Kate – Page 2

Fast v Slow Weight Loss – Which Is Better?

When it comes to losing weight, we have long been told that a slow and steady approach is the right way to go. However, an Australian study published in medical journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology demonstrated that fast weight loss might be a much more effective way of actually achieving our target weight.

The study took 200 obese individuals and assigned them to either a gradual, 36 week, weight loss plan or a fast, 12-week weight loss programme. Of these, 81 percent of fast dieters achieved their target weight, but only 50 percent of gradual dieters reached their goal. [Read more…] about Fast v Slow Weight Loss – Which Is Better?

Where Does The Fat Go When You Lose Weight?

Where do you think it goes?

More than 50 per cent of the 150 doctors, dieticians and personal trainers who were surveyed thought the fat was converted to energy or heat.

I thought it was excreted when you visit the smallest room.

It turns out we were all wrong! [Read more…] about Where Does The Fat Go When You Lose Weight?

Eat A Lighter Lunch To Help You Lose Weight

Eating Less Lunch Aids Weight Loss

When people are forced to eat a smaller lunch it's been found that they don't compensate by eating more at other meals. This can lead to weight loss.

Researchers in the Division of Nutritional Science at Cornell University offered half their 17 volunteers a buffet lunch and the other half were given a choice of one of six, commercially available, portion controlled foods instead of the buffet. All the volunteers were allowed to eat whatever they liked for all the rest of the day's meals and snacks.

While they were eating the portion controlled lunch, on average the volunteers consumed 250 fewer calories than on days when they didn’t eat a portion controlled lunch, and after 10 days of light lunches they had lost an average of 1.1lb.

“The results confirm that humans do not regulate energy intake with any precision,” said Professor David Levitsky, “Over a year, such a regimen would result in losing at least 25 pounds (11kg).” [Read more…] about Eat A Lighter Lunch To Help You Lose Weight

The 3 Week Diet Test – Days 9, 10 and 11

Day 9

At the morning weigh in I'd lost another pound. And even more exciting my BMI was down to 30 exactly. This means that if I lose any more weight I will officially be overweight instead of obese.

I felt pretty good this morning. After walking on the treadmill my legs didn't feel leaden and I had no difficulty walking up two flights of stairs. I really think that things have finally changed for the better.

The three week diet is comprised of 3 different phases. Today was the first day of the high fat phase. As I was now officially allowed coffee – albeit with cream and artificial sweetener, I made a cup of instant coffee with cream. It tasted really really disgusting, so I disposed of it and made a normal one with milk.

I held out until lunchtime to have my first meal. It wasn't that hard, I didn't feel particularly hungry and when I finally ate my guacamole it was really delicious and quite satisfying despite not having chips or crudités to eat it with. It was lovely to finally have some really tasty food!

However later on in the afternoon about 4 o'clock I began to feel just slightly queasy. The feeling persisted and at dinner time my partner volunteered that he felt the same. We were't sure what had caused it, so in view of the fact we had to go out and meet friends later, we decided to abandon the planned high fat meal and go for something rather more plain and ordinary before we went out.

Perhaps it was the abrupt change in diet which had caused our problem?

Day 10

At the morning weighing I was exactly the same as the day before. I don't know if yesterday's sweet potato dinner had sabotaged the day’s dieting effort but I would have expected to be down a touch as I hadn't eaten very many calories at all.

We had discussed the fat phase yesterday evening and decided that in view of the sweet potato, we may continue the fat phases for an extra day. But we were going to have to include a few more (zero carb) vegetables in order to make the fat less stomach turning.

The main thing I noticed this morning was that I felt hungry. I assuaged the hunger pangs with a cup of coffee and then breaking the routine of walking before breakfast, I had a microwaved mushroom with some garlic and herb cream cheese for breakfast. It was delicious.

My body is feeling altogether better. I'm not really sure what's different but I do feel lighter, but I have lost half a stone.

Dinner was a beautiful dry aged rib eye beef steak. I fried steak with a little oil to start with and then I added butter to the pan, and basted of the steak with the butter. While the steak was resting I added a finely chopped shallot to the pan allowed that to soften before adding a touch of brandy. I love a good flambé so I set the pan on fire to burn off the alcohol. I added some chicken stock, some mushrooms, and a spoonful of Dijon mustard and a few drops of Worcestershire source. After that had bubbled away for a moment or two until the mushrooms were cooked, I added a add a splash of cream and reduced until it is was the consistency of single cream. I adjust the flavour at the end with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

We had half the steak each (unlike a couple of weeks ago when I would have dished up a 10 oz steak each). I served the steak with steamed kale flower sprouts, zucchini cooked in butter, and some leeks which had also been cooked in butter.

It was the most delicious tasty meal I had enjoyed since starting the diet. I didn't stint on the vegetables, so my plate wes full. It was the first time I had gone to bed without feeling hungry since the start of the diet.

Day 11

The weigh in this morning was quite disappointing. I had hoped that I would have lost lots of weight after yesterday's not having lost any. But if anything the scale said that I was half a pound heavier. It could be the difference in the amount of water as I did try and drink more water yesterday.

Lunch was paté on a lettuce leaf. As we couldn't have crackers, lettuce leaf seemed the only real viable solution. I have since found a recipe for sunflower crackers which is low carb which I may try and make to see how they work instead of cracker biscuits.

I must have eaten too much pate as I did feel slightly nauseous later on. I think there’s an art to eating high fat foods, and it involves eating enough “other stuff” at the same time. The key thing is to find other stuff to eat which is filling and can cut the richness without throwing the nutritional profile outside the approved parameters.

If you want to try the 3 week diet yourself here is the sales page, or to read the expert review click here

Weights and Measures

Weight

	Stones/lb	lbs	Kg
Start	13st 12lbs	194.0	88.2
After Day 9	13st 3.5lbs	185.5	84.3
After Day 10	13st 4lbs	186.0	84.6
After Day 11	13st 4lbs	186.0	84.6

Fat Loss Monitor Measurements

	% Body fat	BMI
Start	44.7	31.5
After Day 9	42.8	30.0
After Day 10	42.9	30.0
After Day 11	43.0	30.0

Slightly disappointed with the progress during this phase of the diet.

All measurements taken first thing in the morning before breakfast.

Click here to try the 3 Week Diet yourself

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The Venus Immersion Review

Venus Immersion is the ultimate enhancement to the Venus Factor program. This is designed to be an 8 month program, which has personalized exercise programs, more information, enhanced support and coaching with the program's creator, weight loss and fitness guru John Barban. The whole program is designed not only for weight loss, but also to transform your body into the most attractive shape it can be – if you choose to do that.

It is a more interactive program than the Venus Factor. Each week there are 2 coaching calls with John Barban where he answers all your questions, helps you get past any sticking points to really ensure success in your weight loss and body transformation. These calls are recorded so you can listen to them as often as you like.

One of the key factors in weight loss is the support and encouragement of other people. Venus Immersion includes membership of an exclusive online community of women who will help and support you and also answer any questions you may have.

Special podcasts are available on a variety of subjects. Some of the most interesting are interviews with women who have transformed their bodies with the help of the Venus Factor and Venus Immersion. You can learn about their keys to success and how they overcame the specific challenges that faced them on their transformational journey. What's even better, is that many of these women are in the online community for you to meet and chat to in the members only website community.

On the members only website there are also special bonus reports and advanced workout tuition. There is new content on the site every week which details the latest fitness and weight loss research and how you can benefit from it. And to keep things fresh, each each month your workout will change so you keep moving towards your own personal goals.

Who is it best for?

Women who want to transform their bodies.
Ladies who need to lose more than 10lb.
People who are prepared to do some exercise
People who would like the support of an online community.

Who should avoid it?

Men. Men should read out Adonis Golden Ratio review to find out more about the fitness program designed specifically for them.
If the thought of exercise is too much for you, then this isn't the program for you.
People who are not in reasonable physical health. If you're over 40, you should really check with your physician before starting an exercise program.

What do you get?

Bi-weekly coaching calls with John Barban (the only personal coaching he does).
Membership of an exclusive women's support group
Advanced Workout lessons in audio and video format.
New Workout of the Month to keep your fat loss progressing.
Uncensored Podcasts
Reports on the latest weight loss research and how you can use this to accelerate your fat loss.

How much is it?

8 monthly payments of $79.

After that you will have free access to everything in Venus Immersion, the podcasts, website, community etc for life.

How is it delivered?

After joining you will receive a username and password for the exclusive website where all your information can be accessed.

Is there a guarantee

Yes. 60 day, 100% money back guarantee

What do other people say about Venus Immersion?

I love Immersion, it has been a valuable tool for my weight loss journey! At first I was very leery of buying Immersion, so many times in the past I have spent money and not gotten anything of value. I knew I had to make changes for a lifetime and Immersion has helped me do just that. I have NEVER regretted purchasing Immersion!

Terry C [View Comment]

How do I Join Venus Immersion?

The only way to join the Venus Immersion program is to buy the Venus Factor (don't worry, the completely risk free, 60 day money back guarantee still applies) and then take up the offer of the week's free trial. If at that point you are not feeling the added benefits of Venus Immersion, you can cancel without paying a penny.

Read our In-Depth Venus Factor Review

Click here to check out Venus Immersion

Testing the 3 Week Diet – Days 12 through 21

Day 12

The weigh in this morning was another disappointing one for me. I weighed exactly the same as I did yesterday. Fortunately my partner in this slimming venture had lost 2 pounds. Clearly something is working.

Breakfast was swiss baked eggs with cream and cheese. Yum, but very “fattening” 🙂

Lunch was an avocado and prawn cocktail with lettuce and marie-rose sauce, made with tomato puree instead of tomato ketchup. Not quite as nice as the proper version but quite adequate.

This was actually the last day of the high fat phase, But it was also the first day that I decided to weigh all my ingredients and work out exactly how much I'd eaten.

I left the calculating until the evening – having a full time job I didn't have time to do it as I went along – but I was pretty confident that I'd met the nutritional parameters in terms of calories, and % fat.

After dinner I entered everything into a spreadsheet and after a little Google research. I was quite horrified to discover that I’d eaten one third more calories than allowed, and missed the % fat by 7 percent!

It's no wonder I hadn't lost more weight on this phase, and a big lesson for next time. Plan the meals and count the calories in advance!

I think my downfall here was assuming the avocados were high fat. They do contain lots of very healthy mono-saturated fats and are incredibly good for the skin, but the overall calorie composition isn't right for this phase of the diet.

Days 13 through 21

After the lesson and slight queasiness of the last 3 days I was pleased to move into the final phase which is more of a consolidation. The nutritional balance isn't as critical in this stage and fewer foods are forbidden.

I wasn't expecting to lose as much weight, but also I didn't feel as hungry and so the peppermint capsules were not required to stop the night time hunger pangs.

The weight loss was slower and steadier which was not as motivating when the scales move pretty much every day, but it was clear that I was on the downward trend – albeit much more slowly. This was a diet regime which I felt was more sustainable. The good thing about the first phases is that the end was always in sight as each phase looked to be slightly less restrictive than the last and the phases only lasted around 3 days. This phase lasted over a week, so it was good to be feeling a little more “normal”.

After 21 days

By the weigh in on the final day I was really looking forward to celebrating. My friends had noticed the difference. My belt was 3 notches inside where it was three weeks ago and some of my clothes were hanging off me.

The Final Figure – 2.5% down and no longer obese 🙂

In all I've lost 14 and a half pounds. Not the 20 that Brian Flatt claims is possible, but I suspect if I'd actually done the recommended exercise and hadn't cheated so much, I would have probably lost a few more pounds.

I've lost 2.5% of my body fat which is good news. I would have liked to lose more, but I'll take that as a start. Importantly for my doctor, my BMI is now in the overweight not the obese category which could also help me save on health insurance!

The small cheats I did made the 3 weeks much more tolerable for me. Coffee in the morning for example – it was just too hard to work with the headache of caffeine withdrawal as well as feeling hungry.

The diet was hard work but the really hard part was at the beginning where the motivation was greatest – and the results were in themselves very motivating. By the end I almost felt I could just carry on with it – and I think that's Brian Flatt's point. After a while everything becomes a habit and it's not so much effort to keep doing what works.

Does the 3 week diet work? There is no question that it works. And with the passage of time the hunger pangs of the first few days have become a distant memory. I've shown myself that I can easily manage to diet for a short time, whereas if I had to carry on denying myself for months, then I would simply be doomed to failure.

Would I recommend the 3 week diet? Yes I would.

Now I'm off to get my thin clothes back out of the wardrobe – and perhaps buy some new pants!

If you want to try the 3 week diet for yourself, you can get it here or for more detailed info about the program, click here

3 Week Diet Before and After

Weight

	Stones/lb	lbs	Kg
Start	13st 12lbs	194.0	88.0
After Day 12	13st 3lbs	185.0	83.9
After Day 16	13st 1.5lbs	183.5	83.23
After Day 21	12st 11.5lbs	177.5	80.51

Fat Loss Monitor Measurements

	% Body fat	BMI
Start	44.7	31.5
After Day 12	42.7	29.9
After Day 16	42.4	29.5
After Day 12	42.2	29.5

I had taken before and after measurements round my waist and thighs, My waist was nearly 2 inches (4cm) smaller and my thighs had lost an inch each.

All measurements taken first thing in the morning before breakfast.

Click here to try the 3 Week Diet yourself

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Testing the 3 Week Diet – Days 6, 7 and 8

Day 6

It's always motivating when I stand on the scales and see another pound less on the dial. And I think that's what keeps me going despite the fact that my body feels like it's been drained of all energy.

This diet is pretty exhausting. Arranging to eat the correct food isn't too difficult, and interestingly I don't even feel like snacking, however my body feels tired. I managed a mile on the treadmill this morning and once I got into a rhythm it was fine, but later on, by the time I'd walked up two flights of stairs I was desperate to sit down for a rest.

Today was also the day when we had to sit down and do the menu plan for the next phase of the diet.

Producing a menu plan turned out to be a little more difficult than I had anticipated. I settled on a plan which I guessed would give me the correct proportion of fat in our diet for the next phase. However then I re-read the instructions to discover that for me, there was a maximum of 1200 calories per day.

Once I'd checked the internet to discover that 1 medium avocado = 250 calories I realized that there was pretty much no chance that the of the menu I had arranged coming in at that low value. High-fat food is also highly calorific as each gram of fat provides 9 cal, whereas each gram of carbohydrate and protein is only 4 cal. So if you're counting calories as well as upping the fat content it's a bit of a delicate balance.

Day 7

Bodywise, today was even grimmer than yesterday. I'm not taking to this detox diet thing well, I don't feel lighter and cleaner yet, perhaps my body has lots of toxins to get rid of! I'm not cheating much, apart from the odd cup of coffee when everything gets a bit much.

In the afternoon I really did feel awful and I wondered if it was lack of carbohydrates, so I made the executive decision to have a very small portion of quinoa with my dinner – it was the least processed carb I could think of and thus hopefully would at least be a slow release unlike say sugar or fruit.

Day 8 – Feeling slimmer and more energetic!

Today I really felt like I'd turned a corner. I'd noticed in the morning that my legs didn't feel nearly so bad. I actually felt quite lively, not hungry and after yesterday when I felt awful I actually felt quite well. I noticed I could walk up the stairs without my legs aching for the first time in days.

I had wondered if it was as a result of adding carbs last night, but when I compared notes with my friend who I had persuaded to do this along with me, she also said that today she also felt like a new woman!

I was quite relieved. All this effort and I'd finished first week 7.5 pounds lighter and now I was actually feeling really good.

One of the options for today was to fast for the day. I was pretty unsure about doing this because I'd felt so ill yesterday, but today it was a different story. I managed to book a haircut over lunchtime which I thought would probably distract from any hunger pangs.

As I got ready to go out I noticed that I could do up my shoelaces without having to undo my belt. A result! And then a good chat with the hairdresser and I forgot all about feeling hungry.

By the time I ate dinner I wasn't too hungry and despite having cooked lots because I hadn't eaten all day, I couldn't eat is all.

I was feeling much better about the whole diet. And looking forward to the next phase which starts in the morning.

If you want to follow the diet with me, you can try it here or to you could find out more from Kate's 3 week diet review

Weights and Measures

Weight

	Stones/lb	lbs	Kg
Start	13st 12lbs	194	88.2
After Day 6	13st 6.5lbs	188.5	86.9
After Day 7	13st 4.5lbs	186.5	86.4
After Day 8	13st 3.5lbs	185.5	86.1

Fat Loss Monitor Measurements

	% Body fat	BMI
Start	44.7	31.5
After Day 6	43.3	30.5
After Day 7	43.0	30.2
After Day 8	42.9	30.0

Still happy with the drop in body fat percentage!

All measurements taken first thing in the morning before breakfast.

Click here to try the 3 Week Diet yourself

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Days 3, 4 and 5

Day three.

The third morning of my diet plan started well in that I didn't have a headache and I wasn't starving hungry. I didn't leap out of bed like a spring gazelle but at least getting up wasn't the chore that it was yesterday.

And when the scales showed that I'd lost a pound and a half, things were really looking up.

Each day includes a mandatory walk. I didn't do it on day 1 because I hadn't read that section of the manual, and yesterday I really didn't feel up to it. So this morning I thought it was about time I hopped aboard the treadmill and actually gave it a go.

I did manage to walk a mile and struggled only slightly, but when I got off the treadmill I did feel quite lightheaded. I was going to have a french style 2 egg omelette “fines herbes” for breakfast, with some chopped herbs but when it was in the pan the two eggs didn't seem enough so I added another one and some microwaved mushrooms to give the whole thing a bit more body.

Unusually this morning I was so busy that I didn't actually miss having a cup of coffee. And I didn't have yesterday's headache at all. So that was a big win.

I was beginning to realize that one of the most important points about meals is that they had to either a) resemble what I would normally eat or b) be packed with flavor, because it gives the illusion that I'm not missing out.

So for lunch I started to try and combine both these points and had a repeat of yesterdays soup, and salad but with a more flavorful dressing of cider vinegar, mustard, oil and the sugar replacement Xylitol for sweetness. It deviated, of course, from the list of allowed foods, but I'm hoping that the tiny quantities and the fact I wasn't craving pudding would make it OK.

I also cheated in the evening. The allowed cooking method went by the board, but the lovely, highly seasoned, turkey stir fry almost felt like eating real food.

Day 4

At the weigh in this morning I was another whole pound lighter!

But afterwards I had to force myself to get on the treadmill. I thought it was hard work yesterday but today I simply couldn't match yesterdays pace and had to slow down. So instead of a mile in 20 minutes, I was at 0.91 of a mile and couldn't wait to hit the stop button.

My legs and body just felt rubbish. I had a long sit down afterwards. Not with the same lightheadedness of yesterday, but otherwise feeling worse. Good job I'd decided not to do the other parts of the workout yet!

By time time I’d recovered, breakfast was late. I really didn’t fancy the planned microwaved mushroom so I had a bowl of soup and some (more) shredded salad with little vinaigrette dressing to make it more palatable.

I thought about a cup of coffee, but the urge wasn’t so strong I couldn’t suppress it. Fortunately I was working from home this morning and was soon lost in the task.

Lunch, however, couldn’t come soon enough. despite having a large breakfast I was starving about an hour later. I held off as long as possible, and then succumbed to a leafy green salad with sliced cucumber and some shredded garlic chicken, the last leftover from Sunday’s roast dinner. It was lovely. Just proving once again that flavor appears to be the key which mentally makes me feel as if I’ve had a proper meal and helps stave off the hunger.

Dinner was yet another deviation from the list of allowed foods – if this diet works I could sell my own easier version at the end of it, I've broken almost every rule already!

In my quest for as much flavor as possible I actually over salted the sauce. So tomorrow's repeat performance will have to have even more vegetables in it to try and soak up some of the saltiness.

And so to bed, and another peppermint oil tablet to try and stop my stomach rumbling.

Day 5

5 Days in and I've lost 1.1% of my body fat.

Today dawned bright and very, very early, so early in fact that I decided to go shopping and hit the supermarket before the Saturday morning crowds.

So after an illicit cup of coffee to keep me going I set off. This meant that the walk before breakfast was not so much a brisk walk on the treadmill but an intermittent amble round the shop.

Back at the house the first order of business was breakfast, I had a large flat mushroom which had been microwaved for about a minute and a half topped with two poached eggs. On its own this wouldn't have made a tasty breakfast but I had seen in the supermarket some tempting orange cherry tomatoes which I heated briefly to soften them up and this turned a boring meal into something quite acceptable.

Lunch was chicken and vegetables. A chicken thigh poached in chicken stock with vegetables, carrots, celery, leeks, mushrooms and some thyme. Once again breaking almost all the rules, but it did make a lovely low carb, low fat meal for a cold winters day.

Despite that, 2 hours later I was starving hungry again.

Dinner was a repeat of yesterday's salty adventure, although by the time I'd added a load of chopped zucchini to the sauce, the overpowering saltiness had rounded out enough to be edible.

I was the first night I hadn't gone to bed hungry although as I lay in bed thinking that, I began to feel the slight tummy rumblings of starvation so I took a peppermint oil capsule to ward off any pangs.

If you want to follow the 3 week diet with me, you can get it here or to read the review click here

3 Week Diet – Weights and Measures

Weight

	Stones/lb	lbs	Kg
Start	13st 12lbs	194	88.2
After Day 3	13st 9lbs	191	86.9
After Day 4	13st 8lbs	190	86.4
After Day 5	13st 7.5lbs	189.5	86.1

Fat Loss Monitor Measurements

	% Body fat	BMI
Start	44.7	31.5
After Day 3	43.9	30.9
After Day 4	43.8	30.7
After Day 5	43.6	30.7

Still happy with the drop in body fat percentage!

All measurements taken first thing in the morning before breakfast.

Click here to try the 3 Week Diet yourself

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The First 2 Days

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.

Click here to try the 3 Week Diet yourself

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Testing The 3 Week Diet

I'm Karen. When Kate mentioned the 3 week diet to me I volunteered to test it out. I have a family wedding in the summer and I really want to be able to buy a lovely dress, surprise my family and look good in the photos.

For me the weight has crept on gradually. It started in my mid 30s and I've steadily increased in clothes size since then (I'm 46 now). I've tried a few of different diets, but they've never worked out well. I've also tried exercising and that's been good for a few weeks until something happens which makes it difficult to fit into my crammed schedule. Then the exercise gets dropped. After all, it's not like I enjoy it 🙁

So now I'm the biggest I've ever been. I really notice that all my clothes are tight. My blouses gape slightly across my bust if I stand with my shoulders back, so I have to be a bit round shouldered to preserve my modesty. I'm on the end hole of my favorite belt. And when I bend down to tie my shoelaces, I have to undo the button on my waistband! I suppose more that that though, I just generally feel lethargic, and slightly out of sorts. I put it down to carrying all this extra blubber around.

So I'm hoping for a significant weight loss. I know that after dieting a few pounds usually creep back on, but if I lose enough weight even if I gain a few pounds I'll still be much slimmer than before. And 21 days is doable. Although I don't have huge amounts of willpower, I think if the weight drops as promised, then I'll be able to keep it up.

At the initial weigh in I was resigned to learn that 44.7% of my body was fat. I know that for optimum health it should be 20% – 30% for a woman so I have a way to go. My BMI of 31.5 was also solidly in the obese category. If I can make it to merely overweight by the end of the 3 weeks, it'll be a good start!

If you want to follow the diet with me, you can get it here

Intial Weights and Measures

Weight

	Stones/lb	lbs	Kg
Weight	13st 12lbs	194	88.18

Must Lose Belly Fat - Initial Fat Percentage

Starting Body Fat (top) and BMI Values (Bottom)

Fat Loss Monitor Measurements

% Body fat	BMI
44.7	31.5

Tape Measurements ( I measured in cm and have converted approximately to inches)

	Waist	Belly	Thigh	Upper Arm
cm	90	110	70	35
inches	36	43.5	27.5	13.75

Body Fat Measurement Notes

Of course the measurements depending on where round the body I take them, so for the arm and thigh I've picked handy moles as markers to try and ensure that I measure always in the same place.

For the body fat measurements, as you can see in the picture above I have one of those little machines where you enter your vital statistics, hold the handles and it uses a tiny electric current to measure your % body fat and calculate BMI. It's not suggested in the 3 week diet plan instructions, but I thought it would be interesting – and perhaps add motivation.

The one I have is very similar this Omron Body Fat Loss Monitor from Amazon – but a much older model.

Click here to try the 3 Week Diet yourself

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