Stop eating and stay in bed?

oremus1
oremus1 Posts: 100 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Basically while I am busting myself in the gym, eating fruit and veggies, counting my cals and losing 1lb a week, one of my friends has told me her secret diet.

she is a teacher so she gets loads of time off. whenever she needs to lose like 10lb - 15lb fast for hols, she says she just drinks water or herbal tea, takes a multivitamin and lounge about in bed for a week to 10 days. loses 1lb a day or more, and can easily drop a stone in a week or so.

she calls it 'detox' or 'fasting' or 'cleansing' . she is not anorexic and only does it for holiday season or parties.

is there any danger to doing this? what if we do it just at the weekend? there are many weird diets like the one where you eat on alternate days.
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Replies

  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
    Your friend is an idiot
  • FRiNADA
    FRiNADA Posts: 67
    do not do this!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    and thats whats teaching kids today... :worried:

    so you'd rather lose 10lb in a week and then put it back on than lose 10lb in 10 weeks and keep it off?!
  • penny0919
    penny0919 Posts: 123 Member
    After fasting you will just put all the weight back on afterwards (and maybe more). At least with your way there is a greater chance you will keep the weight off as long as you don't slide back to old habits.

    I HIGHLY doubt your friend doesn't eat for 10 days.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    Considering your friend has to keep doing it, it's a complete fail!!! Stick with the plan you have that will get your real long term results.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    edited October 2014
    She may be losing fat but she is definitely losing muscle. Skinny fat.
  • cbhubbybubble
    cbhubbybubble Posts: 465 Member
    edited October 2014
    Why not just lose weight until you get to your goal and then maintain it? Why be heavier than you want and then have to lose 10lbs every so often so you can look how you want at a party or on vacay?

    As an aside....I should have stayed a teacher so I had 7-10 days to lounge around in bed drinking tea.
  • 50sFit
    50sFit Posts: 712 Member
    glevinso wrote: »
    Your friend is an idiot
    BINGO!
    :p
    If mere weight loss is your goal, sure, just sleep off the muscle. For optimal health and fitness, you must work. Sorry...
  • kr1stadee
    kr1stadee Posts: 1,774 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    and thats whats teaching kids today... :worried:

    yeah this.
  • oremus1
    oremus1 Posts: 100 Member
    penny0919 wrote: »
    After fasting you will just put all the weight back on afterwards (and maybe more). At least with your way there is a greater chance you will keep the weight off as long as you don't slide back to old habits.

    I HIGHLY doubt your friend doesn't eat for 10 days.

    I think she just wants to look good for partes and holidays the rest of the time baggy sweats etc. and 10lb isn't a lot but choosing between 2 months and 1 week of losing ...
  • oremus1
    oremus1 Posts: 100 Member
    what if someone wanted fast results then resolved to eat properly and healthiliy once they were slim?
  • lisajohnsonrobinson
    lisajohnsonrobinson Posts: 2 Member
    Yikes, the lounging around in bed for 10 days sounds like worse torture than going to the gym! :)
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
    glevinso wrote: »
    Your friend is an idiot

    You're a kind person. I was thinking of much worse things to call the friend.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    glevinso wrote: »
    Your friend is an idiot


    This.
  • Cortneyrenee04
    Cortneyrenee04 Posts: 1,117 Member
    edited October 2014
    You should lose your weight the sane way and show her how it's done ;) yours is much more likely to stay off, while her's comes back over and over.
  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
    eldamiano wrote: »
    glevinso wrote: »
    Your friend is an idiot

    You're a kind person. I was thinking of much worse things to call the friend.

    I do try to be a nice person in general. That was the nicest thing I could think of to say :)
  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
    oremus1 wrote: »
    what if someone wanted fast results then resolved to eat properly and healthiliy once they were slim?

    We all want fast results. It doesn't work that way. Sorry.
  • JenniDaisy
    JenniDaisy Posts: 526 Member
    Remind me to homeschool any children I may have.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    oremus1 wrote: »
    what if someone wanted fast results then resolved to eat properly and healthiliy once they were slim?

    i dont really see how 10lb of mainly water weight can actually make that much difference?!
  • Unknown
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  • oremus1
    oremus1 Posts: 100 Member
    for those saying 'you gain it all back' - what if someone a couple stone overweight crash dieted to a normal weight then just followed a 'normal diet' to lose anymore?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    oremus1 wrote: »
    for those saying 'you gain it all back' - what if someone a couple stone overweight crash dieted to a normal weight then just followed a 'normal diet' to lose anymore?

    try it... after a week of crash dieting you will feel crap, binge and be back to square one... then you can come back to MFP and do it properly...
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    oremus1 wrote: »
    what if someone wanted fast results then resolved to eat properly and healthiliy once they were slim?


    If you want "fast results" for a party... just go low carb for a few weeks. You can easily shed 5-10 lbs of water weight from depleted glycogen. Just realize it will come back once you start eating carbs again.
  • oremus1
    oremus1 Posts: 100 Member
    im just impatient you know? and kinda envious my friend can drop 10lb in a week when I am glad to lose that in a month!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    oremus1 wrote: »
    im just impatient you know? and kinda envious my friend can drop 10lb in a week when I am glad to lose that in a month!

    yes but she puts it BACK ON.... so how is that better than losing it all together!?
  • DoNotSpamMe73
    DoNotSpamMe73 Posts: 286 Member
    3 days. That is the amount of time it would take to get sick...
  • JenniDaisy
    JenniDaisy Posts: 526 Member
    Put it this way; If it works, why does she keep having to do it?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    oremus1 wrote: »
    im just impatient you know? and kinda envious my friend can drop 10lb in a week when I am glad to lose that in a month!

    You're mad that you friend does unhealthy means to cut weight. You can too if you want. I will pass because I will not have my muscle used as energy. Your friend is promoting bad behavior but sounds like you know better.

  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Why don't you try her "method" and let us know in 10 days how it worked for you.
  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
    Well lets be scientific about it then. A typical BMR for an average woman is around 1400 calories per day. In a week that's 9800 calories, since she is entirely sedentary and in bed for a week lets only add maybe 300 per day of movement. Let us also assume she eats absolutely nothing with calories during that week (somehow I doubt this but let's play along). So in a week she "burns" 11760 calories which equates to 3.36lbs of "stuff".

    In a week she loses 10lbs you say? But basic thermodynamics indicates only 3.36lbs of "stuff" could possibly burn off. Therefore the rest is water. Water is usually stored up in glycogen, usually in a 4 to 1 ratio of water to glycogen by weight. So it sounds like all your friend managed to do was deplete her easy-to-access fuel (glycogen) and dropped the equivalent water stored with it.

    Your friend is an idiot.

    There are no shortcuts.

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