Slim Fast 3-2-1 plan.

Hello.
Tomorrow I am starting the slim fast plan.
Has anybody done this and what were your results.
I will be blogging on my results daily :-)

Replies

  • appygirl84
    appygirl84 Posts: 105 Member
    I have done it a few days. I normally do good the first week. Then around week two I turn into this crazy monster that is hungry all the time, emotional, and eats everything. I don't know if that is the slim fast plan, me, or maybe I started it the wrong week of my cycle. They say there are certain times in your cycle that are better to start exercising or dieting... so who knows. I try to do it maybe 1 week a month. Otherwise I will start over eating.
  • JenniTheVeggie
    JenniTheVeggie Posts: 2,474 Member
    I hate to be a downer but....no...just no. You want long term changes....eat REAL food.
  • ValerieMartini2Olives
    ValerieMartini2Olives Posts: 3,024 Member
    I hate to be a downer but....no...just no. You want long term changes....eat REAL food.

    Yup.
    Slimfast may help you lose a few quick pounds but the only way to lose weight and keep it off is by getting up and moving, eating real food and lots of it and repeating.
  • AndorZensko
    AndorZensko Posts: 47 Member
    I only do slim fast shakes when I am running out the door and have no time for actual food, it is not something that I should live on and so I do not make it my mainstay, but occasionally I do it so that I am not swinging into McDonalds or something when I just don't have the time to cook.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    Just try eating healthy and counting calories. Slim fast isn't a long term solution, and its not real food.
  • linsey0689
    linsey0689 Posts: 753 Member
    Yes and it didn't get me enough freedom. I sometimes still do maybe a meal/snack bars every now and gain or a shake but as a program I didn't like it.
  • WilmaDennis91
    WilmaDennis91 Posts: 433 Member
    I've done it. It worked fast for me, but you'll yo-yo back.
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
    You'll gain all the weight back.

    Eat real food now.
  • MsEndomorph
    MsEndomorph Posts: 604 Member
    I tried it a couple times. I don't like being hungry and the thing about meal replacement is that you eventually have to start eating meals again. And if you can't figure out how to eat a 150kcal breakfast now, you won't be any closer to figuring it out then.

    It also didn't sit well with me because I don't have much of a sweet tooth and everything they make is SWEET. It would automatically make me crave balance...in the form of more, real food. Plus I think the blood sugar spike and then drop made me even hungrier.

    So I can't help ya with that. But I think if you don't meet any of the difficulties that I have you should have sole decent results. Just make sure that you're prepared to have to do things the "hard way" when you're done. You can't diet and then anti-diet and keep the weight off. Slim Fast stays in business thanks to repeat customers ;)
  • sabinecbauer
    sabinecbauer Posts: 250 Member
    WIth the Slimfast shakes and bars you're asking for failure. A typical meal replacement bar of 56 g contains--wait for it!--34 g of carbs, and 15 g of those are sugar. The shakes are even worse; a 2 scoop serving (that's roughly 60 g) contains 35 g of carbs, 24 g of which are sugar. Two words: Craving Central! :grumble:

    Do yourself a favor, stay clear of the (expensive!!!) crap, and eat real food, as several people have already advised :smile:
  • 55in13
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Congrats on making the decision and then following through and going out and getting something. That's a big step over just thinking about it. Like the others, I don't think it is a good long term solution. However, I do encourage you to start tomorrow since you made the decision to start doing something. Don't put it off because a bunch of people told you SlimFast isn't the best idea. It is a better idea than not starting. Then also start researching and laying out a diet plan. Go get some alternative foods tomorrow. Use the SlimFast to fill in the gaps while coming up to speed. It is a reasonable thing to have on hand and use as a snack or a quick meal in a pinch.
  • Gigsluvscw
    Gigsluvscw Posts: 139 Member
    Pretty much what everyone is saying. Only do what you are planning on doing for the long haul. I had success with Nutrisystem, but when I got off it, gained everything back because it didn't teach me how to eat when I no longer had their products available.
  • I am doing the shakes.
    Only for breakfast time.. as I am in too much of a hurry each morning to make breakfast.
    I'm not completely cutting out all of my meals just breakfast.
    And when I come of the shakes I may gain a few but I could easily think of a 200kcal breakfast?
    = toast and butter :)
    I'm just trying it , I'm nit going to go crazy with this :-). X
  • 55in13
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
    If you use the shakes for a while and then switch to a different reduced calorie diet, you will continue losing. SlimFast can work; the fat you lose on it is the same fat you would lose on anything else. The point of people warning about it is that it tends to make some people crave more food because of the sugars and then when it ends you might feel hungrier each day than you did before you started, so you might eat more each day than you did before using them. This all varies from one person to the next, but those things have happened to a lot of people. Anyway, you are making steps in the the right direction. People are just encouraging you to check out another path that fewer people stumble on.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    I did it and lost 25 lbs. I ate back my exercise cals though, so didn't stick to it strictly most days. They were extremely helpful on my non workout days to reach my cal goals which as a woman and as a shorty and as a sedentary most days, are quite low. I've stopped and so far have noticed no yo yo effects just continuing on the same calorie amounts as per MFP as when I started. They helped me get easy and fast cals and I see them as not too different from regular IIFYM or other protein shakes except the slim fast have fiber. The slim fasts are viewed as the devil :devil: but to me they're just an easy way to get cals/protein/carbs/and fiber in a fast cheap few minutes. Nothing more, nothing less. They aren't magic, but they aren't evil. Just a shake. Would a shake by any other name still taste as sweet? IDK. That's for you to decide.

    They all tasted good to me, just make sure you don't forget to snack and that if you choose to exercise you eat back your cals because working out will make you have a deficit if you're following that plan which is 1200 which isn't even the right number for everyone. Check TDEE and scooby numbers online to see what I mean. Research those on MFP "search" button and on the google machine.

    Have fun, they taste great to me. I didn't die on them, last time I did them back in the day and lost weight and kept it off, or this time when I got to 25 lbs lost but then husbands relentless demonizing of them has won since he can be persistent, plus he has the wallet, lol. I can't buy them with my good looks. Yet. :wink:
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    I am doing the shakes.
    Only for breakfast time.. as I am in too much of a hurry each morning to make breakfast.
    I'm not completely cutting out all of my meals just breakfast.
    And when I come of the shakes I may gain a few but I could easily think of a 200kcal breakfast?
    = toast and butter :)
    I'm just trying it , I'm nit going to go crazy with this :-). X

    Oh, well then you aren't actually doing the slim fast 3-2-1 plan. So everyone can stop worrying about you then. The "plan" is an all day thing where you have THREE snacks of 100 cals each TWO shakes (BF & Lunch) and ONE 500 cal dinner. Hence the name 3-2-1. That's what I did, the whole plan. Because it was easy for me to have those meals and snacks and stay out and about in my unpredictable days. It also made it easy to eat dinner with the husband and especially meals out which he's into since most restaurants diet or lite menu's target around 500 cals. Then on day's I'd worked out I could either have bigger snacks, or just add those extra cals to dinner. So yeah, that's what I did. That's how I did it. And I'm not dead. Interestingly I have found it harder to reach my iron levels and vitamin c goals when I don't have them, now that I'm grounded from them, but I can just go get vitamins or iron pills. No biggie.

    Oh and ETA: Yo-Yo-ing comes from suddenly increasing your cals back up significantly after eating at a really low deficit which is why people equate slim fast to yo-yo ing. If you did it right and just ate the plan for awhile and lost your weight then ate little by little back to normal which is likelier since it hurts and feels yukky to eat a whole lot all of a sudden then yeah that might happen. It would be even more likely to happen if your net cals were super low that whole time if you were in addition to doing the plan working out with significant cals burning. You could net some pretty low cals that way and be setting your body up to be a hungry sponge ready to soak up cals and fat the minute you went back to normal eating. Don't do that. Also this should go without saying...but just to be clear...don't do the stupid and I'm not sure why tempting move of thinking two slim fasts good, three slim fasts better! (to the exclusion of any real food) NO! Absofreakinglutely not! If you start thinking like that, quit the slim fast immediately. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Throw them immediately in the garbage and get back to the TDEE and Scooby numbers research.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
    I've done it. It worked fast for me, but you'll yo-yo back.

    if it WORDKED, then you wouldn't gain it back.

    by that definition, everything works.
    i can
    go sit in the desert for 40 days
    or drink nothing but vodka
    or eat nothing but lettuce......hey i'm losing weight. it must be working.

    if it really works, it's easy for you to keep doing. and keep the weight off, or on, for the gainers out there.
    it should be real food that you like to eat, but isn't too time consuming for you to prepare, and fits into your budget.

    there should also be some kind of moving involved that you like to do.

    underwater basket weaving
    hoola hooping
    learning to samba
    olympic lifting

    doesn't really matter what you enjoy doing, so long as you're getting enough cardiac and strength benefits from it.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    I've done it. It worked fast for me, but you'll yo-yo back.

    if it WORDKED, then you wouldn't gain it back.

    by that definition, everything works.
    i can
    go sit in the desert for 40 days
    or drink nothing but vodka
    or eat nothing but lettuce......hey i'm losing weight. it must be working.

    if it really works, it's easy for you to keep doing. and keep the weight off, or on, for the gainers out there.
    it should be real food that you like to eat, but isn't too time consuming for you to prepare, and fits into your budget.

    there should also be some kind of moving involved that you like to do.

    underwater basket weaving
    hoola hooping
    learning to samba
    olympic lifting

    doesn't really matter what you enjoy doing, so long as you're getting enough cardiac and strength benefits from it.

    QFT. When I say "it worked" for me. I mean what you mean. That I got the weight off and it stayed off when I resumed MY version of "normal" eating. Which is healthy to begin with. And I stayed thin for years and years. No yo-yo-ing. I can see, though that if you don't know how to eat right to begin with and your excess weight is due to not knowing how to eat right, this plan doesn't teach you anything. You'll need to learn that somewhere. You can't rely on this for teaching you maintenance.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
    :flowerforyou: and a high five :bigsmile: this is why we're friends :)

    I couldn't really even attempt doing it, but i agree it's not really that different from having any other shake, although drinking whey protein is about the same calories, but has more protein.

    I just always have to chew my food, so i avoid even the whey protein or any liquid meals other than soup, most of the time.

    What works for me instead is, like you said learning about food, lots of research, and volumetrics.
    As much food as I can have within my macro/calorie goals.
  • happymum37
    happymum37 Posts: 95 Member
    Hi, I'm just coming up to the end of week 2. I'm finding it reasonably to stick to but having had a big weight loss or anything. I'm going to give it another couple of weeks and see how it goes :)
  • shutupandlift13
    shutupandlift13 Posts: 727 Member
    I am doing the shakes.
    Only for breakfast time.. as I am in too much of a hurry each morning to make breakfast.
    I'm not completely cutting out all of my meals just breakfast.
    And when I come of the shakes I may gain a few but I could easily think of a 200kcal breakfast?
    = toast and butter :)
    I'm just trying it , I'm nit going to go crazy with this :-). X

    I think everyone can cool their jets a bit. She's using it as a quick breakfast... not as a low cal diet.

    OP, I think as long as you are eating other meals from "real foods" there is nothing wrong with quick breakfast option like this in the morning. Its no different than those that grab a shaker cup full of protein powder. However, a moderate calorie deficit is what it really boils down to. If you realize that there is no "magic" to the Slim Fast products and this is just a way for you to be able to stay in a deficit and stay satiated throughout the day, then keep on keeping on.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    Hi, I'm just coming up to the end of week 2. I'm finding it reasonably to stick to but having had a big weight loss or anything. I'm going to give it another couple of weeks and see how it goes :)

    I don't know of anything that works as fast as 2 weeks. Except for tapeworm. Or amputation. Or childbirth. Or "just break up".
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    I broke the internet again?
  • TopazCarey
    TopazCarey Posts: 263
    Make your own shakes, you'll probably be better off (and fuller).
  • MsEndomorph
    MsEndomorph Posts: 604 Member
    I am doing the shakes.
    Only for breakfast time.. as I am in too much of a hurry each morning to make breakfast.
    I'm not completely cutting out all of my meals just breakfast.
    And when I come of the shakes I may gain a few but I could easily think of a 200kcal breakfast?
    = toast and butter :)
    I'm just trying it , I'm nit going to go crazy with this :-). X

    Yes, that's not doing the slim fast 3-2-1 plan. The way you've framed it, it just a quick breakfast, and unless you're eating a 900 calorie breakfast every day right now, it isn't a weight loss method. I'm having a protein shake for breakfast this morning so not much different, I just don't like the sugar content or grainy texture of SlimFast.
  • OK OK fine I lied. I am doing the 321 plan but I said I am nit because people are just going on.. I am trying it out. Its my choice
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
    I hate to be a downer but....no...just no. You want long term changes....eat REAL food.
  • shutupandlift13
    shutupandlift13 Posts: 727 Member
    OK OK fine I lied. I am doing the 321 plan but I said I am nit because people are just going on.. I am trying it out. Its my choice

    So if you didn't want to hear people's opinions on it, why did you post this?

    Honestly if if you are sedentary and not working out, it isn't an unreasonable weightloss plan. However, chances are you'll get to your goal weight and realize that by strictly dieting down you don't have the body that you thought you would and will be unhappy with your results. This is mostly due to loss of lean body mass in a deficit while doing nothing to help mitigate that issue such as a smaller deficit, adequate protein and strength training.