The "Three Day Diet" Explained and Reviewed

Fitness and dieting are part of who I am, and as such I often get asked a lot of questions regarding weight loss. One has been popping up a lot lately, so I though that I should write a nice blog entry to address it. So, people want to know just what I think about the “Three Day Diet”. They also seem to be particularly interested in how quickly they could lose weight with this diet if it is really something that works.

In my opinion you should first try the 5:2 diet program because it is somewhat similar and based on actual scientific evidence. It is also much easier to follow along than the Three Day Diet.

Why? Well, let me warn you right away that the “Three Day Diet” is a very strict dieting plan and not everyone can follow it. However, if you can make it through the first week you're probably good to go. Still, this is hardly an effective long-term diet strategy and this is why I am against it.

If you follow the meal plan as expected then I am almost positive that you can expect to see some effective weight-loss. However, I strongly encourage that you do this in addition to a good exercise routine if you want to see real results.

Let me also include a word or two about the health effects of this program. While is completely safe and healthy for your body, it is a bad program for a long-term diet. After three-four weeks you should abandon this plan and switch to something sustainable to prevent the lost weight from coming back. So, let’s get in the details and the mechanics of the dieting plan. As you might have guessed by now the principle idea is that you will diet for three days and then eat regularly, in moderation, for the rest of the week.

Allow me to give you a simple example:  you can use this diet program on the weekends and Monday (that's your 3 days) and then try to enjoy the rest of the word week as you wish. On the weekend you will rinse and repeat of course! However, during the rest of the week you'll have to make sure not to eat any junk food, unprocessed sugars and overall high calorie meals. I would personally like to recommend that you stick to the simple and easy-to-follow Mediterranean diet plan for the rest of the week.

So, let's look at the three day diet menu, shall we?

Menu for Day One

Breakfast: Black coffee or tea without sugar, toast jam;
Mid-day: half a grapefruit;
Lunch: 1/2 cans of tuna in its own juice, 1 slice of crusty bread, 4 radishes, cucumber or 2;
Dinner: 100g (wet weight) of chicken without skin and fat, then cooked in a little butter green beans or cooked beets, 1 small loaf of bread. Chicken chopped finely, add 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, stirring constantly, quickly fry in a dry frying pan;
Right before bed: 1 green apple.

Day one breakfast - nice and simple

Menu for Day Two

Breakfast: Black coffee or tea without sugar, 1 egg (in any form – boiled, scrambled, in the form of an omelet), 1 slice of bread;
Mid-day: 1 banana;
Lunch: 1 cup cottage cheese, 4 radishes, dill, 5 crackers;
Dinner: 150g of fish baked in foil, cooked broccoli, 2 grated carrots, 1 crisp bread. Option – you can replace the broccoli carrots + per serving dietary beets;
Right before bed: Tea with dried apricots or prunes (not more than 10 units).

PS: If you are interested in more awesome and healthy diets, I run a healthy diets blog that I highly encourage you to visit!

Menu for Day Three

Breakfast: Black coffee or tea without sugar, 5 crackers, 1 slice low-fat cheese.
Follow-up breakfast: 1 green apple;
Lunch: 1 boiled egg, 1 cucumber (fresh or salty), 4 radishes, 1 slice of bread;
Dinner: can of tuna, boiled beets, stewed cauliflower, 1 small loaf of bread. Option: replace tuna 200 g (wet weight) Chicken, prepared as described above;
Right before bed: half a small melon or a small apple.