When Jared Fogle lost 245 pounds just by eating low fat sandwiches at Subway, the whole world sat up and listened. The appeal of the diet was its simplicity—no calorie counters, no portioning, no “metabolic processes” that had you looking at the ingredients on your plate and computing whether or not they met the prescribed percentages. You just walked up to a Subway counter and placed an order.

Fogle prescribes this menu. Start the day with coffee, order a six-inch sub and baked potato chips for lunch, and have a 12-inch veggie sub for dinner. That’s a total of about 1,000 calories for three relatively filling meals.

There are no “magic ingredients” in Subway sandwiches. What this diet does illustrate is the power of portion control, and what Fogle often fails to mention is how he also exercised regularly aside from hanging out in the corner Sub. So while it definitely worked for Fogle, it would be unrealistic to expect that it would work for everybody. Message boards carry thousands of conflicting testimonials of people who lost 30-40 pounds, and people who actually gained. See what it does for you, no harm in trying—but don’t get your hopes too high. Subway itself doesn’t endorse the diet, and its official nutritionist actually said that it was important to eat a healthy, balanced diet.