[LyraRenee]

So. I’m a little fatty and decided it’s about time I do something about it I’m 19 years old, 5’ 6” and 233.8 pounds (105.8kg) as of yesterday.
I’m kind of an impatient person, and I know crash diets don’t work if you don’t initiate a lifelong good diet habit afterward. Being impatient that I am, I decided to use this diet to kickstart my transition into weight loss/healthy eating.

The Cabbage Soup Diet consists of 7 days of eating certain things The basic breakdown is:
Day one: Fruit
Day two: Vegetables
Day three: Fruit and vegetables
Day four: Bananas and skim milk
Day 5: Lean meat and tomatoes
Day 6: Lean meat and leafy greens
Day 7: Brown rice, fruit and veggies

Plus on every day: You can eat your fill of the cabbage soup, which is made of water, spices (except for salt), an optional bullion cube and
-Cabbage
-Green onions
-Green peppers
-Tomatoes
-Carrots
-Mushrooms
-Celery

I started this diet yesterday, and I lost 1.4 pounds. I think that's pretty impressive for one day. I know it's more than likely water weight, but it is weight nonetheless.

I'm going to chart my progress here to let everyone know the age old question about any diet- Does it work?

Weight log:
1. 233.8
2. 232.4
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Day one: I ate 2 bowls of cabbage soup, two apples, two pears, and a 12oz container of mixed fresh fruit. (I also cheated and had one gingersnap cookie. My mom was making them and they're delicious.) I drank 72oz of water, and 8oz of 100% cranberry juice. I jogged for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I went to bed feeling a little bloated and nauseous.

Day two: So far today, I feel really good. I lost 1.4 pounds. It feels kind of weird eating vegetables for breakfast, but I had green beans with homemade salsa on top and 4oz of cranberry juice.

Also, Has anyone else tried this diet? Did it work for you?

[bargoo]

Sure, I have tried it and soon as I stopped the weight came back. Better to follow a sensible plan that you can follow for life. I found calorie counting worked best for me.

[NorthernExposure]

I agree with bargoo. I did similar crash diets when I was your age (ha! Now I sound ancient, lol) and sure, I lost weight, but it came right back on...and then some. I spend most of my 20's and into my 30's overweight or obese because I never learned how to eat right for LIFE until about 2 years ago.

You can still make good progress on a "normal" diet. I too am a calorie counter and I averaged about 3 lbs/week loss for the first 5 months or so (it comes off faster when you have as much to lose as I did). And as I'm sure you're aware, you always lose a lot your first week with any significant reduction in calories as much of it is detox/water weight. It's great you've lost 1.4 lbs in a day, but I highly doubt it is 1.4 lbs of fat. (3,500 calories = 1 lb of fat).

And yes, your weight loss will slow down as you get closer to your goal. I average about a lb/week now. If I had "only" lost a lb/week when I started out, I would have become impatient (I get that!). But now that I've truly changed my habits, I'm OK with it because eating healthier is more natural to me and not a chore...if that makes sense?

I'm not here to tell you what to do, but I just don't want to see other people make the same mistakes I did. Good luck to you.

[shr1nk1ngme]

I tried it once but it didn't work for me because it was very high carb (fruit) and I don't do well with carbs.

The cabbage soup diet is really just a crash diet which is probably not very helpful as any kind of long-term solution. I personally feel, though, because the foods on the plan are mostly healthy, it might not be a bad way to jump start a diet and fitness program as long as you switch to counting calories or low-carb for longer-term weight loss when you finish the diet.

The soup, I must add, is delicious. Delicious! And oh so healthy! And very filling, and low-cal. Therefore I recommend the soup part of the diet. Make a ginormous pot of it, freeze what you can't eat right away, and tank up on it before meals for a couple of weeks. It will definitely help you lose weight, just because it's so yummy, filling, and loaded with fiber and nutrients.

I loved the soup so much I have been considering making it again (but not doing the whole diet) since I am finally in Atkins pre-maintenance and I am adding some healthy veggie carbs back into my diet.

[3FCer344892]

My mom and I did this when I was 18 (ours' was a vegetable soup instead of a cabbage soup, but it was mostly the same plan). We did it every day except the last, and I lost a total of 8 pounds. My mom only lost about 4-6, and broke out in a rash. We're not sure where it came from. I figured she was allergic to something in the soup, since she ate more of it than I did. Anyway, we bailed the last day and ordered pizza. We gained it all back pretty fast, and never tried it again.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by LyraRenee

So. I’m a little fatty and decided it’s about time I do something about it I’m 19 years old, 5’ 6” and 233.8 pounds (105.8kg) as of yesterday.
I’m kind of an impatient person, and I know crash diets don’t work if you don’t initiate a lifelong good diet habit afterward. Being impatient that I am, I decided to use this diet to kickstart my transition into weight loss/healthy eating. Also, Has anyone else tried this diet? Did it work for you?

Yes I tried it (and many diets like it) and no they never worked in the long run.

Everyone is impatient when it comes to weight loss. Almost no one says, "I'm perfectly content with turtle-slow weight loss. I really don't care how slow the weight comes off, I have all the time in the world.

Instead we all believe we "need" rapid weight loss, and we tell ourselves we just need a kick start to get motivated, and then we'll transition to a sensible plan - but the sensible plan never materializes.

Instead, it's the impatience that KILLS virtually all weight loss attempts. The failure rate isn't in the high 90th percentile because overweight people are patient. People don't quit diets and regain because they're failing - but because they feel like they're failing - they're not happy with the rate of weight loss.

Virtually no one ever gets to the "sensible lifestyle" phase, because even ON the crash diets, the weight loss slows. And if the weight loss isn't fast enough on the "kick start, crash" part of the diet, it's going to be even slower, and less tolerable on sensible lifestyle portion.

And worse, it's very possible that the "crash" or "kickstart" phase actually lowers metabolism (if only because you often burn muscle along with the fat, and the less muscle you have, the fewer calories you burn), making it harder and harder to lose on sensible AND crash plans.

In a very real way, I crash dieted my way to 400 lbs. I didn't eat more and more and more over the years to get that big. Instead, I crash dietied, and the returned to my old eating habits, but EXCEEDED my "old" highest weight, because my metabolism dropped. I ended up maintaining 400 lbs of fat, on a calorie level that in my late teens and twenties won me rather rapid weight loss (which I considered slow at the time, because we all think weight loss is slow).

All my life, I dieted and failed because of impatience. You can learn patience now, or you can learn it the hard way, later.

I'd hate to see you follow the path so many of us have, crash dieting our way to fatter and fatter bodies, because we were impatient and "needed" that kickstart, lying to ourselves that we would be ok with slower weight loss at some fictional point in the future that never comes, because even on the "crash" dieting, the weight loss never feels fast enough to be satisfying.

Rather than moving on to "sensible" we give up entirely, because if the crash dieting isn't succeeding well enough for us to feel successful, how the heck is "sensible" going to get us there?

Don't get on the crash diet rollercoaster - it's a death trap. If you're on it - get off, and never look back. Each small taste of "rapid weight loss" is going to give you an elusive "high" you'll constantly compare every other w eight loss to, and try to recapture (and never quite succeed).

And worst of all, every crash diet that fails, takes you further and further from success, because it takes more and more work to yield smaller and smaller results.

Of course, everyone always says "just this once," and then "just one more time, and that'll be the end," but it never is.

[melodymist]

Originally Posted by bargoo

Sure, I have tried it and soon as I stopped the weight came back. Better to follow a sensible plan that you can follow for life. I found calorie counting worked best for me.

Agreed! Look for a plan you can follow for the rest of your life. It's a total lifestyle change. Goodluck.

[blueheron777]

I want to say something in support of cabbage soup! NOT as a diet but as component of a healthy eating plan.

I have lost about 42 pounds counting calories and eating a balanced vegetarian diet.

Every week I make a big pot of cabbage soup and use it for my snacks and for those times when I feel like I "want something". It takes the place of random high-calorie snacking and is nutritious and delicious.

I use a whole cabbage plus any other veggies I have on hand and spice it up with whatever I feel like as I'm making it. Sometimes I add lentils. After it's cooked, I always run it through the blender so it's smooth and yummy.

No, it's a terrible basis for a "diet" but a terrific approach to comfort food--served cold in the summer and hot in the winter.

[Coondocks]

Originally Posted by blueheron777

I want to say something in support of cabbage soup! NOT as a diet but as component of a healthy eating plan.

I have lost about 42 pounds counting calories and eating a balanced vegetarian diet.

Every week I make a big pot of cabbage soup and use it for my snacks and for those times when I feel like I "want something". It takes the place of random high-calorie snacking and is nutritious and delicious.

I use a whole cabbage plus any other veggies I have on hand and spice it up with whatever I feel like as I'm making it. Sometimes I add lentils. After it's cooked, I always run it through the blender so it's smooth and yummy.

No, it's a terrible basis for a "diet" but a terrific approach to comfort food--served cold in the summer and hot in the winter.

My thoughts exactly. I love soup to begin with and I've always liked cabbage soup but not as the basis for a diet.

Irritates me though when I make it in the colder weather (total comfort food) and that's the first thing people ask me if i happen to bring it to work "Ohh, are you on the cabbage soup diet?"
No, i just like it, now let me eat in peace!

[Zofia]

Kaplods, I would liek to thank you for your post. It reminded me how I lost 55 pounds 2 years ago and why i did it. Lately I have been SO obcessed witht he scale... I forgot that who freaking cares, as long as im loosing a little bit at a time and eat healthy and excercising.. so I thank you. Its what I neede dthis morning looing at the scale that didnt buldge sinc elast week (even if I didnt freaking cheat or anything!)

As for this diet, I did it once, lost 12 pounds, gain 4 back when I went back to my normal lifestyle then lost it again the next 3 weeks, and then kept loosing every week until I reach my goal. So if youa r eprepared to see rapid weight loss, then gaining then back again but tell yourself no matter what you will stick to your healthy life style and not this diet then sure it worked for me.

I still eat the soup as a snack nowadays. I love it lol

[rehabis4quitters]

Originally Posted by blueheron777

I want to say something in support of cabbage soup! NOT as a diet but as component of a healthy eating plan.

I have lost about 42 pounds counting calories and eating a balanced vegetarian diet.

Every week I make a big pot of cabbage soup and use it for my snacks and for those times when I feel like I "want something". It takes the place of random high-calorie snacking and is nutritious and delicious.

I use a whole cabbage plus any other veggies I have on hand and spice it up with whatever I feel like as I'm making it. Sometimes I add lentils. After it's cooked, I always run it through the blender so it's smooth and yummy.

No, it's a terrible basis for a "diet" but a terrific approach to comfort food--served cold in the summer and hot in the winter.

I agree with this and Coondock!

The great thing about cabbage soup is it's super easy to make and it stores well in the fridge for 5 days (I'm sure you could do more.. but foodsafe.. and really, who needs more than a 5 day supply at once??)

And something about it feels carby? when a salad isn't enough, the soup seems to hit the spot. I like to add onion or a couple dashes of tobasco to make it a little spicey so I'm not tempted to totally inhale it.

the diet leaves you feeling like you're depriving yourself.. but you'll learn to actually look forward to the soup when it's ready on hand and you just want something hot and tasty!

[kaplods]

I love cabbage soup too - but the food, not the diet. I also used to like bananas and hot dogs until I went on the banana and hot dog crash diet in grade school, and I've had an aversion to both every since. Oh, every once in a while, I'll have a taste for a banana or a hot dog, but not very often. In fact, even though they're three times as expensive, I usually buy miniature bananas for eating, or I'll buy regular bananas and freeze them in chunks, because I so rarely eat a whole banana.