A diet that works?

The girls that I work with found this CRAZY soup diet that you go on for seven days. You cut out a lot of carbs, sugars, and all that crap you shouldn't be eating anyway. I read the diet plan (abbreviated below) and laughed at them for the idea! The soup mentioned is a particular cabbage soup (let me know if you want the mouth-watering recipe), even I could make it myself at home. But I couldn't imagine eating this stuff--totally opposite from my regular menu--for seven days. It sounded like torture!! But hey, it's only seven days, so a little discipline might be a good thing. It says that after the third day, if you haven't cheated, you will have lost 5-7 pounds. FINE. I'm in it for three days, and I won't cheat, but if I haven't lost 5-7 pounds, it's back to what makes my pallette happy. Here goes nothing...

Day 1 All fruits (except bananas.) Eat only the soup and fruits.
For drinks: un-sweetened tea, cranberry juice or water.

***After Day one, I lost 2 pounds.

Day 2 All vegetables. (Stay away from dry beans, peas and corn.)
At dinner time, reward yourself with a big baked potato with butter. No fruit.

Day 3 Soup, fruits and vegetables.
If you have not cheated, you will have lost 5-7 pounds.

***After Day three, I lost 5 pounds. BINGO. And darn it, I'm in it for four more days, that was my deal, right? So keep going...

Day 4 Bananas (up to three) and skim milk.
Drink as many glasses of water as you can, along with the soup.

***Day four was the hardest day. I mean, I love bananas and milk, but c'mon, that's all I can have??? Oh, and we went to Qdoba with some friends for lunch after church--I had my banana and milk with me, and it was painful.

Day 5 Beef or chicken and tomatoes. Eat the soup at least once this day. Try to drink at least 6-8 glasses of water this day.

Day 6 Beef or chicken and veggies. (You can have 2 or 3 steaks with green leafy veggies.) Eat the soup at least once this day.

***I couldn't stomach the soup yet again on day six, so I didn't. I think that was my mistake, as my weight loss kind of peaked at this point. 6.5 pounds lost so far though!!

Day 7 Brown rice and veggies, un-sweetened juice. Eat the soup at least once this day. (Ugh, okaaay.)

The end of the seventh day, if you have not cheated, you will have lost 10-17 pounds.
***Almost there, I lost 8.5 when all was said and done. 8.5!! Not too shabby... or flabby for that matter!

Definite no-no’s: Bread, alcohol, carbonated drinks (no diet drinks) Stick to water, un-sweetened tea, black coffee, un-sweetened fruit juices and skim milk.
***I only drank milk on the day it specified to do so, and stuck to water and cranberry juice.


Recommendation: Each time before you eat, drink 1 tsp vinegar in warm water to aid in digestion. (Uh yeah, no. I didn't do this.)


So there you have it. In seven (fairly quick) days I lost almost 10 pounds. Now granted, I haven't kept it ALL off, but I feel great. If nothing else, it really made me think about what I eat. As I said, this diet is the complete opposite of anything I normally choose at mealtime or in between. Vegetables? I don't eat my vegetables! I had to Google a list of 'em just to see what I was supposed to buy at the grocery store!! Leafy greens!? Do green skittles or M&M's count? Leafy greens... the fruit days were fine, Jamba Juice has an all-fruit smoothie with no sugar or dairy added--perfect! And the soup was OK. I'm not a big soup person, nor do I like most of what's in it, but after the first few bites I was able to finish a bowl.

As for the other girls at work, only one of the two stuck it out with me. She lost 9.5 pounds total. The other girl quit on Day 3 because she and her husband went up to Cheyenne Frontier Days, and she couldn't resist the food (something about a funnel cake...)

This diet is mainly used for obese hospital patients before surgery to help them lose weight. It says that you can do it as often as you like (but if you lose more than 15 pounds, wait two days before starting it again.) We're talking about doing it again in October, so maybe I can get fit before the holidays.