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The Dog Food Diet
Wakey618
Posts: 160 Member
I've been hesitant to put this out here because I know there will be people who think this is stupid, unsafe, ridiculous, and just plain old a bad idea. But I've done it before and it works.
I've been on & off diets many times and am usually moderately successful. I'd always end up quitting because I just didn't give a crap. I had no serious motivation to lose the weight. I was only 30-35 lbs overweight, and my health was ok. But deep down I needed something to really really REALLY motivate me because I knew that life would be better when I was at the peak of my health, as I've been there before.
So...I set up a negative consequence for failing to reach my goal (I also have rewards set up). I made a very public vow to eat a whole can of dog food in one sitting if I don't weigh 30 lbs less on June 18th than I did on March 12 when I started this. I keep this promise out in the open and remind people that I am doing this. I have at least one person (my son) who will absolutely hold me to this if I fail, so my motivation is strong.
My goal is ambitious and I need to lose 2 lbs/week, which I know many people will think is too much. But I set it up at this level because I KNOW I CAN DO THIS. I've had years & years of experience with dieting & exercising and I know what's possible. It won't be easy (and hasn't been!) but it is achievable. I'm telling you all this just as another layer of people who know, and who can understand my need to be a little bit more aggressive in my weight loss effort (which does NOT include eating M&Ms!!!!!).
I've been on & off diets many times and am usually moderately successful. I'd always end up quitting because I just didn't give a crap. I had no serious motivation to lose the weight. I was only 30-35 lbs overweight, and my health was ok. But deep down I needed something to really really REALLY motivate me because I knew that life would be better when I was at the peak of my health, as I've been there before.
So...I set up a negative consequence for failing to reach my goal (I also have rewards set up). I made a very public vow to eat a whole can of dog food in one sitting if I don't weigh 30 lbs less on June 18th than I did on March 12 when I started this. I keep this promise out in the open and remind people that I am doing this. I have at least one person (my son) who will absolutely hold me to this if I fail, so my motivation is strong.
My goal is ambitious and I need to lose 2 lbs/week, which I know many people will think is too much. But I set it up at this level because I KNOW I CAN DO THIS. I've had years & years of experience with dieting & exercising and I know what's possible. It won't be easy (and hasn't been!) but it is achievable. I'm telling you all this just as another layer of people who know, and who can understand my need to be a little bit more aggressive in my weight loss effort (which does NOT include eating M&Ms!!!!!).
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500 million dogs eat it everyday. Can't be all bad.
And if it keeps you motivated.
Chive on.....1 -
>My goal is ambitious and I need to lose 2 lbs/week, which I know many people will think is too much. But I set it up at this level because I KNOW I CAN DO THIS. I've had years & years of experience with dieting & exercising and I know what's possible
Might be possible, but is it sustainable?0 -
>My goal is ambitious and I need to lose 2 lbs/week, which I know many people will think is too much. But I set it up at this level because I KNOW I CAN DO THIS. I've had years & years of experience with dieting & exercising and I know what's possible
Might be possible, but is it sustainable?
Yes. I lost 42 lbs in 2005 and maintained it for several years.0 -
This (and some of the suggestions on your other thread) seem to promote an unhealthy relationship with food.
I guess the approach I took was to find low-carb foods I LOVED and eat them. There was no incentive to go "off plan" and no need to visualize germs or eat dog food.
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This (and some of the suggestions on your other thread) seem to promote an unhealthy relationship with food.
I guess the approach I took was to find low-carb foods I LOVED and eat them. There was no incentive to go "off plan" and no need to visualize germs or eat dog food.
I am definitely learning to love some low-carb foods! I never knew there would be so many options.
I feel I've always had an unhealthy relationship with food. I've used it to "medicate" myself for years and it's been an emotional crutch. I'm trying to make it less so, so am curious as to how this goal of mine promotes and unhealthy relationship. Not saying that sarcastically, I really want to know & learn.0 -
Hopefully this works out for you! I guess we all need different motivations. My only concern would be that sometimes the body doesn't respond like it should. You can do everything right diet and exercise wise and still not meet a goal. For instance I'm usually in a big enough calorie deficit that I should lose 2 lbs. a week according to the CICO theory but I never do. Sometimes I lose nothing for weeks at a time.
The reason I like the LCHF diet is because it helps with my RA symptoms and I'm rarely hungry or having cravings. Once I decided my health was my #1 concern I realized it was no race to lose the pounds. They'll leave when they leave. I'm now at 26 lbs. lost but it's taken over 7 months....so that averages to less than a pound a week. I would have hated to set up a negative motivator because I'd be eating the dog food and I truly 100% believe I don't deserve to eat dog food. I've been keto the whole 7 months. Zero cheats. I may not have lost 2 lbs. a week but my RA is under better control and I can get out of bed without feeling like I have the flu every morning which is a victory in my book!5 -
I have no issues with a funny challenge consequence so that others will razz you about it and hold you to it, but I do think the goal is too aggressive. The problem is that the entire focus is on losing scale weight, and very rapidly at that! Of course a person CAN force it to happen. Even at a larger amount than that, but isn't that what they do on the biggest loser? And isn't there a whole thread about how detrimental that kind of aggressive weight loss is on your metabolism and ability to maintain it afterward?
Maybe it's not as aggressive as it seems. How much do you have to lose in total?
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If you feel you respond better to negative consequences, I would recommend something a little less risky than eating dog food, like offering to pay him $100 if you don't meet your goal.
As you knew when posting, it's going to be tough for most of us to get behind the idea of eating dog food or any other type of dangerous (or even less risky) physical punishment. I would definitely encourage a positive reward instead. I don't know how old your son is, but if he's excited about forcing his mom to eat dog food, I'm guessing he's a teenager. I think there are better ways to motivate yourself and I think it's easier to succeed if you have positive support from your family. Perhaps you could offer to do something really fun with him, like going to a concert or amusement park (or buying him tickets to go with friends if he's too cool to hang with mom). That would incentivise him to support you in your goals.2 -
You're trying to motivate yourself with a negative incentive. First, negative incentives are less effective than positive incentives. Second, your "will power" is a limited resource and a poor tool for controlling your diet. That's why diets fail.
Find LC foods you love. Avoid the triggers long enough to make LC a habit. And stick with it for the rest of your life.
Yeah, it's difficult because your environment is fighting against you, but try to mold your environment as much as you can for success.2 -
Easy there, folks.
EDIT: Nevermind. My browser is being stupid and laggy. All I saw, even after refreshing a couple times, was Kirkor and Wab's first 2 posts. Carry on.2 -
You bring up a VERY good topic: motivation. What is it that will finally kick us in the rears to get healthy, stop our bad habits, say no to stuff we know is not good for us, make the effort to cook fresh instead of eat drive-through...etc? And just as importantly, what will keep us on track?!! I have to admit, the 'dog food' plan is one I never heard of before! But oddly, I can see it working.
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What do you do after you reach this goal or not? Do you have a long term plan for sustainable healthy eating that will keep you at your goal weight or help you to continue towards reaching. Then one you have reached it, what happens? Are you going to have negative consequences for each time you stray off track for the rest of your life?
The thing with punishing yourself or rewarding yourself with food is, that it doesn't ever teach you to look at food as fuel for your body and not as a punishment for doing something bad or a reward for doing something good.
I worry that a plan like this only reinforces that negative relationship with food. Many of us have learned through years of doing the same thing, that it doesn't work for long term success. Being overweight and sick having no energy and feeling controlled by food cravings feels like punishment in itself, if we already know that's what happens when we make bad food choices, what more punishment is really needed.
ETA: Sometimes we do things to ourselves that we would never envision doing to another person. Think about it like this; would you ever force another person to eat a can of dog food for not reaching their goals by a set date?5 -
Good luck (sincerely) with your plan.
For myself, it's more about that question on how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Perseverance and patience will win the day when you want to reach a goal.1 -
Dog food is pretty high carb. I think it's a bad idea to reward yourself with food after being so dedicated to the LCHF lifestyle.
If you insist, have you made considerations as to brand? dry vs wet? Or maybe just get Beggin' Strips. I mean, dogs don't know it's not bacon...9 -
I've tried financial rewards/payments and it didn't work well for me.PaleoInScotland wrote: »If you feel you respond better to negative consequences, I would recommend something a little less risky than eating dog food, like offering to pay him $100 if you don't meet your goal.
My son is almost 27 and is in no way excited about the thought of me eating the dog food. He is just being what I need someone to be, and that is to hold me accountable. I'm telling others as reinforcement. He believes - as I do - that this is an achievable goal if I am disciplined.PaleoInScotland wrote: »As you knew when posting, it's going to be tough for most of us to get behind the idea of eating dog food or any other type of dangerous (or even less risky) physical punishment. I would definitely encourage a positive reward instead. I don't know how old your son is, but if he's excited about forcing his mom to eat dog food, I'm guessing he's a teenager. I think there are better ways to motivate yourself and I think it's easier to succeed if you have positive support from your family. Perhaps you could offer to do something really fun with him, like going to a concert or amusement park (or buying him tickets to go with friends if he's too cool to hang with mom). That would incentivise him to support you in your goals.
I'm working on the details of my reward after I achieve my goal :-)
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auntstephie321 wrote: »What do you do after you reach this goal or not? Do you have a long term plan for sustainable healthy eating that will keep you at your goal weight or help you to continue towards reaching. Then one you have reached it, what happens? Are you going to have negative consequences for each time you stray off track for the rest of your life?
I like the moderate low carb plan and will likely stick with that. I am going to begin running again, which is what helped me with everything in life back when I did this in 2005. I only started gaining weight when there were several crises in my life and I turned to food. As with any new habit, it will take some training to not turn to food for comfort in the future, as I'm sure there will be many times it would be easy to do.auntstephie321 wrote: »ETA: Sometimes we do things to ourselves that we would never envision doing to another person. Think about it like this; would you ever force another person to eat a can of dog food for not reaching their goals by a set date?
If that person came to me and earnestly pleaded with me to keep them accountable to something, I would do it. My son and I are very close and he knows how badly I want to lose this weight and get back in shape. My whole world is better when my health is better, but for some reason even knowing that wasn't enough to get my butt in gear!0 -
DorkothyParker wrote: »Dog food is pretty high carb. I think it's a bad idea to reward yourself with food after being so dedicated to the LCHF lifestyle.
If you insist, have you made considerations as to brand? dry vs wet? Or maybe just get Beggin' Strips. I mean, dogs don't know it's not bacon...
LOL!! I already have a can of Alpo sitting on my kitchen counter (and I don't have a dog). It honestly doesn't look half bad...1 -
I guess I'm really not understanding this then. If you have set on a plan that was successful in the past, why the deadline, with punishment? Since you've already purchased the dog food does that mean you are planning on failing? you also state it doesn't look half bad, so is that really punishment then?1
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auntstephie321 wrote: »I guess I'm really not understanding this then. If you have set on a plan that was successful in the past, why the deadline, with punishment? Since you've already purchased the dog food does that mean you are planning on failing? you also state it doesn't look half bad, so is that really punishment then?
I think she's just being flippant and joking.
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auntstephie321 wrote: »I guess I'm really not understanding this then. If you have set on a plan that was successful in the past, why the deadline, with punishment? Since you've already purchased the dog food does that mean you are planning on failing? you also state it doesn't look half bad, so is that really punishment then?
What I've been most successful at in the past was doing this same thing. I've had a few somewhat successful attempts, but not significant. When I did this dog food thing in 2005 I lost 30 lbs, then went on to lose 12 more after the original goal was met. I kept that weight off for a long time.
I bought the dog food so I can look at it in disgust, as a reminder to me when I'm feeling like eating something I shouldn't.
I never plan on failing, and I was joking about it not looking half bad 1 -
We're happy to support you. If dog food helps you reach your goals, then long live dog food.
But the lesson some of us learned the hard way is that treating this as a short-term weight-loss diet doesn't work very well.
I was very successful in 2004. That's why I tried low carb again in 2014.
But between 2004 and 2014, I didn't stay low carb, and my health reflected that. The light bulb finally went on. It's a lifestyle, not a diet!6 -
Thank you. I promise that if it seems I'm harming my body in any way to achieve this goal, I will stop. I'm almost 55 yrs old and have learned that if I don't listen to my body, it will throw a temper tantrum & show me why I should have listened to it!
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Good luck to you! I hope you will post updates!2
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Good luck. Cheering you on.1
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Good luck! When I saw the thread title, I immediately thought somebody had reposted this:
Yesterday I was buying 2 large bags of dog food at Wal-Mart. I was about to check out when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had – an elephant?
Since I had little else to do, on impulse, I told her that no I didn’t have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn’t because I ended up in the hospital last time. On the bright side though, I had lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of every hole in my body and IVs in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to give it a try again. (I have to mention here that everyone in the line was enthralled with my story by now.)
Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food had poisoned me. I told her no; I had stopped in the middle of the parking lot to scratch my fleas and a car hit me.
I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard.
Wal-Mart won’t let me shop there anymore.14 -
That's a great story, Twibbly!!!
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Best of luck to you!
I can understand struggling w/the motivation to stick to it. I have done a lot of yoyoing in the past for various reasons. I had gotten to a my lowest adult weight a few years ago but gained about 23 lbs after a medication change. I also struggled with sticking to Dukan (my previous diet/low carb low fat) so I just kept gaining instead of losing over the course of a year or so.
I signed up for a Transformer DietBet. FWIW, it worked great for me because (a) it's a little more long-haul and sustainable than their 4-week Kickstarter DietBets and (b) I did NOT want to just throw away $25 every month for 6 months, so it helped motivate me. I struggled the first two months but then I started LCHF and lost closer to 15% of my body weight than the 10% goal. Now I'm trying to figure out true long-term maintenance with no more yoyo'ing, which is challenging in its own right.2 -
This makes me sad
Isn't there some other less degrading and negative thing you can do? Why do you feel the need to punish yourself? Maybe I'm reading to much into it and it's just a funny thing for you..idk. Best of luck on your goal.4
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