The dumbest diet you ever tried?

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Replies

  • the "military" diet! All came back plus some... :s
  • JLCrunch
    JLCrunch Posts: 46 Member
    • Alli
    • Doctor prescribed Fastin (appetite suppressant) and strict 1200 calorie diet **I did lose 60 lbs over a few month span through continued diet and exercise (duh) but regained most of it over the course of a year after a bad car accident set me back
    • Doctor prescribed Fastin and strict low carb diet. Not sustainable. I like carbs too much
    • My mom was heavy on the low fat diet which she forced me into when I was a teen
    • Slim Fast
    • Protein supplemental shakes in place of breakfast
    • 1000 calories a day diet which morphed into a 500 calorie a day diet
    • The Master Cleanse
    I'm sure there are plenty more that I'm forgetting.
  • ljones27uk
    ljones27uk Posts: 177 Member
    my wife went on a '3 bananas a day' diet... sounds awful.. I tried atkins, great at first, steak and bacon every day! after a week I was laid up in bed for two day with zero energy.. felt so bad... Getting it right now thanks to MFP! :-)
  • caracourtney83
    caracourtney83 Posts: 2 Member
    lorib642 wrote: »
    Medifast Diet. I know it works for some but it gave me horrible gastric problems, which resulted in needing my gall bladder removed. The food, save for a few items, tasted horrible. I did lose 80+ pounds on it but quit before I could do the "maintenance phase" and never learned how to properly eat. I started carb binging because that's all my body craved. So that + my slower metabolism I gained everything back and then some. Thanks to MFP I'm now doing it the slow and steady way. Calories in/calories out.

    You think the gall badder problems were directly related to the diet? I believe that. It is scary.

    Yes I do believe it. I've never had issues until a couple months of being on Medifast. All the soy they use in their products wasn't good for me I don't think.
  • FitOldMomma
    FitOldMomma Posts: 790 Member
    Way back when I was a junior in high school (1974) I tried the pregnant horse urine diet. Of course, it wasn't called that, lol. It is what is now called the HGC diet. I took injections and kept to a 500 calories per day diet. Yes, I lost weight. Probably about 25 pounds over two months. Soon as I stopped I regained the weight. Now I know it was the very low daily calorie intake that made me lose weight. Funny thing...back then I weighed about 175 pound and thought I was HUGE.
  • sparkly75
    sparkly75 Posts: 29 Member
    I did the Cambridge Diet 3 times!!
    3 shakes a day for 3 months - I lost 3 stone - a stone per month ( 14 lbs ) then surprise surprise gained it all back again plus some every time!
    How I survived on 3 shakes a day I have no idea - I had a very active job on my feet and worked 12 hour shifts most days!
    It's taken me all these years to realise there is no quick fix!
    What an idiot!
    I can safely say I will never "diet" again - I lost 18lbs without putting much effort in at all.
    I can't remember where I heard it but my new motto is " never eat anything your Grandmother wouldn't recognise"

  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member
    When I was in high school I decided that I could survive on 1 apple and 1 glass of orange juice a day. After 4 days I ended up passing out in the photgraphy lab and spent the next 3 weeks convincing my guidance counselor that I wasn't on drugs.
  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    When I was in high school I decided that I could survive on 1 apple and 1 glass of orange juice a day. After 4 days I ended up passing out in the photgraphy lab and spent the next 3 weeks convincing my guidance counselor that I wasn't on drugs.

    Oh, this made me think of something! In high school, we would all do no breakfast, and then french fries for lunch. The french fries were $0.50 and they were about the size of a size-small fry today at McD's or Burger King (gigantic portions weren't all the rage yet in the 80s). So I would estimate maybe 250, 275 calories. That was our official "diet." Then a small dinner at home. We fainted and lost a lot of hair, but we were thin.

  • EmmieBaby
    EmmieBaby Posts: 1,235 Member
    the oatmeal diet, all I had was two bowls of plain oatmeal with water per day for a week...nearly passed out in the gym
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Water fasting for a whole week when I was a teen. It landed me in the hospital..
  • farfromthetree
    farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
    Lemonade diet cleanse. No solid food for 7 days..until I began hallucinating food. I lost 9 pounds and gained it back in a day!!
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member
    LAWoman72 wrote: »
    When I was in high school I decided that I could survive on 1 apple and 1 glass of orange juice a day. After 4 days I ended up passing out in the photgraphy lab and spent the next 3 weeks convincing my guidance counselor that I wasn't on drugs.

    Oh, this made me think of something! In high school, we would all do no breakfast, and then french fries for lunch. The french fries were $0.50 and they were about the size of a size-small fry today at McD's or Burger King (gigantic portions weren't all the rage yet in the 80s). So I would estimate maybe 250, 275 calories. That was our official "diet." Then a small dinner at home. We fainted and lost a lot of hair, but we were thin.

    I loved the 80's!!! Good times...good times. Bad hair - but good times!

    I used to pop Dexatrim (sp) all the time - wash it down with Jolt Cola!

  • 808Trish808
    808Trish808 Posts: 122 Member
    I see a new Purium fad. Anyone on it now? Thoughts?
  • marinabreeze
    marinabreeze Posts: 141 Member
    It's a tie between two diets/supplements:

    In high school, my boyfriend told me to take twice the normal dose of ephedra pills (I can't remember the brand name anymore, this was the late '90s). I took them and after several days I felt lightheaded and unwell, so I stopped and eventually dropped the weight in the form of the boyfriend.

    My first year of college I ordered a bottle of liquid chitosan from an infomercial. I took that for awhile and imagine that - no results!
  • joneallen
    joneallen Posts: 217 Member
    I tried Visalus for a bit. Worst idea ever. What bugged me the most is that the guy that sells it, is actually an old friend of mine. It's safe to say I won't rely on him anymore for any nutritional advice.

    The shakes were terrible, they made me go the bathroom every hour, and worst of all, they cost a fortune per month. Their ads with their nutritional value vs. whole foods are very misleading, and can easily be appealing to the uneducated.

    Sticking to a healthy diet has proven effective time after time. Not some marketing product.
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member
    It's a tie between two diets/supplements:

    In high school, my boyfriend told me to take twice the normal dose of ephedra pills (I can't remember the brand name anymore, this was the late '90s).

    Was it Stacker 2? I took those and thought I was having a heart attack. They're totally illegal now!

  • TheSatinPumpkin
    TheSatinPumpkin Posts: 948 Member
    It's a tie between two diets/supplements:

    In high school, my boyfriend told me to take twice the normal dose of ephedra pills (I can't remember the brand name anymore, this was the late '90s).

    Was it Stacker 2? I took those and thought I was having a heart attack. They're totally illegal now!

    Similar when i was taking Metabolife 365.
  • lorib642
    lorib642 Posts: 1,942 Member
    LAWoman72 wrote: »
    When I was in high school I decided that I could survive on 1 apple and 1 glass of orange juice a day. After 4 days I ended up passing out in the photgraphy lab and spent the next 3 weeks convincing my guidance counselor that I wasn't on drugs.

    Oh, this made me think of something! In high school, we would all do no breakfast, and then french fries for lunch. The french fries were $0.50 and they were about the size of a size-small fry today at McD's or Burger King (gigantic portions weren't all the rage yet in the 80s). So I would estimate maybe 250, 275 calories. That was our official "diet." Then a small dinner at home. We fainted and lost a lot of hair, but we were thin.

    I loved the 80's!!! Good times...good times. Bad hair - but good times!

    I used to pop Dexatrim (sp) all the time - wash it down with Jolt Cola!
    I liked my big hair :) and Jolt
  • weavernv
    weavernv Posts: 1,555 Member

    ETA: I once bought these "metaslim" pills from Walmart that were supposed to help speed up your metabolism to lose weight... I had to stop taking them after a couple of days because I could feel my heart racing even when doing no exercise and was afraid of landing myself in the ER![/quote]

    Metabolife was the worst diet I ever tried for this very same reason. My friend was selling it and she swore by it, so I had to try it. I almost went off the deep end. I learned that I can't do anything with ephedra in it.
  • The 400 calorie diet or less a day. At 130 lbs I was unhappy with my weight a few years ago. I went to one of those weight loss centers to get prescribed adipex but because I wasn't overweight for my frame the one doctor wouldn't do it. Went to one of the other offices a few weeks later with 20 lbs of weights hidden under bulky clothing and got it prescribed just to stop me from eating. I got down to 126.4 in about two weeks but I was a miserable *kitten* without food.
  • tsikkz
    tsikkz Posts: 404 Member
    bump
  • Juvenica
    Juvenica Posts: 460 Member
    tried the maple syrup cleanse ..... for half a day
    would never do it again
  • i tried the all cookie diet i made myself it was the worse ever i was extremely hungry everyday it only last 2 weeks i quited with headaches and fear i did lose 2 lbs tho.
  • peanutcats
    peanutcats Posts: 14 Member
    Oh man I've done so many dumb diets. Both commercial, and invented by me too...

    But the most ridiculous ones have to be when I decided to eat only ice cream for a day, or only chocolate for a day, or only one type of fruit. Somehow I guess I thought I'd get sick of eating that food but lol no with the chocolate especially! I was 14 so I guess I didn't know much better but I'm surprised I didn't get diabetes or something. I actually lost weight initially which was weird, I guess chocolate is a diuretic? So I was like YEAHHH and kept eating like 3000 cals of chocolate a day. And then I suddenly stopped losing and got fat like overnight hahah don't try it! Also did a diet when I ate only bananas. Got fat on that too!

    Out of the commercial diets I've tried, for me it was the Dukan diet. I mean, I like the principle and stuff but it left me absolutely terrified of putting carbs in my mouth and after surviving on basically chicken and greek yogurt for a while, it led to a long streak of binging and I gained back a lottttt of weight. So it isn't a dumb diet in itself, just for me it didn't work. Towards the end I felt like puking all the time.
  • Kate7294
    Kate7294 Posts: 783 Member
    I tried "Herbalife" in the 6th grade. No loss that I remember. In high school I tried ipaca? syrup exactly one time. What the F--- was I thinking? Desperation.
    Having my tonsils taken out at 18 made the biggest difference ( not a diet ) I dropped 20 pounds in a month. Looked terrible at 130 lbs. size 7.
    Now I'm 10 lbs. from my gw of 155 lbs. and wearing an 8. LOL
  • court_alacarte
    court_alacarte Posts: 219 Member
    the "military" diet! All came back plus some... :s

    i tried this diet recently about a month ago. got to day 3 and only got through breakfast. what broke me was that all i knew i was having for lunch was 5 crackers and a slice of toast and i was in such a dizzying fog, i couldn't think straight. my ex-fiance did it with me and lost 6 lbs by the last day and i didn't lose a single thing. he even ate a twix bar!! i was hangry to say the least...

    lemonade diet--tried it once in college. made it through 4 days until i started getting stomach cramps and decided to just eat. it shrunk my stomach but of course i took care of that within a week :)

    vegan diet--i literally tried this diet like 4 different times throughout college and just couldn't keep with it for more than a week. apart from the constant flatulence, it was a struggle for me looking at every single label to make sure animal products weren't involved and i would keep making exceptions that led to me just not being on it anymore.

    hydroxycut--once again, gave it the old "college try" in college. i bought the drink mixes and got the worst case of the spins and i felt like i was going to gag on my own spit. luckily i only drank one drink mix. never. again.

    my own 10g/day carb diet--did this a couple of years ago when i first got engaged. basically, i lived off of meat, cheese and eggs with little room for veggies. i lost weight, that's for damned sure, but i remember being so tired all the time. i'm a supporter of low carb diets, but definitely only 10 grams a day is gonna wear you out.
  • tracie_minus100
    tracie_minus100 Posts: 465 Member
    The "Eat for your blood type" diet. I'm embarrassed I tried it!
  • rbfdac
    rbfdac Posts: 1,057 Member
    I've done the "cabbage soup diet" a couple of times-- I usually just used it to kick start my diet. The soup is pretty good, but when that's about all you're getting for 7 days, it's tough!
  • 0somuchbetter0
    0somuchbetter0 Posts: 1,335 Member
    The summer between high school and college I ate nothing but pickles and cheese. Got down to 98 lbs...woohoo! Never mind the fact that I nearly passed out every time I stood up, I was skinny!
  • independant2406
    independant2406 Posts: 447 Member
    The Halfalargepizzaeverynight diet was the worst...I was doing that and EatwhateverIwant at the same time. Would you believe I didn't lose anything? I actually GAINED 60lbs!
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