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Throwback Thursday: FAD Diets

[ 7 ] 08/04/2011 |

Welcome to another addition of Throwback Thursday at the Sisterhood!

This week we’re taking a look back at fad diets. The days of yore when we wanted to weigh less and quickly and because we knew less, we went about it in a less healthy manner. And in droves.

I’ve done this plenty.

I realized this as I think about my younger self, standing over my stove frying up bacon that I was going to wrap around my cheddar cheese cubes because it was part of the Atkins Diet.

Now, if you’re on the Atkins Diet, I mean no harm. If that’s your thing, go for it. I realize there are ways to eat healthily on the Atkins Diet without frying up bacon and cheddar cheese cubes. (If you’re frying up bacon and cheddar cheese cubes though, STOP!)

So anyways there I was frying up bacon and wrapping my cheddar cheese cubes and sticking little toothpicks through them until the bacon got hardened and formed around the cheese perfectly and I’d sit down with my giant plate of fat and my side of ceasar salad (no croutons) but a heaping portion of the full-fat dressing.

(I want you to know I just shuddered. That’s a good thing. That means I’ve come a long long way since my early 20s. Holy moly that was 15 years ago. God I’m getting old.)

So anyways, fast forward a few years where I gained all that weight back (predictably) and then went on ephedra diet pills. I didn’t really eat, I lived in New York which in my eyes was the land of the skinny and I felt pressured to be skinny. I took the pills which made me feel full, gave me a ton of energy, all until I wound up in the emergency room with chest pain.

I stopped taking them and soon after, ephedra sales were banned, which made sense in my  mind (and as a disclaimer: it was never medically verified that the pills were to blame, however, I know my body.)

I believe we’ve come a long way from the days of Dexatrim. The truth is, there is no magic pill and the old adage of healthy diet and exercise still continues to prevail. Today, that is the one and only thing that’s kept my weight off for more than 2 years.

Of course I wonder what we’re doing now that will prove to be crazy in hindsight, sort of like my fad diet experiences. I’m sure it will come out soon enough.

So let’s hear it from you. What crazy diet fads did you follow?

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Category: Christie O., The Sisterhood, Throwback Thursday, WEEKLY

About christieo: Christie O. is a 30-something freelance writer and mommy to two little boys. She loves training for random races to lose weight and who went literally from couch to 5k to half-ironman to marathon, losing 55 pounds along the way. Christie O. also blogs at www.averagemomswearcapes.com. View author profile.

  • http://www.whereverimaywander.com Lissa_ShrinkingJeans

    The grapefruit diet! (What haven’t I tried?)

    • http://www.averagemomswearcapes.com Christie O.

      I forgot, i did cabbage soup too!!!! remember that one???

  • http://www.whereverimaywander.com Lissa_ShrinkingJeans

    The grapefruit diet! (What haven’t I tried?)

  • Sfidler84

    South Beach Diet….. it works for me, as long as I actually stick to the guidelines, which I never do :)

    • http://www.whereverimaywander.com Lissa_ShrinkingJeans

      South Beach works awesome for me, but I don’t consider it a “fad”, just a change (for the better) of eating habits.

      • Sfidler84

        i didn’t consider that, but it is true!

        • http://www.averagemomswearcapes.com Christie O.

          I agree, I tried Southbeach, that was good for getting rid of sugar. I couldn’t stay on it forever, but it helped me scale back.