Not to state the obvious, but bikini season is officially here. Most likely, you’ve been planning a warm weather vacation for months, and now that the long-awaited, fun-in-the-sun trip is almost here, you’ve probably started heading to the gym a bit more than usual and dialing back on the fast food. If that sounds like you, you’re not alone—it’s natural to want to prepare a bit before baring it all on a beach. However, sometimes that prep can take an unhealthy turn, especially when it’s your job to look good in a bathing suit.
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According to a tell-all interview with male model David Gandy, his prep for major photo shoots includes a pretty brutal—and potentially dangerous—diet ritual. “I did salt depletion because salt bloats you,” explains Gandy in an interview with US Weekly, referring to the diet he did before doing a recent photo shoot in Italy for the Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue fragrance launch. “You deplete all the salt two days before you shoot, and then the day before [the shoot] you dehydrate yourself. Literally the day before you drink only one glass of water. And that night you take a boiling hot bath. By the shoot, you’ve got no liquid in you whatsoever.”
While this method may get rid of some water weight, it’s not advisable to try yourself. Drinking only one glass of water in a day—especially if coupled with a hot bath—can lead to dehydration. Because water is essential for good health (and necessary for flushing out toxins and keeping blood flow to vital organs in check), you can do some serious damage to yourself by depriving yourself of water.
So, while this may be one model’s method of choice for hastily losing a bit of water weight, it’s certainly not something we’d recommend anyone else to try. Never start an intense diet without consulting your physician first, and if you’re looking to slim down fast sans dehydration, follow these diet tips for changing your body in just seven days instead.
