The dumbest diet you ever tried?

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Replies

  • ccecci92
    ccecci92 Posts: 42 Member
    aljeca wrote: »
    The 1,200 calorie diet. Worked great initially. Lost weight, had lots of energy. Figured all these 'experts' on MFP were wrong and it really was the answer. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to sustain such a low calorie intake. I wasn't hungry. My body got used to subsisting on such a low calorie count that hunger really wasn't an issue for me. Then reality set in. I got tired and cranky. My workouts suffered to the point that what I was accomplishing was little more than going through the motions. My weight loss stalled. I couldn't possibly eat any less than I was and had no energy to workout any more than I was. I was eating between 800 - 1200 calories a day and not losing. Couldn't figure out where I'd gone wrong. So I started researching. Started paying attention to posts from some of the long term members on MFP who've had success themselves. Turns out, they really do know what they're talking about. Go figure.

    Haha! Love it. I cannot do 1200. I've been eating between 1700 and 2000 for the past 3 weeks and lifting weights 2-3x per week and I'm losing now :)

    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!

    so the 1200 cals doesnt work?
  • I once thought that eating nothing but oatmeal for three days would be a good idea.

    'twas not. hurp durp.
  • mykaylis
    mykaylis Posts: 320 Member
    nutrisystem - oddly enough i loved most of the food, but it was so freaking expensive it was unsustainable and it taught me nothing except how to use a microwave. i can get a frozen lean cuisine for a lot cheaper and it'd probably be just as effective.

    weight watchers - current system is great. but i did it in the days of susan powter "stop the insanity" low fat high sugar diets. didn't work, wonder why...

    u weight loss - actually worked GREAT for my husband but i was so starved of carbs i more or less turned into a demon in under 14 days and literally needed my psych meds adjusted.
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  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    Keto. Absolutely moronic. I lost 90 lbs, and then gained 140 back just as fast.

    Thank goodness someone is calling BS on keto. How on earth does someone expect themselves to be healthy and wrap bacon in everything?

    Did you say bacon in everything? I just found my new diet

  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
    The Eat Like I'm Still 16 Diet was pretty flippin' stupid on my part.
  • ducati45
    ducati45 Posts: 54 Member
    Can't believe someone hasn't mentioned the "coffee and cigarettes" diet. I didn't even get addicted to cigarettes or particularly like them. I'd have some dry toast every now and then too. Stopped because my mother was like oh honey, no. Also as a kid I found my dad's book the "blood type" diet. Tried that for a bit, it's like different blood type process food differently or some ridiculous *kitten*- he still believes it!! It did nothing- no wonder he never touches vegetables :neutral_face:
  • 0somuchbetter0
    0somuchbetter0 Posts: 1,335 Member
    ducati45 wrote: »
    Can't believe someone hasn't mentioned the "coffee and cigarettes" diet. I didn't even get addicted to cigarettes or particularly like them. I'd have some dry toast every now and then too. Stopped because my mother was like oh honey, no. Also as a kid I found my dad's book the "blood type" diet. Tried that for a bit, it's like different blood type process food differently or some ridiculous *kitten*- he still believes it!! It did nothing- no wonder he never touches vegetables :neutral_face:

    Oh yes, the same summer of the pickles and cheese (mentioned earlier), I was also supplementing heavily with black coffee and cigarettes. This combination made me so nauseated I couldn't eat. Result --> skinny!
  • macphile
    macphile Posts: 9 Member
    I've only ever been on one "diet" in my life. In high school, my friend and I just had Diet Cokes for breakfast and lunch and then ate normally in the evening (my mother's cooking, plus a little snack or some ice cream afterwards). It worked, but it wasn't exactly a healthy approach.

    I still prefer to leave most of my intake for later, though (I'm a nightowl). I still skip breakfast. C'est la vie.
  • MamaP47
    MamaP47 Posts: 94 Member
    Eating just salads.

    Fell off that diet within a matter of days. I can't just eat leafy greens. I felt like I was starving myself to death.
  • flabby2fit2018
    flabby2fit2018 Posts: 9 Member
    M______ wrote: »
    Probably the chocolate and takeaway diet I spent 10 years working hard on :)

    I did this diet for years as well!! A month ago I realised it wasn't working and changed :)

  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    Janet4Art wrote: »
    The most insane diet I ever tried was in the 1970s, maybe mid to late '70s. It was one of those diet plans people were selling from home. You couldn't get it in a store. A friend of mine started selling it and came to my home and gave me a little lecture on how to do it. It was insane. It was a fad. It was one of those diet drink diets. And when you did get to eat, it was weird.

    ALSO, they said not to drink any water for a few days, just the two or three diet drinks, and no food at first either. I wound up so sick and weak the third day my husband had to miss work for half a day because I couldn't get out of bed to care for the kids. He was bringing me small drinks of water, often, and bites of food. I was finally able to get up and be okay, although weak the rest of that day.

    A few weeks later a neighbor died while on that diet. It was so sad. Her little boy came home from kindergarten and found her on the laundry room floor. I felt so bad for that family. And my family was relieved I had gone off that diet. Never again have I been on one that crazy.

    Wow. I think you've won your own thread. :smiley:
  • AllAboutThatPace
    AllAboutThatPace Posts: 151 Member
    I tried a 7 day cleanse last year where each day you could only eat certain things and some cabbage soup. One day was just veggies, another was just fruit. I seriously felt awful after two days and TMI here - had the WORST diarrhea, that I had to stop.
  • salembambi
    salembambi Posts: 5,585 Member
    the only chewing gum and eating popcorn diet I made up as a teenager

    I developed anorexia shortly following that
  • deluxmary2000
    deluxmary2000 Posts: 981 Member
    I also fell victim to the "Hollywood" diet in college. 3 days of drinking some god-awful juice and eating/drinking NOTHING else. My roommate and I made it 8 whole hours, then went and had a huge steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Obviously my willpower has never been that great. lol.

    Are we nominating "winners" of this thread? Because the ear-stapling thing has me cracking up.
  • I spent some time in university only drinking my calories... And yes, the drinks were alcoholic... I didn't lose anything other than time, but I am told I was hilarious.

    I also did the lemon detox for 7 days, ended up cracking and eating a few teaspoons of cocopops and then threw up when I had a shower.

    Seriously, the things we do to ourselves?
  • fitandsparkly
    fitandsparkly Posts: 4 Member
    I found a diet online one time that claimed if you ate 800 calories a day but doused everything in hot sauce you would lose weight. I did it for about 3 months, lost 50 pounds, but gained it all back when I couldn't stand starving myself anymore. I also tried the diet where you drink the lemon water with cayenne pepper and some other junk and I literally threw up the first time I tasted it, but I did it for about 3 more weeks, but the weight crept back on. I want to hit myself every time I think about these dumb diets because I finally found out eating healthy and exercising really works lmao! I wish I could go back in time!
  • skinnyEmilijah
    skinnyEmilijah Posts: 61 Member
    The HCG diet was the worst I ever did. After I spent a ton of money on stupid placebo drops, I ate 500 calories for days. I felt like crap and eventually wised up after like 5 days and quit. But yeah, I was very tired and very, very hungry.
  • TheTiagooo
    TheTiagooo Posts: 53 Member
    I know people who have done juice fasts, or 'nosh'. Didn't know better at the time, but it makes me angry on reflection seeing how much those cost, and how people get roped in to their pseudoscientific promises. Must be a criminal profit margin.
  • I did the HCG diet off and on for months. I lost a lot of weight, looked great actually. I gained it all back of course. Oh, and a lot of my hair fell out and now I can't lose weight to save my life!
  • Blueseraphchaos
    Blueseraphchaos Posts: 843 Member
    The "box of double-stuff e.l.fudge cookies every night" was pretty bad, lol.

    Other than that, never really tried any diet...but i know someone who eats 2,000 calories worth of bananas every day along with some romaine lettuce....uhhh. Yeah.
  • spookyface
    spookyface Posts: 420 Member
    i did cottage cheese 3x a day and a glass of prune juice before bed once, I was like 20 and I remember I was dumb enough to pay for a copy of the diet for I think 5 dollars!
  • spookyface
    spookyface Posts: 420 Member
    Janet4Art wrote: »
    The most insane diet I ever tried was in the 1970s, maybe mid to late '70s. It was one of those diet plans people were selling from home. You couldn't get it in a store. A friend of mine started selling it and came to my home and gave me a little lecture on how to do it. It was insane. It was a fad. It was one of those diet drink diets. And when you did get to eat, it was weird.

    ALSO, they said not to drink any water for a few days, just the two or three diet drinks, and no food at first either. I wound up so sick and weak the third day my husband had to miss work for half a day because I couldn't get out of bed to care for the kids. He was bringing me small drinks of water, often, and bites of food. I was finally able to get up and be okay, although weak the rest of that day.

    A few weeks later a neighbor died while on that diet. It was so sad. Her little boy came home from kindergarten and found her on the laundry room floor. I felt so bad for that family. And my family was relieved I had gone off that diet. Never again have I been on one that crazy.

    Wow. I think you've won your own thread. :smiley:

  • CherryChan81
    CherryChan81 Posts: 264 Member
    i think i've tried them all... and ofcoz gained all back plus interest!
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    RC cola diet. I did lose 30 pounds but found them all over the next couple years. :)
  • pinkshoelaces
    pinkshoelaces Posts: 111 Member
    Probably the raw vegan diet and the 'ABC' diet (at a really low calorie allowance. Like the 'big' days were 200 calories.) Needless to say neither worked for very long and just made me miserable.
  • Laurend224
    Laurend224 Posts: 1,748 Member
    Let's see:
    The 30 bananas a day diet
    Lemonade cleanse (the salt flushes...... gross!)
    Prescription phentermine(this worked...until I stopped taking it)
    The cabbage soup diet
    Weight watchers
    Alli (the pill that gives you leaky farts)
    Meridia (another prescription) it worked but I never changed my eating habits


    Eh, that's all I got.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    low carb
  • 111YoYo111
    111YoYo111 Posts: 213 Member
    Low fat, low carb, low calorie (2-300 and you can't tell me starvation mode is a myth because I lived it), cabbage soup, green tea, carb blockers, hydroxycut, master cleanse, lean cuisine, garcinia cambogia, dexatrim
  • Iwishyouwell
    Iwishyouwell Posts: 1,888 Member
    edited December 2014
    Keto. Absolutely moronic. I lost 90 lbs, and then gained 140 back just as fast.

    Thank goodness someone is calling BS on keto. How on earth does someone expect themselves to be healthy and wrap bacon in everything?

    Keto isn't the "wrap bacon in everything" diet. If you think that, some rudimentary education on the basic tenants of the approach would be helpful.

    The person who lost 90 and gained back 140 did so because they over consumed beyond their TDEE to the tune 140 pounds. It had nothing to do with being on Keto. Most people who lost weight, and then rebounded, weren't on keto.

    If you'd like to know how people function long term, check epileptics. Many of them have to stick to a keto diet because the diet is a damn near miracle for symptoms and seizure relief. Others do maintain long term, and are neither miserable nor do they spend their time wrapping bacon in everything.
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