The 3 Day Diet

Now don't get the wrong impression - I'm not one to try fad diets every other week, but I was intrigued by the "3 Day Diet" that seems to be a pretty big phenomenon.  One of my friends tried it recently and lost a few pounds, so I figured, what the heck?? I'll do it for three days and see what happens.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I followed the 3 Day Diet plan (you can find the diet outline on this website.  I know it's available other places, but this website has the outline that I followed).  I did make some substitutions, which have been noted below each day's food plan.

**Once again, please keep in mind that I am NOT a healthcare professional, a doctor, or a nutritionist..I am not recommending that people go on this diet, I am simply chronicling my own weekend while on the diet. I am also not vouching for the healthiness or success of this diet plan. If you choose to go on this diet you are doing it at your own risk!!**  


Day One:

Breakfast:            1/2 of a grapefruit
                             1 piece of white bread toast w/ 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter
                                     240 calories

Lunch:                  1 piece of white bread toast
                             1/2 cup of canned chicken breast (Target brand)
                                     190 calories

Dinner:                 3 oz. chicken breast
                             1 cup green beans
                             1 cup baby carrots
                             1 cup of frozen vanilla yogurt (Blue Bunny brand)
                             1 apple (Jonagold)
                                     439 calories

Total Calories for Day 1: 869
I made a few substitutions for day one - for instance, the original plan calls for canned tuna (which is DEFINITELY NOT a favorite of mine!) so I opted for canned chicken chunks.  Also, I chose frozen yogurt over the regular ice cream called for - for only 90 calories per 1/2 cup serving.  I was surprised at the amount of food on my plate for dinner, 1 cup of carrots and 1 cup of beans is actually a lot.  As far as desert goes, I cut the apple into slices, warmed the slices in the microwave and ate them over the yogurt - it was absolutely DELICIOUS!!  As a side note, because some people might wonder, I did wait until about 7:30pm to have desert - generally speaking I don't eat less than 3 hours before I plan on going to bed and I do think that helps weight loss in general.

Day 1 - Dinner 

Day Two:

Breakfast:            1 egg - fried
                             1 piece of white bread toast
                             1 banana
                                     267 calories

Lunch:                  5 saltine crackers
                             1 cup cottage cheese (Kraft Simply Low Fat brand)
                                     240 calories

Dinner:                 3 turkey dogs (Jennie O brand)
                             1/2 cup carrots
                             1 cup broccoli (I added 1 Tablespoon of Italian dressing for taste)
                             1 banana
                             1/2 cup of frozen vanilla yogurt (Blue Bunny brand)
                                       508 calories

Total Calories for Day 2: 1,015
The only substitution I made for today was that I bought turkey dogs instead of beef or veggie dogs.  I don't know if that's an "approved" substitution, but I was able to have 3 turkey dogs because there are only 90 calories in 1 hot dog.  Once again, I was surprised at the amount of food I ate for dinner - also, I did have to add some Italian dressing to my broccoli, since it's not exactly a favorite of mine.

Day 2 - Breakfast

Day 2 - Dinner

Day Three:

Breakfast:            5 saltine crackers
                             1 oz. of sharp cheddar cheese
                             1 apple (Jonagold)
                                     242 calories

Lunch:                  1 egg - hard boiled
                             1 slice of toast
                                     148 calories

Dinner:                 1 cup chunk chicken
                             1 cup carrots
                             1 cup broccoli
                             1 cup melon (I had watermelon)
                             1/2 cup of frozen vanilla yogurt (Blue Bunny brand)
                                       361 calories

Total Calories for Day 3: 751
Substitutions for today were chunk chicken instead of tuna, and broccoli instead of cauliflower.  Also, I chose watermelon to have with my frozen yogurt.

Day 3 - Desert

Conclusion:

I have to admit that wasn't too impressed with this diet.  The most annoying part was having to limit my calorie intake quite a bit on days 1 and 3.  I ended up with a pretty bad migraine on Sunday, partly due to some general stressful drama and lack of sleep, and partly due to the limited food intake, but I was able to get rid of it by the time I had finished dinner.  Other than all the vegetables I ate, I'm really not sure how healthy this diet is.  I did enjoy my turkey dogs though...

In the past 5 days, I've lost 2 pounds - 2 of those days were on my regular diet plan and 3 of them were on the 3 Day Diet.  Some people have reported that they lost upwards of 10 pounds on the 3 Day Diet alone, but I'm not sure how healthy (or possible!) that is.  For comparison's sake, I have steadily been losing about 1 pound per week.  Now I do realize that I made some substitutions, but I still really didn't notice enough of a weight loss to make me think this diet plan is the next big thing, at least for me.  For now, I will stick to my regular diet plan of 1200 calories daily, combined with exercise. The 3 Day Diet might be a good way to give your diet a kick in the pants once a month or so, but I can't imagine doing it any more often than that...limiting my calorie intake to around 1200 calories every day is hard enough as it is!!

If you give the 3 Day Diet a try, I'd love to know how it goes and your opinion on it!


Happy Dieting!!