3-Day Quick Fixes

Equus5374

I'd like to hear people's experiences with any 3-day cleanse or "quick fix" they have tried. I have recently completed one of these, mostly as an experiment, and have reached some interesting conclusions. The "quick fix" called for 6 small meals daily, 2 hours apart, and consisted of very high protein (210g daily) and minimal carbs. The meals were predetermined. I ate chicken breast, steamed fish, extra lean ground turkey, green veggies, steel cut oatmeal, egg whites, and yams (serving volumes were about 5-6 g for the meats and 8 g for the veggies). I also had to drink a gallon of water daily. I could have coffee with no creamers/milk and only one packet of Stevia. Otherwise, no sugars and no salt, only spices to flavor the meat/veggies.

My conclusions: Due to the decreased carbs I felt pretty yucky throughout. I was astounded by the large amount of protein in the diet. I enjoyed the meals but found it difficult to eat every 2 hours and difficult to prepare the meals ahead of time so I could take them with me. I didn't really lose much in terms of weight/fat (I did 30-minute workouts each day, as I do most days). I ran the calories through MFP and realized that it was about the same amount of calories I already stick to daily. I found it hard to drink a gallon of water a day.

I'm not sure I really benefited much from this experience. I felt stressed at having to stick with certain foods and to remember to eat so frequently. I felt a huge sense of relief when I realized that I could get up the next morning and choose what I wanted for breakfast (within reason, of course. I didn't engorge on sweet cereal or anything). I am going to stick with drinking a lot of water. I will also try to keep my protein intake high (but not that high), around 150g. I could stand to cut some more carbs out.

This experience showed me that I eat fairly healthy most of the time and that I should keep doing what I'm doing. There were some positive take-aways and some negatives, too. Interested to hear about any of your experiences.

Thanks for reading!

Belle8312

It's called a quick fix for a reason.

And while I personally haven't done anything like that, a friend of mine did a three day smoothie/shake cleanse and got nothing out of it other than being grumpy and hungry.

girlviernes

Yeah any time limited plan is super sketchy. BUT I love that you are really thoughtful about the whole process and learning from your experience. That attitude will help you figure out what works for you.

Btw, 150g of protein is pretty high.

Equus5374

I'm a distance runner and have been instructed to eat my body weight in grams of protein.