Your Worst Fad Diet Story - Help me stay away from extremes!

Hey All,

I'm at a plateau, and I have a tendency, in desperation, to establish all these weird restrictions on my eating (which never, EVER work in the long run).  I think I'll be okay.. But, maybe you guys can share some of your funniest, or worst fad diet stories to remind me of why fads / restrictions are a bad idea!

One of my most ridiculous...

I was doing Atkins, and would read the Atkins book every night before bed.  I had lost a lot of weight in a really short period of time.  I woke up in a COLD SWEAT one night, as I had a dream I was chewing gum, but to my absolute horror I looked down and realized it wasn't sugar free.  Literally sat up in bed screaming, and took hours to calm myself down.  I think that's what 4 weeks of hard boiled eggs and foreman-grilled hot dogs will do to a person. (weight was gained back the minute I touched a potato).

I tried a diet pill. I have no heart problems and never have had any, but they made me feel like my heart was racing...the feeling you have when you exercise really hard...only you're just sitting doing nothing...needless to say, i stopped them immediately and waited a couple of weeks to get back into my workouts (just in case of residual effects). This was when I was 18.

The Atkins diet is my worst story as well. I lost 40lbs in literally a couple months by eating nothing but meat and vegetables. I was just a 14 year old and I just wanted to be a normal kid.. but who can feel normal when your dinner consists of chicken wings and a hamburger with no bun? I was going crazy, and one day I just broke down and SOBBED about how I couldn't do it anymore. I binged on potatoes, bread, pop, chocolate.. ANYTHING CARB.. like no other. And I gained 50lbs back Yikes.

But here I am now. I've lost 55lbs through counting calories and exercise.. only this time it's been a year and I haven't gained anything back. Even when I have gone off the wagon a bit, I still don't gain. My body has adjusted to eating like a sensible person! I've still got 80lbs to go, but I can do it. It might take me a while.. but at this point there's no doubt I'll get there.

Wow, Jackattack that is awesome you finally did it the right way!

It is nice to know that you can have a little ice cream or ... heck... a glass of fruit juice without being sent into a mental (and physical) tailspin.

I know the feeling being a chubby kid.  Your friends are like, hey let's go get Dairy Queen!  And you're like no that's okay I'll just drink this slimfast shake... LOL.

Good luck!

I had tried the Grapefruit Diet pills during Tech school. I had gained about 15 lbs of the weight I had lost during Basic Training, and I was mad!! So, I did the pills for about 3 days and I lost a couple of pounds. I knew that I wouldn't be able to take the stupid pill at lunch, so I popped two with breakfast and washed it down with a CUP OF COFFEE!

I was so jittery, shakey and nauseous that I threw up after class! Never again!!

oh, I tried diet pills too.  The ones that you can get at the health food store.  I took them, and tried so hard not to eat because I wanted to lose weight quickly.  Not only did the pills give me the worst heartburn and cotton mouth a person could ever have, they also made me a nervous wreck!  And the most embarassing part of all happened while I was at work.  I was a receptionist at a law office.  I'd taken a few pills and was so on edge.  While talking to a client that had walked in, I got a HORRIBLE nose bleed from the medication.  I was so shocked that I started to bawl, so there I sat, this crying bloody mess.  I scared the client half to death I think.  My boss sent me home and calmly suggested that I lay off the pills and try to diet the normal way.

 

Another time, I tried Slimfast.  I don't know if it works the same with everyone, but I think I could have taken ex-lax and had an easier time.  No one warned me, so I went on a little trip to visit my grandma a couple of hours away, shake in hand.  I wouldn't think it's an exageration to say I had to stop 15 times on the way there... Had to hit every freakin' gas station bathroom on the way, and you know how dirty some old gas station bathrooms can be...

Metabolife!  Both sides of my Family have history of heart problems (my Dad died of a heart issue) and my resting pulse rate is pretty high to begin with.  Despite this, I started taking Metabolife at 16.  This is the first version that was basically just an ephedra pill (Metabolife 356, I believe).  It would make my heart race to an incredible speed, i would get the jitters and I literally couldn't not sit still. I was also very mean when I took these pills.  I would seriously go into rages.  Very scary stuff.

I took it on and off for a few years, alternately losing and gaining 20 lbs.  I finally stopped my sophmore year of college when they wouldn't let me give blood and the Blood Drive nurses were concerned.

Because of the rapid weight-loss and gains, I am 25 years old with very saggy breasts.  You can see how stretched the skin is and I don't believer there is anything I can do to fix it short of surgery.  Even then, it won't help much.  I still get jitters and headaches from caffiene and I'm a wee bit concerned that my health will be affected down the road because of this abuse (I was basically taking Speed).  Bad bad bad...

Now I've lost 30 lbs the healthy way and i look great (well, outside the super saggy tatas).

Fad diets don't work!

In my teens, I tried some cult-y diet centre place that charged an arm and a leg to seriously mess up my metabolism....it was very low-calorie, and almost no fat (that was in the 80's when the low/no fat diets were all the rage). I had always been a slightly chubby kid, and at age 16, I thought I was a cow (at 150 lbs!! :0) and desperately wanted to shed 30 lbs. Well I got as far as 135 or so, ran out of money and stopped going, and blah blah blah skip forward 20 years and 200 lbs. Yes that's right, an extra 200 lbs...my highest weight was about 340. Yes there were many factors involved in the whole gain, and I take responsibility for many of them, but I believe that that initial crazy diet started it all, and things may have been very different if I had learned to love my curvy body instead of trying to eradicate it.

Metabolife is kinda what I was on too.  Oh, I did PhenPhen too when I was 17.  I went 4 days only eating a banana.  My mom was on it too, and one night, neither of us could sleep.  I was so jittery I could have picked up the house and moved it on my own!  We ended up painting the kitchen red that night... my dad kept begging us to just sleep, cause the smell of the paint was keeping him up... but we couldn't stop.  And I know the feeling of the sad little boobies after losing weight.  I lost like 145 lbs... went from a 48DD to a 36B.  And I swear, I could wear a training bra, but there's too much skin left (plus, they don't make pushup training bras!).  My poor thighs suffered too... same saggy skin.  There have been days I thought about breaking out the duct tape to make things look normal!  :oD

Original Post by kwimbea:

Metabolife is kinda what I was on too. Oh, I did PhenPhen too when I was 17. I went 4 days only eating a banana. My mom was on it too, and one night, neither of us could sleep. I was so jittery I could have picked up the house and moved it on my own! We ended up painting the kitchen red that night... my dad kept begging us to just sleep, cause the smell of the paint was keeping him up... but we couldn't stop. And I know the feeling of the sad little boobies after losing weight. I lost like 145 lbs... went from a 48DD to a 36B. And I swear, I could wear a training bra, but there's too much skin left (plus, they don't make pushup training bras!). My poor thighs suffered too... same saggy skin. There have been days I thought about breaking out the duct tape to make things look normal! :oD

I love small boobies!  I would be ecstatic with Cs or Bs, but I don't want them to look like National Geographic boobies (if ya know what I mean).  Stupid unhealthy weight obsession! 

I'm a little too young for Phenphen, but I'm sure I would have tried it.  I pretty much tried everything before I broke down with diet and exercise.  It truly is the only way to do it.

I made the mistake of following my doctor's advice to do Slimfast. Even though I'm lactose intolerant, she claimed that my body would adjust to drinking the shakes. Um, yeah, I didn't adjust. I probably would have lost weight if I had stayed on slimfast, but only because I felt so horrible I didn't want to eat anything.

I did a 1200 calorie diet once, but I didn't bother to eat healthily. I just ate whatever I wanted until I got to 1200 and then stopped for the day. I'd have days where all I'd eat were potato chips and marshmallow peeps and then be hungry all evening. I lost a lot of weight until I stopped and gained it all back and then some.

I had a roommate in college who only ate cauliflower and beer for about a month. She lost weight but her hair was falling out and her mouth was all cracked and bleeding. I decided not to try that 'diet'. lol!

Hahaha, I am like Miss National Geographic!  Hahaha... well, maybe not THAT bad, cause they're so tiny now.  I wish I'd never let myself get so fluffy, but I couldn't keep my grubby little hands off all those oatmeal cakes! - Okay, that's not all I was eating... hahhaa... a girl doesn't get to 280 on Little Debbie cakes alone... :o)  Now I just count my calories (ever notice how people who DON'T count calories always think ppl that do are obsessed?), watch my fat intake (okay, okay, maybe I'm a little fanatical), do a little aerobics...  Wanna hear a real 'how can this happen to me' story?  This morning, I go down to wii fit.  Okay, so I'm just in underwear (granny ones at that) cause I was too hot to work out with a shirt on.  I should know better.  Anyway, I get on the wii fit and I'm hula-ing my guts out.  Sweaty and sleepy and unshowered... and practically naked.  Then I hear what sounds like a car backing up.  I turn around to see where the noise is coming from... IT'S FROM THE FRONT DOOR WHICH HAS BLOWN WIDE OPEN FROM THE WIND OVERNIGHT.  It's right there, right across from the tv and the wii fit and me, naked and looking like death on a cracker.  We live on a VERY busy street where every morning, crowds of kids walk by the front of our house on the way to the bus stop... and by then, I'm sure every kid in the neighborhood had walked by... had I only noticed it open 15 minutes early, I could have saved some of those kids a little trauma... and my poor neighbors too...

Omg I read about the most ridiculous diet last night. It's called the Johnson's Alternate Day diet or something... you have "up-days" and "down-days". On the first day you eat as much of anything that you want (basically binge) then the next day, you eat between 300 and 500 calories! Is the guy who came up with this insane?! Then you continue alternating your days and somehow expect to lose weight, despite completely screwing up your metabolism. DO NOT EVER DO IT. I refuse to.

Original Post by kwimbea:

Metabolife is kinda what I was on too.  Oh, I did PhenPhen too when I was 17.  I went 4 days only eating a banana.  My mom was on it too, and one night, neither of us could sleep.  I was so jittery I could have picked up the house and moved it on my own!  We ended up painting the kitchen red that night... my dad kept begging us to just sleep, cause the smell of the paint was keeping him up... but we couldn't stop.  And I know the feeling of the sad little boobies after losing weight.  I lost like 145 lbs... went from a 48DD to a 36B.  And I swear, I could wear a training bra, but there's too much skin left (plus, they don't make pushup training bras!).  My poor thighs suffered too... same saggy skin.  There have been days I thought about breaking out the duct tape to make things look normal!  :oD

 OMG This had me laughing out loud!  I have done that where I've taken the crazy diet pills and then... CLEANEDTHEENTIREHOUSE (Hey! Didn't anyone notice how easy it is to clean the underside of the cabinets/molding with a toothbrush?! Wow!), cleanedoutgaragehad1-800-got-junktakeeverythi ngoutof there..ahhhh!  At one point I noticed that even sitting still.. I was rocking back and forth like a mental patient. I was like oh. my. And the anger/rages?  Yeah I had that too.  The funniest part is, I was probably only 10 lbs lighter than I am now... Like, jeez!  Oh, and I'm too fearful to even SHARE the crazy stories of what happened when I went out for a few drinks on the pills... Yikes.  Thanks guys these are a funny but great reminder of why I need ot be patient!

I think it might be easier to tell you the fad diets I haven't tried!

 

I think the worst one was the "Mayo Clinic Diet" in which you had to drink grapefruit juice with every meal. I HATE grapefruit!

 

I had some pretty bizzare ideas about food when I was younger. I went on a "Veggie Soup Diet" where all I ate was vegitarian veggie soup, saltine crackers and water.

I have been counting calories since April, and I am currently down 63 pounds.

Thanks everyone for making me laugh out loud while reading the funny stories for a few moments I was suspended in solitary laughter something I have not done...in years. My eyes are still wet,,From cameltoe to wii hula. This stuff is so damn funny it ought to be on stage or something......seriously

Star

My worst diet trip happened with the 'Cambridge Diet' back in the 80's.   Anyone try that one?   Mega-low calories from pretty nasty-tasting milkshakes and peculiar milky soups.  Being very strong-willed I endured 3 miserable weeks and lost about 15lbs.  Despite not eating huge amounts afterwards, I regained the weight so fast ... plus the usual extra few lbs.... that a colleague at work asked me if I was pregnant.... Thanks pal.

1. Not eating anything until dinner time for three weeks straight. About killed me.

2. Week long "body cleanse" where I was not allowed to eat and could only drink water. (not for religious reasons or spirituality, just because I am an idiot).

3. Counted every calorie and burned the equal amount.

All of these resulted in weight loss, but the effects were purely temporary. :)

I was an obese kid so my mom would always try and get me to go on fad diets with her. There was this one diet, forget what it's called but you basically just eat their vegetable soup and whatever vegetables/fruits you want all day. Starting a diet like this after you spent the last 8 years eating fast food and don't even like vegetables because you are a stubborn 12 year old was not good. I'm pretty sure I was only getting 200-400 calories a day. There was nothing in my house but this vegetable soup, vegetables and fruits. And me, I wasn't touching any of it. I had the worst hunger pangs you could ever imagine and sure enough after a week I was in the hospital. The pain was something I wish to never come close to ever again! And this was only the worse fad diet, I did plenty others. All of them pretty much include starvation, atleast 20lbs of weight loss and then gaining it all back plus some.