We are here on the Blind Side, Surely, it’s hard enough to lose weight, without adding some bizarre diet to the mix! But apparently some people think there are easier and quicker ways to drop a few pounds, other than the tried and true, low calorie food intake and regular exercise. We tend to disagree. From the surgically attached tongue patch to the practice of eating in front of a mirror, here are 15 Craziest Methods People Use to Lose Weight.
15. Tongue Patch Diet
The very thought of this procedure should be enough to send people flying from the dinner table and into the gym in no time.
The tongue patch is an idea introduced by Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Nikolas Chugay in 2009. The patch is stitched to the tongue, making it both difficult and painful to eat.
In fact, most have resorted to a liquid-only diet.
Labelled the ‘miracle’ patch, it’s hardly a miracle that people can lose up to 30 pounds a month, when they can’t tolerate food anywhere near their mouth!
Dr Chugay’s website outlines other side effects. Yes, aside from not being able to eat, there are more!
Patients may experience swelling of the tongue, difficulty with speech, and have trouble sleeping! The patch can only be worn for a month at a time, otherwise there is a danger of the tongue’s tissue growing over it, effectively making it a permanent fixture!
There’s little wonder the patch hasn’t yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The procedure costs $2,000 at Dr Chugay’s Los Angeles clinic, where he said he has performed it on 81 women since 2009.
However, a clinic in Venezuela that is charging just $150 for the patch, has applied one to more than 800 tongues.
A plastic surgeon who operates in nearby Torrance, labeled the procedure ridiculous, barbaric and ill-advised.
Studies have also shown that the most extreme dieters who lose weight rapidly eventually gain it all back — and more.
14. Dining with a mirror
This one seems simple enough, but whether it works is another story.
Researchers have found that if you place a mirror in front of you whilst eating, you are less likely to eat as much. In fact, studies show eating can be reduced by nearly one-third if you’re looking yourself in the eye while enjoying your dinner.
Perhaps watching yourself eat makes you feel uncomfortable, but it’s hard to say which aspect would be worse. Are you uncomfortable watching yourself eat? Or with the appearance reflected in the mirror?
Does looking in the mirror remind you of why you’re trying to lose weight in the first place, or does it just make you feel worse about yourself? It seems like a relatively torturous process.
The method is said to enhance self-awareness and encourage a change in behavior.
13. Bulimia Weight Loss Strategies
Described as a vicious cycle of binging and purging, the eating disorder bulimia nervosa, is an unhealthy pattern that can cause irreversible damage to your digestive system, create chemical imbalances in the body and harm major organs, including the heart.
People who suffer from the disease have a compulsion to overeat or binge. These episodes are followed by extreme efforts to either avoid eating altogether, exercising to excess or purging the food by vomiting or using laxatives.
Bulimia has been found to be more common among young women, however it can affect women and men of all ages and requires both treatment and support to help break the cycle and promote a healthier way of eating.
The disease also gives sufferers a sense of control. Whilst the rest of their lives are spiraling out of control, for one reason or another, this is the one thing they can take charge of.
Another difficulty with this disease, is that initially binge eating and then purging or over exercising, does allow the sufferer to lose weight, and therefore validates the behavior.
This is where the danger lies.
When the scales stop spiraling downwards, the sufferer starts to feel fat and their happiness at losing weight is replaced by confusion, frustration and fear.
The only way to stop the cycle is to seek help, before it’s too late.
12. Tube feeding
It’s two weeks out from your wedding day, and you still have a few pounds to lose, how far do you go to lose weight?
Well some women are opting to have a feeding tube inserted.
This tube runs down the back of the nose, into and through the esophagus and down to the stomach.
And at a cost of $1,500, you would have to hope it was worth it.
The feeding tube, normally used to nourish people who cannot eat due to illness, is said to remain in place for 24 hours a day for a total of 10 days.
Eating is completely avoided, with the diet consisting of roughly 800 daily calories of a high protein, low carb formula only.
An unusual and slightly inconvenient method, the feeding-tube or K-E diet, is the latest fad among brides to be, and is said to thrust the body into the first stages of starvation, burning stored fat to keep normal functions going.
Taken to the extreme, the process can start to eat away at muscle, something doctors prescribing the feeding tube, try to avoid.
As with any diet, there are certain side effects, such as constipation, dizziness and bad breath and in extreme cases, medical complications can occur.
Patients are monitored for any signs of lung infection, kidney failure and erosion of tissue in the nose.
If you can handle these side effects and the possibility of dangerous complications, you may be able to lose up to 20 pound in 10 days. Unfortunately, experts say, that when the tube comes out, the weight piles on again. Hence the diet will do nothing for you in the long-term
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11. Cleansing Diets
A popular choice when it comes to dieting, a cleansing diet is often the first phase of any long-term diet, with the body cleansed in preparation for the weeks and months to come.
Some cleansing diets simply restrict certain food groups, others restrict food altogether, like the lemon detox diet. Essentially an expensive starvation diet, the lemon detox offers several versions, including relaxed, 50/50 or Full Body Cleanse. The full body cleanse has users drinking a lemon concoction three times a day for 10 days, and that’s it. Relatively simple, but research shows that you are essentially leaching nourishment from stores in other areas of the body.
Women especially need these additional stores, particularly as their hormones wax and wane depending on their monthly cycle.
Putting your body directly into starvation mode is dangerous, however, the modern dieting scene has made it look like it’s a great idea, with starvation now considered the ‘in thing’, a method to help you look great in no time.
Cleansing diets can help some people lose a lot of weight quickly, however this is normally due to a loss of fluid and carb stores rather than fat, so once the cleanse is completed, the weight is usually gained.
10. Beer diet
This sounds like a legitimate weight loss method. Who wouldn’t want a diet that consists entirely of beer?
No doubt a popular choice for the keen beer drinkers amongst us, it’s been proven that restricting your diet to the brown beverage only, results in weight loss. Surprising, we know, but it’s true.
While others are giving up sweets and cutting down on alcohol, J. Wilson, a 38-year-old editor from Iowa decided to abstain from food and consume beer only for 46 days straight.
Aside from what we can only imagine was a bit of hangover, the experiment resulted in him losing a total of 11 kilograms in just under seven weeks.
Doctors, however, don’t recommend this unique weight loss method, with Wilson said to have experienced headaches, energy loss and a swollen tongue throughout the diet.
These side effects paled in comparison to the fact he developed hyperkalemia, elevated potassium levels, a dangerous condition that effects the heart. His creatine levels were also found to be elevated, indicating his body was burning protein.
So, four beers a day on weekdays and five on weekends, totaling a massive 4,288 calories per day, is not considered a realistic way of dieting, nor a very healthy one.
Doctors recommend you skip the beer and opt for a healthy diet and regular exercise instead.
Party poopers!
9. Cabbage soup diet
Considered a classic example of a fad diet, the cabbage soup diet is relatively simple, but extremely boring. More of a crash diet than anything else, this diet isn’t advisable as a long-term solution, with cabbage soup eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for seven days in a row.
Perhaps a great kick-start to a more suitable low-calorie eating plan, the diet can help you lose up to 10 pounds in a week.
Although labelled cabbage soup, it is also stocked with other goodies, including green onions, green peppers, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms and celery, along with half a head of cabbage. It works because it is primarily water-based, making the dieter feel full.
The soup can be eaten alongside certain fruits, vegetables, meats and brown rice, and is eaten according to a set schedule.
Again, although advocates of the cabbage soup diet say it’s a good way to quickly lose a few pounds, you are likely losing a combination of water, fat and even muscle.
It is also low in complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and minerals, that your body needs, therefore it is not advised that you follow it for more than a week at a time.
Other disadvantages include, a high salt content and increased flatulence. You may also feel weak or tired.
8. Aqualyx
Imagine getting an injection that dissolves your fat cells, allowing them to pass through your body and released when you urinate. Sounds absurd doesn’t it?
The injection is part of a new weight loss treatment, available in the United Kingdom.
Dubbed Aqualyx, the treatment is being promoted as an effective and safe alternative to liposuction, with 39-year-old Liverpool-based Sharon Donaldson, one of the first women to try it.
The injection contains plant polymers and is said to work by breaking down stored body fat, before rupturing and releasing it to be dissolved.
The liquified fat cell is then eliminated from the body through the urine over a three-week period.
Donaldson paid £900 for the treatment, that required a series of three injections to be administered over a timeframe of three months.
Dr Arun Ghosh from Spire Hospital, Liverpool said people should be wary of the promises these treatments made and the possibly dangerous repercussions from undertaking them.
The dangers of reabsorbing fatty acids into the blood stream are well known and may result in extremely elevated cholesterol and raised glucose levels that can lead to diabetes.
Not surprisingly, Aqualyx is not yet approved by the FDA for use in the U.S., however it is widely used in Europe for simple treatments like a double chin.
7. Illegal drugs
If you have seen pictures of people who have been addicted to illicit drugs of years on end, you will understand where we are going here.
Illegal drugs are known to reduce hunger pangs to the point, you no longer have an appetite, and the stubborn pounds simply drop away.
It sounds fantastic, until you realize the repercussions involved. Not only are these drugs illegal, they are also known to have a long list of dangerous side effects, that simply aren’t worth the hassle.
As well as being highly addictive, the physical and mental consequences of taking these types of drugs can affect the rest of your life, perhaps limiting it entirely!
You might lose the weight you were hoping too, but your body won’t thank you for it. You will be left craving your next fix and look 20 years older in no time.
Other potential risks associated with drug abuse include attention deficit disorder, thyroid problems, diabetes, severe headaches, stroke, heart, lung and kidney problems, not to mention the seedy individuals you might have to associate with on occasion. It is also likely to impact your financial status and relationships, so is therefore a strongly discouraged method of losing weight.
6. Urine injections
Some people will resort to absolutely anything in their quest for the perfect body, but injecting yourself with urine from pregnant women, seems more than a little extreme.
Aside from the obvious disgust most would feel for this regimen, this weight-loss diet requires a restricted diet of 500 calories a day in addition to daily injections.
Adding to the hype, is the fact people are losing up to a pound a day.
A relatively costly procedure, the urine injections can cost upwards of $300 for a six-week supply.
The urine contains the hormone, HCG, that is made by the placenta during pregnancy and is said to promote weight loss, however sceptics are linking the rapid weight loss to the heavily restricted 500-calorie per day dietary intake instead.
Many feel the HCG injections are simply a placebo, making the user believe they are not hungry.
So, in addition to a worthless injection of someone else’s urine, you are also putting unnecessary strain on your body by not eating enough calories. Any diet below 1,200 calories a day should be closely monitored as it can result in an irregular heartbeat, severe bone and muscle loss, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and an imbalance of the electrolytes that keep muscles and nerves functioning as they should.
If injecting yourself with the pee of a pregnant women lacks appeal, perhaps a low-calorie diet and regular exercise might.
5. Drunkorexia
Take bulimia and mix in a little alcohol and you’ve got yourself a recipe for drunkorexia, a colloquialism for self-imposed starvation or binge eating/purging combined with alcohol abuse.
An extreme weight control method, people starve or purge in order to compensate for their binge drinking.
Research shows that this type of self-imposed malnutrition is more common amongst college-aged women, who want to stay thin, but continue to be the life of the party.
Studies undertaken by the University of Missouri found that 30 per cent of female college students aged between 18 and 23, admitted they had restricted food in order to consume greater quantities of alcohol. The same study found that men are more likely to engage in a similar behavior to save money to purchase said alcohol.
Curtailing food calories in favor of drink calories carries several risks, including an unexpected degree of intoxication and an increased risk for nutrient deficiencies.
4. Tapeworms
If you thought you had heard it all, you were wrong. There is a diet that involves the egg of a tapeworm! Get me a bucket, right now! No need for a tapeworm egg here.
The egg is located inside a pill that is swallowed. Once inside the stomach, the egg hatches, with the resulting tapeworm baby growing inside you.
Think of the tapeworm as a human baby, to help it grow it needs nutrients, so will eat whatever you’re eating, including all your extra calories. Sounds fantastic, if you can get over the fact there is a worm living inside you.
Unfortunately, however, there is one major drawback. The tapeworm is virtually an infection, an incredibly dangerous one at that. Once you’ve swallowed the pill and your little tapeworm friend has hatched, you have no control over where it ends up. It could attach itself to organs or tissues outside your digestive tract, where it was supposed to go, and cause serious damage.
This damage results in a range of unpleasant symptoms, like diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, fatigue and fever.
Considered an easy way to lose weight, this method is still used today by people who choose to ignore the dangerous side effects.
3. Air diet
This diet needs very little explanation, and it would seem, very little food.
A bizarre diet, that is certain to be just as light on your wallet as it is on your stomach, the air diet, is just that, ingesting nothing but air.
Inspired and based on the concept of Breatharianism, which is the belief that one can live on air and sunlight alone, this method is difficult to comprehend.
Also known as the virtual eating diet, the air diet promotes the theory that we can survive on air alone. That air can keep our bodies physically active.
Don’t despair, however, as the diet does include a water and salt soup concoction as well, so that’s something to look forward to at least.
Modifications of the diet seem even more torturous, with the preparation of a delicious meal that you sit in front of and literally ‘eat’ the air above it, all to trick the brain into thinking you have eaten it. If you think this sounds ridiculous, then you’d be right.
Claims that people have survived for years on little more than air and sunlight are considered bogus, with a dietitian saying it’s possible to survive up to 21 days on the fat reserves in your body, but that is it.
And you can only live without water for 7 days, even less in extremely hot circumstances, so the claim is believed to be preposterous at best.
2. The Cotton Ball Diet
If you’ve reached your limit when it comes to crazy diet fads, we have one more that is certain to pique your interest – the cotton ball diet.
Described in chat rooms, splashed across YouTube videos and simply everywhere on the web, this diet is grabbing the attention of dieters around the globe, but for all the wrong reasons.
Imagine if you will, devouring a handful of cotton balls dipped in your liquid of choice. It doesn’t sound appealing, and it surely can’t be good for you, but people are chowing down on the fluffy fillers in the thousands.
Some are eating them prior to a meal to limit their food intake, others are existing on the cotton balls alone, however, according to managing editor of the website ‘Diets in Review’, nothing good can come of this diet.
The trend is said to have appeared in the modeling industry, with models encouraged to stay dangerously thin all in the name of fashion.
As always, any type of extreme dieting, has its risks and the cotton ball diet is no exception. Not surprising, given its main ingredient.
Swallowing cotton balls every day is considered a risky habit with a heightened danger of intestinal obstruction, anorexia, toxicity and malnutrition.
1. The Coffee Diet
Think caffeine high, with a little starvation thrown in the mix, and you have the coffee diet.
Made popular by Dr. Bob Arnot’s book ‘The Coffee Lover’s Diet’, the coffee diet claims that an increased consumption of the liquid gold can help boost metabolism, burn more fat, block the absorption of calories and decrease your appetite.
It sounds like a miracle! Get me a coffee pot, stat!
Dr. Arnot was inspired to write the book after studying a large population of healthy elderly people living on the small Greek island of Ikaria. The secret to their health and longevity, he believed, was due to their high intake of antioxidant-rich coffee.
The diet calls for a minimum of 3 cups of light-roasted, whole bean coffee a day, however cream and sugar should be avoided.
Chock full of antioxidants, black coffee – caffeinated or decaffeinated – can enhance awareness, prevent kidney stones, improve memory, increase your energy levels and balance and boost your moods! What’s not to like?
Although the recommended daily consumption of approximately 400 milligrams appears to be safe for healthy adults, you may want to cut back if you’re drinking more than that. Too much coffee can cause migraine headaches, insomnia, nervousness, irritability, restlessness, frequent urination, a fast heartbeat and muscle tremors.
OUTRO:
If you are needing to lose a few pounds, check out this list of crazy dieting methods, and put a red cross beside them all! Most are insane, and all have dangerous, long term side effects. Sticking to the tried and true is clearly the best way to go. Boring, but true. Also, check out our other cool stuff showing up on screen right now. See you next time!