When most of us go to Disneyland, we do it with a certain amount of foreknowledge. We're going to spend a lot o money, and we're probably going to gain a few pounds. Of course, we do that because it's worth it. The food is great and there's so much of it that we want to try everything. We know the corn dog isn't good for us and that we don't need the nachos, but we're on vacation so leave us alone. However, for one guests corn dogs were involved in a diet that led to one man dropping 150 pounds.
Mark Gautier was 400 pounds in 2013 when he woke up from coma while being given last rights. His kidneys were shutting down due to diabetic shock and it was clear that while he had survived, his body needed help. So he did the thing that all of us would do in that situation, he went to Disneyland.
More specifically, according to the OC Register, Gautier's girlfriend, now wife, bought the pair Annual Passports to Disneyland with the simple plan of giving Mark a place to walk around. Within a couple of weeks, he had actually done the thing that we would all do in that situation, he fell in love with Disneyland.
The interesting twist to the story, however, is that while walking around the park Gautier apparently had no restrictions on what he ate. Instead, the trick was that, in addition to the walking, the pair would share all their food and thus limit their portions. The new plan worked, as Gautier dropped 150 pounds.
He also decided he wanted to spend even more time at Disneyland so Mark Gautier is now a houseman at the Disneyland Hotel, where he walks about 13 miles a day.
If nothing else, this story does show the value of exercise in any diet. Even limiting your portions, the food you find at Disneyland isn't exactly the kind that most would call healthy, but you really can eat it, and as long as you don't overdo it, and you keep moving, you'll burn off those calories, and quite a few more it would seem.
And you'll certainly do your share of walking when visiting Disneyland. You'll likely walk, several miles a day just through doing normal vacationing, moving to the various attraction, going back to one half away across the park because your FastPass time is here, going to your Character Dining experience at one of the hotels. With Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge now open the park is that much larger so that there's that much more to walk around and see. Two parks, and the Downtown Disney pedestrian mall complex give you plenty of places to go, and also plenty of places to stop and get a bite.
A lot of us would probably love to live on the Disneyland diet. Though, even with sharing food, it's probably not the cheapest diet plan in the world. Still, I can't think of one that would be more fun.
