What is the three day diet ?

Seems to be tempting, right?

But it works?

You know that I am quite skeptical, and I prefer to rely on a diet tailored to me .

However, I did a good search. And let’s see what came out of it.

What is the 3 day diet?

Then we come to us.

There are several 3-day diets, all of them and I mean all of them aim at losing a lot of weight.

From 4 to 5 kilos in three days which becomes 15 kg in a month.

The key point is that a weekly balanced diet leads you to lose one pound per week .

Who, then, is the creator of this formidable method that leads to such a remarkable weight loss?

Some sources claim the three-day diet was born by word of mouth.

There is even someone who identifies this diet with the name of Fax  because in the 1980s the offices were flooded with anonymous faxes talking about the benefits of this diet.

This diet, also known as the chi military diet , is thought to have originated at the Cleveland Hospital.

But there are also those who believe it was a drastic move by the American Heart Association.

The point is, none of these institutions want its name to be placed alongside this diet. All deny.

So I said to myself: why does no one want his name to be linked to this diet? And I went to find some myths to dispel.

Food is healthy and nutritious

There are some crazy 3 day diets.

In one you only need to drink concoctions with water and lemon to detoxify.  In others you can drink only fruit juices, others still speak of poor and inexpensive meals, certainly very little nutritious.

In the military diet , which I discuss in detail on this page , we talk about proteins such as tuna, eggs, fruits such as bananas.

This seems to me already more acceptable.

But there is one in particular that offers two hot dogs for dinner and a cup of ice cream.

Wait a minute, let’s take a look:

in these three days we eat a series of things that have nothing to do with each other. From eggs to tuna, from hot dogs in the evening with ice cream to 5 crackers with cheddar or a spoonful of peanut butter.

Without any sense, without a balance. I’m not just talking about dinner with hot dogs and ice cream, I’m also talking about banana with tuna and eggs. Without a logic

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to limit yourself to tuna, eggs and crackers to lose weight! You can lose weight and be healthy by eating a large variety of good food.

The main problem, in my opinion, is that the three-day diet does not prepare you for long-term success. And it doesn’t matter if you don’t eat a little during those three days if you don’t keep your expectations a week later and you go back to eating as before. We need to change the way we eat, do not think about lasting results over time.

The point is that with a diet like this you are doing nothing but losing weight and gaining weight , you don’t learn to eat healthy, you don’t eat and then you stay as before again.

It’s just dieting for 3 days

Let’s talk about dieting 3 days out of 7 of the week. So the other 4 days are off.

And if I stay on a strict diet for 3 days and eat junk food for the other 4 days, where is the balance? That is, if I do a planned diet with proteins and low carbohydrates, I also have the possibility to eat a pizza at night because I am hungry without affecting the new metabolism.

But in such a diet it is difficult not to regain the lost pounds with these ups and downs of gulped food.

So isn’t it easier to eat balanced throughout the month than to not eat three days and then eat again as before?

Calories are not counted

Proponents of the 3-day diet say there is no need to count calories  when following your established meal plan. In my opinion this is not the case.

If you sit there serving the listed foods, without substituting them, you can get a general idea of ​​the calories you are consuming. If you hate tuna, however, and you decide to replace it with something, you need to understand what food to replace it with that is not too caloric and too different from tuna.

And then the 4 days off the diet must also be taken into account and controlled because they should balance the 3 days in which the intake of calories is reduced between 800 and 1000 calories per day. And here is another serious problem in my opinion.

The minimum estimated for the daily amount of calories is 1,200 for women and about 2,200 for men.

As Michelle Kerns writes for LiveStrong : “Following this strict diet  for three days should not lead to severe nutritional deficiencies but repeated cycles of the same nutrient-poor diet can weaken your organs, immune system and increase the risk of gallstones or heart problems “.

It is healthy to lose 4 pounds in 3 days

Most people lose 4 pounds on a diet in one month. However, as Mike Russell, doctor, writes for Shape magazine  “if you are light weight, losing 4 kilos in 3 days seems a lot to you but if you are 400 kilos obese, losing 20 kilos a week is normal (especially for the large amount of water that would be lost in the first week). “

In general, the more weight you have to lose, the faster you lose it in the beginning. If you are at serious obesity levels, you just need to cut out fast food and junk food to lose several pounds effortlessly.

However, losing so much weight in such a short amount of time usually leads to weight gain again in a very short amount of time. On the other hand, when we work on our body constantly we will be able to maintain weight loss for longer because it will not be only the water that we initially lose that will make us lose weight.

More than water weight is being lost

The three day diet like so many quick diets leads to a drastic body change and exciting, super fast initial weight loss. The point is, you usually regain your weight just as quickly. You get back on a new diet and lose weight again quickly. This rapid weight loss is commonly considered to be related to the loss of water we have in our body.

What is the weight of the water exactly?

Have you ever noticed how your fingers and toes swell and deflate when you eat a sodium-rich meal or sit still for a while? If you weigh yourself you will find that you have gained at least 2 kilos. This is the weight of the water.

Katherine Zeratsky, a nutritionist and dietician, told CNN that our kidneys “decide how much water to keep and how much to throw away. If you have eaten something very salty they will require more water and therefore will keep more “.

The kidneys serve to retain water even in case of dehydration.

Zeratsky explains that this excess water is stored in tissues or blood vessels throughout the body and tends to show up on the extremities of the body in the form of swollen fingers, feet and legs.

Now the proponents of the 3-day diet say you’re not losing water weight but real fat instead. But all this does not have a minimum of scientific confirmation.

I am really surprised that supporters don’t believe they are losing water in those three days when it is possible to drink both coffee and tea, both diuretic drinks. These drinks do not rehydrate the body, but they will draw out all the water and cause you to lose weight.

So it is not fat that we lose but water. And we recover the water very easily, in a very short time.

The 3-day diet speeds up the metabolism

This three-day diet is usually used by proponents who explain its strength in metabolism change. Not only does this claim have no scientific proof but it is absolutely the opposite of what we know about metabolism.

There are a number of ways to speed up your metabolism, and the 3-day diet follows none of these.

To speed up metabolism, Health says:

Intersperse the day with physical exercises that stimulate the powerhouses of the cells, the mitochondria, to work harder to burn energy.
Eat more omega-3s to balance blood sugar and reduce inflammation, help regulate metabolism.

Build some muscle with a little bit of gear.

Drink green tea for catechins which can improve fat oxidation and thermogenesis.
Enjoy several small meals a day instead of three large ones.

Don’t cut calories too much because you won’t feel fit and won’t want to do anything.
As in the three day diet there is nothing about exercise to speed up the metabolism.

Also, since the 3-day diet is so low in healthy fats and prohibits any added fat there is no way to provide omega-3s.

So the 3 day diet has nothing to do with metabolism.

The Three Day Diet is NOT a trendy diet

Trendy  diets  talk about:

• Weight loss very fast.
• Exercise is not considered necessary.
• It guarantees sensational results.
• Eliminate many foods or entire food categories from your diet.
• It allows the uncontrolled or excessive consumption of certain foods without quantitative restrictions.

So is the three day diet a trendy diet?

We see:

A category of healthy fats such as omega-3s is completely excluded.

It claims to increase metabolism even without any exercise and promotes a pervasive use of caffeine which is a diuretic and a stimulant.

Diets like these are not meant to be followed for long and I couldn’t imagine anyone happy doing this diet their entire life. . When I see diet programs like this I always get the advice of doctor Michael Dansinger reiterated by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics : “First, if a diet sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Second, if you can’t see yourself following this regimen for the rest of your life, this diet is not for you. “

What to do

If you want to play it safe, refer to something that is uniquely suited to you.

Otherwise consider that you could have a good breakfast and eat healthy and quick things for three days.

Certainly healthier than a cracker or hot dog.

If you need to lose weight in a short time, eat healthy and eat little, always think about the balance of your body, do not venture into fad diets that lead to instant but short-lasting results.

Think about what’s best for you.

And you? Have you tried a 3 day diet ?

Comment and tell me yours, I wait for you!