I'm doing this for the next 2 weeks.  Ystdy was okay although I was starving by dinner time, I'm eating lots of fruit too & having one of the Special K bars too.  Anyone else doing or done it? Any healthy balanced meal tips for me to have in the evening?  Hoping to loose 8lbs in 2 weeks!!!

I dont believe in this starve yourself thin diets!

I have lost 1 stone and 5 pounds in just under a month by simply walking the dogs more and having smaller portions, Im never left feeling hungry or aneamic from lack of food and Im happier then most lol I couldnt live on 2 bowls of that a day anyway, Id go mad!

My suggestions would be to exercise for half an hour every day and eat small but often and the weight will drop off! :)

as i cannot excecise at the moment i joined slimming world last night my goal is 7lb in the first week!
i am just about to have my tea! loads of chicken and veg
i will miss my thai currys

Thats a much healtheir way of losing weight!
Like me, eat healthy and if you can exercise!
You feel great when the weight starts coming off and you know its cause of your own hard work and eating good healthy food, not just starving yourself which is dangerous and also when people stop this Kellogs special diet your body will gallop up all the calories when you starting eating normally and the weight will probably go straight back on, these diets are quick fixes with side effects to the body and mind and the weight almost never stays off and can sometimes you gain more when you start to eat healthly again as you have been starved of all food and your body is craving calories and fat to survive!

1 stone and 5 lbs in under a month???  That's not healthy.  You should lose only 1 1/2 lbs to 2lbs a week or you'll lose muscle as well as fat and your metabolism will drop ( i.e. if you aren't grossly overweight to start!)

I might try the cereal diet - just as a temporary summer kick start thing.  I have been a bit poorly since Sunday, shivery, bad cough, no appetite.  So only started eating again today, and all I fancied was Rice Krispies.  I will have them for breakfast and lunch from tomorrow, with a light dinner and see if that guides me in the direction I want to go .... 

At least with cereal you are eating fairly healthily and the milk is also good (far too many people leave out dairy products when trying to lose weight - their skin and hair generally suffer).

Did you know, all the calories and vitamins your body needs per day is contained in 1 pint of full fat milk!  Saw that on some programme once.

Don't forget your fruit and veg Debussy  :)

True, but I have to give the fruit a miss at the moment - it is having a detrimental effect (to do with my bug I think - don't even go there).

:)  Take Vit C if you can then.

My daughter is doing the Crunchy Nut Cornflake and eats lots of fruit and veg, tonight she made me laugh as we're watering the neighbours garden as they're on hols and it's a real good life garden in comparison to ours.

Daughter is always amazed at what they grow, tonight there was a dead baby bird on the lawn and I'm not good with things like that so asked daughter to come get it and she did put it on the compost heap but didn't come back for ages and there she was eating their raspberrys etc., I said they do have CCTV you know!  She said 'no' they don't do they!

I even get the water out of the well to water the garden with, no wonder their garden is lovely but did cheat on the last bit as I put my hose over the fence, I just hope it don't all die on me! They're back Friday!

I actually think that these quick fix diets are no good for long term weight loss, as has been said, once "normal" eating has resumed, surely all the weight lost will return with a bit more besides! Good healthy eating is all thats required, along with exercise, even for a loss of just a few lbs ..................

Jolene........you are so right!

In my eyes there is no such thing as a diet - it should be a sensible healthy living plan.
A diet just means you are going to eat/exercise in a certain way to lose the weight then go back to normal and put it all back on.
A sensible healthy eating plan is a way of life and changing your attitude towards food. eating in moderation, treating yourself and knowing when to stop, understanding nutrition and health value. Also a great attitude to have towards food especially if you have children in the house too

Good advice, Fred's Mum.

It's not meant to be a quick fix but a kick start...you're only meant to do it for 2 weeks at a time but make sure you also eat plenty of fruit & veg as snacks, I have a great bowl of fruit permanently on my desk for snacking! If you read the blurb they don't recommend you do it for for than 2 weeks & your proper meal needs to be fully balanced & you need to drink lots of water!!  I'm doing it to get me going & I'm going to a wedding next week which I'd like to look a bit slimmer for!  I have done quite good so far & I think I could keep it up for longer but I'm sure they tell you not to for a reason.  I am not just doing this on its own, I've recently bought a bike, a Wii fit & I'm also going on longer walks with the dog.  For me this is more about the start of a lifestyle change with the ultimate aim to be to loose weight!  I've also cut out (trying!!) all the naughty things, which is hard as the biscuit tin at work is overflowing at the moment!  I think summer is great time to loose weight with all the extra flesh on show, weddings & holidays! & I personally think the way Kellogs advertise this is very good! It gave me the kick start I needed....

> I actually think that these quick fix diets are no good for long term weight loss, as has been said, once "normal" eating has resumed, surely all the weight lost will return with a bit more besides! Good healthy eating is all thats required, along with exercise, even for a loss of just a few lbs ..................

That's the thing though, any eating plan - whether it's a quick fix diet or a sensible healthy diet - will ultimately fail if "normal" eating habits are resumed once the target weight is reach.

Take myself as an example - if I was to start eating a well rounded, healthy, sensible diet with a view to losing the 40lbs I need to lose, if I reached that target and then returned to my personal "normal" habits - that is, junk food by the half tonne and oversized portions - then I would be back to square 1 in no time. Doesn't matter what the diet plan is, it's the long-term changes that make the difference.

Exactly - it's the original so-called 'normal' eating pattern that caused the problem in the first place; that has to be ditched for good and replaced by a 'sensible', healthy lifetime eating plan.

But what is normal?
I love to eat most things, have a very sweet tooth and can be self indulgent.
But.....what is self indulgent to me is normal for some people.
I think you just have to look in other folks shopping trolleys to see what they buy to know  we all are so different in our views on this.

Karen :)

>It's not meant to be a quick fix but a kick start

I'm sure many desperate people would not see it in quite that way............I'm positive that many would see it as an answer to all their prayers and it wouldn't actually stop after 2 weeks?

Sensible healthy eating from day 1 of any change in eating habits is the way forward IMO :)

There are other ways of kick starting a weight loss - i.e eating healthily, I lost 6.5 lbs in 2 weeks, which was enough of a boost for me to keep it up, no diet or fad foods needed! 16 weeks on and I'm minus 2.5 stone!

Fantastic Jolene, I also find something happens in your life to make you determine to lose weight, the kick start gives you the impetus to continue. The change of life style eating is the bit we all have trouble with. But quick fix is just that its quick put it all back again if you are not careful hence the phrase yo yo dieting!!! It aint easy.

I dont think its Special K thats the quick fix, i think its the fact you are surviving on next to nothing all day and then having a healthy meal in the evening that makes you lose weight.

Which is great for you Jolene however everyone is different & what works for you might not work any where near as well for someone else!

I personally think 2 bowls of cereal a day plus plenty of fuit/veg as snacks is fine, although I am missing my bread at lunch & starving when it's time for my evening meal! I've many a time finished late at work, got home & couldn't be bothered to cook so have resorted to a bowl of cereal!

The only reason I posted was to find out if anyone else had done it & what they're results were, not had much success on that note so have found a forum set up by Special K which has been very helpful!

All that matters to me is that I loose some weight!

You're wrong Freds Mum, you don't starve yourself & I'm sure Kellogs would never endorse that! If you combine the cereal with plenty of fruit & veg your calorie intake may be very similar but made up of better things i.e. healthy eating! plus if you're never tried it how do you know you're surviving on next to nothing!!

I think for the first week you will be fine gembo, I always use melons and strawberries as fill ups between meals, basically just water, whereas other fruits can have more sugar in them than a cake or biscuit so try to stick to water based fruits, but the key is to cut them up in the morning and make a nice platter, stored in the fridge, I've always found just taking fruit from a bowl boring and sometimes unappetizing.

By the second week you will probably be sick to the hind teeth of cereal, having the same meal twice a day for two week will become extremely monotonous and you will most probably get hunger pains, and may be tempted to have the odd cheat, as long as you steer clear of bread more than anything and use fruit for hunger you will automatically loose weight, you can have a nice salad for lunch instead of a cereal too.

Then just have a small evening meal,  half the size to normal and again no bread, you will find the weight will fall off.

Exercise is important too, swimming tennis or just skipping anything that gets your heart pumping for 20 mins a day is all you need.  During the first two weeks weight just falls off sometimes upto a stone, depending on how much water retention and excess you have, then it will drop to a pound or so a week. :-)

When you are off your two weeks, just stick to fruit for fill ups and you won't put it back on. :-)

Gembo i did not say on special K you starve yourself but you are eating next to nothing.the point im making is it is basic common sense that if you eat hardly anything then you are going to lose weight :-)

> it is basic common sense that if you eat hardly anything then you are going to lose weight 

That isnt totally true, you have to eat to lose weight, by starving yourself you dont actually lose weight.

i was stupid 6 years ago and needed to lose a lot of weight quickly so just drank diet coke and ate 1 banana a day....it worked although i was ill at the end of it! but i lost all the weight so not eating does make you lose weight..

thats the extreme !!  Its proven with weight watchers, if you dont eat your daily points allowance you are less likely to lose weight.

Thats i why i said if you "eat next to nothing". I am well aware that if you eat a minimal amount of calories it will keep your metabolism going, if you dont eat at all your body stores fat as its being starved.

Thanks Carrington, I've got a nice bowl of fruit next to me at work & some carrot sticks in the fridge for later!  So far I've lost 4lbs which is not bad for 4 days!  I've also been doing step aerobics, boxercise & plenty of muscle/yoga workouts, out on my bike 2nite too!  Cut out milky coffees too - my vice was latte's! Oh how I miss my lattes! Thanks again for your really helpful advice.

Gembo, have skinny lattes with skimmed or semi skimmed milk or gently phase out the milk and use 1/3 water and 2/3 milk. You can still have the odd one as a treat but try and make it a healthier version :-)

> Thats i why i said if you "eat next to nothing". I am well aware that if you eat a minimal amount of calories it will keep your metabolism going, if you dont eat at all your body stores fat as its being starved.

I think it at about 1100 cals that the 'starvation mode' can kick-in and alter your motabolism, it changes so you motabolise your own muscle and your body stores the fat you consume!!! Effectively you put fat on and get rid of the best calorie-burning tools our bodies have - muscle - which is the reason people eating below a healthy calorie limit will loose weight, but as soon as they up thier calorie intake they will put weight on quicker than before.

The best way to loose wight is by building/toning up some muscle (makes it easier to keep weight off) and eating healthy and make sure you get enough water each day (a properly hydrated body rids itself of fat much easier than a de-hydrated body) - easy :)  - in theory :( .
I just wish I could manage, since being determined to loose 5lb for my holiday - I've put 2lb on :( :( :( Damn those chocolate bars....and damn bike-riding - it makes me hungry :(

Mastifflover - if you are riding your bike you may be putting on muscle - and muscle ways more than fat!!! Well, thats what i tell my self when i put on a few Ib's - ITS MUSCLE!!! :-)

yeh, I have lots of muscle ;)

People have so many mis-conceptions it is astounding. I personally wouldn't want to try the 'cereal diet' as a way to lose weight, as I like my food too much, but I have no problems with people doing it for two weeks as a 'quick fix'. But, for people to convince themselves it is a sensible way of eating or losing weight is another matter. It is not sensible, and not nutritionally sound, no matter how much fruit and veg you eat.

I am in a constant struggle with weight loss. Not least, as my husband is not always here, as he is in the army and works away a lot. When he is here, he is not very encouraging and will often say 'lets get a take-away' to which I reply I won't have one, but he can, then he says he won't have one anyway then, which makes me feel guilty and I give in. I know that ultimately it is my decision, but it makes things harder at times, espcially as the 'healthier' takeaways liek chinese aren't the ones he prefers.

I do follow slimming world if I am losing weight. I do like big portions, and I can have them on that. But because I know I can eat as much as I want, I don't. I also tend to eat the right things when I am on it, and have lost as much as 10lb in a week before, eating loads! My problem is, I get complacent when I lose the weight, and it all creeps back on again.

I used to weigh 7st and wonder wy overweight people moaned about losing weight, it wasn't rocket science, eat less, and eat less junk. Oh, if only it were that easy.....

Thanks Fredsmum, I have a skinny latte made by myself (not costa or starbucks) in the morning & then try to stick to water in the afternoon.  Just been a bought some Green Tea with Peppermint as that's supposed to help quicken your metabolism! Here's hoping the weight loss continues!

i would just like to point out that the special k diet is not 'just 2 bowls a day'....its 1 bowl for breakfast, 1 bowl for lunch and a sensible dinner....they add that you must drink 8 glasses of water a day and help yourself to as much fruit as you can eat

saying that i feel that i agree that eating smaller healthier portions combined with exercise is the best way

wishing you luck