Don’t do this
The closest thing I have to a phobia is to voluntary self-starvation. I can’t interact with an axorexic in any sort of normal fashion very long, and even TV programs or articles will throw me off-balance. It takes me several readings to finish stories dealing with voluntary self-starvation. Yet the subject’s like a moth to a flame for me, and invariably find it interesting. Like this story about a diet called LighterLife. You get 500 calories a day. That’s it.
The rapid weight loss is not arguable, but there’ve been stories of severe side effects, including vision problems, rotten teeth, and death. One lady’s death has been attributed to a weakened heart due to lack of protein.
Source: Dying to be thin: The diet craze sweeping Britain that allows you just 500 calories a day
hmmm… yes, I would classify “death” as a “severe side effect”. Rotting teeth, not so much. Most people have that anyway.
500 calories, eh. Man. If I were mentally unstable enough to want to lose weight *that* badly, I’d pick self-induced dysentery over starvation any day. It’s so much easier to poop than to starve.
That said, i just can’t describe my disbelief in what people will put themselves through in lieu of simple, free-of-charge, painless exercise.
Comment by annie | 13 November 2008
Problem is, most people consider exercise extremely painful.
Comment by Sworn Enemy :) | 13 November 2008
Let’s see, exercise or death? I guess that lady chose death.
Comment by Q | 14 November 2008
Hey, thanks to this post, I just realised I am no longer as afraid of ants as I used to be. Now my fear is small, probably a normal persons level of fear, cool.
Comment by l3rucewayne | 14 November 2008
As PT Barnum would say “there’s a sucker born every minute.” There’s always some poor smoe that buys into absurd weight loss programs that helps someone drop a lot of weight until they start eating like a normal person again. They’ll never learn that there’s no magic bullet. To lose weight one has to learn new eating habits and change their mental oulook about food. Unfortunately there will always be some snake oil salesman ready to pitch the latest and greatest short cut to weight loss.
Comment by Polly | 15 November 2008
Good, because my Chess Diet book hits the stores next Wednesday.
Comment by Derek Slater | 16 November 2008
Self-starvation is just another instance of the process of natural selection at work.
Comment by Carson | 16 November 2008
@ Derek. Chess diet book! Where can i get one!
Comment by Q | 16 November 2008
@Q: You can pre-order by sending me a check for one MILLion dollars.
It’s called Eat Well, Play Poorly.
Comment by Derek Slater | 17 November 2008
p.s. Donnie, IMHO Annie’s “It’s so much easier to poop than to starve” belongs in your great quote rotation.
Comment by Derek Slater | 17 November 2008
HAHAHAHA YESSS!!!! I got mad props!
thank you. you made my day.
Comment by annie | 17 November 2008
Derek: Will the Companion Book be “Eat Crap, Play Well”?
Comment by Polly | 18 November 2008
Polly - Only if I can find a guest author to write the second half.
Comment by Derek Slater | 18 November 2008
Where’s Donnie? Did he try this diet and died?
Comment by Q | 20 November 2008
i can ascertain that donnie is alive and well
I talked to him yesterday.
Comment by annie | 20 November 2008
Yeah, but you didn’t talk to me today. So you can’t know for sure.
(Will fully respond later. I’m dead tired.)
Comment by Donnie | 20 November 2008
Of course you’re tired. 500 calories is not enough to sustain anyone. Eat something man.
Comment by Q | 20 November 2008
This is the perfect example of why I need to add threaded comment support.
@Annie: Yes, most people have rotting teeth, another reason I don’t look people in the face when talking with them.
People don’t go with simple, free-of-charge exercise because they prefer complicated, expensive exercise via fitness centers.
@S. Enemy: Which is why I can’t figure out why you bike everywhere. Either you aren’t “most people” or you’re a sadomasochist.
@Q: I tried the diet for seven hours, not even eating between 11pm and 6am. Couldn’t stick with it.
BTW, I had a foot-long Italian sausage yesterday for lunch. I hope that counts as “eating something”.
@l3rucewayne: Be sure to let the ant phobia blog know of your success method.
@Carson: The frustrating part is the reduction of the number of people I’m genetically superior to.
@Derek: Remember a little while back when you mentioned you could not find an adequate response to one of my comments? Well, you’ve returned the favor. I do wonder if Mr. Cranky Old Chess Player is insisting on ghostwriting credits.
I agree with your assessment of Annie’s quote, and will be added.
@Polly: Methinks Derek was strongly hinting at a fellow chess blogger as a co-author.
You should have your own diet: the “Keep Up With Me” diet. Whenever you run a marathon, they run with you. If they can’t keep up, they have to run again with you in the next marathon.
OK, that was strange.
Comment by Donnie | 20 November 2008
Derek: I could write the book “Eat Crap, Play Like Crap”. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of that.
LEP: It’s not hard to keep up with me when I’m doing a marathon. I’m so freaking slow. A number of years ago there was a guy who would be your virtual runner. He’d run the miles, and you’d get to log them in your training log. That would have been great if the calories he burned, were burned in your body.
Comment by Polly | 21 November 2008