We’ve all heard of Special K’s diet challenge. “Lose Up To 5 Lbs. In 2 Weeks,” by strictly eating Special K products.
According to Special K’s website, the diet includes two Special K meals (cereal, flatbread, protein bar, or shake) a day. You are allowed two Special K snacks (brownie bites, cracker chips, snack bars, or crackers) and one sensible dinner of your choice per day.
I’m not going to lie, I’ve tried the Special K diet. I was curious to see what all the hype was about.
Well, it turns out it’s not all that great. Take a minute and consider these major flaws in the Special K diet.
The Special K diet wipes out your energy
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At first things ran smoothly, but on just the third day of the diet, my entire body felt less than desirable.
I was weak. Before the diet I was on a consistent workout routine, but restricting my calorie intake completely took out my workout motivation.
I felt like my energy was being sucked out of me, and my body hated me for it. I was grumpy, tired, and hungry.
The Special K diet does NOT yield long-term results
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At the end of my lazy and bellyaching two weeks of a diet, I had lost 4 lbs. And while that’s great and all, I couldn’t help but thinking: now what? I went back to my normal balanced diet and exercise routine, and in just a few days I had gained back my 4 lbs.
You might see success after the diet, but not for long. For me, I didn’t care. After the diet I felt healthy and energized, not grumpy and sickly like I had for the past 2 weeks.
Although I had lost the weight, it is simply unrealistic to continue to restrict your diet so dramatically. Life without pizza is no life for me.
The Special K diet is vague
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What is one “sensible dinner” per day? It’s hard to determine what quantifies “sensible” in this diet, and that can make a huge difference in your results. I bet you are just as unsure as to what a “sensible” meal entails as I was. But that is alright because so is Special K.
Sure, they have some suggestions of even more Special K products you can eat, but that’s about it.
Let’s be honest, who wants to eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two weeks straight? Not me.
Special K products are not even that healthy
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You do not need to be eating only Special K brand foods to lose weight.
1 cup of Special K cereal has 23g of carbs, two sugars, and high fructose corn syrup. This is not a product made for clean eating or extreme weight loss, and you do not need to make it one.
Realistically, all the diet does is reduce your calorie intake. Since the average Special K meal is 200 calories, you could essentially replace that with any amount of food that equals 200 calories.
Towards the end of my diet, I found myself replacing a meal with a banana and peanut butter because I just could not stand another bite of Special K cereal.
There are plenty of operations for more healthy, calorie-trimmed meals.
If you’d like to learn about healthier diets, check out these articles: