Crow was quick to remind us that this wouldn't be his last insane diet. “Hopefully some kind of food-related inspiration will just hit me one day, or come out of seeing things through my clients that I never even thought about," he revealed.
"Either way, you have not seen the last of these crazy projects."
Let's hope he picks something less gruelling next time.