Featured Image Credit: Will Tennyson/YouTube
Topics: Fitness, YouTube, Food and Drink
Phoebe Tonks
With the holidays just around the corner, it’s safe to say the season of indulgence is once again officially upon us.
Whether it’s tucking into mouthwatering Thanksgiving dinners with all the trimmings to entertaining guests at the annual work Christmas party, there is no shortage of sweets, cookies and tasty treats to reward ourselves for getting through another year.
But while it’s important to treat ourselves with life’s little luxuries, it’s all too easy to slip into gluttonous excess - especially when it comes to the hidden fat, sugar and calorie content of some convenience foods.
Fat and sugar in moderation are perfectly fine, but when eaten in abundance, particularly in a short space of time, they can wreak havoc on our bodies, as YouTube star Will Tennyson proved back in 2023.
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The influencer is no stranger to trying weird and wacky diets and fitness routines so you don’t have to, and during his now iconic video ‘I Spent 50 Hours Eating World’s 100 Unhealthiest Foods’, Tennyson has shown the hidden consequences of just what unhealthy eating can do to the human body.
As part of the challenge, Tennyson set out to eat 100 of the ‘world’s most unhealthy foods’, according to a 2022 blog post by A Dame's Handbook, for just over two days.
During that time, he tucked into everything from the highest calorie item on the Starbucks menu, a White Hot Chocolate at 540 calories a cup, highly processed frozen meals that screamed ‘disappointment’, alongside a raft of snacks such as cookies, chips, a McDonald's breakfast and even some cereal.
To kickstart his experiment, Tennyson set off to the supermarket to stock up on processed groceries for the next two days, an experience he admitted was rather jarring.
“I must say, it was very weird unloading all these groceries and not having to open my fridge,” he observed.
“Usually all the stuff I buy is fresh. I never buy these foods. Every now and then is fine – it’s the 80/20 rule! 80 per cent healthy, 20 per cent have some processed stuff.
“Your diet is your bank account, and healthy choices are the best investment.”
In addition, over the course of two days, Tennyson also worked his way through plenty of family favorites such as pepperoni pizza, raw salmon sushi, and BBQ ribs, to name a few.
Just hours into the experiment and following his 800-calorie breakfast that featured hot chocolate and a muffin, Tennyson was already starving and lamented the deliciousness of the breakfast he had tucked into for tasting good in the moment – but not even sustaining his energy levels until lunchtime.
“I feel like s**t,” he told viewers. “For breakfast I had 800 and something calories at Starbucks and I’m already starving. That’s the downside of these amazing foods. They taste amazing in the moment, but right after you’re done – it’s like, ‘have I even eaten a ‘d**n thing yet?’”
As the day progressed, things only continued to get worse, with the consequence of his dietary choices soon beginning to catch up with him.
“I think the worst thing I could’ve done is sit down on this couch because I am exhausted and my motivation to train is non-existent,” Tennyson told the camera.
Ever the consummate professional, Tennyson persevered and did complete a workout but found that his energy levels weren’t up to par with his usual performance and the fatigue was really beginning to set in.
At the end of the video, which saw Tennyson openly admit he felt sick following a hefty all you can eat banquet, the YouTube star revealed exactly what the challenge had done to his body.
Having started at 198.3lbs, by the experiment’s end, Tennyson revealed he had gained 4lbs in total, something that wasn’t unexpected, with his weight climbing to 202lbs.
“I gained 4lbs in the last two days, probably all just bloat – I hope,” he admitted.
“I hope this video shows you that you can have whatever you want, but not always in the portion sizes that you always want. We should want to be eating good foods, since good foods make you feel good and processed foods make you feel like s**t.
“It’s not always just about how you look, it’s about how you feel. That’s why I say, ‘be good… most of the time.’”