[RainCloud88]

I saw them advertising that if you eat one serving of their cereal with 2/3 cup skim milk, for two meals a day, and eat a regular third meal and snack on fruits and veggies, you will lose 6 lbs in two weeks. What do you think about this diet?

[MrsJim]

There's no magic in Special K. They've been advertising the "Special K Diet" for years - even back when I was a kid (in the 1970's). The last few years around this time (post-holidays) Kellogg's has been marketing this particular "Special K Diet" where you eat a bowl of the cereal for breakfast and lunch and then a "normal meal" for dinner. Very similar to the Slim-Fast diet...

While I like the taste of Special K, for me personally it doesn't really 'stick' to me for very long - not a lot of fiber in there for one thing.

That "normal meal" at night for me would probably become a total pig-out, since I'd be starving by then on only two bowls of cereal and a few pieces of fruit...not a lot of protein either. But that's just me - your mileage may differ.

[Leenie]

2 meals a day for 2 weeks...... eeew

[stef]

As a bowl of Special K not only has few calories but few nutrients and almost no 'stickability' I wouldn't really recommend it.

The idea that replacing a meal with a specially designed something else is what the slimming/meal replacement industry is all about. At least Slimfast designed a can etc. All Kellogs have done is say "Hey, have 2 breakfasts", I wouldn't mind but a bowl of such cereal isn't a good breakfast, let alone a sensible lunch!

As MrsJim says, your evening meal is going to be hard to control, and imagine all of those cravings you would get due to the lack of calories, basic nutrients etc.

Lastly, if you did manage to stick to it for 2 weeks chances are that you would bounce back any weight loss as soon as you started eating normally. After all what would you have learned? Certainly not how to eat well and sensibly. You'd have to go back to the Special K for 2 weeks out of every month to get anywhere - eeeeeuk!!

I hope this helped, I know it sounds a bit down, but that is as much to do with where I am now as it is this type of diet advertising!

[MrsJim]

You know what this reminds me of - my Dad was talking about the time he tried the Slim-Fast diet (this was at least 10 years ago...see...it's been around for awhile! )

Dad has kind of a warped sense of humor...

"I've been doing that Slim-Fast diet and I don't understand why I'm not losing weight! I'm following their instructions - I have a Slim-Fast for breakfast, then around noon I have another Slim-Fast for lunch; then from 5:30 - 8:30 pm I have a normal dinner!!"

Okay...with me anyway, what works is to have a nice big breakfast to hold you over. For me "big" is a bowl of oatmeal and an eggwhite omelette (made with 1 whole egg and 5 whites, a little big of FF cheese and perhaps some veggies mixed in - it SEEMS like a lot of food but the calorie count is not all that much...maybe 300 cals or so). Include a couple of healthy snacks - like fruit or something - midmorning and midafternoon, have a good healthy lunch (maybe a chicken salad?) and go kind of light on dinner - like a piece of fish and a veggie. Make sure you do your proteins!

If you WANT to do a cereal diet like the Special K diet - try using another cereal that has more 'fillupability'. First one that comes to mind is one of my hubby's favorites - Quaker Corn Bran. 90 calories a serving and it has WAY more fiber than Special K, plus it tastes good too!