Lose weight by eating only salads? Is this possible?

[foxxymami]

Okay so I've tried a couple of eating plans......some strict, some not so strict. My main problem is planning meals. I have to noticed though that the main objective is too make sure I'm eating balanced meals consisting of vegetables, proteins, and complex carbs. I just have such a hard time with thinking of a true dinner every couple of days....IDK, call it a mental block :lol:

But I started thinking of this over the weekend.

About 2 weeks ago, I cut up all my veggies and then put in storage containers; throughout the whenever I made salads, I could do it really quickly, just grab, toss, and eat. I can get sooooo creative with salads--I love simple salads or "fancy" salads so I began to think about how if I put the right ingredients in the salads, I would have balanced meals everyday. And plus I'm a BIG fan of one dish meals.

Does anyone think this wouldn't work. Let me hear your thoughts! :drunk:

[DreadlockedLady0171]

IDK...I would get so bored after a minute.
What do you put in your salads? You just have to make sure that those are balanced as well by adding nuts, maybe a pasta salad with it, or meat/fish if you eat that.
I know that I can eat salads every day, it would just have to be with other things.
But hey, give it a try for a while and see where that takes you. :yep:
ETA: My mom ate salads every day for a while and lost some weight.

[Poohbear]

I've always wondered this too. I have heard of a few people losing weight from just eating salads. I've tried to do it but got bored after a few days. I'm sure I could stick with doing it though but it's hard.

[ClassicBeauty]

Make sure you don't load your salad with cheese, meat, and dressing. If you do that, you may as well eat whatever you want.

[BabyImaStarr]

About a year ago, ate salad for lunch everyday for about 3 weeks and I noticed that my clothes fit better. I never got on the scale to see how much, if any, weight I lost, but I know I lost some inches at least. During this time, I did not excercise or monitor what I ate for breakfast or dinner. I really wasn't trying to lose weight, but I did notice a difference. So, I would say that if weight loss was your goal, it could work.

I tried again last week and I only made it to Wednesday before I threw that salad away and went out for lunch!

[tocktick]

You'd lose weight but you're likely to get bored fairly quickly, imo. Also, if your salads are too low in calories and the rest of your meals are quite light too, your weight loss will stall quite suddenly. So, I'm going to suggest that you do add some dressing such as one tablespoon of olive oil and I think adding half/low fat cheese would be fine if you so choose to add that.

If you like one-dish meals, make some one-pot stuff too. You can prepare stuff in advance and freeze it. You won't need to do much to it. The most time-consuming thing would be cutting veggies and it seems you have no problems with that. You can also make soups in advance too.

[sareca]

Add fruit and nuts for breakfast, veggies with dip for lunch, and protein with your salad for dinner and it'll work. :wink2:

[ChocalateDiva]

I have lost LOTS of weight eating salads for lunch and dinner and eating fruit for breakfast. I even put baked chicken on top of my salads and used the dressing spritzers.

Lost 25 lbs in 3 months...................:yep::yep:

[foxxymami]

IDK...I would get so bored after a minute.
What do you put in your salads? You just have to make sure that those are balanced as well by adding nuts, maybe a pasta salad with it, or meat/fish if you eat that.
I know that I can eat salads every day, it would just have to be with other things.
But hey, give it a try for a while and see where that takes you. :yep:
ETA: My mom ate salads every day for a while and lost some weight.

i like the lettuces romaine, spinach, endive, and radicchio, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, bell pepper, celery, walnuts, strawberries, grapes, or cranberries, olives, broccoli, chicken, lean meat, or fish, variety of dressings.

:lick:
About a year ago, ate salad for lunch everyday for about 3 weeks and I noticed that my clothes fit better. I never got on the scale to see how much, if any, weight I lost, but I know I lost some inches at least. During this time, I did not excercise or monitor what I ate for breakfast or dinner. I really wasn't trying to lose weight, but I did notice a difference. So, I would say that if weight loss was your goal, it could work.

I tried again last week and I only made it to Wednesday before I threw that salad away and went out for lunch!
something like this happened to me before in the past also and that's what makes me think it could work well for me if done correctly. :drunk:

You'd lose weight but you're likely to get bored fairly quickly, imo. Also, if your salads are too low in calories and the rest of your meals are quite light too, your weight loss will stall quite suddenly. So, I'm going to suggest that you do add some dressing such as one tablespoon of olive oil and I think adding half/low fat cheese would be fine if you so choose to add that.

If you like one-dish meals, make some one-pot stuff too. You can prepare stuff in advance and freeze it. You won't need to do much to it. The most time-consuming thing would be cutting veggies and it seems you have no problems with that. You can also make soups in advance too.

I think that if I switch up the ingredients every day or so, I wouldn't get bored since it would be different tastes. Oh, and I was definitely planning on adding some dressing and cheese :sekret:.....I can't eat salads everyday all plain and stuff :nono: :lol:

Thanks for all your suggestions! :drunk:

[Soliel185]

I can eat grilled chicken or steak in a salad EVERYday! :lick:

I like spinach, romaine, argula and nuts like almonds, walnuts or pecans. Then I add craisins and grilled chicken and tomatoes. My favorite dressing is blue cheese - but I've found a blue cheese vinegrette that has the taste w/o the thickness can calories so I switch that out with a low fat honey mustard dressing.

Like the others said - with a sensible breakfast and dinner it can definitely work! My biggest issue is my greens go bad - my SO doesn't eat veggies at all so I have to power my way through that salad or it'll go bad.

[Paradox]

In my cafeteria, I would only get chicken, beef, or fish with salad( not on purpose..but because that is all they really had), for lunch and dinner and I didn't gain the freshman 15. Now that I don't have a meal plan,I starting gaining weight because I wasn't eating the salads...so I have learned my lesson. Salads are my friend.

[SplashAtl]

Make sure you don't load your salad with cheese, meat, and dressing. If you do that, you may as well eat whatever you want.

I can understand this if you were eating other things that were higher in carbs. However wouldn't this type of salad be allowed on Atkins? I imagine you would have to watch the carb count in the dressing but lettuce, meat and cheese are all Atkins friendly and people that follow that diet usually loose weight.

[naijamerican]

I can eat grilled chicken or steak in a salad EVERYday! :lick:

I like spinach, romaine, argula and nuts like almonds, walnuts or pecans. Then I add craisins and grilled chicken and tomatoes. My favorite dressing is blue cheese - but I've found a blue cheese vinegrette that has the taste w/o the thickness can calories so I switch that out with a low fat honey mustard dressing.

Like the others said - with a sensible breakfast and dinner it can definitely work! My biggest issue is my greens go bad - my SO doesn't eat veggies at all so I have to power my way through that salad or it'll go bad.

Me too, I love spinach and arugula. And I actually did lose weight eating only salads. I didn't do it intentionally though (I was doing a Daniel fast and since I didn't know what the heck to eat, I just ate salad all the time. And I really did get kind of sick of it. :ohwell:).

[loved]

Sounds like a plan.

I have been eating more salads this week. I have topped them with sliced bell peppers of different colors (red, yellow, orange, green) and pre-sliced mushrooms that are put on a George Forman type grill for a couple minutes. The mushrooms end up with a very meaty texture so I only need a very small piece of grilled chicken or a couple shrimp to satisfy my taste for meat. The salad is made and the grilled stuff goes on the salad while it's still sizzling.

I'm bought a lot of vegetables this weekend and I'm trying different combinations of grilled veggies on my salads.

I like low fat versions of intense cheese like feta and blue cheese. The intensity of the flavor means that I only need half a small amount, maybe half a teaspoon, for full flavor.

[A856]

I have lost LOTS of weight eating salads for lunch and dinner and eating fruit for breakfast. I even put baked chicken on top of my salads and used the dressing spritzers.

Lost 25 lbs in 3 months...................:yep::yep:

what else did you do???? exercise?? please do tell...:yep:

Me too, I love spinach and arugula. And I actually did lose weight eating only salads. I didn't do it intentionally though (I was doing a Daniel fast and since I didn't know what the heck to eat, I just ate salad all the time. And I really did get kind of sick of it. :ohwell:).

Whats this???

[ravenmerlita]

One of my coworkers started doing this earlier this year. She makes really incredible salads and has them for lunch and dinner. I don't know what she does for breakfast. She has lost an incredible amount of weight -- which is expected since her daily calories are way down compared to how she ate before (a Wendy's shake, two burgers and fries, or pizza and wings and an extra large soda).

[meecee]

My mom did this after she gave birth to my brother. She walked 3-5 miles 5 days a week and ate fruit for breakfast and salads for lunch and dinner. She added pastas sometimes and always had protein with the salad. She lost about 45 lbs in 4 months.

[tiara76]

It can definitely work....

Im currently studying for my nutritional consultant license and have been studying so many different aspects of health and nutrition that it is mindboggling

main points I've learned are

no matter how many different things work for a group of people, everybody is an individual case and the most important thing in any sort of lifestyle change having to do with diet is that you enjoy the food you eat

if you can do different salads everyday changing them up, enjoying them, and be satisfied you will definitely make great strides in your personal weight loss goals

a healthy mind and spirit go a long way as well.....a healthy mindset will also help drastically.....its no good to wait to feel good when you've reached your goal....feel good today all the time.....and relax.....in all facets of life if possible...too much stress can hinder weight loss goals as well....

and thank you for some of the ideas for making salad meals.....great ones

[Ladyhenri]

It will definitly work if you can stick to it.

For about 2 weeks in the summer i ate salads with avocado and beans for dinner...not only did i lose about 6 pounds, but my hair grew faster and people kept asking me what cream i was using cos my skin was glowing. I was also going to the loo daily which is unheard of for me.:look:
And did no exercise or other diet changes.

i Stopped though( got sick of it)and all the weight came back.

It may be an idea to start gradually ie eating salads 3 days a week, to give your system a chance to adjust to the diet change. You may be more likely to stick to it.
And also try to vary the type of salad you're having



Do you plan to do this for life or is it temporary?

[SplashAtl]

Me too, I love spinach and arugula. And I actually did lose weight eating only salads. I didn't do it intentionally though (I was doing a Daniel fast and since I didn't know what the heck to eat, I just ate salad all the time. And I really did get kind of sick of it. :ohwell:).

I do the Daniel Fast in January of every year and while on it I also eat a bunch salads. I do the Daniel Fast for spiritual reasons rather than weight loss reason but that is an added benefit to the fast. The fast is actually a great way to eat for life in my opinion. I just wish I could stick to it.