Special K diet?

ok, so I am not officially on the Special K diet but I am trying to have cereal for breakfast and a protein bar for lunch(started this today and I feel ok). 

Has anyone else tried this?  Does it work? 

I know that it is not a long term solution but I recently realized that I have 36% body fat and am 25 pounds over weight.  I figure this is worth a try along with portion control and watching what I eat.

i have cereal practically every morning for breakfast, but I have regular Cheerios, a Banana, and 1% Milk...  Yum Yum Yummmmm 

The point of the Special K diet is to limit your options and portions so that jump starting your weight loss becomes easier. I think this is a GREAT place to start. I have started eating the Special K Plus Protein but I read that this diet is mostly based for people with bad eating habits. (That's why it's such a good starting point) I would add a lot of fruit for snacks as well, protein rich snacks like yogurt and low fat string cheese. Vary what you eat because you don't want to get bored with it and quit all together. Throw a little cardio in to the mix and you have the recipe to beginning weight loss!! YAY!!! Good luck and happy weight losing!

As long as a bowl of Special K contains less calories than whatever you used to eat for breakfast, you bet it would work.

I havent tried the Special K diet, but I have switched from Hot Pockets to oatmeal for breakfast, and its slowly working :)

Just starting with one meal and snacks and substituting it with a healthier or lower calorie option will make a difference.  Pick one, breakfast, lunch, or dinner and make sure it's healthy, well balanced, and has a reasonable number of calories.  Once you get one item taken care of, work on the others, but make sure you still get a few treats or find substitute treats so that you're more inclined to stick with it..

Oatmeal is known for having significant health benefits, including  lowering cholesterol.  Whole grain oatmeal like steel oats are healthier than the instant packets and if you make it in advance in a rice cooker take about as long as the instant varieties and are even better when you add fresh or frozen fruit.  For a quick and easy breakfast in the winter I make steel cut oatmeal ahead of time in my rice cooker, portion it out in containers and then just reheat it for about 30-40 seconds in the microwave and add milk and frozen raspberries to make it taste good.

A protein bar is usually insufficient for most people for lunch.  The volume is small so you don't tend to feel full.  The calories are often too low for lunch.  A better option is to make your own microwave meal.  The simplest is to put a serving of rice, a serving of protein, and 2-5 servings of vegetables in a tupperware container and reheat it.  Cold pasta salads are also great.  You can have a bunch of snack items for lunch if you prefer, a baggie of tomatoes, one of peppers, celery, carrots, a string cheese, a yogurt, a serving of rice or a pita for carbs.

I think you should only do it for the two weeks it says, because any longer and you're lible to really screw yourself up nutrient wise or go insane. But I as well think it's a great place to start. I always have Special K on hand for breakfast, but I know I would go mad even for just two weeks and would end up destroying everything I worked to get afterward because I would feel so deprived.

But as said, don't see why you shouldn't start there. =)

Good luck!

I live on special K with banana n skim milk like everday great breakfastt.......it does the job!!

BE CAREFUL

This diet is deceiving.  The low nutritional content of cereal coupled with the appetite triggering sugars and carbs can and probably will end up making you very hungry due to the sudden drop in blood suger!  And this leads to overeating.  However, if you eat two scrambled eggs and some veggies instead (for example), not only do you get all the greatest nutrition possible in natural foods, you will help control your appetite, and the calorie content is comparable. 

2 large eggs is ~160 Calories. 

One serving of Special K with half cup skim milk is ~150 Calories.

 

Original Post by marneedear:

BE CAREFUL

This diet is deceiving. The low nutritional content of cereal coupled with the appetite triggering sugars and carbs can and probably will end up making you very hungry due to the sudden drop in blood suger! And this leads to overeating. However, if you eat two scrambled eggs and some veggies instead (for example), not only do you get all the greatest nutrition possible in natural foods, you will help control your appetite, and the calorie content is comparable.

2 large eggs is ~160 Calories.

One serving of Special K with half cup skim milk is ~150 Calories.

This reminds me of all the old school cereal commercials, "(INSERT FAVORITE CEREAL HERE) is part of a balanced breakfast".  It would show a bowl of Captain Crunch along with eggs, bacon, juice, and milk.  Yes, Special K is a fine way to start the day but I would couple it with an egg and some juice. 

I tried to do the special K diet for a day or so, I got so hungry and sick of cereal that I just ate too much of everything else. It may work, I couldn't do that one though,

Here's an option I found to be pretty satisfying in the morning. I try to focus on eating more fiber in the morning/day to prevent myself from feeling starved.

For example, I eat 1 cup of FiberOne Honey Cluster cereal, 1/2 cup soy milk (or skim milk), cook 4 egg whites, and maybe add a piece of fruit...you're looking at around 350-400 calories only for breakfast, and you start your day off right with a nice balance of proteins, carbs, fruit, vitamins, fiber, and you won't feel hungry again for a few hours. Try to make raw vegetable snack packs (use 1 tbl spoon ranch if you like) for a snack between breakfast and lunch so that come lunch time you're not starving and can have the will power to choose good things for lunch. Employ the same snack strategy for later in the day/night and it's a lot easier to make smarter choices for dinner.

I dont have street credit yet (I've only been here for a little over a week) but I've lost 3 pounds so far doing this, and I feel like I'm eating healthier. I enjoy reading everyone's advice, and hope that I can make the same contributions to others. :-)

Original Post by jessicaann2001:

ok, so I am not officially on the Special K diet but I am trying to have cereal for breakfast and a protein bar for lunch(started this today and I feel ok). 

Has anyone else tried this?  Does it work? 

I know that it is not a long term solution but I recently realized that I have 36% body fat and am 25 pounds over weight.  I figure this is worth a try along with portion control and watching what I eat.

it only works because it will lower your caloric intake.  There is definitely nothing "magical" about special K.  Personally, cereal leaves me RAVENOUS so I could never stick to the diet, but if it works for you for a week or two then go for it.  I think in the long term the diet won't provide you with a balanced diet, and plus you'll probably get bored (or just plain hungry!)

 

i did this 2 week challenge , or tried... and had to stop after 10 days because i became really unwell through lack of nutrition. This may have been due to the fact that i am milk intolerant and therefore was eating it dry, but i was consuming around 300 cals total for breakfast or lunch and then had to make up at least another 900 throughout the rest of the day just to meet minimum requirements, which i was struggling to do. my warning to be careful

Everyone knows the 'Special K Diet' is just a marketing device to sell more cereal....?     

I do love Special K Red Berries cereal... mmmmm..but it is really just 'junk food'. It is lacking in 2 very important areas, fiber and protein, which are needed to increase the satiety value and overall nutritional value of a meal.

Marketing is the bain of nutrition education in American society. Unfortunately we tend to believe what we read and hear on tv instead of actually learning from evidence based resources.

Thank god there is so much great support and advise on this web site. Together, hopefully, we can chip away at the misinformation that the media is spewing and work toward building an informed and 'food savvy' America...

Wow. That sounded a little dramatic..hahah.. It's just that, as an RD I spend probably 50% of my time dispelling food/nutrition myths. Grrrr!

I see special K brand as "the devil". Junk food under the disguise of supposed-to-be-healthy (cos you lose weight) food. Way too much sugar, very little protein and fiber.

Might as well stick the "lose n pounds in n weeks" on a Double Quarter Pounder burger.

lifeinkcals... we should work as a team.  LOL!    I also get very angry with the marketing of 'nutritionism'.... The drip-drip promotion of barely edible substances as 'healthy' on the basis that they contain or don't contain the particular good/evil nutrient of the day.  And the converse dismissal of genuinely nutritious traditional foods on the basis that they are somehow too boring, too difficult or too 'yesterday'.  

Original Post by gi-jane:

Everyone knows the 'Special K Diet' is just a marketing device to sell more cereal....?     

 now that's just crazy talk!

I did a cereal diet (2 servings of Fiber One for breakfast, 2 servings for dinner, normal foods at lunch, a few small snacks during the day) and was coming consistently under my necessary caloric intake. It made me sick! Just make sure on your cereal diet, you're not undereating.

There are also a large amount of people in our nation that don't even eat breakfast. I think this "diet" encourages people to eat breakfast, and to watch portion sizes and calories. These can all be learned in other ways, but for people just starting out, it's not a bad idea.

The Special K advert I saw recently was making a big thing out of 'people who eat breakfast are usually slimmer than those who don't.'   I've no problem with that as a motive.  But to go on to suggest they replace lunch with a bowl of cereal has only one purpose which is to make sure the buyer goes through the packet of cereal twice as fast as normal.  

As the marketing men would say they're trying to reposition cereals away from their breakfast niche (where there is heavy competition and saturation of products) and into other eating occasions.  Lunch, post-school snack.  Any day now they'll be showing cornflakes served up on a dinner plate with a fillet steak and proposing that it's a 'healthier alternative' to a jacket potato.

Not buying it...