Diet horror stories or What doesn't work

This is a long post, but something I have been thinking about since choosing a healthy lifestyle thanks to CC+.

I am losing weight in a healthy way now.  But, I have had many tries at losing weight over the last 40 years. I think we live and learn from our mistakes, and sometimes we can learn from other's mistakes, too. 

What kind of diet mistakes have you made that you would like to share to encourage others to follow a healthy diet / lifestyle?

For example

I am now in my fifties, but after the birth of my second child at the age of 19, I gained a lot of weight.  In retrospect, it was also the start of the slide of my marriage until it fell completely apart after 12 years.  The weight gain probably got started from frustrations that built up within myself.  I had never been overweight before, and to be honest, I didn't really understand what the word "diet" meant as nobody in my family or surrounding was overweight. 

I read some books and started the Atkins Diet.  I lost a lot of weight, but I was so worried about gaining, and I couldn't see that I was at a good weight for someone  of my height (5 ft.) 

It was hard for me to continue to eat the Atkins way long term, so I decided that I would eat every other day.  I began to fast in that style, and it lasted about three years. 

Well, if you eat that way and don't keep track of which days you eat, you kind of forget which days you have eaten.  I lived on tea and diet Coke on my fasting days, and I am sure somewhere in there I slid closer and closer the line of being anorexic.  But, this was before anorexia was recognised as an illness, and I had never heard of it.  I also had mysterious leg pains, and most nights I cried as I tried to go to sleep.  It was really awful. But, I stayed thin. 

Then one day, I just passed out and was taken to hospital in very bad condition.  The doctors couldn't put a name on what was wrong with me, but they said my blood was really messed up.  I don't remember much of that time. 

After I was released from the hospital, I stayed home on the sofa all day every day.  I could barely cross the room, and cooking and cleaning were completely impossible.  I passed several months that way. Then, one day, I vowed that I had to get well somehow.  I had no concrete ideas of how to do it, but I decided to walk.  At first I couldn't walk to the end of our driveway.  Then, I could walk about a block down the street.  I worked up to about walking 2 miles.  It seems strange, but somehow, I regained my health from walking. A year had passed from when I landed in the hospital.

Even now, I sometimes feel that if I just don't eat anything (fast) I will lose weight.  It is so easy to not have decide what and how much to eat, but the consequences are serious.  I made a vow to myself to never fast like that again.  Remembering how painful the accumulative effect of fasting were serves as to keep me from that path again.

That's a great story and definitely a cautionary tale.   I don't think your experience is unique, unfortunately.  There is so much information and mythology on the subject of weight-loss that, when combined with the desperation being fat brings, the results can be catastrophic.  There's a new diet plan or a book out every week ... low carb, low fat, low this, low that.  And there are people willing to take our cash for some 'miracle cure' and others willing to spend it.  Often the best even a doctor can suggest is 'eat less, exercise more'... which is essentially true but not all that helpful.   'Eat less' being what landed you in hospital.

It's a pity we have to come to these conclusions by trial and error.  What's even more of a pity is that we've become so out of touch with real food that the only way some people feel they can control it is to banish it entirely.  When I switched from 'eating less' to 'eating better' my weight-problem seemed to resolve itself very quickly.  I've got a small son and am making a point to introduce him to different foods, show him how to cook, get him into a good eating/exercise habit and explain simply why some foods are better than others.  It's no guarantee of a healthy life but I hope it'll mean he can distinguish the myths from the reality in years to come

Glad you recovered from what sounds like a terrible experience and I hope your story saves someone from making the same mistake.

Thanks for sharing your story.  I have yo-yo'ed for years myself.  The healthy way IS the best way.  It isn't all about the numbers (weight and size) but more importantly it is about health.

Original Post by imxlnt2:

Quote removed due to violation of posting guidelines.

This is an example of why people should read the posts before responding. This is just a crazy response to kyashiis heartfelt story.

I hope you resolve your issues with eating. It is worth it to eat good stuff in balanced proportions and enjoy the food you eat. All of this and food does help one to keep their health up.

I do not have a diet nightmare story to share, other than I simply ignored my weight for 25 years and have no idea the damage I've done to my body. I feel much better now, but I dunno what the long term effects of the neglect will be. I'll probably only know on the back end (e.g. when I'm heading off the planet - one day long in the future hopefully).

Best!

Mike

Your story sounds rather similar to mine.

I started out on WeightWatchers a few years back and at first everything was fine and dandy, but then I started eating less and less in an effort to lose more weight faster.  Then one week, I stopped eating all together and lost a lot of weight.  I was told to go to my pediatrician who suggested I maintain my weight for a while and then I could lose a maximum of ten pounds more if I wanted to.  I had to go see her for weekly weigh-ins and somehow in those four months, I managed to lose another twenty pounds.  I soon got into a cycle of binging and fasting which made me gain weight rapidly.  Then, I added purging and taking laxatives into the mix because I wasn't getting the results I wanted.  Yet, I still ended up steadily gaining weight until I was at least ten pounds higher than where I had started initially!

And then, I found CalorieCount which showed me the errors of my ways.  I've managed to lose 70 pounds since I joined over a year ago and I did it the healthy way.

I wish you the best of luck.

Wow.  You were lucky to find CC+ and break that bad cycle.  Congradulations on your weight loss. 

Being too thin or losing too fast is never a good idea.  I remember people were always telling me that I was too pale when I was fasting.  I didn't believe them then, but I do now.  What they meant was I looked unhealthy. 

Health is one of our most precious assets, don't you think.

My Diets have always been disastrous, and its only now that iv realised how bad they were. ON Jan 1st 2006 I decided to start myself on a diet, i was 190lbs and my goal was 140, and id set myself a target of 1500 cals a day, which was pretty decent, nothing too bad there. but then the number of cals i ate per day started to drop, and it was soon down to 1250 cals after a few months, and by the end i was on about 850 a day. i was living off half a box of strawberries for breakfast, 4 crackers and 2 cheese triangles for lunch with 2 satsumas, and dinner was a bowl of pasta with tomato puree. I ended up one of those very skinny-fat girls, all bony with areas that definitely needed toning due to lack of exercise. i was tired all the time and extremely moody, and my hair was falling out quite excessivley.

Of course, after intervention from a great mate who was rather harsh and sat me down with cheesecake, she showed me the error of my ways and of course the weight went straight back on when i started eating proper food again. i went back up to 146, but now am on the healthy track and have started the diet again with decent food and massive meals. i cant believe how little i used to eat! luckily no lasting damage was done.

It's really amazing how bad our eating habits can become without us even realizing it.  Thanks for sharing your story.  Good luck with becoming the healthy, toned person that is inside of you begging to be released.