Dieters with only a short time in which to lose weight may consider a quick seven-day weight-loss plan. Although a seven-day diet helps you lose some weight immediately, you need to make permanent changes to your lifestyle to keep the weight off. It is important to speak to a doctor before making any changes to your diet.
Time Frame
Starting a new diet can be difficult. To create a more reasonable goal and make weight loss attainable, Good Housekeeping recommends making a weeklong commitment to diet. If the week goes well, you can decide to lengthen the commitment and continue to eat healthy foods. Cheryl Forberg, registered dietitian and the nutritionist featured on TVs "The Biggest Loser," recommends eating three meals and two snacks each day for a seven-day diet plan.
Features
Good Housekeeping suggests following a 1,200 calorie-per-day diet for a week. Instead of limiting yourself to one type of food, eat a well-rounded diet with low-calorie and low-fat foods. Breakfast during the seven days may consist of an egg-white omelet with vegetables, low-fat yogurt and fruit, oatmeal with blueberries, and waffles with fruit spread. A typical lunch will be soup, a sandwich or salad. These dishes should include lean proteins, such as chicken and turkey, greens and other vegetables. Use mustard and low-calorie dressings for flavor. A typical dinner on this seven-day weight-loss plan includes fish and vegetables, grilled chicken with a salad and baked potato, turkey burgers and wild rice, and chicken tacos.
Beverages
For drinks, you can lose weight quickly on a weeklong plan by sticking to very low-calorie or no calorie beverages. Throughout the day, drink plenty of water, at least eight to 10 glasses each day. Other beverages you may have are coffee, tea and skim milk. Avoid adding sugar and cream to the coffee if possible. Instead, flavor with skim milk, lemon or no-calorie sweeteners.
Snacks
Neva Cochran, RD, a nutrition consultant writing in "Fitness" magazine advises you to include certain foods in your seven-day diet to increase the number of calories burned. You may eat these foods as your snacks or work them into other meals during the day. They include peanut butter, avocado, berries, whole grains, spinach, dark chocolate and low-fat dairy products. Some snack ideas include whole-grain crackers with low-fat peanut butter, cinnamon raisin bread flavored with melted dark chocolate, avocado tortilla, berry smoothie, and popcorn topped with low-fat cheese.
Exercise
During your seven days of dieting, make time for at least 30 minutes of exercise each day to lose weight and maintain cardiac health. Some activities may include walking, running, jogging, cycling, swimming and step aerobics. To accelerate weight loss, trainer Bob Harper, featured in "Ladies' Home Journal," recommends doing 60 to 90 minutes of exercise at least four days during the week.
Warning
There are fads on the Internet you should not try, such as the "7 Day Diet." This plan would have you eat from one type of food group each day. For instance, on the first day, you only eat fruit. On the second day, you eat vegetables and vegetable soups. According to the Every Diet website, the 7 Day Diet is not one it recommends for anyone because it is unhealthy and very low in calories.
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