Weddingbee boards

May I make a suggestion? If you've done the 600cal/day thing or know people who've had success, have at it. I personally wouldn't be able to sustain it and honestly--it's possible to lose 5 in a week eating a 1200cal/day diet. I've done it. It wasn't fun; it's also not long term, but I've done it.

You might have better luck if you work on flushing glycogen and water from your system (the same way that Atkins works in the first few weeks)--yes, it won't be "real" weight lost, but it will probably be a difference in inches as your body flushes itself out. The way to do this is:

FOOD: eat NO carbs (definitely no refined carbs!) OR processed foods OR elective sugar.  If you must have a grain, make it one serving of a high-fiber non-processed grain (like oats or barley) in the morning. 1-2 servings of fruit ONLY (berries are recommended for their high nutrient punch) a day. about two servings of dairy per day. The bulk of your foods should be non-startchy vegetables (about 8-11 servings) with small servings of lean protein (2-3 servings). Take a multivitamin too.

LIQUIDS/DIURETICS: Drink AT LEAST 8 glasses of water a day and don't add salt to your food. And I recommend using light natural diuretics (natural meaning from the foods themselves, not supplements!)--eat asparagus, grapefruit, leeks, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and tomatoes, drink dandelion root tea, cranberry juice, and lemon juice (spike your water with it).

OTHER: Exercise at least 30 minutes of cardio a day. If you want, you can add weight training. Get at least a full 8 hours of sleep at night.

Am I recommending you eat less than 1,200 a day or do this every week? No. It'd be very hard. But it has worked for me in a pinch. If you can stand it...

I second JennyW1...you'll probably actually have better results eating more but doing cardio.  And you'll feel more energized.  I know people that have done the steamed veggies and boiled chicken thing and had crazy short term results.  Cut out dairy, sodium, and carbs and your body will just shrink.  Add in drinking TONS of water and daily, moderate cardio and you'll slim down super quick.  But, you have to remember, this is a roller coaster diet.  Odds are, once you go back to a normal diet the weight will come right back on, so you may not be doing yourself a huge favor....

@mrsBtoBee: The "no carbs" thing is tough--I would only recommend trying to do it for a week and it's one of those things that after it's over, the second you so much look at a roll, you'll gain 2 pounds. To do the above plan with a little less grit, just add in a couple servings of whole grains (try to consume them at breakfast and lunch, rather than dinner). It's not very hard to get up to 1,200 (why do you think so many people struggle to stay at or around 1,200) and that's generally the minimum advised by doctors. But seriously--if you make the bulk of that 1,200 lean proteins and vegetables, you WILL lose weight. And I still say that to look and feel smaller in a short amount of time, dropping water weight really helps--so focus on drinking that water, eating naturally diuretic foods, and getting some exercise. Just be aware that it's really difficult to maintain a 1,200/day diet (or heck, even 1,400-1,600/day diet) comprised of boiled chicken and kale. So it's fine if you want a temporary fix, but for the long term, go with something a lot more flexible and reasonable.

At the same time, I don't understand why you'd go through these measures for a dress FITTING. Is it your final fitting and the wedding is close at hand? I mean, if you did lose a few inches here and there (which on an emergency diet plan will mostly be water), your dress would be measured for that size, which means that in the weeks from here to your wedding, you'd have put a lot of pressure on yourself to actually BE that size. You sure you want that kind of pressure?