4 Day Chemical Reaction Diet
No, not taking drugs!
A couple of weeks ago I saw a couple of people on Twitter (@CarrieanneDrew from beautiesunlocked.com and @QueenBeady from queenbeady.com) talking about a diet where you can lose a stone in a week.
Now I know that's ridiculous and unhealthy and all that jazz. But I'm not a patient person and I like immediate results so I thought it might kickstart me a little and give me the inspiration to get off my lazy ass and start doing stuff. I was under no illusion that I'd lose a stone (in fact I didn't really want to, that's scary stuff!) but half a stone would be nice and then I could transfer to healthy eating and exercise.
While the basis is very limited calories, the success comes from the composition of meals and food and how they react together to trigger weight loss. There can be no substitutes, even for items with the same calorific content, as that messes with the chemical side of things.
Here's the diet.
Now I love boiled eggs and I love grapefruit, so this seemed perfectly do-able to me. I've read a lot of forums of people who've done it and many people complain about grapefruit (it seems it's an acquired taste). But the over-riding feedback is that it works.
Here's how I got on:
Starting weight – 11 stone (eek!)
Day 1 – feeling optimistic and excited. Also nervous! Toast with tinned tomatoes was good. I didn't expect fruit for lunch to fill me up, but it did! I had strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and pineapple. Boiled eggs for dinner. Salad consisted of spinach, rocket, red pepper, grated carrot & fresh beetroot.
I'm not sure if that's within the salad guidelines, but I don't like the traditional lettuce/tomato/cucumber combo. Grapefruit after dinner was good – the red variety are a lot sweeter.
Day 2 – Breakfast of egg and grapefruit was fine.
Didn't enjoy lunch much as I had to reheat the chicken. Used 4 cherry tomatoes and a splash of tinned chopped tomatoes so I had some juice to dip the toast in. I was looking forward to steak for dinner, but without seasoning it was slightly bland. The salad was iceberg lettuce, red onion and a chopped red chilli. Unfortunately I added too much chilli and onion and could taste it for the rest of the night. Craved chocolate/something sweet badly, but resisted.
Day 3 – I weighed myself and had lost 4lbs!
Breakfast of egg and grapefruit was enjoyable again, although I felt hungry by the time I even got to work. Fruit for lunch – I had strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, pineapple, mango and mixed grapes.
By the time I finished work I was feeling a little bit wibbly and shaky, like I hadn't eaten enough. I got stuck in motorway traffic which didn't help, then had to stop for petrol. I simultaneously remembered some cheese doritos in the cupboard, which I began obsessing over! Had half of my grapefruit as soon as I got in, to stave off hunger pains and give me a sugar boost, then gave in and had two doritos. I was cooking chill for the husband, and I have to say that my chilli is really good, so I caved and had a couple of spoonfuls and some more doritos. Lamb was good (I had steaks instead of chops). For the salad I chopped up some red onion and tomato into tiny pieces and added some garlic pepper to make a salsa type dressing (I read this suggestion on a forum). Everything just feels a bit bland though due to the lack of seasoning. So I gave in and had some more chilli (only a couple more spoonfuls) and a couple of handfuls of doritos. So good! Then I finished off the Cadbury's chocolate shoe from my birthday. Felt horribly guilty, but satiated to have had some actual flavour! I was probably still under the recommended 2000 calories a day because I hadn't eaten much at breakfast or lunch, but had totally fucked up the chemical balance of the diet.
Day 4 – weighed myself expecting bad things, but no change; still 4lbs down
I wasn't looking forward to a slice of dry toast, but it was surprisingly edible. Fruit for lunch Рsame combo as yesterday. Dinner of boiled eggs and salad, on a Friday night, jeez! An afternoon text to the husband bemoaning the state of my life (!!) was reciprocated with him also craving something nice, so we ended up going out for Moroccan food, oops. The food was pretty healthy (mussels to start, chicken tagine with cous cous, saut̩ed potatoes and tomato and onion salad) but the beer and wine weren't. I'm so easily persuaded! But I was really missing flavour and spice and taste, so I didn't even feel guilty!
Day 5 – I felt slightly hungover and the thought of dry toast didn't appeal, so I switched it up and had grapefruit instead. Fruit for lunch – pineapple, mango and mixed grapes. Around lunchtime I started feeling poorly with a cold and was snotting and sneezing all afternoon (if sneezing was classed as exercise I did a work out and a half!) I had to cancel plans to see friends, which had also involved a much longed for takeaway, but felt so poorly and sorry for myself that I just had two slices of dry toast and some tinned tomatoes. I don't like to think the illness was punishment for spectacularly falling off the diet wagon on Friday night, but who knows?!
Day 6 – by now I had realised that I'm a weak and pathetic person who deserves to be heavier than I want to be forever so I decided to not even pretend to stick to it any longer. I had a healthy breakfast of omelette (two eggs, mushrooms, peppers, one babybel and some chopped tomato & onion relish) then in the evening had a roast dinner with chicken, roast potatoes, parsnips, stuffing, sprouts, roast carrots and gravy. Lush.
So, what did I learn? Surprisingly, quite a lot. It actually wasn't a complete waste of time!
I learnt that I don't need to snack between meals when I'm at work – and I won't die if I feel hungry.
I learnt that fruit is much more filling than I realised and I can eat it as a meal.
I learnt that I'd forgotten how much I love grapefruit! Definitely a weekly staple in my grocery shopping from now on.
I learnt that breaking the habit of alcohol in the week isn't that difficult.
Obviously I also learnt that my willpower is even more pathetic than I thought.
And that I rely on flavour and spice to enjoy meals.
Post diet, I have been having half a grapefruit and a boiled egg for breakfast which has kept me going until lunch (previously I would have two boiled eggs and a mid morning snack of low fat crisps). I've been having vegetables and meat for lunch – probably around 250 calories – and not needing an afternoon snack (I would usually have a babybel).Yesterday and today I had only fruit for breakfast (half a grapefruit followed by raspberries and blackberries) and my world didn't end. I didn't faint or eat my own arm.
So that's progress!
I might try the diet again in a couple of weeks, but with a few tweaks so I can stick to it. Perhaps some flavouring on the meat or a spray of balsamic vinegar on the salad.
In the meantime I'm going to stick with my breakfast and lunchtime patterns, try and get to the gym (famous last words) and cut out alcohol for alcohol's sake (sob, I do love having an evening drink after work).
Thanks, as always, for reading! x
Source: https://thistattandtheother.com/2016/02/a-chemical-diet-my-diary/