to WANT to be thin and eat nothing but salad for the next week?

[CaptainAdorable]

I just can't do slow and steady. I can't do 'some' chocolate etc. One square is enough to set me off and I scoff the lot. Once I have lost that initial 5lbs I am on a high and have no problem losing the rest of the weight.

I know the received wisdom is that crash diets don't work, but they do for me!

[Pikelit]

They do for me too. But then I've got an extremely unhealthy attitude and still think that being a size 10 borders on the lardy side of normal.

[WhereYouLeftIt]

CaptA, you say crash diets work for you - but surely if you have to do it more than once, they really don't?

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

YABU
crash diets don't work as in you can only keep it up for about a week, in which time you can't actually lose much fat anyway so really, what's the point?

A crash diet for any longer than a week is called starving yourself and is counterproductive since starvation causes the metabolism to slow down and retain fat, burning muscle for energy instead, slowing the metabolism down further.

Fod goodness sake, it's not a race. Have a look here for inspiration. A crash diet might make you 3lb thinner but it will make you less healthy and miserable and hungry.

[CaptainAdorable]

Whereyouleftit - you can't expect me to eat salad forever! Just now and again to curb the festive excesses. A diet for me = something corrective, rather than a long term plan. So it does work as 3 weeks on salad = about a stone lighter. Simples

[CaptainAdorable]

kat2907 - starving yourself may be counterproductive health wise but it isn't weight wise. The only sure and certain way to lose weight is to eat less.

[BelleDameSansMerci]

May I suggest soup instead of salad? Unless you're outside of the UK/Western Europe it's bloody freezing out there and you need something to keep you warm or you may be tempted to fill with other stuff.

[LetThereBeRock]

Eat less and exercise.
There's a difference between eating smaller portions and fewer treats and going on what is effectively a starvation diet which is bloody stupid.

[Sassybeast]

Salad - in this weather ? You are mad

[CaptainAdorable]

YY soup a good one belledame - I like the cabbage soup one.

I find that 'starvation' (whatever that means in our food laden developed society) actually surpresses the appetite as well as whatever else it's meant to do to metabolism etc, so is really quite effective.

[borderslass]

I eat salad all year round nowt wrong with it.

[CaptainAdorable]

smaller portion/ fewer treats is starvation comparitively speaking!

[BelleDameSansMerci]

Hmmmm, I was thinking that pretty much any soup would be good. I couldn't eat cabbage soup! I don't want to encourage you to starve yourself but if you want to quickly lose some weight soup will do it. I often have a soup week to shift a few pounds if I want to fit into a "skinny" dress!

[LetThereBeRock]

I eat salad all year round too but not exclusively so.

This is one of these threads where the OP is utterly convinced that they are NBU no matter what anyone else says which makes one wonder why they bothered to post in the first place.

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

CaptainAdorable -
er, yes it is counterproductive weight wise. Your body needs a certain number of calories to function. You can reduce the calories you take in to burn fat stores. If you reduce the calories you consume too much, the body will move to pre starvation mode where it ceases to burn fat stores and burns muscle for energy instead. This stops the process of burning fat (temporarily - the next stage is actual starvation) and reduces muscle mass which has long term implications for your weight as the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns simply functioning.

But hey - starve yourself for 3 weeks if you want, great idea

[LetThereBeRock]

No smaller portions are not starvation. It means eating the recommended amount of food and the majority of people eat more than that,and I include myself in that.

If you're eating exclusively salad then you won't be eating a balanced diet, you'll most likely be eating far too few calories and will not be taking in the appropriate amount of protein,fat, vitamins, minerals etc.

[badietbuddy]

Well you can wave goodbye to your metabolism. Which will basically make it nigh on impossible for you to lose weight in the future. There are so many safe and sensible options out there, putting your body into starvation mode is not one of them

[CaptainAdorable]

Not so Letthereberock. But I think it is quite offensive to use the term starvation here. No-one is suggesting I literally starve myself, me included. I don't see what's so wrong with giving a weight loss plan a kick start?

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

Reduce your calories to 1100 a day - you'll lose weight pretty swiftly. That's not what I consider starvation though - do you?

[borderslass]

another problem of starvation diets is as soon as you start eating properly your body will turn any food to fat as it thinks its being starved I was bad for it and put a load of weight on but have lost most of it now through following a proper plan.

[FabIsGoingToBeFabIn2010]

I have been an all or nothing girl but having started to have breakfast this week and walk to school as much as I could, finding that I have lost 3lbs, I am inspired to carry on and to do it gradually and slowly. I don't tend to put a huge amount of weight on and can fluctuate by about half a stone but I am a stone heaver than when my youngest was 9 weeks so that was a shock.

[CaptainAdorable]

Well put it this way then. You all seem to know a lot about the scientific side which I don't. How long does one have to cut back on "x" calories to see a weight loss return of "y" pounds - maybe someone can help me with that to give me an alternative motivation??

I just know what has worked for me in the past, thats all.

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

'starvation' is a term used to describe consuming too few calories to function. You can reduce your calorie intake significantly, lose weight and not be starving. However if you eat salad 3 x a day you are likely to be consuming far too few calories to function. So you will be starving yourself

[Wineonafridaynight]

It depends. What are you putting in your salads? If you are suggesting you only eat a few lettuce leaves each meal then you probably are being unreasonable!

But salads can be very healthy, very good for you and very filling. Will you eat some sort of meat or fish with your salad (e.g. chicken, tuna, smoked salmon)?

Also I love mixed beans, potato salad, sweetcorn, grated corrots, hard boiled egg chopped in slices, red peppers sliced.

I think if you have a variety of things in your salad and decent portion sizes then YANBU. I see no problem with chopping out chocolate, crisps, etc... for a while to lose weight.

Also agree on the soup front though. Make some easy homemade soups and have those. So nice and tasty and warm!

[CaptainAdorable]

Starvation is people with no food. Starvation is not eating salad 3 x a day. I could have egg salad, cheese salad, not just lettuce etc.

[CaptainAdorable]

sorry x posts wineonafriday