My Experience with the Cabbage Soup Diet

Every so often I will do the cabbage soup diet in order to lose a few pounds very quickly. Sometimes I will even use it as a "jump start" to a diet that I plan to begin. The cabbage soup diet is by no means healthy or something that can be done continuously. In fact, they recommend that you do the diet one week on, two weeks off. I find that it is very hard to even stick to the cabbage soup diet after that first week because I get so weak from it.

I follow the diet strictly as it's outlined on Cabbage-Soup-Diet.com.

I make the soup according to the directions. I make it the night before and put it in single serving containers so I can grab them out of the fridge when I need them. Usually during the week I have to make this soup at least twice. Here is what I eat each of the seven days:

Day 1: All the fruits that I want, except bananas. I usually stuff myself with grapes and apples, as those are the only fruits I like. I also eat all the soup that I want.

Day 2: All the vegetables that I want, except for peas and corn. On this day I eat baby carrots and green beans. Again, not a big variety, but that's all I really like to eat. I also eat all the soup I want. At dinner, I am allowed a big baked potato with butter. And you can believe that I find the biggest baked potato and slather it in butter.

Day 3: All the fruit and vegetables I want. And of course, the soup.

Day 4: Up to eight bananas and eight glasses of skim milk, and all the soup that I want. They say this day is supposed to lessen my desire for sweets. This day is the hardest for me because eight bananas really isn't that much spread throughout the day. I usually plan this diet for day 4 to be on a day where I'm really busy at work and don't stop to think about food.

Day 5: Up to twenty ounces of beef and six fresh tomatoes. I don't like this day either because I hate tomatoes. I usually get some ground beef at the store and cook that with seasonings. After eating a whole package of beef, I am usually too full to even think about eating anything else. Also all the soup I want, but I'm usually sick of it by then, although I make sure I eat it at least once.

Day 6: As much beef and vegetables I like on this day. This day is much better than the last two because on this day I usually go to a steakhouse and get a nice thick steak with a bunch of vegetables on the side. I also make sure to again, have at least one bowl of soup. They say on days 5 and 6 you can substitute chicken or fish for the beef, but I have not tried that.

Day 7: Finally, the last day of this diet. Today I get all the brown rice, vegetables and soup that I want. Brown rice usually fills me up quickly so this day isn't too bad either.

As for beverages, I am usually drinking a lot of water and hot tea. At the end of this diet (and I have done it twice), I lost 10 lbs. each time during that week, for a total of 20 lbs. in less than a month. After the week is over, I am always focused enough to stay on track and not stuff my face with food.