To quote the most darling DeLarla...

"... tons of us already tried Nutrisystem and many other expensive and useless diets. Save your money and be patient. Just my opinion."

That got me thinking of all the things I have tried over the years. I was wondering if anyone can beat me for crazy weight loss schemes?

Here are my 2 most over-the-top:

1) Having my jaws wired for 2 months. (Actually, they just wire your teeth shut. Worked pretty well, only I started to go crazy not being able to brush my teeth... oh, and the "mumbling" got to be a bit much!)

2) Going to the Shick Center (now defunct). Oh my...I paid a fortune for the whole treatment, but couldn't take the torture after 3 weeks. And I DO mean torture. They "desensitize" you to your "problem" foods. Here's what they did to get me over french fries... After having me take a handfull and SQUEEEEZE the grease out of them they sat me in front of a full-length mirror, hooked me to electrodes and had me watch myself while I stuffed handfulls of fries in my mouth chewing WHILE being SHOCKED, having fish emulsion sprayed in my face and being yelled at by the "counselor."

Okay--let's see if anyone can top that for self-abuse?

(BTW it was years before I could enjoy a fry again.)

Terri, I kind of liked it, you had to add all these food flavorings. I can't believe I remember all this so clearly! I did hear a lot of people got sick from it. Maybe that's why it's not around anymore!

Kare isn't a real person. She's my alter ego. I just made up her screen name. KARE, you are the only person in the whole world that I've run into so far that remembers the Schick Center. Sure, they remember the Schick Smoking Centers, but you and I must have been the only two victims in the food department.

Fish emulsion. You just can't truly appreciate the beauty of fish emulsion unless you've been there. Oh, it was just awful.

Yep...fish emulsion really needs to be EXPERIENCED to know what we're talking about. After my french fry desensity I threw up in the parking lot. Those counselors...you really had to wonder what kind of person takes a job like that. I paid however much it was you had to pay upfront (ALOT) but while driving to my 4th visit (envisioning what was to come) I couldn't stop crying, finally turned the car around and never went back.

I think the Schick WL plan died for lack of "word of mouth." So many of these things rely on at least SOME referrals. Sure can't imagine referring a FRIEND there!

But DeLarla if I'm your alter ego, am I THE GOOD DeLarla, or the BAD DeLarla?

P.S. thanks for correcting my spelling. I knew there was another c in there somewhere!

The weirdest and best diet I was ever on was getting pregnant, I lost 41 pounds on my first one and 21 on my second...I was borderline diabetic with my babies, so I had a diet like a diabetic and I stuck to that diet like glue. Of course when I had each one, I would gain the weight back...darn it. I too have been on every diet under the sun and then some. The shich one though..that sorta takes the cake...glad i didn't get to that one in the diet alphabet.

It's a miracle that my parents didn't send me to the Schick Center. I'm sure they would have if it had been in our area. I went to the University of Wisconsin Medical Center to eat nothing but Jello and Fresca for a week, which was bad enough. . . but at least no psychological torture was involved (other than pure deprivation). Oh Kare, how horrible!

Any old-timers here who remember liquid Protein in the early 70s? That stuff was vile. The theory was: if you fast, you lose weight, but your body starts destroying its own protein, so why not consume only low-calorie Liquid Protein, about 300 calories a day? I lost a lot of weight quickly, although I was very lightheaded and weak. Of course, I soon regained every ounce, and then some.

Any old-timers here who remember liquid Protein in the early 70s? That stuff was vile. The theory was: if you fast, you lose weight, but your body starts destroying its own protein, so why not consume only low-calorie Liquid Protein, about 300 calories a day? I lost a lot of weight quickly, although I was very lightheaded and weak. Of course, I soon regained every ounce, and then some.

Omigosh--I forgot about that one!! That stuff was SOOOOO HORRIBLE!! Wasn't it made out of--cow's bone marrow or something? I remember having to hold my nose to gulp down the 4 ounces or whatever it was. And often I would start to gag anyway.

I think they stopped that diet because people were dying, didn't they?

(But just because I 'member it, don't think I'm going along w/ the "old-timer" jazz, dearie. lol)