Slim Fast, Gain Faster! Assignment 5-1

I’m sure that a majority of people in America have heard of the weight loss product, Slim Fast, since its development in 1977. This company started with solely weight loss shakes and has since expanded to producing meal replacement bars and low calorie snack bars. Their latest meal plan, called 3-2-1, includes: “two shakes or meal-on-the-go bars, one sensible meal and two or three snacks, which can be Slim-Fast products, fruit or vegetables” (Sharum, 2011). Slim Fast promises that you can lose weight and lose it fast, averaging a loss of 1-2 pounds a week. This weight loss amount is severely under rated if you were overweight to start out with, not to mention that they do not indulge in their dirty little secret of what happens when you go off of their meal plan.

After having my second child in early 2010 I decided that I needed some additional help in shedding the pounds. I wanted fast results with little effort as I was suffering from an ankle injury and unable to go back to exercising just yet. That March I started the 3-2-1 Slim Fast plan and saw almost immediate results. Within the first week and a half I lost 9 lbs! I couldn’t believe it! From then on I lost an average of 2 lbs. a week. About 6 weeks later I decided that I was ready to stop the Slim Fast diet and start working on getting back to the gym. At that point I had lost around 20 lbs. Within 4 days, I repeat, 4 days, I had almost completely gained back the first 9 lbs that I lost. I was flabbergasted. Could this really be just from going back to eating more than one full meal a day? Absolutely. Over the next several weeks I maintained the weight that I was at, with an occasional increase or decrease of about a pound. I continued to stay off of the Slim Fast meal plan and decided to kick up my workout regimen eventually leading to the loss of those 9 lbs that I gained back.

Was it a total loss of time? No, I’m not going to say that as I did lose weight on the meal plan and did not gain it ALL back. But I do head a heavy warning for those who partake in fad diets, the faster you lose the faster you gain it back! Happy dieting!

References

Sharum, A. (2011). Information on slim fast. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_5082716_information-slim-fast.html