The dumbest diet you ever tried?

Atkins.
Years ago,
because my parents were,
because apparently everyone was,
at that point,
for some reason.

When I was way younger I wanted to see if I could lose weight by drinking only beer, I did lose weight actually, but it also led to a lot of partying, sex with women who's names I never knew, friends coming over at all hours, lots of dancing, bar hopping, house part............wait a second, that was the BEST damn diet I've ever been on, what was I thinking, sheesh, I must be getting old, what's wrong with me....carry on.

The worst diet I ever tried was a low carb diet. A friend of mines was doing it and so I decided to join him since it was obviously working for him. I tried the diet for maybe a week before kindly bowing out. The lack of carbs and food made me super b!tchy! In that week I'd lost about three or pounds too but that was packed on with extra weight to boot.

Not a diet per se, but I was dumb enough to buy into the "super" herbal supplements theory. I got supplements for cayenne pepper, chromium, hoodia, green tea, all those "thermogenic" miracles, and then "detox" ones like apple cider vinegar, black walnut, chickweed, triphala, etc. I lost a lot of pounds from a reduction in brain cells. So glad I bought them though, because I can safely say they absolutely do not work in aiding weight loss whatsoever.

I did this diet a couple years ago called "The 17 Day Diet" - anyone hear of it? It's basically a super restrictive diet for 17 days - no sugar, no grains/carbs (except veggies), lean protein, limited fruit, etc. The idea is at the end of the 17 day period, you can gradually work a couple things back in - like say, a small serving of oatmeal.

While I did follow it for the initial period and ended up losing weight, I couldn't handle the "gradually introduce" part and basically binged on everything I couldn't have during those 17 days.

I'm now *hugely* skeptical of any diet that's supposed to be followed for a set number of days and diets that encourage you to gradually reintroduce foods after the introductory phase.

I'm now close to my goal weight doing what I should have done years ago - at a balanced diet, at a deficit, making room for my favorite treats/foods along the way to avoid feeling deprived.

For me, the worst was Atkins. But then, I'd rather have a bowl of oatmeal and juts than some bacon. Bacon in no way compensated for not being able to eat carbs. I ate a lot of shrimp. I still do, but I eat Pescatarian.

Without a doubt, the hCG diet. I developed so many health problems from which I had to heal and since stopping the diet, I've been prone to kidney infections.

trinatrina1984 wrote: »

dtroutman wrote: »

Ive tried HCG awful. But the worst was when I went with a co-worker and we got our ears stapled to lose weight. It hurt and a week later was so infected they had to pry the staple out it was terrible!!!!!

I know this is an old thread so not sure if this poster is still using MFP but WT actual F!! what even is the logic behind this?

I willing to bet there is no real logic involved. Crazy, yes. Lots of crazy. Logic, no.

Lounmoun wrote: »

When I was a kid, my parents were gung ho about the cabbage soup diet for awhile so we all had to eat it every day. I don't think cabbage soup is bad to eat sometimes but it got old pretty fast. It made the house smell weird too. It didn't really help them lose weight.
As an adult, I haven't really tried any diet I consider dumb or crazy. I tried low carb for awhile but have steered clear of fad diets really. I just remember the huge pots of cabbage soup and it keeps me from trying fads.

Not a fad diet, but my dad wanted to try to incorporate soybeans in our meals (not tofu or eamame but hard cooked beans. He would throw them in spaghetti sauce or chili. I never did like them