The Three Day Diet is a fad diet dating back to 1985. Followers of the Three Day Diet are promised up to a 10 pound weight loss in three days. The allure of the the Three Day Diet is the promise of up to a 10 pound weight loss in three days. The reality is that most of that weight loss is likely due to fluid loss and not the more desirable fat loss.

How the Three Day Diet Works

As the name suggests, the Three Day Diet lasts only three days, though it’s said that it can be repeated indefinitely, as long as you alternate with 4-5 days of undefined normal eating. The purpose of returning to your usual eating style is to keep your metabolism from slowing, reverting to fat-storing, starvation mode

The Three Day Diet is a regimented plan that must be followed exactly for three days at a time, followed by normal eating for four or five days before opting to resume the plan again.

The Three Day Diet is a very specific food plan that must be followed precisely. Portions must be eaten exactly as specified and dieters are warned not to overeat — otherwise the promised 10 pound weight loss may not be achieved. Likewise, dieters should not under-eat, even if they are not hungry.

The combination of the suggested foods included in this plan is supposed to create a unique metabolic reaction and boost fat burning.

The Three Day Diet Meal Plan

Day 1
Breakfast

Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal

1/2 grapefruit or juice

1 piece toast with 1 tablespoon peanut butter

Lunch

1/2 cup tuna

1 piece toast

Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal

Dinner

3 ounces any lean meat or chicken

1 cup green beans

1 cup carrots

1 apple

1 cup regular vanilla ice cream

Day 2
Breakfast

Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal

1 egg

1/2 banana

1 piece toast

Lunch

1 cup cottage cheese or tuna

8 regular saltine crackers

Dinner

2 beef franks

1 cup broccoli or cabbage

1/2 cup carrots

1/2 banana

1/2 cup regular vanilla ice cream

Day 3
Breakfast

Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal

5 regular saltine crackers

1 ounce cheddar cheese

1 apple

Lunch

Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal

1 boiled egg

1 piece toast

Dinner

1 cup tuna

1 cup carrots

1 cup cauliflower

1 cup melon

1/2 cup regular vanilla ice cream

What Food is Allowed on the Three Day Diet
The Three Day Diet gives you the freedom to eat a wide variety of foods, as long as you stick to mostly natural foods.n addition to its strict daily food prescription, dieters drink 4 cups of water or noncaloric drinks daily.

The Three Day Diet consists of ordinary foods found in your kitchen. No special expensive recipes or ingredients are required. You don’t have to buy frozen diet meals.

You can add herbs, salt, pepper, lemon, vinegar, Worcestershire, soy sauce, mustard and ketchup to your foods.

What Food is Not Allowed on the Three Day Diet

Processed food such as frozen meals, crackers, ramen soups, cake mixes, chips and candy have to be avoided. No bread, alcohol, or carbonated beverages, not even diet soda. Beverages are limited to water, and unsweetened fruit juice.

Known Benefits of the Three Day Diet
The main advantage of the Three day diet is that it helps you lose weight fast.

Apart from this fast weight loss Three Day Diet is also having other advantages like increasing your body energy, healthy skin, reduces allergies and enhanced sexual drive. Other advantages include:

The Three Day Diet can flush your body of toxins in the process as long as you stick with the program and do not overeat.

The Three Day Diet is simple to follow, reasonably cheap, less time consuming and there is no complicated recipes to follow.

The fasting of the 3 day diet can make the body to heal naturally.

Digestion uses up strength in the form of fat and muscles from our energy store Fasting also appears to release a hormone that stimulates the immune system. It also gives your intestinal system a chance to clean itself and the body time to flush out the waste products of metabolism.

A regular practice of fasting is said to also  help prevent a buildup or backlog of metabolic debris in the body, diminishing the possibility of serious illness.

Potential Risks of the Three Day Diet
Some people feel dizzy, weak, unable to concentrate and complete daily activities.If you are looking for a weight loss program and exercise plan that will help you maintain your health, weight, strength, and more, then this diet is not for you. This diet might only offer you temporary weight loss, and might not have enough nutrients in it to help you workout on a regular basis.

What the Experts Say About 3 Day Diet
“There is no such thing as a Cleveland Clinic diet,” says Cindy Moore, director of nutrition therapy at The Cleveland Clinic. “It is an urban legend that is not nutritionally sound, and the only reason it causes weight loss is because it is so low in calories, not because of any food combinations or metabolic reactions.”

Following a plan with fewer than 1,000 calories a day concerns Moore. “The plan yields about 1,000 calories a day which has the ability to lower metabolism so when you revert back to normal eating, you regain weight even quicker.”

Because the 3 Day Diet is so low in carbohydrates, it’s likely the initial weight loss is primarily water weight, as carbohydrate encourages your body to retain water. As soon as the dieter goes back to consuming a normal amount of carbohydrate, the water weight comes back.

There has been a lot of research to help us understand why weight cycling occurs. When we diet, our body still requires a set number of calories to function each day. If we do not get it from food, our body will break down its own energy stores in fat and muscle to survive. It has long been established that a diet that promotes more than a two-pound per week weight loss will break down muscle tissue for energy at a more rapid rate than it will break down fat stores for energy. Whereas, the slower one loses weight, the less our body uses lean muscle tissue for energy and the more it uses our fat stores. Lean muscle is the last thing a dieter wants to lose. Muscle tissue is the source of our metabolic rate. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn each day. The less you have, the less you burn each day. Thus, even slow weight loss diets will burn some muscle tissue for energy, particularly when unaccompanied by exercise. Choosing to lose weight fast without exercising is a no win combination that is a strong predictor of weight cycling.

Bottom Line About The Three day Diet
The Three Day Diet is a simple a low calorie diet. There is nothing magical no mystical chemical reaction that goes on as some seem to think.

The only reason that a person on this diet would lose weight is due to the severe calorie restriction. Because of the low amount of carbohydrate in the diet, it is also possible that a person on this diet will primarily lose water weight. As soon as the dieter goes back to eating a normal diet and consuming a normal amount of carbohydrate, this water weight will be gained back.

The other demerits of three day diet are:

The Three Day Diet is that never educates the dieter on how to achieve sustainable, healthy weight loss.

The diet is so monotonous, dieters gladly return to their old eating habits.

There is no documentation or scientific explanation of how the Three Day Diet food combination burn fat, increase energy, cleanse the body, or lower cholesterol.

There are numerous alternatives to the Three Day Diet that are much healthier, and will produce better results.

Look for a well-balanced weight loss plan that controls calories every day, includes exercise, and allows a wide variety of healthy foods. To lose weight, it is simply not enough to eat a prescribed diet for three days without addressing eating habits that cause weight gain.

Do we love fast food? Of course we do, it tastes delicious and somehow feels very satisfying, but oh dear, deadly as anything. Imagine all that carbohydrate loading, saturated fats that clog our arteries and msg that tantalize our taste buds and is toxic to our liver and organs, then some more saturated fats that tastes oh so good. Are we really kidding ourselves? Are we really going to sacrifice our bodies and appearance to a momentary bliss of taste and satisfaction that will not last past 5 minutes? Of course we do, every day, every week; every year and it make absolutely no sense at all. Let’s stop the insanity in its tracks and see what we are doing to ourselves.

Imagine that dream body you always wanted, lean, muscular, and sexy or whatever fancies your fantasy. Now, that is long lasting, gratifying, looks great, feels great and gives us confidence and a high self esteem that once we have it, we will not sacrifice for a taste of a juicy burger and fries, right? Sure, most will say and continue down to the drive through at Wendy’s. What if your wish could be granted and you could have that body right away, would you still do it? Probably not!

So the key is getting there, and we can get there bit by bit, step by step and it is not as hard as you imagine. Let’s take it one step at a time. What is the underlying need here? It is the need to be satisfied, not feel hungry and at the same time have enough fuel to last you to the next meal.  Let’s not sacrifice that easy step for convenience, it is convenience that got us into trouble in the first place, so it’s time to back out of the problem and redo ourselves into the person we want to be and can see in our minds eye.

Let’s be strong and quit a few things, and at the same time, promise ourselves to not starve to death. Let’s replace some bad things this week for some good. How about quitting the butter and sugar first, and after success has been reached, quit the soda drinks, and then go for the refined food such as white bread and flour foods. This change alone is going to give you an amazing result in how you feel, your energy levels and you may shed a few pound too.

Making healthy food at home is not as hard as you may imagine. Imagine baking your own, fresh bread which you freshly ground with your grain mill. You know that awesome smell in a baker’s shop, with fresh bread coming out the ovens? Ah yes, that is what I am talking about. Imagine that freshly squeezed glass of orange juice, the one you made from fresh oranges that you squeezed through your juicer. You just don’t get fresher or tastier than that and the best thing of all, all this fresh great taste and goodness cost you far less that going out a buying the second grade stuff. You will be happy that you or on your way to changing your lifestyle to a healthy one with healthy eating habits and where healthy food means absolute delicious aromas and taste.

You will be happy and grateful for changing to a healthy lifestyle for your family where health is in your control and you enjoy every minute of your freedom prepare and enjoy healthy food.

Healthy eating is a way of balancing the food you eat to keep your body in great health.  With healthy eating, you\’ll have energy all day, get the vitamins and minerals you need, stay strong for activities you enjoy, and maintain a healthy weight.

Below, you\’ll find tips designed to help you with healthy eating.

1.  Don\’t skip any meals: Eating 3 meals with snacks in between is the ideal way to maintain both energy and a healthy weight. When you skip meals and get hungry, you\’re more than likely to choose foods that aren\’t very good for you.

If you are eating away from home, take food with you or know where you can buy healthy food from.

2.  Learn about how to prepare foods: Instead of deep frying, try grilling, stir-frying, microwaving, baking, and even boiling.  You should also try fresh or even dried herbs and spices to add flavor to your food.  Before you eat any type of meat, be sure to trim the fat and skin off of it.

3.  Avoid a lot of sugar: Drinks that contain sugar are a major source of empty energy.  What this means, is that the drinks contain a lot of energy that your body may not need, and it doesn\’t contain any vitamins or minerals.  If you plan to drink sugary drinks, don\’t go overboard—limit yourself to 1 a day.

4.  Avoid thinking about diets: There are no good food nor any bad foods. All food can be a part of a healthy diet, when eaten in moderation.  You don\’t need to buy any low-carb, fat-free, or even diet foods, as these foods normally have lots of other added ingredients to replaces the carbohydrates or fat.

I am getting a tooth extracted and braces fitted a few weeks later.

I’ve worked all year to try and gain weight, and I am facing losing it all because I will not be able to eat whole foods for a while.

Is there any way I can avoid weight loss in this situation?

Karina chats with Registered Dietician Judith Axelrod about how to eat healthy.