General Mills manufactures Cheerios, a 100-percent whole-grain cereal. The Cheerios diet is low in sugar and fat but high in fiber. Following the diet can have health benefits other than weight loss. It may lower your cholesterol and increase your soluble-fiber intake. The diet involves eating Cheerios three times a day -- once for breakfast and twice for snacks -- and having a calorie-controlled lunch and dinner. Consult with your doctor or nutritionist to see if this diet is a good option for your specific weight-loss and dietary needs.
Nutritional Value
One serving -- or 1 cup -- of original Cheerios has 100 calories, 3 g of dietary fiber and 1 g of sugar. General Mills offers other varieties of Cheerios, but they have higher calorie counts and more sugar. For example, the multigrain version has 110 calories, 3 g of dietary fiber, and 6 g of sugar. The honey-nut version has 110 calories, 2 g of fiber and 9 g of sugar. Given the increased calories and sugar content, stick to the original version in the yellow box.
Meal Plan
On this diet, you eat 1½ cups of Cheerios for breakfast. You also eat two ¾-cup Cheerios snacks. The calorie count for the Cheerios breakfast, with ¾ cups of skim milk, is 210. The calorie count for the two snacks is 150. You can eat what you want for lunch and dinner, but you must keep your total calories under the recommended 1,500. You have 1,140 calories after you've had breakfast and the two snacks. You may split them between lunch and dinner.
Exercise
While on the Cheerios diet, plan to exercise at least 30 minutes daily. Exercise is key to achieving and maintaining weight loss, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Speak with your doctor about developing an exercise regimen that meets your needs.
Considerations
A lack of variety in this diet may make it tough to continue it over an extended period. In addition, this diet requires that you create your own healthy lunch and dinner menus. You will need to gather additional resources and tools to determine the caloric and nutritional content of those meals to make them as healthy as possible.
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