Hey, and welcome to my extreme spinach weight loss challenge.

I'll show you exactly what I did to lose 9.2 pounds (4.2 kilograms) in just 5 short days.

But that's not even the best part.

Because, you see, I was able to lose so much weight so incredibly quickly in spite the fact that I was stuffing my face with food all day.

And while repeating my experiment may not be for everyone, the lessons you can learn can make all the difference in your own efforts to get rid of that ugly body fat.

Before we get started, take a quick look at what I'll cover in this article:

This is how much spinach I kept stuffing my face with

The whole point of my experiment was to demonstrate it's possible to lose a ton of weight real fast, even as you keep eating huge amounts of food.

So ultimately, I ended up eating three huge spinach smoothies a day, about 2 quarts (2 liters) each.

I had some trouble swallowing down this much food in a day. And I probably couldn't eat much more even if I tried forcing myself to do it.

All in all, I ate almost 6 pounds (3 kilograms) of spinach every day.

Here's how I prepared the spinach.

The ultimate spinach weight loss smoothie recipe

First, take two packs of frozen spinach.

A bag of frozen spinach

After letting the spinach thaw for a little while, put it in a blender and I fill it with warm water all the way to the top.

A jar of frozen spinach

Blend the spinach really fine, so it is easier to drink down.

A jar of blended spinach

Enjoy.

(And don't worry, the sheer volume of smoothie more than makes up for whatever it lacks in taste.)

Can overeating really help you lose weight?

The insane amount of spinach I ate is probably way more than most people would ever be able to eat.

But that's actually good news if you think about it.

Why struggle to survive on a weight loss diet that only allows you to eat ridiculously small portions?

Why not go the other way and eat huge amounts of food to feel full at all times.

A constantly full stomach sure does make it a lot easier to handle the cravings for tastier foods.

This alone can turn the usual dieting experience completely upside down.

The ridiculously low number of calories I was getting in

In spite of eating almost 6 pounds (3 kilograms) of spinach every day, I was only getting in less than 900 calories per day.

These calories come mostly from protein (and a tiny number of them coming from carbohydrates and fats).

I also exercised during the experiment, but I stuck with low intensity activities (to maximize the fat burn).

Overall, I was burning off around 2000 calories per day, and as you'll see, body fat loss was quite fast because of this.

But before we look at my final weight loss results, here's one more benefit of eating that much spinach:

An awesome health benefit of my spinach only diet

Besides helping me lose some extra weight really quickly, my teeth also benefited from my experiment.

Because I was only eating spinach, I didn't eat any sugary or acid foods.

These foods create the perfect conditions for the bacteria in your mouth to prosper.

Also, spinach is one of the most nutrient-rich foods on the planet.

So not only was I protecting my teeth by sticking to an alkaline diet, I kept providing my body with minerals vital for my teeth and bones.

One last thing I want to mention before getting to the final weight loss results of my experiment.

Scientific proof that spinach kills your hunger and cravings

Ok, so my extreme spinach experiment may not be for everyone. Not everyone is as excited about burning away insane amounts of body fat while stuffing their faces with food as I am.

Luckily, science[1] says, spinach can help bring down your hunger and appetite, even if you only add a small amount of it to your meals every day.

And if I had to name the single biggest problem that makes people fall off the wagon on most weight loss diets, I'd definitely say unbearable hunger and cravings.

In other words, there's no need to do any of the extreme overeating stuff I did.

Simply adding a bit of spinach to your meals every now and then could actually give you that weight loss "edge" you're looking for.

On to the final weight loss results of my extreme spinach experiment.

The final results of my spinach weight loss challenge

I weighed myself each day throughout the experiment.

I did it as a first thing in the morning every day, right before my first spinach smoothie for the day.

Here are the results:

Day Weight (lbs) Weight (kg)
0* 199.5 90.5
1 195.8 88.8
2 195.3 88.6
3 191.5 86.9
4 191.1 86.7
5 190.3 86.3

* starting weight

So again, I lost 9.2 pounds (4.2 kilograms) in just 5 days.

You don't have to spend years working in the weight loss industry (like I did), to know these are awesome results by any standard.

Now, let's take a closer look at whether or not eating nothing but spinach could work over a longer period of time.

Is it smart to do a 30-day spinach diet?

One of my readers asked me whether or not it's smart to go on a 30-day spinach diet, so here's my take on it.

First of all, if you're not used to sticking to strict diets for weeks at a time, then you'll likely have quite a lot of trouble with your hunger and cravings.

This means that even if you manage to survive a whole month on nothing but spinach, you could end up stuffing your face with fattening junk soon aftwerwards.

I'm not saying this to discourage you, I'm just talking from personal experience (and the experience of many of my readers).

So, unless you're absolutely sure you have the mental toughness to handle it, I wouldn't recommend doing the whole 30 days at once.

Second of all, even though spinach is extremely rich in nutrients, some important nutrients can't be found in spinach.

And you'd do well not to avoid those for whole 30 days.

On top of that, you may also start feeling quite sluggish and find yourself running out of energy pretty quickly, moslty because spinach is so low in carbs.

The bottom line is, I wouldn't do 30 days at once, but perhaps do a 5-7 days every month or so.

Summary (actionable takeaways)

While my spinach smoothie experiment is probably too extreme for most people, you can still benefit from the idea behind it.

The main takeaway is that you can keep your calorie intake pretty low, even if you eat enormous quantities of food.

And while this may not be the perfect way to do it, a permanently full stomach will definitely make it easier on you to deal with the standard problems of dieting.

You could also improve the taste of the smoothie by adding some better tasting low-calorie foods to it (fruits, for example).

Written by

Rok Sprogar is a NASM Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC) and a NASM Certified Weight Loss Specialist (NASM-WLS) who has been contributing highly actionable and science-based content to Leanhigh.