Up Day Down Day Diet

A lot of dieters and eating disordered people experience a great deal of success, while enjoying the flexibility of the Up Day Down Day diet (also called UDDD on many discussion forums, weight loss sites, and ED websites as well.  The diet was was developed by James Johnson, M.D., and I fear the fact that it was created and is promoted by a real doctor gives this diet the appearance of being medically sound advice.  I personally think this is a diet that can push the average dieter from normal eating into the endless abyss of an eating disorder, and I would actually call this the Absolute EDNOS Diet, if I was to rename it!  Using the calculator on the website, you enter your age, height and weight stats and select a weight loss program, and the automated program calculates the total calories you need for your “Up Days” and your “Down Days.”  Then you alternate between these two totals. 

I’m sure the doctor adds extra advice, tips and even diet supplements to help people, but must admit I did not read beyond the basic instructions of alternate between Up Day and Down Day calorie totals until you change to a weight maintenance program when you’re satisfied with the results.  I put in my own stats, and after calculating for the 20% weight loss program with little or no exercise, I am given 1381 calories on the Up Day and 276 calories for the down day.  You are advised to only weigh every other day, after a Down Day, so that the Up Day fluctuations don’t freak you out. 

I can honestly say that I have never tried this diet because I am terrified of the Up Day total.  I am perfectly comfortable with the Down Day total–and just made a mental note that I should aim to only exceed this total two days of the week, because I’m disordered and this seems to be the perfect number to me now that a computer has actually recommended it for me.  I hope you can see how this is, in my opinion, one of the most dangerous diets promoted on the web today.  I think if you don’t have an eating disorder yet, but you are so desperate to lose weight that you give this Up Day Down Day diet a try, within a month your head will be twisted up in calorie counts for every speck of food that you look at: an endless hell of mental calculations and keeping a running total in the back of your head all day long.  With these numbers floating in your thoughts, arguing with your growing hunger pangs, you are not able to pay as close attention to your work, personal conversations, or even your surroundings because you’ll be caught up in your own head space, adding and subtracting food totals as you imagine eating them.  By the end of the day, you may even find you haven’t eaten a thing because you couldn’t decide between 50 calories of cherries or 50 calories of fat free yogurt, so you had zero calories of anything.  At least, that’s how it tends to go for me.

I do not recommend the Up Day Down Day diet to anyone, but I would be interested in hearing how it works for those who are actually happy with it.  Did you have an eating disorder before you tried this diet?  Did you consider the diet safer than others because it’s created and promoted by a real doctor?  Did you lose weight and enjoy the diet, finding it easy to follow?  Do you have an eating disorder now that you have used the diet?

ABC Diet

It’s called the ABC Diet and Ana Boot Camp Diet.  It’s a difficult fifty day calorie restriction plan that is quite popular among the pro-ana crowd as well as other eating disordered people online.

day1: 500 calories(or less)
day2: 500 calories(or less)
3:300 calories
4:400 calories
5: 100 calories
6: 200 calories
7: 300 calories
8: 400 calories
9: 500 calories
10: fast
11: 150 calories
12: 200 calories
13: 400 calories
14: 350 calories
15: 250 calories
16: 200 calories
17: fast
18: 200 calories
19: 100 calories
20: fast
21: 300 calories
22: 250 calories
23: 200 calories
24: 150 calories
25: 100 calories
26: 50 calories
27: 100 calories
28: 200 calories
29: 200 calories
30: 300 calories
31: 800
32: fast
33: 250 calories
34: 350 calories
35: 450 calories
36: fast
37: 500 calories
38: 450 calories
39: 400 calories
40: 350 calories
41: 300 calories
42: 250 calories
43: 200 calories
44: 200 calories
45: 250 calories
46: 200 calories
47: 300 calories
48: 200 calories
49: 150 calories
50: fast

I have never tried the ABC Diet myself.  I find when I try to follow a strict diet plan with calorie totals like this, I get triggered and my anorexia symptoms flare up severely.  I soon find myself struggling to take in even 150 calories per day.  The ABC Diet is not right for me, but I read countless posts about it every day on the internet, as well as a few posts from people who want to know what the guidelines for the diet are.  Here it is, if you want to try it yourself, or follow along with someone else’s progress–if you know anyone doing this diet plan.

If you have tried the ABC Diet yourself, please share your experiences in the comments for this post.  Tell us how difficult or easy was it for you, and what aspects of the diet did you find most challenging for yourself?  How much weight did you lose?  Were you able to keep the weight off when you returned to your usual eating patterns?