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Sure, there are plenty of three day diets available to the eager, overweight Americans who are looking for a quick way to lose those excess pounds and then have the rest of the week to enjoy what they want. The question here is,do they work? NO! In case you couldn't tell, that is an emphatic no. And here is why.

I'm not being stereotypical here,but I feel that more women than men are attracted to these quick fixes because we are more prone to letting our weight control our self esteem. I know because I lived the first thirty years of my life as an obese American. It is especially hard when you're a teenage girl who is watching all your other classmates walking hand in hand down the hall with the handsome football star or the Prom King,wishing it was you,but knowing that unless your outer beauty is revealed through weight loss,it never will be.

Fast forward to young adulthood,the best time in a person's life,when you should be looking for Mr. Right. All of your friends are starting to settle down and you have a hard time being asked out on a date because nobody finds you attractive enough. These scenarios are not make believe and are not the minority. They are the majority and these are the people that these three day diets appeal to the most. They are desperate for quick results,so they buy the magazine with the large ad on the front page,promising an 8 pound weight loss in a week. Inside they find the three day diet. And here is how it works.

It cuts you down to a mere 1200 calories a day for three days,and then when you go back to eating your normal caloric intake for the next four days,your metabolism is "tricked" so to speak,therefore resulting in faster weight loss. It is called metabolic cycling. The real "trick" here,is being able to stick to the 1200 calorie diet plan for three days. If you're already obese,chances are you're eating unhealthy foods that puts your intake well into the 1800's or more. So to eat a slice of whole grain toast and an apple for breakfast or one cup of tuna and a hard boiled egg for lunch,even if it's just for three days,is kind of unrealistic. Not only that,but by the time the fourth day comes around,you're going to feel so deprived that you will be at high risk for over indulgence. That blows what you have just done for the past three days out the window. Metabolic cycling works only if you eat sensibly the remainder of the week.

I have personally tried every single quick fix to losing weight that there is from the time I was 16 years old. This has included the Atkins diet,Deal-a Meal,diet pills prescribed by my doctor,and over the counter diet pills. Nothing,and I mean absolutely nothing,worked while I was in desperation mode. That is why these three day diets DO NOT WORK! You have to be mentally AND physically ready to make the necessary life changes before you can lose weight and keep it off. You have to KNOW that you are WORTH it,no matter what the scale might say. DO NOT be fooled by quick answers to a problem that didn't occur overnight. If you change your eating habits,even if it by the process of exchanging one bad habit for one good each week,I promise you that the weight WILL come off. And it will happen before you realize it. This is the only true way to change your body's composition.

Learn more about this author, Mary Bubbins.
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