Losing Weight and Feeling Great

Posts Tagged ‘3 day diet’

If you’re saying “I can’t lose weight”, and need help, then here are three ideas to help you along.  Mind you, these are just for getting started on your weight loss; you’ll have to do the rest.

Tip 1:  Drink Water

Drinking water is an excellent way to start your weight loss plan.  Why?

Your body needs a certain amount of water to function properly.  When it doesn’t get that water on a regular basis, your body decides it’s time to hoard its supply.  And you know what that means.

Water weight.  Bloating.  Tight clothes.  Feeling fat.

By giving your body the amount of water it needs on a continuing basis, it quits hoarding and drops the excess water — which means excess pounds!  And while lots of people dismiss it as “just water weight”, think about it.  It’s pounds that you don’t need to be carrying around.

How much water?  Take your weight and divide it in half.  That’s the minimum number of ounces of water (not tea, coffee, soda, etc.) that you need to be drinking on a daily basis.

Tip 2:  Try a 3-Day Diet

Now let me preface this by saying that a 3-day diet is not something that should be an ongoing diet.  But rather, something to jump-start your weight loss.

By following a different diet for 3 days, your body gets a “wake up call” to start paying attention.  Your diet should be something you don’t follow in a normal day’s eating.

If you notmally eat a lot of carbs, try eating a lot of protein for 3 days.  Eat a lot of proteins but almost no fat?  Try adding a moderate amount of fat in the form of olive or flaxseed oil for 3 days.

You get the idea.  There are plenty of 3-day diets out there — find one and follow it to a T — after all, it’s only for 3 days!

Tip 3:  Exercise Differently

If you do exercise regularly, try a workout that’s totally different for 3 days.

If you don’t exercise regularly, try doing something to get moving for at least 15 (and preferably 20) minutes a day.  Walking, biking, dancing in your living room — doesn’t matter what it is — just get moving!

Can’t Lose Weight?

If after this you still can’t lose weight, you  might want to have your thyroid levels checked if you are constantly dieting and not losing weight.  Low thyroid levels can confound your body’s weight balance.  So get it checked out!

I was asked how I started my weight loss; it all started with a 3-day diet to help kick-start the dieting process.  After checking around some, I was appalled at some of the diets I saw — not healthy at all!  So, I came up with one of my own that I still use from time to time.  Here is it — my 3 day smoothie diet.

(The diet is first, then the recipe for the smoothie itself is farther down on the page.)

3 Day Smoothie Diet

This diet has the same menu for all three days; it is:

Breakfast:

1 fruit smoothie with protein

Morning snack:

1 piece of string cheese — regular, not low fat.

Lunch:

Large green leafy salad plus raw veggies of your choosing, 3 tbsp low-calorie dressing (30 or fewer calories per tbsp).

3 ounces protein — tuna, dairy or chicken.  Another option — serving of yogurt, as long as it has at least 7 grams of protein and is less than 140 calories.

Afternoon Snack

1 medium apple, 1 tbsp peanut butter

Dinner:

Fruit smoothie with protein

Dessert

1 cup sugar-free jello.

That’s it — not very complicated, but by the end of the 3rd day you’re really wanting anything but another smoothie!

Fruit Smoothie (With Protein) Recipe:

• 6 large strawberries, frozen
• 1 small banana, frozen (or, 1/2 large banana)
• 1 serving vanilla whey protein powder.  I happen to like OnWhey because it has a lot of protein and isn’t too sweet.  But choose any with at least 17 grams of protein per serving.
• 1 tsp flaxseed oil or olive oil (I promise, you won’t taste it and you do need the fat in this diet for it to work).

Put it all in the blender and blend til it’s nice and thick.  If you need to, add one more large frozen strawberry.