Well, this explains the tight dresses and possibly the mysterious Page Six item about Ashanti's avoidance of the cameras.

R+B star ASHANTI lost eight pounds (3.6 kilograms) this summer (07) on the Master Cleanser diet. The pretty singer felt she needed to shape up for a run of promotional appearances for new film Resident Evil: Extinction and new album Declaration and so she spent a week eating nothing.

She explains, "I did the lemon-pepper-maple syrup diet for seven days. "When I got really hungry, I ate fruit. I lost eight pounds and kept it off."

The Master Cleanse (aka Beyonce's Dreamgirls diet) is known for a lot of things, namely instant gratification, but "keeping the weight off" is not one of them. She's either still living off of lemon water and fruit or she'll soon have to retire her new dresses.

[CM]