Tell us crazy diets that you or someone you know fell for

Allterrain_Lady

Dukan diet. This guy should be in prison. He's not even a doctor anymore. Been banned from the French doctors board.
I ended up with an ED, I lost my hair, my smile and my social life along with the weight. I took me way more time to gain back health and confidence that it did the weight!!!

Marilyn0924

I tried a 3 day cleanse once. Took wonderfully healthy veg and grain and combined them into completely inedible concoctions. I made half way through day 2. Would have been better off just eating the food in it's natural glory!
The gag-reflex is strong with this one...

smantha32

I thought I'd done every crazy diet there is....

Cabbage soup diet,
master cleanse
low fat
low carb
HCG - not the tongue drops, the shot in the hip.
Herbalife
Phentermine
Ephedra
Cambridge liquid diet
Alli
Hydroxycut
Chromamine
Metabolife

and a couple more pills who's names I can no longer remember...

But I've never eaten clay, so I guess I didn't hit rock bottom. lol

jlapey

I had a friend who truly believed she was "allergic" to any red meat. Granted, she did have a lot of health problems and many surgeries. I'm would not be surprised if she had some intolerance, but intolerance is not an allergy. She also firmly believed in the "eating for your blood type" diet.

I know a couple of women who did "Ideal Protein" and another that did the "HCL diet". All of them lost weight pretty quickly, but looked deflated, tired and possibly ill. They've all gain some back since.

Sim123one

Juice Plus.

Worst thing I ever did and wasted money on.

It tasted disgusting, I was constantly hungry and it did absolutely nothing of the things it claimed it did!

dbmata

I've done the cabbage soup bs diet thing a few times to make weight for tournaments.

fit2bhealthe

The Idea Protein diet STILL blows my mind. My friend is doing it - has been on it for over half a year - has lost well over 100 lbs and I'm happy for her but not once could I bring my self to think that it was healthy! Her breath is gross, her periods are messed up, her hair is super thin compared to how it used to be, her coach will only let her work out so much a day because if she does much she loses pretty much everything she ate, she can't eat healthy fruits ... or healthy veggies... or healthy meats... it's crazy. AND SO MUCH SOY!

This is wrong in so many ways. Someone needs to tell her she is slowly killing herself.

fit2bhealthe

the lemon, cayenne pepper and maple syrup cleanse.

haha I tried this! My friend told me Beyonce did it (!) so we decided to give it a go, I bought a huge bag of lemons, made the mix and forced down a third of a glass and was sick! It was rank.

I think I made a cake with the rest of the lemons hahaha.

y

Every now and then I make this drink to take place of coffee - lemon, raw ginger, raw honey, and cayenne pepper. It is actually good and definitely a good rev to the engine. But definitely not a food substitute, though I have friends that did the same thing.

sportyredhead01

I had a friend on the raw potato diet.
You were supposed to eat "normally" then have one raw potato a day then lose weight by some miracle I guess.

I joked her and was like "I'll give you $100 if you crap a tater tot." :laugh:

willrun4bagels

I had a coworker who drank clay (yup, soil) mixed with water for 7 days. Like an earthworm!

I think this is one of the most bizarre fad diets I have ever heard of.. WOW.. JUST WOW

I know! She bought it in a health food store - it was a weird cleanse. I mean, cleanses can be pretty weird, but CLAY? Shampoo can be made of clay, sure... but... food? And she was just like "It's good for you!". It's weird because I knew it was my "fault"... she wanted to lose weight because I had been losing weight... except I was using Weight Watchers at the time.. not clay.

Maybe by "cleanse", the packaging in the store literally meant it was a soap/shampoo/cleaner of some sort... ew!!!

wrbiii

Um, 3/4 of the American population falling for "Take our magic pill, drink our magic drink, eat 500 calories a day and run umpteen bajillion miles... You'll lose weight, guaranteed!"

But wait, there's more!

Buy now at $69.95 and we'll even throw in a SECOND mixer cup, a bonus bottle of Magic Burn 2000xUltra, and a handy tongue depressor to help you vomit those extra calories right on out!

Supplies are limited, but satisfaction is guaranteed.

*Superduper Conglomerate Greedomax Diet company cannot be held liable for heart failure, dehydration, anal seepage, constipation, cramps, spasms, sunny days, stubbed toes, puppies pissing on your carpet, or your inability to form coherent sentences after taking our dirt pill made in China and drinking our shake with powdered seaweed from the Fukushima coast.

**Results not typical. Most people will get sick and die using our product.

scorpiophoenix

I don't think it's particularly "crazy" (especially compared to some of these lol), but I had picked up a little book called "40grams of fat per day (or less)" and it came with a little plastic tracker. Basically you could eat WHATEVER you wanted as long as the total fat grams for the day added up to less than 40 regardless of your total calorie intake. Since you're not supposed to count calories I was probably at a deficit anyway and that's why I lost, but I have noticed this time around that eating what I want (just less of it to stay under cals) puts my fat at over 40 a lot of days and I'm still losing so... *shrugs* I guess it would be pretty sound if you didn't really like foods that happen to be fatty. :laugh:

SlimMe37

I dont do diets. My mother in law is always on one. One of them was the cabbage soup diet. Ew.

SlimMe37

I had a friend on the raw potato diet.
You were supposed to eat "normally" then have one raw potato a day then lose weight by some miracle I guess.

I joked her and was like "I'll give you $100 if you crap a tater tot." :laugh:

I thought raw potatoes were poisonous...

lolabluola

The problem is sustainability. Until that person learns to adapt a healthy lifestyle (including eating) they'll just gain all the weight back.

Yep, pretty much. That is what happened for me.

They key to anything - is you have to be able to stick with it I personally have eaten a "low carb" (salads instead of sandwiches basically i guess) for over two years now and have had great results I think and I love how it makes me feel - not everyone can keep to it - it's just another way to cut calories ... gotta do your thing!

The diet where you drink like lemon juice with maple syrup and cayenne pepper seems pretty insane to me ... it's a cleanse i guess - my husband and i tried it for a day haha nope - can't compete with some of this craziness you guys are posting though haha'

edit - oops just saw someone said my crazy diet already haha

aarnwine2013

So I've been doing Atkins since March but I had to add some carbs back into my diet and up my calories. My hair fell out and I started having severe dry skin and mood swings.

I have learned to modify my food plan so it isn't restrictive and I can do it long term. I think all these fads are very damaging in so many ways. I never dreamed that losing would and could be so damaging. I've learned so much from this site and I wish I'd found it years ago.

Veil5577

I knew a girl in school who ate wads of toilet paper (unused) to keep her appetite down.

sportyredhead01

I had a friend on the raw potato diet.
You were supposed to eat "normally" then have one raw potato a day then lose weight by some miracle I guess.

I joked her and was like "I'll give you $100 if you crap a tater tot." :laugh:

I thought raw potatoes were poisonous...

If they are green...but you have to eat a good amount before you feel the affects.

kshadows

My sister is always blabbering about the Sacred Heart Soup Diet. BLECH!

JoRocka

My college roommate got me on a faux weight watchers program for a few weeks.

and I tried the don't eat anything diet- but that didn't last long.