*Raises Hand* I too was on the Dexatrim train. That so was NOT a good idea. I was wired AND Moody. It was horrible.

My grandmother told me to make sure I ate desert right after dinner and I would lose weight.

My mother had me on a barrage of diets, the 3 day diet, nothing white diet, the grapefruit diet....and so on.

I hate diets!!!

OMG these are rich!!!

Does anyone remember the machines at the gym where you put a band around your hips and it vibrated you until you thought your fillings would come loose? Apparently it broke up the fat cells

the "ten minute"s diet wouldnt work for me at all, i eat soooo quickly. Its one of the things im working on. Id say i could eat a whole cake in 10 mins if pushed

I recall those machines. I just thought of one today. I recall years ago a woman telling me about foods cancelling out each other. She said you could get a hamburger and fries and drink a diet soda and it will cancel out the meat and potatoes. LOL! Ooooookay!

I remember years ago my mother used to walk around in a silver reflective mylar suit. It looked like a space suit and it was supposed to melt off the pounds. It was absolutely hilarious! The only thing that ever melted away was the money in her wallet.....

Another super secret diet of hers involved Ayds Candy. You were supposed to eat these (gross chocolate simulated things) with a cup of hot water or tea and the weight would magically disappear.

Amazingly none of these things ever worked for her, LOL

Those and the wrap-around neoprene like bands that were supposed to make you sweat and shrink. I think my poor mom had one for every body part. I kept telling her that the only reason she'd ever shrink was because she was dehydrating and she'd gain it all back the minute she drank something. I gave them a try when I was teenager and all they made me was sticky and uncomfortable.

Oh, this one touched a nerve. There is a woman I work with who I used to walk with on breaks. She's a little clingy & tends to be a "Me, too!" kind of person. Whatever it is that you're doing, she wants to jump on the bandwagon. She really seems to need a buddy, whereas I am fine just flying solo.

I am swimming 2-3 times a week now & when she heard about that she was all set to join the gym, but then looked into it & of course it was way too expensive. (work reimburses us for most of it) So I say, why not a guest pass? Well, that's 10 bucks a pop, so if she came once a week, she might as well get a membership & blah blah, there's never a solution for her!

Her tests (CBC & UA) have come back that she is pre-diabetic, so she always comes over & checks out whatever I am eating or drinking. She will ask if that's on my diet. She keeps telling me what I should & shouldn't do, what I can & cannot have. If she asks/tells me again, I am going to politely inform her she is not my food cop. She also keeps showing me different drink mixes she has for her water. I drink too much water to mess around with that kinda thing. Irritating at times though I know she means well.

This thread is awesome - if laughing burns calories it's definitely a great diet aid!

TamiL-I remember those!!! LMAO!! My mom's friend had one and wore a headband, oh goodness, the 80s...lmao

I just read in the General Chatter forum that I should stick a mint leaf up my nose. Really. Up my nose.

Here's a couple more that I watched my mom go through
a) trips to the "fat farm" - which was injections of amphetamines
b) THE Liquid Diet (that killed a lot of people as I recall)
c) The US Ski Team diet - actually was an early version of Atkins - serious high protein
d) Yet another liquid diet, about 10 years ago - which cost her her gallbladder and kicked off her ongoing battle with diverticulitis

And here's something you might get a kick out of - that Dexatrim's current usage is to help elderly female dogs with bladder control!

Great thread - proof that if there's a way to make a buck off insecure people, somebody will invent it, and some of us will try it!

My mom has given me so much diet advice over the years that it's really hard to pick one. At one point, I actually had to forbid her to talk to me about losing weight, because she just doesn't know when to quit.

Her latest...eating prunes and popcorn for breakfast will manage stress and depression. I guess it's all the crap that gets built up?

She tells me she exercises everyday, like it's a competition between us. So her idea of exercise is to get on her exercycle for two minutes. And when she sees me lifting weights, I'm doing too much and I'm going to hurt myself.

She's a compulsive feeder. She can't even have a person in her house and not feed them something. Yesterday I watched her grill my niece and nephew, "What do you want to eat? Raisins? No? How about an apple? It's good for you...no? A banana? Wait, I don't have bananas. Your grandfather ate the last one. Mean Grandpa! Green Beans? I have some nice green beans. No? Baklava? You love my baklava...no? What's the matter with you?"

I just moved to a new house to be closer to my parents. Two days into this and I'm thinking I made a mistake!

Georgia

^^this sounds familiar! Are you Italian?

Well, yeah. It causes sneezing, which in turn exercises your abs. Jeez, do I have to tell you *everything*? Seriously, though--what's the mint leaf up your nose supposed to accomplish, other than a mint-burned nose?

If this were true, I'd weigh about 120 pounds because I have had a LOT of hamburgers and fries washed down with diet Coke!