A Hipster Guide to Weight Loss: Check Out Martin Cizmar's Chubster

A Hipster Guide to Weight Loss: Check Out Martin Cizmar's Chubster

By Sarah LaBrie Thu., Mar. 22 2012 at 3:38 PM

Kristen Veng-Pederson

Martin Cizmar lost 100 pounds in less than a year, and all he had to do was give up Slurpees.

Well, he also biked to work occasionally. And quit drinking full-calorie beer. What he didn't do was try the Paleo Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Cookie Diet or Jenny Craig. He didn't join a gym, and he didn't shell out for expensive pre-calorie-counted meals. Instead he just ... ate less. And it worked. He chronicles the results in his new book Chubster: A Hipster's Guide to Losing Weight , a food guide with a practical side.

"It seems to me that the thing people who are overweight have in common is a reliance on convenience foods," Cizmar said by phone from Portland, Ore., where he works as Arts & Culture editor of the Willamette Week (he was previously music editor of Phoenix New Times, our sister publication). "I'm not suggesting that what you need to do is eat frozen food and go to McDonald's. But, if that's part of your lifestyle, you can still do that."

In other words, he's not a drill sergeant looking to guilt you into going carb-free. He's also not a therapist ready to untangle your In-N-Out addiction. Vegans don't score extra points with him, and neither do Michael Pollan devotees. All Cizmar wants is to teach readers how to look good in their ModCloth dresses and thrifted band tees. Along the way, he unpacks the concept of "The Hipster," makes fun of Coldplay and explains with mathematical precision why boxed wine is a better choice than PBR.

"Michal Pollan writes, 'Eat. Not too much. Mostly plants.' That's good general advice, but for someone overweight enough to want to buy a diet book, it's not going to help," Cizmar said.

Clearly, Chubster isn't for everyone. Especially not everyone in locavore-obsessed Los Angeles. A diet guide that hails McDonald's as the Gandhi of fast-food chains? I'll be at the Hollywood Farmers Market fanning myself with a chard leaf, thanks. But while you might not be a frequent El Pollo Loco customer, chances are you know someone who is. That person might be happy to discover that the Taco al Carbon will set her back only 140 calories. Meanwhile, the Twice-Grilled Burrito? A dangerous 800.

Tags:

books, chubster, food

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MartinCizmarWasteofFlab

Ah yes. So this is why Martin Cizmar was such a fucking asshole. I always thought it was because he lived in Phoenix, the bleached butthole of the world. But he was fat AND in Phoenix. That will make anyone into a mouth-breathing, waste of flab.

stan

Calores count, no pun intended, great story about Cizmar. Once you are aware of what you are eating you can make small changes that have a great cumulative effect on your body, my company thindish.com lists dishes at restaurants that are 600 calories or less,..the effect is you start to get a sense of a healthy portion, and you eat less.

Mackeo

Definitely don't see the hipster angle either. Thrift store rocker t's, yes. Rocker wanna-be, yes -- his biggest compliment is a shout-out from an unnamed rocker in Phoenix? And since when is eating less more than common sense? Only to those obsessed with diet regimens with fascist or wacky themes, like eat only cookies or only fatty foods. I DO like his having the guts to de-vilify McD's though! The author of this can sit and fan herself with an arugula leaf at a farmer's market surrounded by other smug foodies convinced that paying more for "organic" is some sort of mark of superiority, in the sort of self-righteousness this guy deconstructs, but hello! You CAN order a salad at any of the fast food joints now, an occasional burger won't kill you if you omit the big fries and sugared soda, and on the contrary depriving yourself makes you crave this stuff more.