The 3-day diet: what it is, what it is supposed to do, and what it is not
The 3-day diet plan is a type of low effort, short-term crash diet. You eat less than a thousand calories a day and are supposed to lose about ten pounds over the course of three days.
This diet is not for long-term use, comes with many drawbacks, and is not healthy due to it unbalanced nutrition meal plans.
You won’t need to buy any special products, go to any in-person meetings, no pre-packaged meals, or anything special beyond what you may already have in your kitchen.
The 3-day diet plan in a nutshell
The 3 day diet consists of three meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each day has specific foods you will have to eat. The day’s meal plans are:
Day 1: Total caloric intake: 870
Breakfast: 219 calories
- Black coffee, tea (with artificial sweeteners, sweet & low, or equal. This applies throughout the entire diet!), or water
- ½ of a grapefruit or ½ cup of grapefruit juice
- 1 slice of toast with a tablespoon of peanut butter
Lunch: 183 calories
- ½ cup of tuna
- 1 slice of toast
- Black coffee, tea, or water
Dinner: 468 calories
- 3 oz. of any lean meat
- 1 cup of green beans
- 1 medium apple
- 1 cup of carrots
- 1 cup of vanilla ice cream
- black coffee, tea, or water
Day 2: Total caloric intake: 1149 calories
Breakfast: 266 calories
- Black coffee, water, or tea
- 1 egg
- 1 slice of toast
- 1 banana
Lunch: 273 calories
- 1 cup of 2% cottage cheese
- Black coffee, tea, or water
- Saltine crackers
Dinner: 610 calories
- 1 banana
- ½ cup of carrots
- 2 beef franks/hot dogs
- 1 cup of broccoli
- ½ cup of vanilla ice cream
- Tea, black coffee, or water
Day 3: Total caloric intake: 859 calories
Breakfast: 222 calories
- 5 saltine crackers
- Water, tea, or black coffee
- 1 slice of cheddar cheese
- 1 apple
Lunch: 161 calories
- 1 slice of toast
- 1 hard boiled egg
- Tea, water, or black coffee
Dinner: 476 calories
- Black coffee, tea, or water
- 1 cup of tuna
- 1 cup of carrots
- 1 cup of melon
- 1 cup of cauliflower
- ½ cup of vanilla ice cream
Why the 3-day diet plan might not work for you
There are many things wrong with this diet. In many 3-day diet reviews, people have discussed the drawbacks of how few calories there are and the impact on the body. The 3-day diet plan consists of mainly eating a few hundred calories for each day which is never healthy. It is pretty much starving your body slowly.
People who are vegan or vegetarian should also not try this type of diet. This diet is very strict, with little to no room for substitutions to fit a vegan or vegetarian’s dietary standards.
Health concerns and other considerations
For any crash diet or diet in general, always talk to your doctor first. Some diets are simply too dangerous for your health and may not benefit you in the long-term.
On top of the reasons why the 3-day diet may not work for you if you have diabetes or other health conditions that are calorie dependent, you should never attempt this diet.
People who suffer from celiac disease or any other gluten sensitivities are at best steering clear of this diet. Two components of the 3-day diet plan are toast and crackers. Although there are safe gluten-free alternatives, it is still best to spare yourself this type of diet altogether.
If you have certain allergies that conflict with this diet’s specific food group requirements, then you are best off not attempting this diet and, instead, researching other dieting methods for your weight loss journey.
You can’t exercise while on this diet because you will end up harming your body more than what the 3-day diet plan will do to you.
Final thoughts: the 3-day diet review
The 3-day diet reviews aren’t overly promising. This type of diet is very restrictive and, although it may produce some weight loss results, the diet may do more harm than good to your body. The results, like with any crash diet, are not long-term.
Always research other 3-day diet reviews to get a better idea of what you are looking at. Some people will try to promote a bad diet without discussing the drawbacks and aftershocks of using such harmful methods for weight loss.
All in all, you don’t learn any healthy habits or proper nutrition habits from this diet. You don’t learn any new fitness habits either.
Both good nutrition and good fitness habits are required to keep any unhealthy weight off for good.