cabbage soup diet?

VibrantAnnette

cabbage is very very good for you and can help you lose weight. I am not a fan of fad diets.
cabbage binds to fat and pulls it out of your body before you digest it. in some countries they eat it at every meal. I've started adding 1/2 cup to breakfast smoothie, 1/2 cup as lunch salad, and 1 cup for dinner in sauté or salad so that I get my 2 cups a day.

here's the new information on how good cabbage is for losing weight, lowering cholesterol, glucose and blood pressure.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=19

I always opt on the more exercise path rather than fad diet that cannot be maintained.
calories in = calories out keeps you at same weight, so to lose weight you need more exercise or fewer calories. 1# of weight = 3500 calories. to lose 1# a week you need exercise to burn 500 calories daily, or consume 500 fewer calories (as long as you are staying above the minimum calorie so your body doesn't do starvation mode which is holding onto all calories you eat).

MKEgal

Did anyone do a cabbage soup diet? How did it go? And how do you make it? I'm stuck, and want to be my goal weight by Christmas.

Any extreme calorie restriction will result in weight loss.
Eating only cabbage soup will result in malnutrition, which will lead to binging because your body is starving for what it needs.
Eat at a reasonable caloric restriction, exercise some every day, and be happy with 0.5 lb per week weight loss.
If you get there slowly, it's unlikely to come back, because you've made lasting, sustainable changes in your approach to food & exercise.

"evidence shows that people who lose weight gradually and steadily (about 1-2 pounds per week) are more successful at keeping weight off ..."
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/index.html

Are you being unrealistic with time frames? How much do you have to lose?

Her ticker says 45 lb.
In 3 months, no, that is not at all realistic.
Maybe if she were starting off at 400 lb.
But her goal weight is 135, so she's 180 now.

its so hard counting calories... And what has protein and what has carbs. Its so confusing.
So for breakfast... I eat an egg... And lunch I eat a salad, and dinner I eat a piece of chicken? I need something that is going to fill my stomach.
For example today I ate no breakfast, two pieces of pizza for lunch, and for dinner a large salad and a bagel. I had a soda and two tiny pieces of chocolate. That's nothing... I'm still hungry.
So pretty much I really only ate four things. And I still went over my goal calorie intake

Stop drinking your calories. Ditch the soda.
And the bagel has more calories than you'd think.
To add bulk & fullness without lots of calories, add vegetables.

Going by BMI, you should be 115 - 145, so 135 is in a healthy range.
http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf

To get to 135 lb, eat 1350 cal per day & be active 30 min per day.
Don't eat back exercise calories.

Here's a table which explains the healthy ranges for macros:
http://www.iom.edu/Global/News Announcements/~/media/C5CD2DD7840544979A549EC47E56A02B.ashx

page 1, carbs, 45 - 65% of calories (4 cal per gram)
page 2, fat, 20 - 35% of calories (9 cal per gram)
page 4, protein, 10 - 35% of calories (4 cal per gram)

To take the easiest example of 50 / 25 / 25, at your calorie goal of 1350:
carbs: 675 cal, 169 grams
fat: 338 cal, 38 g
protein: 338 cal, 84 g

Most people feel full longer with a higher percentage of calories from protein,
and most people lose fat faster with a lower percentage of calories from carbs,
so you might want to tweak that a bit.
And having about half your calories for breakfast leads to more weight loss.


Helpful threads:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819925-the-basics-don-t-complicate-it

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

NK1112

It is horrid. Cabbage soup is what we'd eat growing up when the government cheese and peanut butter rations were gone. We were very, very poor. Cabbage soup just sounds sad. Like pictures of Depression Era soup kitchen queues. :frown:

I can understand your sentiment. I, however happen to love cabbage soup even though we ate it almost every day growing up. My mom served us cabbage in one form or another every day and it always tasted great .

One thing she never could put into her soup, even though she loved them, are beets .... casue my dad's family ate a lot of beets when he was growing up and they were trying to keep from starving. He couldn't stand the look or taste of them after that. But then, maybe his mom wasn't as talented a cook as my mom had been... wish I could duplicate her cooking style.

chilly1470

Eat in moderation, make your daily goal, burn calories and shoot for next Christmas. It will be more worth it than torturing yourself. I will never condone such a diet. Besides, Christmas is about more than the pants you are able to wear.

MKEgal

so your body doesn't do starvation mode which is holding onto all calories you eat

O.M.G. :mad:
Your body has to burn calories to run. It has no choice.
It prefers to burn carbs (glucose, then glycogen).
Then it burns fat.
Then it burns muscle, but this is really inefficient AND dangerous, because we need muscles to live (heart, diaphragm), and to find food (skeletal muscles).
THAT is 'starvation mode' - when the body is burning muscle in a last-ditch effort to keep running long enough to find food to eat.

Madame_Goldbricker

Mmmm, I can recall a friend & I doing the cabbage soup diet when we were about 20. I think we stuck it out for a full 3 days before losing the will to live.

Cait_Sidhe

I do like cabbage in Tom Ka Pak (thai coconut soup). It's super yummy.

DiabolicalColossus

No.

And you probably shouldn't either.

Have cabbage soup when you have a yen for it, but don't make it the only thing you eat.

It's setting yourself up for failure.

shank35l

I did it when I was 18 for 3 months. It gave me ulcers.

hortensehildegarde

I thought this diet generally referred to the sacred heart version, which I think is one that supposedly was used for pre-op patients who needed to drop a lot of weight fast. You don't just eat cabbage soup, you eat different things with it each day (beef, rice, fruits- depends on the day).

Long long time ago I have done it. It's not any different or more special than any other VLCD. What it did give me was a recipe for a very delicious soup. Not that I would do the "diet" again as it is needlessly restrictive on what you eat, but the soup is a yummy thing to eat if you like veggie soups (I modify mine but it's good for ideas).