[adaem]

Has anyone tried the Special K diet? The one where you eat cearal for breakfast and lunch with fruit or Special K bars for snack and then a regular healthy dinner? I have gotten the working out thing down and now my problem is eating. I eat way too much and in the last 4 months of working out (3-5 days a week alternating cardio and weights for 30-40 min) I have not lost a pound. I know the problem is my eating and thought maybe something like this would just help me kick-start things and help me control myself better. Any advice would be wonderful!

[MiZTaCCen]

Sometimes I do cereal in the morning and for lunch and a regular dinner, I find when I do that I feel lighter not bloated and my system feels cleaner but I don't do it on a regular basis, usually only if I forget my lunch (since I always have cereal at work) but I wouldn't recommend doing it every day for how ever long because it's not exactly healthy or an ideal life style change.

What exactly are you eating? Sometimes when I work out too much my body doesn't lose a pound until I give myself a break doesn't matter what I'm eating.

Have you tried 6 small meals a day, breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack? That might help with not eating so much during your meals because you are keeping your hunger at bay.

[Ruthxxx]

Here's an old Thread with some info. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/does...challenge.html

[RedQueen]

I was surprised to find it in the cereal's ingredients some time ago. It's full of HFCS as are the bars. I tried them once and found them too sweet, not only did they hurt my teeth but I couldn't stop eating them.

[MoniqueDiet]

I have also tried this "challenge" and the results were minimal and short lived. I have since learned that a combination of protein, vegetables and healthy fats works best for me. I regard sugars and starches, such as cereal, a rare treat. This has been working quite well for me and I have never felt better.
:-)

[alicia89]

I agree with RedQueen. Special K is not all that healthy. Sure, it's low in fat, but if you look at the ingredients for the bars or the cereals you'll see it has added sugar, HFCS and other weird stuff. Here are the ingredients for the vanilla bar, from the Special K website: "Cereal (rice, sugar, whole wheat, wheat gluten, wheat germ, salt, wheat flour, malt [corn flour, malted barley], maltodextrin, thiamine hydrochloride, colour), sugar/glucose-fructose, fructose, dextrose, vegetable oil, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, rolled oats, wheat flour, sorbitol, milk ingredients, glycerin, applesauce, brown sugar, natural and artificial flavours, soy lecithin, calcium carbonate, salt, sodium propionate, tocopherols, BHT."

Special K is a highly-processed food that does an excellent job of marketing itself as healthy, but it's not a natural food. The cereals also have very little fibre compared to most cereals, so I doubt they'll leave you feeling full. I'm sure it's possible to lose weight on the Special K if you are eating less calories overall, but I would suggest a bowl of Kashi cereal or some steel-cut oats with fruit and honey over Special K. A really good cereal should have 4-8 grams of fibre per serving, while Special K only seems to have 2. I know the bars are nice because they're sweet but only have 90 calories, and they're definitely better than eating cookies, candy or a chocolate bar when you're craving something sweet, but again I'd have to say there are healthier options when it comes granola bars. Kashi has granola bars and I'd even say that the fibre-one bars are better, they have a lot of added sugar too but at least they have some fibre.