Have you ever taken the “Special K” challenge? I did a few years ago, back when the only real good cereal was their red berries. Since then, numerous other kinds of low-fat cereals have been developed, including blueberry and fruit & yogurt (my personal favorite).
I can tell you that I did have success with this challenge. However, there is a downfall to it, which I will share at the end.
So how does the challenge work? You eat two servings of the cereal everyday, along with just half a cup of low-fat milk. You can do this for either breakfast and lunch, or breakfast and dinner. Now, I could never handle a small bowl of cereal for dinner but if you can, go for it.
Whatever the third meal is, which for most people will be dinner, you eat a healthy one. So that could mean choosing a lean meat, vegetables and whole-grain rice.
Snacking generally includes low-fat yogurt, vegetables or fruit. Of course, they also have “Special K” bars available.
What I liked is that you didn’t have to count calories. I just really dislike the time and effort it takes to do this. So for me it was a huge plus.
The other positive is that it does work. If you follow the plan, almost everyone will have success in losing weight (the amount of it however, will vary from one person to the next). But this is where the downfall comes in.
The “Special K” diet is not meant to be a daily regimen. In fact, it’s recommended that it only be followed for two weeks. All of the weight loss could be quickly regained if you fall back into your old eating habits.
That was actually my problem. The key is to adjust to a healthier way of eating once the challenge has been completed. But that takes some willpower. If you have it, then the “Special K” challenge might be a great way to jump start your weight loss.