Celebrities have long used their platform to either shape or inadvertently promote an unwise weight loss diet. Enter Lord Byron. The Romantic era poet and politician, Byron was greatly concerned about his figure and popularized a vinegar-based diet. Although side effects included vomiting and diarrhea, Byron would drink vinegar daily and eat potatoes soaked in the pungent liquid. It was meant to cleanse his body, as Byron believed that he had a “morbid propensity to fatten.”

Soon after his habit became known, it became a craze with one critic noting, “Our young ladies live all their growing girlhood in semi-starvation.” The youth of the period were so influenced by Byron that they began diets consisting of vinegar and rice to emulate their idol’s thin and pale look. The need to be perceived as thin was so great during the time that even Queen Victoria worried about gaining weight. It seems that even as times change, some things do not.

3.Women Tried to Wash the Fat Away With Soap

If advertisements now seem deceptive, imagine seeing an ad that claimed that with just a little of soap, you could wash away fat. A 1920 newspaper advertisement did just that, claiming the La – Mar  brand could, “wash away fat and years of age.” The promotional material makes a lot of ridiculous claims, promising users that there was no need for “dieting or exercise. Be as slim as you wish.” In a lot of ways, what the La-Mar soap promises isn’t that outrageous in comparison to many of the current dieting plans. However, the La-Mar brand did make some claims that even the most ambitious scam artists wouldn’t make.

Here are a few: acts like magic removing double chin, results quick and amazing, and reduce any parts of the body desired without affecting other parts.

The amazing and terrifying thing is La-Mar wasn’t alone: La Parle existed in the United States with the same promises of their competitors, and undoubtedly the same “results.”

2.Tongue Patch Test

A “modern” iteration of the tapeworm diet, the tongue patch test consists of a doctor sewing a patch of mesh into patients’ tongues. As a result of the patch, swallowing or eating, in general, becomes difficult – even causing pain. The tongue patch test is most prevalent in Venezuela but has also been documented in the United States.

For those who found this method appealing, “the procedure comes with an 800-calorie per day liquid diet of shakes and drinks until the patch comes off.” Buyer beware.

1.Poisoned Themselves With Arsenic

A precursor to the “wonder pills” that are currently advertised were the drugs, pills, and potions that became a part of the big business of weight loss in the 19th century. However, without the FDA, the 19th century drug makers were liable to include much more dangerous ingredients – including arsenic. For those unaware, arsenic is a rat-killing poison that will kill humans if consumed in large amounts. Studies have also linked prolonged exposure or use with cancer, diabetes, and liver disease. It remains unclear why exactly dieters believed that those ingredients would help in weight loss, but some experts believe that it “was advertised as speeding up the metabolism, much like amphetamines.”

The amount of arsenic used in these drugs and pills was small, but it was still extremely dangerous for users; especially because many would consume more than the prescribed amount with the belief that they would lose weight sooner.