Soup Diet for Weight Loss: 3 Reasons Why It Isn’t Working - Weigh to Wellness (2024)

FAQs

Why am I not losing weight on a soup diet? ›

Going on a soup diet may help one to stay full. However, there is no significant evidence that a soup-only diet is able to support long-term weight loss or management. Soup diets typically lack well-balanced nutrition and as such, are not ideal in maintaining weight loss.

Cons of Soup Diets

Highly restrictive: Some research indicates that restricting certain foods can create an unhealthy relationship with food. Not sustainable: The primary concern of following a soup diet is that it is not sustainable. These diets are not meant to be long-term. Most of the programs last 10 days or less.

As the soup diet usually only lasts for 7-14 days, it's not recommended in the long term. The NHS also highlights how very low-calorie diets like this often lead to short term weight loss, but it's likely that you'll put some or all of the weight back on once you go back to eating normally.

Diet-friendly foods such as broth soups and veggies are loaded with both fiber and water. This will add bulk to your stomach, and for the next 12 to 24 hours, bulk to your scale by up to 3 pounds. Good news is, it's not fat.

What Experts Say. "The cabbage soup diet promises quick weight loss, but experts agree it's not a sustainable option. Protein and vegetables are a focus, but any weight lost is likely to be gained back. Plus, cutting food groups can lead to nutrient imbalances."

Other types of soup you should watch out for are instant and canned soups, which are often loaded with sodium. High sodium intakes are associated with high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart and kidney disease, and stroke ( 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ).

The Cabbage Soup Diet is referred to as a rapid weight loss diet. Proponents' anecdotal claims include following the diet for 7 days can lead to weight loss of up to 10 pounds (4.5 kg), which they believe can jump-start a longer-term diet plan. The diet involves eating homemade cabbage soup for every meal for 1 week.

Low-Calorie Diet (LCD)

These diets usually allow about 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day for women and 1,200 to 1,600 calories a day for men. An LCD is a better choice than a VLCD for most people who want to lose weight quickly.

While no soup alone can magically melt away belly fat, certain soups can be a healthy addition to your diet as part of a balanced and calorie-controlled meal plan. A classic choice, vegetable soup is low in calories and rich in fiber.

Does the fat burning soup diet work? ›

There has been no extensive study to demonstrate that this diet contributes to long-term weight reduction. When you follow this diet, you may eat as much soup as you like because it is quite low in calories. Even the other things you eat while on the diet are low in carbohydrates.

You may be born naturally small and your low BMI can be due to your genes. You may have a very high metabolism and find it hard to put on weight, even if you eat foods that have a lot of calories. You may not follow a healthy, balanced diet because you forget to eat or cannot afford nutritious foods.

1. Your Metabolism Will Slow Down to Store Fat. The more you work out or manage your calorie intake to lose weight, the more your metabolism wants to compensate by slowing down to maintain your current weight, this is called metabolic compensation. It kicks in to preserve and store fat for future energy.

Rapid weight gain or swelling in particular areas of the body (edema) can be due to fluid retention. According to the American Heart Association , weight gain of more than 2–3 pounds (lb) over 24 hours or 5 lb in a week could be a sign of heart failure.

The Cabbage Soup Diet is a short-term weight loss diet. Proponents of the diet say that it can help you lose up to 10 pounds (4.5 kg) in a single week, but many health experts warn that the diet does not promote health and wellness, and results are unsustainable.

They found that people who ate two servings of soup a day as a snack lost 50 percent more weight than people who snacked on the same amount of calories in pretzels and chips. Soup eaters lost as much as 15 pounds over a year while the most weight a pretzel eater lost was 11.

Fans claim you can drop 10 pounds or more in a week. Some people use it to kick-start their weight loss plan, or to trim a few pounds for a special event. But before you stock up on cabbage, know that this crash diet won't help you in the long run, and it doesn't give your body the nutrients it needs to stay healthy.

If you're enjoying yourself, having soup up to twice a day can be beneficial. One of Dr. Rolls' studies found that folks asked to eat two servings of soup a day as meals or snacks lost about two times more weight than those asked to eat equal-calorie servings of other foods.