The 3-day diet is a well-known way to quickly lose a couple of pounds. My sister asked me to give it a go with her and I agreed. I figured it was only three days, how bad could it be? I went to bed optimistic, maybe this was the way to start teaching myself how to eat like an adult!
Day 1 ~ 870 calories tota
Breakfast
½ Grapefruit
1 slice of toast with 1 tbsp peanut butter
Black coffee, tea, or water
This isn’t too different than what I normally eat for breakfast, and the tablespoon of peanut butter was also pretty amazing. I made it to the bus no problem, got to school, and was immediately starving. After my class, I went immediately to the food court to find:
Lunch
½ cup of tuna
1 slice of toast
Black coffee, tea, or water
All righty then. I ate that in less than two minutes, and went home. My dad and I went to work out, and I did my normal routine. Leaving the gym was an interesting experience—my legs felt like noodles (mmm, noodles), and I nearly passed out when we got home.
To my surprise, exercise is not recommended during this diet (moral here: read instructions thoroughly). Apparently, burning calories that you don’t have is a bad idea! Who knew? I do now, that’s for sure. After sitting with my head between my knees for a while, I dragged myself to the kitchen to make..
Dinner
3 oz. any lean meat (94 cal)
1 cup green beans (34 cal)
1 cup carrots (52 cal)
1 cup vanilla ice cream (288 cal)
1 medium apple
Black coffee, tea, or water
Ice cream? On a DIET? Sign me up, right? I will admit that this is also pretty similar to a normal dinner for me (minus the ice cream!!), so the first night passed by fine
Day 2 ~ 1149 calories total
Breakfast
1 banana1 slice of toast1 egg (any style)Black coffee, tea, or water
I replaced the banana with a granola bar that had the same number of calories, and ate it later. One of my classes requires critical thinking that I can’t do without having eaten something right beforehand. No problems. Until..
Lunch
Dinner
2 beef franks or hot dogs
½ cup carrots
1 banana
1 cup broccoli
½ cup vanilla ice cream
Black coffee, tea, or water
1 cup cottage cheese
5 saltine crackers
Black coffee, tea, or water
I had to improvise for this one, as the university food court doesn’t carry some of these things. The lady at the stir-fry counter listened patiently as I tried to calculate how many calories would be in chicken as opposed to hot dogs, what to put in place of the banana and ice cream… It turned out to be pretty good, and not too many calories. Score.
Day 3 ~ 859 calories total
Breakfast
5 saltine crackers
1 slice cheddar cheese
1 small apple
Black coffee, tea, or water
I had a hard time waking up that morning. I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed, and went to the kitchen, barely able to keep my eyes open. I mechanically ate the crackers and cheese and sliced up an apple to eat in the car on the way to school. My mom, a math professor at my university, kept up an amiable conversation, taking my lethargic responses very well. Theology class went by, the discussion sliding over me as I stared vacantly into space.
Lunch
1 hard boiled egg
1 slice toast
Black coffee, tea, or water
Don’t get me wrong, I really like hard boiled eggs and toast, but I resented them on that day. After my meager lunch, I sat down to get some programming homework done. My code wasn’t working, so I had to parse out the errors. Squinting at the screen, I could not make any sense of the code that I, myself, had written. Across from me, the same burger-wielding friend from before, now eating a turkey burger, saw me peering at my computer and told me to get up and get some dinner because I didn’t look well. My zombified brain obeyed.
Dinner
1 cup tuna
1 cup carrots
1 cup cauliflower
1 cup melon
½ cup vanilla ice cream
Black coffee or tea
I walked into the food court, calculator in hand, ready to find some well-balanced food. On the way to the salad bar, my feet found themselves heading towards the burrito bar. I did not resist. 3 day diet be damned! Thirty minutes and a quesadilla full of carbs later, I’d finished my code and had written half of a theology paper.
Conclusion: It did not go well. As a person that has a hard time functioning without sufficient protein, I don’t think I would ever do the 3 day diet again. I did lose a few pounds of water weight in that time, but I’m sure that I gained it back within two days. Exercising during a crash diet is obviously not a good idea.
Everyone has a different metabolism, different ways of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but I would not recommend this as a way to quickly lose a few pounds. If you are feeling the healthy life, here are a few options for getting started!
Remember, being active and eating mindfully is a surefire way of living well and feeling great!