"My journey into the dark zone."
"Don't try this one at home."
"Busting the fat burning soup hype."
"This was so not worth it."
"For your own safety, stay away."
"Proof why fad diets don't work."
"Don't try this one at home."
"Busting the fat burning soup hype."
"This was so not worth it."
"For your own safety, stay away."
"Proof why fad diets don't work."
I was entering my eighth week of my commitment to the 26 week X-weighted challenge and progressing slowly but steadily loosing an average of a pound per week through following a well balanced diet, paying close attention to portion size and exercising as much as possible when a friend told me about the "fat burning" soup diet. I won't post the recipe or the details of the diet here as you can google it yourself and find it or a variation of it. This is not a diet you can stay on over a period of time, but is a one week "boost" diet designed to give you a quick start at the beginning of a diet or as a "hump buster" to get you over the plateau stage most people experience when they've been dieting for a while. You can eat all the soup you want, the more the better, but you are limited to eating only the foods the diet specifies for each day, plus water, tea or coffee or light cranberry juice. According to claims, you can loose 10 to 12 pounds in one week if you follow it exactly.
So, with a large pot of soup simmering, I started my week of fat busting.
Day 1 - All the fruits, except bananas, I could eat plus all the soup I wanted...wasn't too hard...I love fruit and the soup was simply delicious.
Day 2 - All the veggies I wanted except corn or potato plus all the soup I wanted...boy, was I missing my usual yogurt and fruit breakfast and cravings were setting in...not for junk food but I would have killed for a slice of bread!
Day 3 - All the fruits, veggies and soup I could eat with a bonus of a potato for supper...finally some carbs...but not enough...I was feeling very tired and cranky.
Day 4 - All the bananas and skim milk I wanted (bananas never tasted so good) plus all the soup I could eat. I was on my second pot of soup at this point but it was still tasty. I was finding it very hard to do my morning walk and too tired to do much else.
Day 5 - Yea protein!!! A whopping 10 - 20 ounces of beef, sliced tomatoes and soup...I didn't eat that much meat...what I really wanted was bread to go with my soup.
Day 6 - More meat, up to 2 - 3 steaks were allowed plus all the veggies and soup I could eat.
Again, I couldn't stomach all that meat so I stuck with mostly soup and veggies and only a small steak. I was tired...tired...tired...a good time to keep your distance.
Day 7 -All the brown rice and veggies plus soup I could eat. The brown rice was welcome, but I was up to my eyeballs with soup and so glad the week was over.
What did I gain from my seven day excursion into the realm of fad dieting...nothing, but a lot of headaches, extreme fatigue, a step closer to a divorce and the grand total of a three pound weight loss which quickly turned into a one pound loss as soon as I started eating a normal diet again. Far from giving me the "boost" this diet is popular for, it set me back, so much so that two weeks later, I am still not feeling as energetic as I was prior to starting it...and I haven't lost any weight since.
The only plus to my week of torture...
So, with a large pot of soup simmering, I started my week of fat busting.
Day 1 - All the fruits, except bananas, I could eat plus all the soup I wanted...wasn't too hard...I love fruit and the soup was simply delicious.
Day 2 - All the veggies I wanted except corn or potato plus all the soup I wanted...boy, was I missing my usual yogurt and fruit breakfast and cravings were setting in...not for junk food but I would have killed for a slice of bread!
Day 3 - All the fruits, veggies and soup I could eat with a bonus of a potato for supper...finally some carbs...but not enough...I was feeling very tired and cranky.
Day 4 - All the bananas and skim milk I wanted (bananas never tasted so good) plus all the soup I could eat. I was on my second pot of soup at this point but it was still tasty. I was finding it very hard to do my morning walk and too tired to do much else.
Day 5 - Yea protein!!! A whopping 10 - 20 ounces of beef, sliced tomatoes and soup...I didn't eat that much meat...what I really wanted was bread to go with my soup.
Day 6 - More meat, up to 2 - 3 steaks were allowed plus all the veggies and soup I could eat.
Again, I couldn't stomach all that meat so I stuck with mostly soup and veggies and only a small steak. I was tired...tired...tired...a good time to keep your distance.
Day 7 -All the brown rice and veggies plus soup I could eat. The brown rice was welcome, but I was up to my eyeballs with soup and so glad the week was over.
What did I gain from my seven day excursion into the realm of fad dieting...nothing, but a lot of headaches, extreme fatigue, a step closer to a divorce and the grand total of a three pound weight loss which quickly turned into a one pound loss as soon as I started eating a normal diet again. Far from giving me the "boost" this diet is popular for, it set me back, so much so that two weeks later, I am still not feeling as energetic as I was prior to starting it...and I haven't lost any weight since.
The only plus to my week of torture...
The experience did make a sprout and avocado sandwich
taste like fine cuisine.
taste like fine cuisine.
