I’ve been thinking of writing a post about the worst dieting mishaps I personally tried and failed with but I decided to turn it into a question of the week. I truly believe we learn from our mistakes and boy have I made some doozies…
- Skipping breakfast after a “binge”
- This is tough for me. If I eat too much one night then it’s just natural for me to want skip my next meal. Big mistake, huge. Then I get too hungry by lunch and totally pig out. By dinner I have the “oh, well, the day’s already ruined” attitude and eat 4-5 slices of pizza and the cycle continues.
- Thinking I can drink my meals.
- Yeah, this never works, I don’t care if the shake has 1000 calories in it, I’m not satisfied so I end up eating anyway.
- Popping a pill to control hunger.
- I confess I did this, on more then one occasion. It’s a short term solution that isn’t teaching you how to read your own body signals. Don’t even bother.
- Excluding one type of food.
- Ummm yea, then I just want it more and I totally binge on it after a few months, weeks or even days. I tried this a few times with pizza, it just doesn’t work. Now I make my own or allow myself to have a slice or two.
So it’s time to fess up. Share your own disasters so others can learn from our mistakes. I’m sure we can get a great (bad) list going.
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Wow, it’s amazing you posted about this! I’ve been thinking of doing a post about my history of pitfalls. Haven’t gotten my mindset there yet, but hope to eventually.
#1 ~ Liquid Diet. I can’t remember how long I did this for, but it was awhile. I lost and then I gained it back because you don’t really learn much about healthy portions when you’re trained to drink all your meals.
#2 ~ Fasting. I used to last about a week. That was a long, long time ago. I was young. And stupid.
#3 ~ Skipping meals. Usually breakfast, lunch, or BOTH! Again, stupid. I’d end up binging by the end of the day.
#4 ~ Taking pills. I took them for a long time. And now, I can’t even remember the kind I took. I bought them in bulk I liked them so much. I doubt they’re even available anymore. Again, a long time ago.
One of the things I still do? No eating after 8pm. I’m grappling on that one to this day. Does that give me control over the food, or does that give the food control over me? Even after all my progress, sometimes I think I’m still clueless.
The very worst mistake I make is being super strict with myself… I call it “white knuckle” dieting… I can’t ever keep it up for more than a week or two and then I go NUTS making up for my deprivation!
Oreos, oreos, oreos.
I hadn’t eaten an Oreo for 438 days until tonight. I don’t know why I didn’t call my sponsor.
That is funny Red! Sometimes I feel like WW is just another AA. Same support concept…same self evaluation process….different form of stress relief. Whatever it is…it works. After thinking through this ? of the wk. I started to realize that I have been lifetime for about 8 months and have not had a HUGE weight fluctuation. WOW! I guess that even though I seem to struggle daily the big picture actually looks pretty good. Taking it day by day!
Back to the ?…. I have tried almost everything. And I have done them compulsively. (Back to the self evaluation process) ha
#1 LOW/NO carb(I need carbs)
#2 Diet Center (I need options)
#3 pills (waste of $)
#4 the list goes on……
I feel like I have a handle now.
Thinking I’m cured of my obsession with a food and bringing it back into the house! Never a good idea!
Diet books!
Liquid protein diet…drinking calves’ hooves flavored with Kool-aid…bleh!
Allowing myself to be shot in the butt with the hormone that is in pregnant women’s pee! And paying for the privilege!
Oh goodness I think the worst thing that I ever did was jenny craig and I’ll tell you why.
How could I eat something knowing that I wouldn’t feed my dog the food because it was so bad!
I just heard from a friend, that another friend was upset over gaining some weight, that she had cold stone for dinner. That has to be a disaster from the beginning if you ask me
I have tried so many things that have failed.
I tried the Carbohydrate Addicts diet. That one worked while I did it, but as soon as I added carbs back more, I gained the 10 lbs I lost and 10 friends back.
Atkins – my hubby and I tried this for three weeks. He lost 20 lbs, I gained 5.
Liquid Diet – almost passed out.
Pills – did NOTHING to curb my hunger or help me lose weight
Skipping Meals – I usually end up more hungry the next meal and eat more than usual.
Cabbage Soup Diet – it’s nasty to begin with, but didn’t lose anything at all.
Gosh, I could go on and on too…
I think the worst for me was the Mayo Clinic Diet with meals of 1 cup of ice cream and beets…yuck. So terrible I remember it that well and I did it over 10 years ago!
GREAT QUESTION!!!
I tried so many, and nothing works like counting points and working out. It’s just hard work to stick with it.
1. Cabbage Soup…by day 7(and I was only eating cabbage soup..nothing else)..I got so dizzy, I almost passed out. DUHHH!
2. TRIMSPA..with the speed…OMG…what at nut I was. But I lost 40 and did I look great, until I gained it back and then 10 more.
3. Working out 7 days a week…that worked too, but then I hated exercising by the time I was done.
THANKS AGAIN RONI, for the encouragement. YOU ARE THE GREATEST…and a round of applause for not eating while you were having a completly SHITTY day. WOOHOO!
Roni, I have been following your blog, coming to this site and following the WW points system for almost a year now, and I have lost a little over 60lbs! Before WW I had no idea what would work for me, and had begun to use every excuse imaginable to explain why it wasn’t my fault these diet disasters failed me. I couldn’t lose an ounce on ANYTHING I ever tried before including:
Liquid Diets
Trimspa, relacore, and other diets pills that I don’t remember the names to
Slim-fast plan
skipping meals
working out (without actually dieting- how DUMB was that)
Green tea colon cleansers (why oh why did I do that?)
Body creme that was supposed to release fat from the body,
and even a diet PATCH.
All I can say is WW and your continual motivation has made the difference in my life.
You rock!!
I derailed on the low/no carb diet. I would be so hungry by 5pm that I would overeat.
Stupid Atkins.
Nobody has mentioned exlax before weigh in??? How insane is that one? Yes, you’re empty and the scale says you are down a pound…. DUH!
The all or nothing idea…..If I stuck to my diet…but then I had a craving for chocolate (insert not so healthy food here) and I figure “Well, I’ve already screwed up so, I might as well just have at it (binge) and start over tomorrow.” I really have a hard time with that way of thinking…it will just eat at me until I give in. Sigh.
1. Eating too little. Then I’d binge later.
2. The “All or Nothing” attitude. As good as it can be in real life, it’s not good with dieting. One mistake and I’m off binging again.
3. Eating lots of processed foods. Now that I’ve given up Lean Cuisines and diety snacks, I realize how much better real food is.
I’m sure there are others, but that’s all I can think of now.
i tried the low cal diet, lots of exercise, combined with xenadrine. I ended up cranky, starving, and with a kidney stone, which the doctor thinks happened as a result of the xenadrine and being dehydrated. Blah.
I had great success with Atkins, losing over 40 lbs. I gained back that 40, plus another 40 in about 3 years. Blah again.
With WW, i’ve lost, then gained back, but the thing I still have issues with is when I eat something bad, I feel like the whole day is shot, and I eat bad all day long. I’ve been better lately, but even if I do slip up, or have a little junk food, I can easily get back on track by the next meal, not the next day.
Let’s see the diets…
1. Atkins…felt like crap and gained the 15 pounds lost in no time.
2. Jenny Craig…ummm let me just say carbs…I felt like ALL I was eating were carbs.
3. WW…on now.
4. Sugar Busters…I liked it…but obviously I didn’t keep the weight off.
5. I also tried the pills metabolife, the one that was RX then had a big lawsuit and people won big (forgot the name), trimspa, alli, and others don’t remember the names.
I’m just thinking of all the $$$ wasted….hmmm :)
SPECIAL K cereal diet! I fainted at a step aerobics class because all I had eaten that day were 2 servings of Special K flakes and 2 bananas. Definitely NOT enough calories for an active college woman. AND NO PROTEIN! What the hell are these people thinking with this diet? I understand now they have Special K Protein Water and other such nonsense…but when the diet first came out, it was only eating cereal for 2 meals a day for 2 weeks, and then a normal dinner. By the time dinner rolled around I was starved, and if I worked out before dinner I was so weak…until I eventually passed out.
That was only Day 3 into the diet. Ugh.
Did anyone see the show about the 2women in the UK who did all the diet experiments? Each week they would try a new diet.
It was so interesting – one of them quit after a few weeks, she was getting very weak. The other became obsessed and developed an eating discorder.
I don’t remember the exact diets they followed – but one involved colonics…
I have been there!
1. Atkins (I lost 0 but it turned out I was pregnant)
2. Hollywood 48 liquid diet – 6 lbs in two days and then gained it right back
3. The Zone (never got the math right and lost nothing)
4. Personal trainer and gym nutrition – lost some, but too pricy and got tired of meals of only certain foods combined
Now doing WW – down 70 pounds and I feel in it for forever if that is what it takes. Thanks for your blog!
@ Liz – I also tried the Special K diet. Obviously it didn’t work. I didn’t feint but it was just too expensive to buy all that cereal and those little bars etc. (not to mention that my husband thought I was crazy — and he LIKES Special K).
I have also tried:
1. South Beach – too restrictive for me.
2. SlimFast – again, too restrictive (and expensive).
3. BowFlex Diet – which really worked. But somehow I don’t do well working out 3x a week and only eating 1000 cal/day… Imagine that…
4. I do this thing also where I obsessively plan each meal and calories and refuse to eat anything that’s “not on the list”. It drives my husband crazy. And doesn’t work.
5. The Mayo clinic diet – mentioned by anonomyous 3. Yuck!
That’s all I can think of now! What a waste!
My genius (NOT) friend admitted to me that she goes through big binge days and then doesnt eat the whole next day…she is wasting away and not in a good way- can you say eating disorder?????
One of my biggest problems is not eating for myself. I hear people say “Oh, man I haven’t eaten anything all day!” and immediately think guiltily back to the huge bowl of oatmeal, sandwich, and several snacks I’ve already consumed that day. I also have two roomates and two brothers who can seemingly devour whatever they please and not gain a pound. Being around them often makes me lose sight of my healthy eating habits and to start thinking I have the metabolism of a 16 year old boy. I’ve learned that only I know how much I can eat and that it shouldn’t bother me what/how other people eat.
EXCELLENT QUESTION! I have enjoyed reading all of the comments. Here are my confessions:
1. Low Carb – too restrictive.
2. Diet Pills – worked tempoarily, but a huge waste of money
3. Working out, but eating the same – gained rather than lost. I needed to reduce my calories.
4. Colon Cleansers – I think that is on the verge of an eating disorder.
WW and exercise have truely been the only things that I have successful lost weight and kept it off. Eat less amd move more!