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    What's the stupidest thing you've ever done to lose weight?

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    • Posts: 253
      I ate around 700 Cals a day + intermittent fasting for two months.
    • Posts: 1,805 Member
      show previous quotes
      I've never done Phase 1 of south beach, but it doesn't look too awful, especially compared to some of these other stories.
      Congrats on your success with it.
      I read about south beach as I was losing weight a decade or so ago and it sounded a lot like what I was/am doing.... Phase 2/3 anyway.
      In fact, I joined the south beach group here because it's so close to how I've eaten the last decade. It just made sense (minus the commercialism and bars and what not).

      it's not stupid! south beach is what helped me retrain my taste buds. until recently (slippage, won't get into it), i too've been eating a lot like phase 2/3 for several years.

      the first phase made me, somehow, cranky, giddy & lightheaded at once (at the end, not the beginning - i think my brain needed more glucose than i was giving it). i'm not sure it's necessary, either... i mean, yes by comparison phase 2/3 are very easy, so that's instrumentally useful. and it's motivating to lose the 5-10 lbs of water weight or whatever it is. i can't remember the rationale for the phase 1 -- something about having to be weaned from white carbs? some metabolic process that needed stimulating? at some point i decided i thought that maybe wasn't so necessary, but i haven't thought about it in a while.

      all i know is, i wasn't very good company at the end of that phase 1, lol.

      glad others have made use of it. as a whole it was actually helpful to me too :)
    • Posts: 274 Member
      Through my teenage years I starved myself. A couple of years ago I did the Visalas shakes. Whatever they have as a laxative in it made me so gassy and bloated I was always doubled over in pain from the gas build up in my stomach. The best part was during the 3 months, yes it took me 3 months to figure out this diet wasn't working, I gained 30lbs.
    • Posts: 19,251 Member
      show previous quotes

      it's not stupid! south beach is what helped me retrain my taste buds. until recently (slippage, won't get into it), i too've been eating a lot like phase 2/3 for several years.

      the first phase made me, somehow, cranky, giddy & lightheaded at once (at the end, not the beginning - i think my brain needed more glucose than i was giving it). i'm not sure it's necessary, either... i mean, yes by comparison phase 2/3 are very easy, so that's instrumentally useful. and it's motivating to lose the 5-10 lbs of water weight or whatever it is. i can't remember the rationale for the phase 1 -- something about having to be weaned from white carbs? some metabolic process that needed stimulating? at some point i decided i thought that maybe wasn't so necessary, but i haven't thought about it in a while.

      all i know is, i wasn't really good company at the end of that phase 1, lol.

      glad others have made use of it. as a whole it was actually helpful to me too :)
      CHEERS!:drinker:
    • Posts: 1,805 Member
      CHEERS!:drinker:

      :drinker: Cheers :)
    • Posts: 441 Member
      I'll admit. There was a time where I just ate, MAYBE, 400 calories a day. For like one month straight. The weight came off, but it came RIGHT back as soon as I started eating. I got sick a lot that month too.

      Very bad idea. Ashamed of it really.
    • Posts: 8 Member
      Stop eating
      Take Pills
      Abuse my SSRIs
      Try throwing up
      Over-exercise
    • Posts: 31 Member
      last year Id start the week eating around 900 calories, and went down 200 calories everyday (900, 700, 500, 300), fast on the last day and repeat. So basically starving myself and trying to burn as much as I ate (i wouldnt log any exercise to not have the impression that i could eat more).
      pretty stupid, but I lost around 10kg in 4 months (after 4 months I gave up), one year after I got half back but would never do that ever again
    • Posts: 19 Member
      When I was 14 a friend and I wrapped our stomachs with cling wrap and went jogging lol.
    • Posts: 25
      This one takes the cake!
    • Posts: 237 Member
      Eating a salad. :sick:
    • Posts: 1,053 Member
      We have a local clinic called "Doctors Weight Loss". About 5 yrs ago I went there and they put me on a 500 cal a day diet, and I went in every day and a "doctor" took my blood pressure and weighed me. After a couple of weeks and about 22 lbs lost, I got so dizzy and disoriented while I was driving that I got in an accident. The accident was not serious and no one was hurt, but did make me realize that there was a better more healthy way to lose weight.
    • Posts: 1,115 Member
      So many too pick from but probably was the cabbage diet and the grapefruit diet. Both were extremely unappetizing and ridiculous. Also the all fruit diet was a huge mistake. Nothing like waking up in the middle of the night a few days after starting this one to spend hours in the bathroom. The things we do when we are young.
    • Posts: 90 Member
      The grapefruit diet! I only lasted a day and a half haha. I also tried to do a week long juice fast and that didn't go very well either. I think that one lasted 3 days.
    • Posts: 439 Member
      I tried chewing and spitting out foods that I craved. I got scared that I was going to develop an eating disorder that I couldn't stop doing at my own will so I only did it for about 2 weeks. My weight did not change during that time.
    • Posts: 3,630 Member
      The cabbage soup diet... and more recently SureSlim. It is based on super low calories and NO exercise... (Because you haven't got the energy to move) I quit when my hair started falling out. I decided I'd rather be fat than bald. I thought that was my only choice. PLUS I was so hungry all the time, I was pretty mean to everyone.
    • Posts: 3,902 Member
      Oh, I forgot about that herbal tea that gives a person diarrhea all night! THAT was the stupidest thing I've ever done. Agghh.
    • Posts: 1,625 Member
      Phentermine a couple of times, cabbage soup, laxatives (now I've got IBS).

      Worst thing I've heard is the trend for young girls/women with diabetes who don't take their insulin! :noway:
    • Posts: 2,059 Member
      HCG. I lasted for three weeks before the headaches became intolerable. I lost about 15 lbs but felt like crap the whole time and stopped. Totally ridiculous thing to do.
    • Posts: 98 Member
      Went to a class guaranteed to lose weight. When I got to the class was told to close my eyes & think of myself small. This wonderful class cost me $25 & my dignity. Lol
    • Posts: 486 Member
      I tried Alli for a period of time. That was not actually the stupidest for me, because they have you on an 1800 cal diet to start (dep on your starting weight) and then you take the pills to 'block fat' absorption, but I think I was probably (like most people) losing weight from the diet not the blocked fat.

      Anyway, fat is good for me, and I wish I knew the things I know now back then.

      But the stupidest thing I ever did was listen to my doctor when she told me to go on a 1200 cal/day diet. My hair started falling out and I was tired all the time. 1200 with not enough protien =/= healthy weight loss for a 288 lbs woman.
    • Posts: 8 Member
      Tried to catch colds to lose weight while sick...
    • Posts: 995 Member
      Basically starving my self and doing insane amounts of cardio...In wrestling though I used to wear tons of clothes and wear a plastic garbage bag over me so I'd sweat out even more....we did lots of dumb stuff to loose temporary weight in wrestling
    • Posts: 10,740 Member
      For a short time several years ago I was taking STRONG laxatives on the weekend when I would eat a lot of food. I only did this for a brief time because I hated the stomach pains and was fortunately smart enough to realize it's terrible for your body to do that and ultimately does not really work.
    • Posts: 1,096 Member
      I ate grapefruit for breakfast and lunch, and salad for supper. kept that up for over a week, until I passed out. Mom took me to the doctor and discovered I was anemic.
    • Posts: 507 Member
      I went on a celery diet in college once. The theory was that it took more calories to digest the celery than was in the actual celery itself. I lasted 3 days....Not a good idea :noway:
    • Posts: 123
      Bulimia.
    • Posts: 862 Member
      The Cabbage Soup diet. :/
    • Posts: 3,569 Member
      My coworkers all got on a kick from some lady about these diet pills. They were all losing weight. They all eventually stopped and gained more back. My stupid thing was taking the same pills with Korean writing all over them even after my coworker experienced chest pains. I discontinued their use when I found MFP and read horror stories about heart problems and diet pills.

      I was also bulimic for a few months. I would bring my breakfast and lunch to work, light stuff, and my excuse was that I could eat a hearty dinner. But that dinner sat in my stomach like a rock and I would end up almost having a panic attack due to guilt and that overly full feeling, so I would purge.

      I was also in a very stressful relationship at the time. Ex BF was on vyvanse for ADHD which kills your appetite and causes you to lose weight. He seemed to think it was fun to bring up the fact that he lost 40lbs without trying and weighed less than me (granted, no definition. ... He didn't work out). I laughed with him but inside it made me feel awful and like a failure.

      I got so obsessive with my MFP logging that I had to quit for a while. I would freak out and spend an hour or two considering whether to get a chicken sandwich or a bowl of Chili from the local restaurants.

      Weight loss isn't supposed to cause you that kind of stress. Now that I'm in s better situation and working out again regularly, I can track my food and not flip out. This is a common problem that gets teases about a lot in the forums but it's easy to get too obsessed with logging, etc to where is actually detrimental to your life and happiness.

      If this is you, just realize the slower you lose, the easier it will be to keep off. Work on having fitness goals too so you feel accomplished. And for the love of God, don't let that scale rule your life. If you're checking in on it too much, put it away and weigh monthly or bi weekly.

      Edited to add: did you know forcibly throwing up repeatedly not only increases your risk of esophageal cancer, but it can cause you to rupture your retina and eventually blind you? Yeah. ... so glad that's behind me. I like my eyes.
    • Posts: 47 Member
      1) A classmate at University commented on how much weight I've gained over the years, then suggested I try her soup diet. (By the way, this girl is now almost wider than she is tall... I know I'm horrid, but the thought made me happy) It's basically just a brothy vegetable soup, actually quite nice tasting. I ate only that for a month. It made me terribly ill. I felt lethargic all the time, and I wanted to barf when I thought about the soup. I swear, at times I thought I smelled like the soup.... This shall henceforth be known as the soup-era of my academic career...

      2) I would stop eating. I tried to dampen my hunger pains with bitter, black coffee and cigarettes. (But in high school I didn't smoke and I simply drank a lot of water). Nowadays, I can't stand black coffee.

      3) I stuck my finger down my throat. This escalated when I went to University. I felt guilty after a night out because of all the "empty" calories in beer, so I made myself vomit.

      Even after years of self loathing and destructive crap, I still catch myself contemplating drastic, stupid things.
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