The Special K diet plan is simple. Replace two meals a day, usually breakfast and lunch, with Special K cereal and skim milk and a serving of fruit, and eat a normal dinner. For snacks, you can have two Special K snack products or fruits or vegetables. When planning the Special K diet, think about the times of day you are hungriest and plan your meals and snack accordingly.
For example, if you don’t tend to be hungry between lunch and dinner, then don’t have your snack then, but if you are typically famished after dinner but before bedtime, then have a healthy snack then. In addition, your “normal†meal should not be loaded with fat and calories.
To make the diet plan effective, be sure to have a healthy meal of low-fat protein, veggies and one serving of starch, such as a dinner roll or rice. Many people think that you should avoid all fats when dieting, but this isn’t true. Fats do serve a purpose in our diets, and we need a small amount of them to help with the absorption of other nutrients. Therefore, it’s okay to have a small amount of butter or olive oil on your dinner roll or drizzled on your rice.
A typical day might look like this:
Breakfast: One serving of Special K cereal with 2/3 cup of skim milk and a serving of fruit.
Snack: An apple, a banana or a Special K snack product such as a bar, snack bites or cereal.
Lunch: Repeat your breakfast meal.
Snack: Veggies, fruit or a Special K snack product.
Dinner: Eat a normal meal.
The Special K diet claims that dieters can lose up to 6 pounds—or 2 jeans sizes—in 2 weeks. While that claim may be true, Special K itself has no particular weight loss inducements, other than being low-fat and low-calorie. A study done by Purdue University showed that a weight loss of 4.4 pounds in two weeks is more typical.
In addition, the Special K diet is not one that should be followed in the long term. The cereals and snack products do not have enough of a variety of nutrients to keep a person healthy and strong for life. The initial weight loss, however, can be a motivating factor in changing one’s eating and exercise habits. It may be best to view this diet as a jumpstart to a lifestyle change. Take those initial 4 to 6 pounds as a starting place and continue to eat healthy and exercise to lose even more.
Plenty of people have lost weight on this diet. It is a good plan for people who have a tendency to under-eat during the day and then eat all their calories in one sitting in the evening. It’s also a good plan for those who rely on fast food for their daytime meals, but it’s not a diet for life. If you are interested in a diet plan that is more of a lifestyle change than a quick fix, a plan like the Mediterranean diet might be a better choice. The Mediterranean diet has plenty of choices that focus on wholes grains, fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, low-fat protein, and other nutritious foods.
The Special K diet can definitely be a strong beginning to weight loss, but a diet like the Mediterranean diet will set you up for health and well-being for life. It may be a good idea to start with one then move to the other to support health and well-being for the long term.
