The first day of the 3 week diet is clearly designed to be a bit of a kickstart. The choice of foods in this phase is quite restrictive. There is an approved list of of vegetables which can be eaten raw, steamed or microwaved.
My menu plan for breakfast was microwaved mushrooms, but in view of the fact that I was starving and it was a very cold day I decided to be a little more adventurous and include chopped bell peppers and zucchini with my mushrooms and to add a chopped spring onion for a little extra flavour. In all honesty it was pretty bland and really needed something to zip up the flavour.
Lunch was based on Costco's broccoli salad, thinly shredded vegetables including red and white cabbage, celery, carrots and broccoli. But instead of the delicious sweet mayonnaise style dressing provided Mr Costco, a little olive oil and a touch of balsamic helped to make it more palatable.
The day was characterised by hunger. I was constantly starving. I wondered if it was a mental thing. On a Saturday, I can fairly easily go without eating until mid afternoon and I rarely feel hungry. But here, because I knew I could only have certain foods I simply felt deprived. It didn't help that the food seemed bland.
Learning my lesson on the bland front, I added extra seasoning to the rest of my meals and bought some little pots of living herbs which I could also use to help boost the flavour.
None the less by bedtime I was still hungry, so I took a peppermint oil capsule which for me, tends to assuage the hunger pangs long enough for me to get to sleep.
At the weigh in on day 2 I'd lost half a pound.
Fortunately, Day 2 is slightly less restrictive than day 1 and a small amount of (approved) protein can be added which does help to make meals easier and more palatable.
The main problem I had with day 2 was the headache. Having not drunk coffee on Day 1, I think I was feeling the withdrawal symptoms! As I had a meeting that morning and had to be on form, I took a couple of painkillers and decided that I would have coffee, just substitute sweetener for the sugar and have milk regardless.
The other area I cheated in was lunch. It was another cold day and the thought of a repeat of yesterday's salad was almost more than I could face, however, I decided that, despite that fact that it wasn't on the list of approved cooking methods, I would have some nice homemade vegetable soup.
This was great, I had something hot and comforting and it really helped hugely to make me feel less deprived. I often have soup in the winter anyway, so it was much more like a normal lunch. And with a side order of more shredded salad that actually kept the hunger at bay until dinner time. Although once again, by bedtime I was starving – and my stomach was full of gas after the unusually high amount of vegetables 🙁 so to add comfort I took another peppermint oil capsule.
Day 2 had been much more successful than day 1, and at the weigh in the following morning I'd lost 1 and a half pounds. So 2 pounds in 2 days and I'd had a couple of cheats. Perhaps it was going to be worth it.
If you want to follow the 3 week diet with me, you can get it here
The 3 Week Diet – Weights and Measures
Weight
| Stones/lb | lbs | Kg | |
| Start | 13st 12lbs | 194 | 88.2 |
| After Day 1 | 13st 11.5lbs | 193.5 | 88.0 |
| After Day 2 | 13st 10lbs | 192 | 87.3 |
Fat Loss Monitor Measurements
| % Body fat | BMI | |
| Start | 44.7 | 31.5 |
| After Day 1 | 44.3 | 31.2 |
| After Day 2 | 44.0 | 31.0 |
Very happy with the drop in body fat percentage as well!
All measurements taken first thing in the morning before breakfast.
I'm not going to do the tape measuring every day. I don't think it's as accurate as the other measurements and I'm looking forward to a nice suprise at the weekend!
The body fat monitor can be bought from Amazon here Omron Body Fat Loss Monitor. Amazon also do peppermint oil capsules.