There’s nothing I appreciate more than a little rock ‘n’ roll, an ice cold beer, and a good workout the next morning. Take all these things, combine them into one, and you have Lüc Carl, author of The Drunk Diet, blogger, long distance runner, self proclaimed “party maker,” and Sirius XM DJ. The Drunk Diet, Lüc’s memoir, comes out on March 13, and is the hilarious story of how he lost 40 pounds…wasted. While you probably have seen the infamous “I’m on the Drunk Diet” sticker on my laptop or the two “Drunk Diet” t-shirts I own, you may not be sure what exactly this diet consists of. Lüc has stated, “After reading my book, you will definitely get more sex,” but to find out what exactly what The Drunk Diet is about, Her Campus sat down with the man and legend himself.
Luc Carl (center) author of The Drunk Diet, poses with HC writer Monika Haebich (right).
Her Campus: How would you describe the Drunk Diet in one sentence?
Luc Carl: In one sentence… (laughs) If you want to change your life without changing your life, read the Drunk Diet.
HC: What motivated you to start dieting?
LC: I just got sick of being fat. I was more pissed off than anything. I started running, and I had always been a member at my gym. I just never really went, because I really didn’t care enough. In college I lifted weights, but I was drinking more than anything… so I started running, but I still wanted to learn how to do things better.
HC: Why did you write The Drunk Diet?
LC: I went to the Barnes and Nobles in my neighborhood, and I read just about every fucking book in the health section, and each one I read pissed me off more than the last. So one day I was just standing there, looking for the next book that I was going to buy and not want to read, and I said to myself, “Fuck this. I’m going to go home and write my own book.” And that’s what I did. I went home, sat down at my computer, and started telling my story.
HC: Why is it called The Drunk Diet?
LC: All the diet books said that if I wanted to lose weight, I would have to stop drinking. So I said, you know what? Fuck these people. They’re all a bunch of idiots that don’t know anything about real people. They are doctors and personal trainers, and I’m just a regular guy. So to the “no drinking” I said, “that’s bullshit,” and just to piss people off, I called it The Drunk Diet.
HC: So is your book about a specific diet?
LC: No, it’s not actually a diet. It’s just the title of my book. It has tips and things that I did to help me along the way, but it’s not a “diet book.”
HC: What has been your biggest challenge with losing weight?
LC: Educating myself on what I was actually eating. I had to learn what I was putting in my mouth and be conscience of the fact that I wasn’t just eating a meal; I was feeding an entire army… and that army is known as my body.
HC: Are you training for anything right now?
LC: Yes, the Jersey Marathon is on May 6. I’m also running the New York City ING Marathon in November.
HC: Congratulations!
LC:Yeah, and I got in the old-fashioned way, because I didn’t make lottery. I qualified by running nine qualifying races, and I volunteered for one.
HC: How long did it take you to lose 40 pounds?
LC: It took me about six months to lose it all.
HC: How long did it take you to write the book?
LC: It took me about a year and a half to write the book, but from day one of the writing process to its release date was three years exactly.
HC: “Tales from the Drunk Diet,” an free online download that contains several excerpts from The Drunk Diet, came out last night. Have you gotten any reactions to it yet?
LC: I have. I’m on a site called GoodReads, which is like Facebook for book fans, and I’ve gotten a lot of great reactions. You can even download the excerpt right to your cell phone for free, which is pretty fucking cool.
HC: Do you listen to music when you run?
LC: I’m a music junky. I listen to music all the time, that is with one exception. When I’m running, I’m music free. I’m a DJ on SiriusXM’s Hair Nation five nights a week from Monday to Friday from 6 pm to 12 am EST. I also DJ for SiriusXM’s Ozzy’s Boneyard on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 pm to 3 am EST.
HC: What advice do you have to college girls looking to stay healthy?
LC: Well, college is where you really learn to feed yourself. Personally, I fucked up bad in college. I just drank a lot and ate canned food and mac and cheese all the time. It’s really easy to just wake up one day and realize, “Holy shit. I gained 40 pounds, and I don’t even know what happened.” So my advice? My advice is to stay away from anything convenient, because convenient food leads to a fat ass.
HC: A lot of college students have been known to binge drink. When do you think it goes from having a good time to actually being dangerous?
LC: First of all, never drink if you have to drive… EVER… not even one beer. But drinking really gets bad when you start missing your classes. If you’re missing classes because you’re up too late partying, then you might as well consider yourself a fuck-up… That’s what I did, so don’t follow my lead on that one.
HC: What is your preferred drink of choice?
LC: Budweiser and Jameson! I like cheap American beer and expensive Irish whiskey.
HC: What is your best cure for a hangover?
LC: Working out. Go for a run, for sure! If you want to be healthy and do it the right way, sweating is definitely the best option. A hangover is the byproduct of your body trying to process all those toxins, and a headache is your body telling you it’s trying to get all the crap out of your bloodstream. One way to get rid of it is through your pores, literally. Just go out and sweat.
HC: What are your book signings going to be like?
LC: I want them to be a party. I’ll bring my boys and my crew, especially to the New York signing on March 14, but they’ll basically be as much of a party as they can be in a quiet environment – especially the signing NYC and the one in my hometown, Omaha. I’m also going to try to have an after party at all of the signings, because I want to take them time to thank everybody that came and bought my book. Even if only three people show up, I’d still like to take them all out and buy them a drink. And who knows, maybe in the morning we can all go for a run.
HC: What are your plans for the future? Are there any more books in the picture?
LC: I have two more books coming, but I can’t say too much about them. I’m working on one now, and the other is going to be very interesting. It won’t necessarily be a Drunk Dietsequel, but it’ll be Drunk Diet associated. The next book will be… in one word, an adventure.
HC: Are you planning on coming to Philly?
LC: I’ll come to Philly at some point. It’s not on the tour yet, but maybe I’ll ride the Harley down there or something.
HC: I know you said your mission when you started working out was to be the sexiest man alive. Do you think you’ve accomplished this?
LC: Yes, absolutely! But there can also be more than one sexiest man alive! In the aspect of what I set out to achieve and what I did accomplish without bullshitting anyone, yes, I am the sexiest man alive… and you can be too!
HC: Our readers will most likely want to be the sexiest women alive, but we’ll work on it.
LC: Perfect, there you go.
HC: Why should people read the Drunk Diet?
LC: Because it’s hilarious. You will laugh your ass off and be inspired at the same time- but mostly because it’s hilarious.
The Drunk Diet is currently available for order on Amazon and in bookstores near you starting March 13. “Tales from the Drunk Diet” is available for free for Kindles and eReaders. Lüc Carl’s blog can be found at http://DRUNKDIET.com/, and he can be heard on weekdays on SiriusXM’s Hair Nation from 6 pm to 12 am EST and on SiriusXM’s Ozzy’s Boneyard from 9 pm to 3 am EST.