The Plan - Day 0

Flipping through Cosmo I usually see an ad for Almased, and the diet plan therein. Lose weight fast, boost your metabolism, yadda yadda yadda. After researching that, alternatives, and cheaper methods of such, as well as just scouring through the grocery store - here's the plan.

Three Day Liquid Only Fast

I decided on going with Nestle Boost Plus, Nestle Boost, and Slimfast to kind of get a variety in there  (that and Slimfast was on sale for $4 for a pack of 6). The drink requirements were pretty simple - stick to the Almased original in terms of having a balance of vitamins and minerals, be relatively low calorie, high protein. We looked at alternatives such as Spiru-tein, but decided that the best well rounded approach was found in already mixed drinks. For the first three days we're focusing on fasting, lowering caloric intake and improving digestive health. The Boost Plus is higher in calories and fat, but has a lot more fiber than others, so that's going to be the focus for the first two days.

Four Day Mostly Liquid

After our three day immersion is complete, we'll add in one meal per day. Lower in carbs, with good lean protein. We've picked up some nice lean cuts of steak, mushrooms, onions, and a salad mix. This is essentially Slimfast's 3-2-1 plan... minus the 3. I'm sure we'll add that in with greek yogurt, or fruits/nuts after the initial 7 day plan.

Our entire plan for the week plus cat food, laundry detergent, and some greek yogurt (just in case we get too terribly hungry) was $89. Not bad at all, considering we're used to spending $150+ per week on just food. With our bank account currently sitting lower than our rent check, and a wedding coming up John still needs to get his tux for... it's definitely good to budget. The Plus drink has 360 calories, so I'm not worried about getting less than needed nutrition of any kind. I'll be sure to update at the end of each day and let you know how it goes.

By focusing on balanced nutrition, easy to digest foods (for 3 days at least), we should be able to regulate blood sugar levels, increase metabolism, and cut out unnecessary calories. This is just my first toe dip into such things, as I've always been interested in, but afraid to try the Master Cleanse. Maybe after this, we can take a foray into that level of cleansing, if it's something deemed necessary. We might also go the Almased / Spiru-tein route at they are all natural, vegan alternatives whereas the Boost/Slimfast is a little more chemically contrived.

Before delving into this with both feet, we headed to Costco for a pepperoni pizza to say goodbye to the greasy, fatty, goodness.