10 in 3

The loose 10lbs in 3 days diet.  Its called the chemical diet, as the foods you eat create a reaction to make you loose this amount of weight in this time - i think it may also be a variation of the British Heart Foundation diet.  Basically eat random foods and drop a few pounds.  I thought I'd try this and then see if the loss can be maintained afterwards.  I know this is a fad diet - not for long term use.

Day 1 - feeling motivated.  Breakfast included peanut butter - i hate this so much but as its the chemicals of the foods you are eating that makes the weight loss possible I will eat it (also very pleased this is the only day you eat it).  Peanut butter is so disgusting and dry that it quite happily put me off eating for the rest of the day! 

Well at the end of day one i do feel tired (more than usual) but its not been too bad.  I do have a horrible headache though.

Day 2 - feeling slightly less motivated but thankful that i don't have peanut butter for breakfast.  The foods do seem quite weird but drinking plenty of water.  I'm not feeling hungry however I have another horrible headache.  I think this may be down to the fact that you can't have tea (caffeine withdrawal).  I give in and have some tea, hoping it won't effect the diet too much.  Headache gone - the paracetamol had no effect so I think this has shown me I have been drinking far too much tea!  Jumped on scales, lost 2 pound, i don't think i will loose 8lb in one day...

Day 3 - feeling less motivated but at least some weight is coming off.  Today you eat the least and after the last meal i felt quite relieved that I had finished and pleased that I had stuck to it (bar the cup of tea).  I had a massive pile of ironing to do, so that kept me busy and stopped me thinking about food.

Day 4 - woke up in the morning, diet complete and it feels good! I went on the scale and have lost 6lbs in total! I am really pleased.  The rest of this week I think i will be drinking lots of water (2-3 cups of tea at the very most) and keeping my calorie intake about 1200-1500 to try and maintain weight loss.  I would still like to loose another 2lbs so hoping this may even be possible.  However if its just water loss (i have been keeping my fluids up during the diet for this reason) then i guess it will all come back.

The reason fad diets don't work, as I understand it is 1) impossible to maintain 2) because of the restrictions when you come off, you eat more as you feel you have missed out and give into your cravings 3) just water loss and not fat 4) you haven't learnt to eat healthily, used a quick fix so old eating habits return.  I am not naive, I know this is a fad diet I just wanted to try it as couldn't bear those extra pounds.  I thought i need a good kick up the bottom in getting my weight back under control and better to do it when I have a few pounds to loose rather than a couple of stones.

I am also using my fitness pal.  I record all the food i eat and it works out all the calories for me.  It suggests i eat a minimum of 1200 calories to achieve weight loss of 2lbs a week based on my height and weight.  I like this app as it even records and works out the calories to my home-made meals.  Although calorie counting is a bit boring at least you have freedom to eat what you fancy, its just limited in terms of portions. 

At the end of the week, I weighed myself and the weight loss has maintained.  I weighed myself each day and the weight did go up and even right down but after the week my weight has stabilised.  I am going to continue using my fitness pal to count up the calories of what I eat to help me learn portion control.  I have also come to the conclusion that my scales need replacing as they don't reset to zero properly and as a one off weigh in, my husband weighed 5 stone! When he weighed again he was back to his normal weight.  He was insisting scales don't lie but i think this is because he doesn't want to buy more scales!

In conclusion I think if i needed to, I would do the 3lbs in 10 days diet again.  It was a bit strange and I would need to cut back on the caffine before starting it but it wasn't too hard to follow and it does at least contain each food group.  I think with faulty scales its hard to determine how acurate the weight loss has been but i know that I now feel healthier by being mindful of what I am eating.

eye on the goal

Well for quite a few weeks i had been maintaining my weight.  Not quite the same weight i was when i lost it all but felt my body had found its right place.  So I decided to stop weighing myself regularly.  This was not a good step.

Gradually bad habits started to creep in, i think not having the discipline of the weigh in made me relax and not watch what i was eating.  I started to feel really lethargic and was constantly hungry again - nothing being able to satisfy my hunger.  I then stepped on the scales and too my horror i had put on 6lbs! I felt like i was sitting in a pool of fat and hated it.

There was no way I was going to have that, so i did the Special K diet for a couple of days.  I find this really hard (due to feeling hungry) but the gain was enough to kick me back into touch.  My body hated it and moaned out in pain but i just wasn't going to give in.  I had different commitments on during the week so it was hard to stick to the diet rigidly but i made sure i had less than 2000 calories a day.  At the end of the week i had lost 3lbs and felt better in control of my eating habits.

Now I have been thinking about what weight is best for me, as my original target I felt i looked a bit too thin in the face, so I was thinking 8st 9/10 would be a better weight.  I looked online at the various diets (I don't want to loose enough to join a slimming club like weight watchers) and I would rather have a few days of pain rather than weeks of misery.  So I thought I'd try the loose 10lbs in 3 days - I don't want to loose that much but thought its a faddy diet and if it does help to shift some pounds worth a try...

My next post will let you know how I got on...