The Potato Diet for Weight Loss: Does It Work, and Is There a Better Way?
What the research and the famous potato experiments show, the downsides of eating only potatoes, and how to use potatoes to lose weight for good.
Short answer: eating mostly potatoes makes most people lose weight in the short term, because potatoes are one of the most filling foods per calorie there is. But a potato-only "diet" for a few days is not a plan you can live on, and much of what comes off quickly tends to come back. The better way to use the potato's superpower is to make it the base of normal meals, with vegetables, beans and plenty of flavor, so you can eat that way for good. That is how we use potatoes at Lean With Plants, a 12-week one-on-one plant-based weight loss coaching program for women founded by Chelsea Mae Cullen.
What is the potato diet?
The "potato diet", sometimes called the potato hack, usually means eating only plain potatoes for a few days, commonly three to five. They are baked, boiled or steamed without oil, with little or nothing on top. Some versions allow salt and herbs. Stricter versions allow nothing else.
There is also a looser meaning: a diet where potatoes are the main starch, eaten every day alongside vegetables, beans and fruit. That second version is closer to what actually works long term, and it is what the rest of this article recommends.
Does the potato diet work for weight loss?
In the short term, usually yes. Three reasons:
- Potatoes are unusually filling. In a well-known 1995 study that ranked 38 common foods by how full they kept people, boiled potatoes came out on top, roughly three times as filling as white bread.
- They are low in calorie density. A pound of plain cooked potatoes has around 350 to 400 calories. A pound of bread has about three times that, and a pound of oil around 4,000. Your stomach fills up long before the calories add up. See calorie density explained.
- The research is encouraging. A 2022 randomized feeding trial found that low-energy-dense diets built around potatoes, or around beans, both reduced body weight and insulin resistance.
The most famous experiment was a personal one. In 2010 Chris Voigt, then head of the Washington State Potato Commission, ate nothing but potatoes for 60 days to make a point about their nutrition. He reported losing 21 pounds and seeing his cholesterol drop. It is a great story about how filling potatoes are. It is not a plan we would recommend anyone copy.
What are the downsides of eating only potatoes?
- It is hard to live with. Any diet that removes almost every food is hard to keep up at work, with family, or on a Friday night. Most people stop, and most go back to how they ate before.
- Some of the quick drop is water. On any short, very restrictive plan, part of the early weight loss is water and food in transit, and it returns when you eat normally again.
- No single food covers everything. Potatoes are more nutritious than their reputation, but eaten alone for long enough they will not give you everything you need.
- It can feed the restrict-then-rebound cycle. A few days of extreme restriction followed by a return to old habits is the pattern most women are trying to escape. See how to break the binge-then-restrict loop.
If restrictive eating has ever been a struggle for you, skip the potato-only version entirely. And if you have diabetes, kidney disease, or take medication, talk to your doctor before any restrictive plan.
What is a better way to use potatoes for weight loss?
Keep the potato. Lose the restriction. Here is how.
Make potatoes the base, not the whole meal. Build the plate the way we teach every client: half non-starchy vegetables, a quarter to a third potatoes or another whole starch, a quarter beans or lentils, and a sauce that is not mostly oil. The potato gives you staying power, the vegetables give you volume, and the beans give you protein.
Watch the toppings. The potato is rarely the problem. Butter, sour cream, cheese and oil are. Swap in salsa, black beans, chili, plain plant yogurt, mustard, hot sauce, chives or a little nutritional yeast.
Cook it without oil. Bake, boil, steam, microwave, or air-fry wedges with no oil at all. Roast on parchment paper instead of a greased tray.
Eat until you are comfortably full. No weighing, no measuring. If you are hungry again quickly, add more vegetables and beans next time.
Some easy potato meals our clients love:
- A loaded baked potato with bean chili, salsa and a big handful of greens
- Potato and lentil stew with carrots, celery and spinach
- Oil-free air-fried wedges with a huge salad and a mustard dressing
- A breakfast hash of potatoes, peppers, onions, spinach and black beans
- A baked sweet potato with black beans, corn and salsa
- Potato salad with a mustard and plain plant yogurt dressing instead of mayonnaise
For more on why we love the spud, read the humble potato is the most underrated weight loss food. For the bigger picture of eating this way, see how a starch-based diet works for weight loss.
Why the potato works best with habits, not rules
A potato-only week asks for a lot of willpower for a short time. What actually changes a woman's weight for good is the opposite: big, filling plates she enjoys, plus a few tiny habits she can keep up for years.
At Lean With Plants you snap photos of your food and never count a calorie. Your coach checks in with you daily, helps you build a plate that keeps you full for hours, and helps you bounce back fast after a bad day. Three or four tiny daily habits, the STACK Method, do the rest. Our team has coached over 3,000 women, and the average client loses around 18 pounds in 12 weeks.
Frequently asked questions
How much weight can you lose on the potato diet? It varies a lot from person to person, and part of any quick drop on a very restrictive plan is water. We do not recommend a potato-only diet. Potatoes as the base of balanced, filling meals works better long term.
Can you lose weight eating potatoes every day? Yes. Potatoes are one of the most filling foods per calorie. Eat them without oil, pair them with vegetables and beans, and go easy on the toppings.
Are sweet potatoes better than white potatoes for weight loss? Both are excellent, with similar calorie density. Eat whichever you enjoy more, and mix them up.
Do potatoes spike your blood sugar? Potatoes eaten on their own raise blood sugar fairly quickly. Eating them as part of a meal with beans and vegetables softens the effect, and cooked-then-cooled potatoes contain more resistant starch. If you have diabetes, your doctor or dietitian can help you plan portions.
Is the potato diet safe? A few days of eating only potatoes is unlikely to harm a healthy adult, but it is restrictive, not nutritionally complete, and not a long-term plan. If you have a health condition, take medication, or have struggled with restrictive eating, talk to your doctor first, or skip it.
Are potatoes fattening? Plain potatoes are not. Fries, chips, and potatoes loaded with butter, cheese and sour cream are a different story, because of what is added to them.
Want a plan you can actually keep?
If you have tried the quick fixes and want something that lasts, apply here and book a call with our team. It is a 45-minute Zoom, all about you, and if Lean With Plants is not the right fit, we will tell you.