7-Day Soup Diet: Are There Any Benefits That Extend Beyond Rapid Weight Loss?

When it comes to finding the ultimate weight loss diet, it can feel like falling down a rabbit hole, simply due to the never-ending number of meal plans and diets that are available. The problem of finding the best diet for you is made worse by the fact that each diet claims to be the best of them all.

To make the decision a little easier for you, we’ll be tackling the subject of the 7-day soup diet. Soup diets are a rather popular weight loss diet plan as they come with the promise of incredible weight and belly fat loss results in just a handful of days. But are these claims true or is it simply another fad? Let’s find out.

What Is the 7-Day Soup Diet?

This is a meal plan that lasts for 7 days where your main meal is soup. It should be noted that there is no one main way to do this eating plan. Some soup diets require you to eat nothing but soup for the diet duration, usually 5 to 10 days, while others will have soup as the main foundation of the meal with some extra foods included – mostly fruits and vegetables.

What Are the Most Popular Variations of the Soup Diet? 

As mentioned above, there is no one main way to follow this diet. However, even with multiple variations of this eating plan, some stand above the rest due to how often they are recommended/spoken about. These include:

• The Cabbage Soup Diet 

While there is no note of this being the original soup diet 7-day plan diet, there’s no denying that the cabbage soup diet is the most popular soup weight loss eating plan right now. If you simply type ‘7-day soup diet recipe’ into your search engine, two out of the three diets that will pop up first in your results will have cabbage in the title.

With the original variation of this diet, you’re required to have this soup for at least 2 to 3 meals a day. You can also eat some fruits and vegetables and some protein while on the diet, but there are guidelines regarding when you can and cannot eat them.

To learn more about this low-carb soup and its restrictive guidelines, check out our 7-day cabbage soup article.

• The Bean Soup Diet 

In this variation, beans are the main star of the show and when you’re following this meal plan, you’re required to have vegetable bean soup twice a day. When making this soup, consumers are encouraged to add some non-starchy vegetables such as mushrooms, chili peppers, diced tomatoes, bell peppers, and celery to make it more hearty.

On this 7-day soup diet menu, people are also encouraged to drink plenty of water, eat more oil-free plant-based foods such as green leafy vegetables, fruits, and grains and avoid foods such as avocados, nuts, and seeds as they contain natural oils.

• The Chicken Soup Diet

As the name suggests, the main ingredient in this variation is chicken. This soup is usually made with broth, cooked chicken, garlic, and onion, in addition to non-starchy vegetables such as carrots, turnips, broccoli, and collard greens.

As with the bean soup diet, this variation allows other foods such as nonfat milk and yogurt, fat-free cheese, whole-grain cereal or bread, and fresh fruit. However, these options are only allowed at breakfast as lunch and dinner must be chicken soup.

Does the 7-Day Soup Diet Work?

Yes and no. Will the number on your scale go down after following this diet for a week? Probably, but will you have actually lost a significant amount of fat during these 7 days? No, most likely not. Allow us to explain why this is so.

A lot of the people who support the 7-day soup diet will tell you that such diets are the best for weight loss as they’re low in calories and quite filling. This part is partially true for the following reasons:

1. A lot of soup recipes aren’t very high in calories and as we all know, creating an energy deficit in your diet is one of the key factors that influences weight loss (1).
2. Soup eating plans such as the bean or chicken soup diets can be filling as the main ingredient in the dish is a high-protein food. High-protein diets are often recommended to people who are hoping to shed some weight as the macronutrient is known to boost satiety which helps keep your calorie intake low (2, 3).
3. Research has suggested that soup consumption is associated with a lower risk of overweight and obesity. People who consume more soups also have better BMIs and waist circumferences than those who don’t (4, 5). This doesn’t necessarily mean that eating soup will make you lose weight, it’s just an association. 

So if all these factors show that consuming soup can help with weight loss, why do we say that the proposed 7-day diet weight loss results won’t result in significant fat loss despite the number on the scale being lower?

• Too Few Calories

These diets are often very low in calories and the popular cabbage soup diet is a perfect example of this. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 – 2025, the estimated calorie needs range from 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day for adult females and 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day for adult males (6).

In order to lose weight, it’s recommended that you reduce your average daily calorie intake by 500 to 750 calories (1) – this creates a deficit, which forces your body to burn stored fats for energy and results in fat and weight loss. Men and women are also generally advised not to consume fewer than 1,500 and 1,200 calories a day, respectively (7).

Unfortunately, the majority of these 7-day soup diets are too low in calories, which means that when you eat like this, your deficit is higher than what’s recommended, and in some cases, your overall intake for the day is far below the least amount of calorie intake than is acceptable for men and women.

Because of this, your body may think that you’re starving and instead of burning the extra fat stored in your body, it holds on to it in a bid to try and save your life.

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• You’re Losing Water, Not Fat

As the human body is made up of around 60% water, it’s safe to say that we have a lot of water in our bodies. However, sometimes, the amount of water stored in our bodies can increase and this is known as water or fluid retention.

Fluid retention can be caused by multiple factors that include dehydration, hormonal issues, medications, and even your diet, specifically through the consumption of too much sodium (8, 9). Furthermore, our bodies store carbohydrates in the form of glycogen, which has a significant amount of water attached to it.

As a lot of such soup diets demand that those participating in them should reduce their intake of highly processed (i.e. high-sodium) foods and carbs in general, it can lead to loss of any accumulated water weight. When you don’t get enough carbs, your body will use the stored glycogen and release the associated water.

Loss of water weight does make the scale go down and you can think that you actually lost weight while on such an eating plan. However, at the end of the day, water weight loss isn’t fat loss. Most of the fat that was in your body is still there and will remain unchanged – or worse, increase – unless you find a better diet and exercise.

• 7 Days Is Too Short a Time for Actual Weight/Fat Loss

The promise of losing a massive amount of weight by simply following a 7-day soup diet recipe sounds too good to be true because it is. According to the CDC, healthy and sustainable weight loss is a loss of approximately 1 to 2 pounds a week (0.5 – 1 kg (10). 

Many of these extreme short-term diets promise a loss of up to 10 pounds or more in as little as a week or even two weeks. According to the number given by the CDC not only is this virtually impossible, even if it does end up happening, it’s not sustainable in the long term.

After you’ve completed this soup diet or any other drastic and restrictive diet, all the lost weight may come back. This can then lead to a phenomenon that is known as yo-yo dieting which is bad for your self image and your physical and mental health (11).

Read more: Is Broccoli Low Fodmap? Exploring The Facts

Will I Lose Weight If I Only Eat Soup for a Week?

As explained above, you can lose weight by only consuming soup for 7 days. However, the weight lost will probably be mostly from a loss of water weight rather than actual fat loss from the body.

This is not to discourage you from looking up healthy weight loss soup recipes. As we’ve also seen from the section above, consuming soup can help with fat loss, but only if the soup is part of a healthy, calorie deficit diet. 

Soups cannot be the only thing in your diet if you’re hoping to lose fat and maintain the results in the long term.

How Much Weight Can You Lose on the 7-Day Soup Diet

You may not lose significant weight – at least weight caused by excess fat in the body – by following a 7-day soup diet. 

Unfortunately, most viral 7-day soup diet results are either doctored or were done using a simple bathroom scale that cannot differentiate between the weight from actual body fat and fat-free mass (muscles, blood, water, etc.).

If these same people were able to accurately measure their body composition, they would most likely realize that of the weight they claimed to have lost, little of it was actually from fat. With that being said, it’s important to remember that healthy weight loss that can be sustained in the long term means losing between 1 and 2 pounds (0.5 and 1 kg) a week.

Any diet that promises otherwise is simply a fad.

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The Healthy Way to Do a 7-Day Soup Diet

As we’ve explained above, the traditional way of doing a 7-day soup diet is neither healthy nor sustainable and won’t lead to the weight loss goals you desire. However, if you add soups to a healthy diet, they can help you reach your goals.

Here are 5 healthy and filling soup recipes you can add to your eating plan for long-term results. You can eat them for lunch or dinner:

Spinach, Sausage, and Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 1 pound spicy Italian sausage
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 medium yellow potatoes, diced
• 1 diced medium-sized white or yellow onion
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 4 cups fresh spinach
• ½ can coconut milk, or more, to taste
• Salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

With potatoes and sausages, this soup is guaranteed to keep you full. Fresh spinach is also an excellent source of antioxidants. This recipe makes 4 servings. Get the directions from Eat Well 101 (12).

Calories for 1 serving: 575.8. Fats: 29.95 g. Carbs: 44.88 g. Protein: 32.75 g.

Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Chicken soup has been used as an immunity boosting soup for many years (13). This soup will provide nutrients to help keep your immune system strong and keep you feeling full.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 medium-sized carrots
• 3 parsnips
• 3 celery ribs
• ½ medium-sized onion
• 1 leek
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs fresh tarragon
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh parsley

This makes 4 servings. Get recipe directions from Downshiftology (14).

Calories for 1 serving: 319. Fats: 11 g. Carbs: 38 g. Protein: 21 g.

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Red Lentil Soup

Like legumes, lentils are a great source of plant based protein – a macronutrient that, as explained before, helps with satiety.

Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 tsp dry oregano
• 1 ½ tsp cumin
• 1 tsp rosemary
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 dry bay leaves
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 7 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 cups red lentils, rinsed and drained
• Kosher salt
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Fresh parsley for garnish
• Crumbled feta cheese to serve, optional

This makes 6 servings. Get recipe directions from The Mediterranean Dish (15).

Calories for 1 serving: 340. Fats: 6.5 g. Carbs: 56.4 g. Protein: 18.8 g.

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Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 medium yellow onion 
• 2 large carrots 
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• ¼ cup white whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, or gluten-free flour
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 1 medium head broccoli
• 1 medium head cauliflower 
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese 
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast or finely grated parmesan

This makes 7 servings. Get directions from Well Plated (16).

Calories for 1 serving: 249. Fats: 14 g. Carbs: 21 g. Protein: 14 g.

Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 large shallot 
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
• 3-4 tbsp red curry paste
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 15 oz can coconut milk
• 1 tbsp Tamari or soy sauce 
• 2 tsp free fish sauce
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar
• ½ tsp dried basil
• salt and pepper
• 1 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 8 oz mushrooms
• 4 cups baby spinach
• 1 lime

Served with rice, this is a soup that’s bursting with exotic flavors. Get recipe directions from Iowa Girl Eats (17)

Calories for 1 serving: 350. Fats: 25 g. Carbs: 14 g. Protein: 24 g.

The Bottom Line 

The traditional 7-day soup diet isn’t the best option for weight loss as it’s usually too low in calories. If you’d like to have soups as a part of your weight loss eating plan, find recipes that are filling and made with whole healthy ingredients. 

Also remember that the soups in question should be consumed as a part of your meals for the day and not be the only thing you consume apart from water and coffee.

Remember that weight loss demands healthy eating habits. You can’t starve yourself into your dream body and expect to achieve or keep it.