"Lost 17kg Eating Only Water and Salt"…Teenagers Dreaming of Success with 'Bone-Dry Diet'

Despite warnings from experts, the so-called 'water fasting' diet, which involves consuming only water and salt, is becoming popular among teenagers.

Actor Lee Jang-woo's 'water fasting' diet appearance revealed last year. [Image source=MBC 'I Live Alone' broadcast screen capture]

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As of the 10th, posts sharing tips on suppressing appetite and reviews of 'water fasting' are being shared on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and other platforms. On Instagram, there are over 1,000 posts tagged with the hashtag #waterfasting. On X, it is easy to find posts such as "I'm doing water fasting, but it's harder to endure dizziness than hunger," and "I was diagnosed with a lymph node problem at the hospital, but I can't stop water fasting." One teenage girl attracted a lot of attention by sharing her know-how after losing weight from 66 kg to 49 kg in a month without exercising through water fasting. She revealed, "I was able to avoid food by deceiving my family, saying 'I'm going to eat with friends,'" and added, "My younger brother, who used to tease me about my weight, now says nothing, so I feel like I am seen as a person."

A post sharing tips on water fasting.
[Image source=Capture from X (formerly Twitter)]

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As the summer season approaches, more teenagers are engaging in extreme dieting. In particular, many aim for a 'keybbaemom' (height in cm minus weight in kg) of over 120 through water fasting. Last year, actor Lee Jang-woo became even more famous after appearing on MBC's 'I Live Alone,' where he fasted for three days, consuming only water and salt, and lost 4 kg. Water fasting is a fasting method where only water and salt are consumed without any food intake. Some people drink mineral water instead of regular water or take supplements during the fast to replenish nutrients.

However, experts emphasize that such extreme dieting during adolescence can cause various problems such as amenorrhea, osteoporosis, and eating disorders, and inevitably have adverse effects on physical and mental development. In fact, the number of female patients under the age of 19 diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, commonly known as 'diet disease,' increased about sevenfold from 275 in 2018 to 1,874 in 2022 over four years. Experts point out that multiple nutrients such as protein, fat, and carbohydrates are necessary for growth and development, and it is difficult to resolve nutritional deficiencies with only water and supplements.

The background for teenagers engaging in such extreme dieting is attributed to the pervasive 'appearance supremacy' in our society. Excessively thin bodies become ideal goals through social media, leading teenagers with low self-esteem to obsess over dieting to achieve a sense of accomplishment through a thin physique.

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