How many of you went on a crazy diet to lose weight? And what was it..

Hi all... I know i have went on some crazy diets over the years.. But what is the most craziest diet you had ever been on..
Mines was the cabbage soup diet, with a weekly Epsom Salt cleaning.. These things for one will mess up your system, and not only that.. No one at the office will want to be near you because you smell bad.. How about you??? What did you do so crazy to lose weight or to fit into a pair of jeans.. Oh and the diet tea... That was another diet i used..  I did all of these things to get into a pair of freaking jeans my mom got me over 4 years ago... Oh, and by the way.. I was in them for only 2 weeks before i came busting out of them LOL

I've done the cereal diet (never been able to stomach much of the stuff since). I've done slimfast. I've done a few detoxes (yuck).

When you consider I'm barely nineteen that's a few too many fad diets for someone my age.   

I've been on a 400cal diet. Self-explanatory - 400 cal per day.

I felt fine, and I lost a lot of weight. I've been off for it for a month, though, and I've slightly gained weight.

I'm going back onto the diet on Monday (yuck).

I know it is probably because I am a guy, but there have only been three times that I have tried to lose weight, including this one.  Only one was a crazy diet.

I did the grapefruit juice diet mostly to support my wife.  We quit it after less than a week.

The second time I tried to get healthy I went to the Y and worked out five days a week.   I did not change my eating habits, but lost 12 lbs in 12 weeks.  I quit that because I was moving from Colorado to Maryland.  The Y here does not have a workout facility.  I put the whole 12 lbs back on plus more.

This time I am just changing my eating habits and trying to walk in the afternoons when I get out of work.  This has been the most successful.  I have lost 19 lbs.  Whenever we have real junk food we look at it as a treat and don't buy a whole lot or go out for a treat.

Mickisdaddy-- Not odd hearing this coming from a man.. A man is who told me about the cabbage soup diet...


Hurrican---- Girl 400 cals a day.. That one i can't even do.. But i did try 800 a day when i was in high school..

Emmylou-- My daughter is 12 and she has lost over 2 pants sizes. She rides her bike and go for walks with her cousins.. Asked me can she go on slim fast, and i told her no.. I don't think of that as a diet slim fast. I call that waste of good money slim never.. I did that years ago with my mom when i was your age.. DIDN'T Work.

But trust me.. You are great looking. If you don't mind me asking.. What is your weight.

I don't think I've ever done a fad diet, I've really always lost weight by counting calories.  I used to just use those little books to look stuff up.  This site makes it so much easier.  Maybe that's why I never got why people said their diets didnt' work, if you know how much you eat vs what your body needs there's pretty much no way to not lose weight if you try.  I've lost weight 3 times, at least any significant amount.  I did lose weight in my early 20's be exercising daily.  I lost about 10 lbs, which was all I needed to lose.  I believe that I maintained it pretty long.  

Where to begin?  First of all I'm 65 and have about 50 pounds to lose - already lost 25.  I got this fat after I turned 45, so 20 years of very gradually getting heavier, a little at a time. 

During that time I tried the following, not neccesarily in this order

-Weight Watchers - 4 times.  Each time I hit a plateau after 20 pounds, tried eating less and less, didn't lose so gave up and gained it all back plus 5 more pounds..
-Nutra System - once - ditto results
-The banana diet - 3 glasses of milk and 3 bananas a day for 3 days.  I lost 5 pounds and gained 7 back in a week.  I couldn't look at a banana for months.
-The Cabbage Soup Diet - stayed on this for 10 days and got so sick of the smell of that soup that I gave up after losing 4 pounds.  I gained back 8.
-Atkins - lost 25 pounds before all that meat and fat began making me feel sick.  Hit a plateau and finally gave up and gained back 30 pounds.
-The Cereal Diet - 3 bowls of cereal a day.  Ditto results
-Slim Fast - 2 servings plus a "sensible dinner".  Ditto results
-Various meal plans - 1000 calorie, 1200 calorie, etc.  All required elaborate menus not to be deviated from.  I nearly went broke buying special groceries and got sick and tired of following elaborate recipes for every single meal.  Gained back all the weight, pluss more.

So you could say I got fat from dieting.  I'm not dieting now.  I'm changing how I eat and exercise for life.  There's a big difference!  I've also learned the reason I failed in the past - I was starving myself so my body could not lose weight.  No more starving!

PS - about that 400 cal a day thing?  I tried it and got really sick after 48 hours.  800 a day - tried it and really messed myself up after a month - ended up in the hospital with pneumonia because was so run down and mal nourished.  Anybody who does that is nuts!

I did Atkins.. twice. And I'm only 18 years old! The first time I was so depressed from not being able to eat anything I wanted, I stopped after only losing 15 pounds. I gained it all back and then some.

Then the second time I went on it.. I lost 40 whole pounds. But.. I rapidly went into depression again. I felt so deprived I just broke down and started eating everything bad that I could get my hands on. I gained 50 pounds back.

It was horrible. I will NEVER deprive myself like that again. That's why I love CC so much.. I can have whatever I want. I just have to make sure I can fit it into my calories for the day.. and it really isn't hard to do!

wow clairelaine.. you've been around the block a few times, haven't you? 

Just tried dieting twice before this.. once eating 700-1000, lost 10, gained 20.  Second time was the "Dr. Phil diet."  Basically followed his meal plan in his book to the letter, and forced down all the food I absolutely hated.  Fiber One (ick) with milk (which I haven't been able to stomach since I was 2) was just too hard to keep down (so was lots of other foods, but that was the last straw), and I had to eventually give that up.  Lost 10, gained 15. 

I went on an all lettuce and water diet. so... like 50 calories a day. By day 3 or 4 I started being really dizzy and fainted a few times and decided that I had really crossed the line so I stopped. I cant believe that sounded like a good idea at the time!

I tried a diet of eating nothing but vegetables (which lasted two days) and another diet that had you make a certain soup and eat that all day. Lasted one day LOL.

I've done Atkin's in the past, and gained back every pound I lost plus some bonus pounds as soon as I stopped.

I've also used Phen-Fen in the past.  I lost a lot of weight and I was devistated when they took it off the market.  A few years later I found out that I was one of the unlucky ones that got an aortic valve insuffiency/regurgitation and mitral valve insuffiency as a result. 

I learned one valuable lesson.  The best way for me to lose weight is by making a change to my lifestyle. 

I have done the one day/one fruit per week. The diet requires you to allocate one day per week to have just fruits. Strictly, you are supposed to have just one kind of fruit that day.  Rest of the week, you just eat normally (but sensibly). I was on it for about 3-4 months. I think I lost may be a few pounds.

Yeah.... A lot of my diets made me fat.. Not that.. But i don't eat right at all... I only eat one to two meals a day........ I do good if i do get the right amount of this....

But so far.. I have learn how to get the right amount of food.. 6 mini meals a day.. That is how i look at them.. All of them adding up to 1500-1600 a day.... You have to plan ahead i think.. Well, i have to plan ahead for myself in order for the diet to work.. I must plan ahead.

I did the rice diet, the grape diet and I think the grapefruit diet.  The one I staye on the longest was getting thin.  It was actually a pretty good program as you could eat all food groups. The problem was it was only 1400 calories a day period. I couldn't do that today to save my life!  Of course, I did the fasting diet too.  Thank God those days are way far behind me!

I can pretty much say ditto to clairelaine.  I'm 56.  I'm lucky I didn't start to get really heavy until my late 40s.  Every diet I went on....I only recall the cabbage soup and Atkins, but there have been more...I always lost weight and replaced it with about double what I lost.  I got to a point where when people suggested a different diet, I said I can't afford any more diets - they're making me too FAT!!! 

For me, GETTING fat was a lifestyle change.  As a grade schooler, I walked to school - about 2 miles a day...it started me on a great path of thinness.  As a young adult, I loved to run. In my late 20s through mid 40s, I danced several hours a day 4 - 5 days a week and stayed thin.  THEN, I was in an accident and stopped dancing (I still don't dance)...the pounds started coming on, thus the diets began....and the yo yo!!  I started this a week ago with 50 pounds to lose.

I am a full-time care giver for my mother who has Alzheimerz.  I bought her a wheel chair a couple weeks ago, which I wish I'd have done 2 years ago - I probably wouldn't have so much weight to lose. ...though, even riding in her wheel chair wears her out.  We went 1 3/4 miles yesterday and she was out of breath when we got home.

I LOVE this site!!!  I have, for the first time in my life, begun to understand what to eat. 

I don't think I've done any crazy diets... The only real "planned diet" I tried was The ABS Diet... But it wasn't crazy... It actually worked... And gave me a lot of knowledge about dieting...

I did Atkins 3 times, got back every pount I lost (and some), then realised it is not the food you eat of the beer you drink - it's the guy that eats and drinks the stuff that really makes you fat. Because this guy keeps telling you that your life is miserable without the beer and the chips and the burgers and....well, I guess you know...

So I figured out a way to get this guy on his knees: starve him until he gives in. Prove him wrong. It took me 4 months to prove to myself that I can do without all the bad stuff and still have a nice life. For me, that was an esential motivational step. I can now safely have 1800 kCal/day, lose weight and still feel satisfied after every meal.

I did that one too..Atkins.................................. . I was not going to eat all that food... Well it was mostly FAT! I didn't care for all of that fatty food.. I mean how did atkins die again..... I just wonder..

I was on the Atikins diet for a year or so, I lost 70lbs and was down to a healthy weight but since being off it for 2 years now I'm scared to eat really anything because the thought of putting that weight back on is depressing. I have gained around 15lbs since then but this website has really been helpful because I can now keep track of what I eat and how much I exercise.
I find fad diets if not fully researched and understood can cause more harm than good and also cause unhealthy habits.

Has anyone ever used dexatrim.  I'm still taking that as an appetite suppressant.