ok so im re-joining the Navy for those of you who don't know, and i was talking to my recruiter and he recommended this diet called the 3-day diet, i've noticed it doesn't have much protein so i was kinda hesitant b/c im trying shape up my arms as well as drop weight...the diet claims that you can loose 10 pounds in 3 days and up to 40 pounds in a month...my recruiter said he did it and it worked, he also mentioned that heart surgery patients are given this diet before going into surgery to clean their systems out and drop the weight needed...so tell me what you guys think:

Day 1:

Breakfast- Half Grapefruit, 1 piece toast, 3 tbsp peanut butter
Lunch- Half cup Tuna, 1 slice toast
Dinner- 2 slices any meat (3oz), 1 cup string beans

Day 2:

Breakfast- 1 boiled egg, 1 piece toast, half banana
Lunch- 1 cup cottage cheese, 5 saltine crackers
Dinner- 2 hotdogs, 1 cup broccoli, half cup carrots, half banana, half cup vanilla ice cream

Day 3:

Breakfast- 5 saltine crackers, 1 slice cheddar chese, 1 apple
Lunch- 1 boiled egg, 1 slice toast
Dinner- 1 cup tuna, 1 cup beets, 1 cup cauliflower, half banana or half cantaloupe, half cup vanilla ice cream


It says after three days you eat normal but do not over do it and after four days start back on the three day diet, so 3 on 4 off 3 on 4 off kinda like that...says it works on chemical breakdown and is proven. also says: DO NOT vary or substitute any of the above foods, salt n pepper may be used but no other seasonings allowed.

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Actually this diet doesn't have much of anything, let alone protein, but in ratio, the diet is high in protein compared to carbs.

If you do the three days on, 4 days off, it's not doing much more than zig zagging your caloric intake which can have a positive effect on your metabolism. It looks like these meal plans allow for about 900 calories. With an average BMR for your weight, I'd imagine you'd be in a deficit of 1500 calories a day for those three days, or about 4500 calories, or about 1.25lbs in weight loss a week if this is all you did. Hardly 10lbs.

Weight loss as quick as this diet promises is basically starvation for someone of your weight. Doctors don't recommend losing more than 2lbs a week.

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If you want to lose lean muscle mass, this is a great way to do it. It reminds me of another guy who went to his army recruiter, and this recruiter highly recommended he wear 3 extra layers of clothing to sweat more during cardio!

These guys should be court martialed for some of the advice they give!

Here's an article that explains how much of a calorie deficit you can run without really cutting into your lean body mass.

The bottom line is that each pound of fat will sustain about 31 calories of deficit, so that if you have 50 lbs. of fat, you could run a daily deficit of slightly over 1,500 calories. If your resting metabolic rate is around 2,400 calories, and you use 600 calories a day in exercise, that would mean that the absolute minimum you would need would be 1,500 calories. A diet of 1,000 calories a day will mean that you will be losing at least a pound of muscle mass every week. Is that what you really want to do?

The figures above are just for the sake of example -- I have no idea what your body fat pctg. is, but it would be worth finding out.

In practice, I think a plan that relies on the full 31 calories per lb. of body fat is a bit extreme -- unless you're massively overweight. Also, the more weight you lose, the more you have to cut your deficit. Why? Because your body fat percentage is decreasing (if you're doing it right) and therefore you're able to sustain less of a deficit.

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Yeah, I would have to agree that this seems fishy. I can tell you right now that I eat LESS than that in a day, and a lot of the same foods and 10 lbs a week isn't healthy unless you are morbidly obese. And what kind of diet includes vanilla ice cream? Wow.