Losing Weight and Feeling Great

The Special K diet is "kind of" a fad diet, in the respect that it’s not mainstream and that it was developed by the Special K manufacturer in order to sell the cereal.  But it’s also a relatively reasonable diet for two weeks, and supposedly the average weight loss is 5 pounds.

The Special K diet for weight loss boils down to this:  eat a serving of cereal + 2/3 cup skim milk + serving a fruit twice a day — breakfast and lunch.  Or, eat one meal with the cereal and one meal with a Special K protein meal bar.

You can have two Special K snacks during the day (protein bars, protein water, etc.).  You can also snack on raw veggies.

Then, dinner as usual, but with plenty of veggies for fiber.

So now the question is — is the Special K diet healthy?  My vote is "mostly", as it also depends on what you normally eat for dinner!

The Special K diet.can get very boring for the two weeks, but if you really like the cereal and meal bars, it’s not too bad.  A little light on the fruits, but there are certainly plenty of veggies.

As always, I have to ask about any diet that seems to leave out a food group — in this case, fats.  On the other hand, it also depends on what fats you normally consume at dinner.  If you have a nice salad with an  olive oil dressing and some grilled salmon — you’re fine there.

If your normal dinner is fast food on the run…I’m not sure the Special K diet would help you at all!  You just get too much in the way of fats and calories from the majority of fast food meals.

If your normal dinner is fat-free or extremely low fat, then I think the Special K diet is too low in fat.  Then again, it’s just for two weeks — not the rest of your life.

So, I’d have to say that if you want to drop some weight fairly quickly and don’t mind eating the same thing twice a day, the Special K diet is reasonable.

(Just as an aside — I do like the Special K cereal — always have.  But once a day is fine for me.)