Special K Diet??

Hi everyone!

I have recently started on the Special K Diet and I was wondering if anyone has had success with it?  Has anyone lost lots of weight and then gained it right back?  Has anyone tried to stick with it but got too bored?  I'm just looking for some insight into this diet and I'm sure many of you have tried it before. 
Just for those who don't know: the Special K Diet consists of a bowl of Special K cereal for breakfast, Special K cereal or meal bar for lunch, fruits and vegetables for snacks, and a normal dinner.  The diet promises a weight lose of 6 lbs in two weeks.

Thanks! Can't wait to read your posts!

Yeah I've tried it twice, and as much as I love Special K, both times I wasn't able to stick to it so didn't see much of a result. 

It is restricting calories though, if you're not careful all the weight you lose will just go back on when you resume normal eating.

I tried it and I had trouble working out due to lack of energy not enough food intake to sustain a cardio workout. I did not lose any thing but time. Hopefully that will not be the case for you. Good luck!

d76jp67

Essentially the special K diet boils down to this:

Low-calorie breakfast

Low-calorie lunch

healthy snacks

healthy normal dinner meal

Hm.  Sounds familiar *looks around CC* :)

Replace Special K with something healthy like a natural muesli, with the same cals, and you'll be better off. Every diet is based on teh same thing - calorie limitation. But in order to make money, they have to have a gimick. Weight watchers has speical products and "points", light and easy has meals they sell, the grapefruit diet has eating graprefruit as this
magical elixer" of weight loss, but in the end they all have to do with burning calories (points are a variation, Atkins uses fat to keep you full and gets rid of calorie dense foods) So why not try the free, no gimick version, and just restrict yourself for a little whilse, or burn more than you use? if the special K diet works for you and you stay healthy, go for it. But its not anything super special

Dont get me wrong! I LOVE special k and I especially like the red berries one (so does my 2 yr old!).  But I noticed 2 things.

#1  There isnt much fiber in special k....if i add 1/2 a cup plus 1/2 a cup of all bran with extra fiber or something to that extent...i get more fiber in the morning with my cereal.

#2  When i eat a bigger breakfast and lunch with eggs, a fiber filled cereal and a good healthy well balanced lunch (which ends up with most of my calories!), I am less likely to snack on unhealthy snacks, and get hungry b/f dinner, as well as keep my dinner light instead of binging.  But when I tried special k diet, i seemed to snack a whole lot, have lots of cravings, and eat a crazy heavy dinner!

I still like special k so much that i do #1 most of the time with some extra fruit and a side of egg whites.

I started CC by doing the special K diet to help me get into diet mode.  It lasted about 3 weeks, and then I just try and keep the same calorie amount for breakfast and lunch, but in different ways.  So it was a good way to "shrink" my stomach.

Serka418,

The special K diet is pretty much the same thing as the slimfast diet.  The only thing to them is just keeping your breakfast and lunch meals down to 200 cals.  I have done these types of plans before, and had success with them.  (More success when i had my normal meal at lunch instead of dinner).  But they are very hard to stick to because you have to eat the same thing over and over and over and you get sick of it, not-to-mention by the time you get to that "normal" dinner, you're starving and it's hard not to over do it.  If you do end up over-eating at the evening meal, as I often did, you probably won't make that 6 lb. promise...

What I have found works best for me is to eat something small every 2 hours.  It can be anything, (within reason, of course) as long as I keep it between 100 and 300 calories.  (If it's close to 300, I'll wait 3 hours until the next mini-meal instead of two).  I don't wait until I get hungry enough to over-do it and it keeps my metabolism up.  I'm 5'4" with a smallish frame and can loose about one lb. every 3rd day for as long as I follow the schedule.  This is with about 30 minutes of moderate exercise (yoga or the elliptical) 5 days per week. 

If the Special K works for you, more power to you!  Different strokes for different folks and all that...

Good luck with your goals!

Kate

Dont fall for the gimmicks and advertising. 

I've tried that diet and the slim fast diet and I've found that they're unrealistic to stick too.  I've tried to mix and match some of them, since I do like the products, and kind of come up with my own version...

it's the concept really, thats effective, but eating a million bowls of cereal instead of other stuff didn't sound like  agreat ide to me.  mix and match, throw in some power bar protein bars, fresh veggies just whenever and, ta-da!  better well rounded diet...

I like structured diets, I like rules. I like being told what to eat otherwise I go off track and eat unhealthy, I am 1 week into the special k diet (yes its very boring) but haven't gone off track because I find it easy to follow.

I think it is good as a kick start to a diet, to get you into the routine and right frame of mind. I'm not really interested in the weight loss purely for the 2 weeks.

But yes, Kelloggs must be making a mint on it.

Hey amy_rocks!
I added you as my friend so maybe we can go through the special k diet together, give tips and such.  What do you think?
-Lauren

I have a good friend who lost ~ 50 lbs on slimfast, but she also did cardio at least 6 days a week.  she also used the slimfast as a jumpstart for a whole lifestyle change (which included getting rid of her redneck husband).  I don't think one-food diets are any kind of solution, as they are by nature temporary, but as a simple way to drop some weight and get your motivation up for real change, they have potential.

Let us know how it goes!

Short and Sweet - my opinion

It does get very boring, and it makes u poo alot lol. I quite like special k, it tastes nice and im not much of a breakfast person. but eating it twice a day for  two weeks...doesnt make it so appealing after a while.

Hhaha, th toilet comment made me laugh
Yeah I dont mind it but I don think you need a gimicky diet.
I have it as a snack. Just a few bits with some fruit. yum. Plus its got vitamins

Okay, this is my question for those that eat Special K - is their chocolate delight flavor really part of the diet? If so, I am a little leary. I have tried it before, but then realize that it is pretty much the same as said - low cal breakfast/lunch and normal dinner. And I didnt see any weight loss, got sick of the "diet" and stopped eating it. It is about as equivelant to the Slimfast shakes that are about 200 cals or so. I know my mom did Special K and lost 12 lbs in 5wks or so, but I never really thought it was good for her. I guess because she never really ate breakfast or much of a lunch before, and on the Special K in a way she was just adding calories to her eating. It did help her get those meals in though. I love the Special K fruit-n-yogurt so much I would finish the box in a few days. It didnt help that I loved the cereal that much, so I stopped eating it. It just triggered a binge for me.

Done Special K, Slimfast, Zone, South Beach, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Dr Phil, .......You name it I have done it, but CC is the only one that I find I can stick to, but only if I can enter the food as soon as I eat it.

I have lost 7 lbs this time around and already feel a little skinnier, but I know that I will really feel it at around 10 to 15 lbs. I have 38 lbs to lose overall.

I did it last year and lost about 8-9 pounds overall but I don't know if it was exactly 2 weeks it was over 2 weeks but It definetly works, it's just harder than a regular diet because cereal only tastes good about once a day after that you start craving a burger. The only problem for me is that I end up eating a lot for my 3rd meal because I think it's ok because I've had such low calorie meals before it. I'm thinking about commiting 100% to it again before summer and I'll let you know how much if any I lose. (p.s. the low carb spec. k is great because it has 20% of your daily value of dietary fiber)

I hope it works for you!  If it does, please let us know :)

I will tell you this though, but not to discourage you:

My roommate is studying to be a nutritionist and this was the diet that was touted as one of the least successful in the long term (aka those who did it either didn't stay with it and/or gained anything they lost) because it fits into two bad categories:

1) Calorie restriction - basically, it's trying to force you into really low calorie brackets which isn't healthy and kills metabolism while leaving you hungry/without much energy.  If you do it, try to stay at 1200-1300 to avoid this.

2) Fad/Repetitive diets - like the grapefruit, cabbage soup, etc, diets most people can't stick with them for long because of shear boredom/exhaustion of tastes.  Eat the same thing over and over again and most people end up hating it.

It is a much better idea to learn how to eat better and how to portion control.  The problem with this kind of diet is that it doesn't teach people how to maintain afterwards. 

Personally, I got tired/sick of the taste after two days. 

I like all the flavors of Special K, they make a nice variety of cereal, for a healthy cereal brand. I switch off all the time between the different flavors, but I mainly stick to the Protein Plus Low Crab Lifestyle Special K. I never get sick of it. I wouldn't look at it like a diet either....its cereal, and its low fat and low in calories. Its a great choice. I noticed some people just call it a gimmick and down it, but it really does taste good, they have a nice varitey and you can get creative with all the flavors....for instance the low carb one I have in the morning I drizzle a little honey on it and put in some rasins and cinnamon..its already sweet I just amp it up a bit. And its still lower in carbs and cals then some of those cereals out there. Instead of replacing your meals with the cereal....just use it as another healthy alternative in your diet...instead of eating a bowl of ice cream have some Special K. :)