Super Size Me

Super Size Me is a 2004 documentary film, directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. It follows a 30-day time period (Feburary 2003) during which Spurlock subsists exclusively on McDonald's fast food and stops exercising regularly. The film documents this lifestyle's drastic effects on Spurlock's physical and psychological well-being and explores the fast food industry's corporate influence, including how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit.
During the filming, Spurlock dined at McDonald's restaurants three times a day, sampling every item on the chain's menu at least once. Before launching this experiment, Spurlock, age 33, was healthy and slim, with a body weight of 185.5 lb (84.1 kg). (Spurlock is 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall.) After thirty days, he gained 24.5 lb (11.1 kg), a 13% body mass increase, and his Body Mass Index raised from 23.2 (within the 'healthy' range of 19-25) to 27 ('overweight'). He also experienced mood swings, sexual dysfunction, and nearly catastrophic liver damage. It took Spurlock fourteen months to lose the weight he gained.
The driving factor for Spurlock's investigation was the increasing spread of obesity throughout U.S. society, which the Surgeon General has declared "epidemic," and the corresponding lawsuit brought against McDonald's on behalf of two overweight girls, who, it was claimed, became obese as a result of eating too much McDonald's food. Spurlock points out that although the lawsuit against McDonald's failed, much of the same criticism leveled against the tobacco companies applies to fast food franchises.
The film opened in the U.S. on May 7, 2004, and grossed a total of $28,548,087 worldwide, making it the 7th highest grossing documentary film[1]. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, but lost to the film Born into Brothels.
In February 2005, Super Size Me Educationally Enhanced DVD edition was released. It is an edited version of the film designed to be integrated into a high school health curriculum.