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3-day diet
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025

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Time-limited short-term weight loss programs that are based on radical changes in habitual nutrition, in particular, the 3-day diet, are called Crash Diet, that is, "emergency". Such methods of losing weight are resorted to in extreme cases: to look slimmer at an important meeting or some celebration, for example, at your own wedding...
How does the 3-day crash diet work? And what is the most effective 3-day diet?
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The essence of the 3-day diet
There are several three-day weight loss plans, but they are all based on the same principle, and the essence of the 3-day diet is a sharp reduction in caloric intake: from the standard 2200 to 1400-1500 and even 700-800 calories per day. Obviously, this is not very comfortable for the body, which is deprived of its usual energy sources. But, as the adherents of the Crash Diet assure, this is what gives good weight loss results - up to 5-8 pounds (2.3-3.6 kg). However, it should be borne in mind that weight loss in each case depends on factors such as metabolism, activity level, etc. And all "shock" low-calorie diets, basically, do not lead to the loss of fat accumulated in the body, but to water loss due to slight dehydration.
Having studied the essence of the 3-day diet, experts from the American National Institutes of Health note: any diet not controlled by doctors that recommends reducing the caloric content of the daily diet to 1200 calories or less is unsafe for health. Among the potential risks of such a diet, experts name a slowdown in metabolism, a decrease in overall immunity, weakening of bones, and cardiac stress.
Plus, most people quickly regain the weight they lost once they return to their normal diet. So if your goal is long-term weight loss, the 3-day crash diet is not very effective.
3-day BHF diet menu
The aggressive 3-day diet involves eating three times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
On the first day of the 3-day diet menu, you can consume 1300-1400 calories:
For breakfast:
- a cup of black coffee (tea or still water);
- half a grapefruit or banana – 50 kcal;
- one dry toast – 120 kcal (with peanut butter – 180 kcal).
Lunch:
- 115 g of tuna – 150 kcal;
- one toast – 120 kcal;
- a cup of black coffee or tea.
For lunch:
- 85 g of any lean meat – 300 kcal;
- 100-110 g green beans or string beans – 35 kcal;
- 120-130 g carrots – 50 kcal;
- one medium apple – 70 kcal;
- 130 g vanilla ice cream – 290 kcal;
- a cup of black coffee (tea).
3-day diet menu for the second day (about 1200 kcal in total).
For breakfast:
- a cup of black coffee (tea or water);
- one egg (hard-boiled or cooked as you like) – 75 kcal;
- one dry toast – 120 kcal;
- one banana or orange – 100 kcal.
Lunch:
- 200 g 1-2% cottage cheese – 230 kcal;
- five saltine crackers – 70 kcal;
- a cup of black coffee (tea).
For lunch
- 85 g boiled lean meat, or two sausages, or 120 g boiled chicken – 300-350 kcal;
- 60-70 g carrots – 25 kcal;
- 65 g white cabbage or broccoli – 35 kcal;
- one banana – 100 kcal;
- 65 g vanilla ice cream – 145 kcal;
- a cup of black coffee (or tea).
3-day diet menu for the third day (about 1100 kcal in total).
- Breakfast consists of a cup of black coffee (tea or water), five salted crackers (70 kcal), a slice of cheese no more than 30 g (120 kcal) and a small apple (50-70 kcal).
- For lunch on this day you are supposed to have: a cup of black coffee (tea or water); one egg (hard-boiled or cooked in another way) – 75 kcal; one dry toast – 120 kcal.
- And lunch consists of: 225 g tuna (200 kcal); 120-130 g carrots (50 kcal); 100 g cauliflower (25 kcal); 160 g melon or berries (58 kcal); 65 g vanilla ice cream (145 kcal) and a cup of black coffee or tea.
It is recommended to strictly adhere to this diet, otherwise the 3-day diet will not be effective. It is also allowed to drink up to a liter of water per day.
It is possible to explain why vanilla ice cream is on the menu. It is a dairy product – a source of calcium, although less suitable than cottage cheese or natural yogurt. Products with a high calcium content help fats pass through the digestive system without being digested. But the smell of vanilla, as the guru of aromatherapy claims, significantly reduces appetite.
The exit from the diet - in the next three to four days - consists of adhering to the principles of a low-calorie daily diet (within 1500 kcal), but you can eat what you like.
Other 3-day diets: kefir, rice and vegetables
One of the most popular crash diets is the 3-day kefir diet, which involves consuming 1.5 liters of 1% fat kefir throughout the day. This entire amount should be divided into six meals, or 250 ml (one glass). It is also permissible to include low-fat cottage cheese (200 g). Thus, the caloric content of the daily diet will be about 745 kcal. And if you consume 5% fat cottage cheese – 840 kcal.
The 3-day rice diet does not only consist of rice, but also includes fresh apples and natural (freshly squeezed) orange juice. You need to boil one glass of rice in unsalted water, as a result of which 180 g of cereal will give you your daily norm of boiled rice (540-550 g), which should be divided into at least four meals and eat rice without oil. You can also eat three apples during the day, drink a glass of natural orange juice and up to 1500 ml of water (still). The 3-day rice diet has a caloric content of slightly more than 1000 kcal per day.
As you can imagine, the 3-day vegetable diet includes only vegetables in the menu:
Daily 1400-1600 g, divided into 4-5 meals. It is not recommended to eat only potatoes, and all other vegetables (especially all types of cabbage, lettuce, zucchini and cucumbers) are best eaten fresh - in the form of salads (with a small amount of vegetable oil). You can also boil or stew vegetables (without fats).
3 day model diet
Professional models know that the so-called 3-day model diet is a crash diet for those who are not engaged in the modeling business. Because to stay in shape, you need to adhere to sustainable dietary principles that
They include regular meals in small portions and the consumption of healthy foods that provide the body with energy and maintain proper metabolism.
Former model Kelly Killoren Bensimon, who once shone on the world's catwalks and was the face of Clarins, has a university degree and writes books on diets and beauty secrets. Kelly's recommended 3-day model diet KKB Supermodel Diet is based on drinking green juices.
A daily portion of this juice is prepared from the following ingredients: 3 cabbage leaves (chopped), a glass of chopped asparagus (broccoli), a teaspoon of freshly squeezed lime juice, 150 ml of freshly squeezed orange juice, 8 leaves of fresh mint, 4 leaves of lemon balm (melissa) or 50 g of parsley, 200 ml of water. All this should be chopped in a blender and drunk during the day (the first 200-250 ml - for breakfast).
In addition, for three days you need to: exclude oil, sugar, salt and any nuts from your diet; eat brown rice with vegetables and boiled chicken for lunch; and have lean steak, chicken or shrimp with stewed spinach for dinner. You also need to drink up to eight glasses of water a day (a glass of water with lemon juice after lunch is a must); take multivitamins and sleep at least eight hours a day. Kelly claims that the results of such a diet are minus one and a half kilograms in three days.
We think, based on the menu above, you won’t really need recipes for cooking the dishes. Especially since cooking brown rice with vegetables (according to Kelly Bensimon’s recipe) is not at all difficult. Pour 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil into a saucepan; add 50-60 g of dry brown rice; add water (so that it covers the cereal with a 2 cm layer), cook for about 25 minutes and add carrots, zucchini, onions, sweet peppers and green beans cut into strips. Everything is stewed under the lid until the vegetables are soft.
In conclusion, it should be remembered that a 3-day diet does not solve accumulated problems with nutrition and cannot teach you to eat properly. And the most likely outcome of this diet is the return of the lost kilograms.
What can and cannot be eaten on the 3-day diet?
The 3-day diet clearly regulates what you can eat, or rather, what is necessary (acceptable) to consume during these days.
Many websites feature the name "military diet" with information that this weight loss complex "works by using a unique combination of foods" that cause a "chemical weight loss reaction." To put it mildly, these claims are not supported by sufficient evidence.
By the way, this diet is not military, but militarily (from the word militate, that is, to fight, to wage war). Considering the semantic nuances (which not all authors, including English-language web resources, delve into), this diet should be called aggressive - in relation to excess fat deposits.
In Great Britain, it has long been known as the BHF Diet, the British Heart Foundation Diet, the Birmingham Diet, and even the Greenland Diet. The BHF denies authorship of this diet, and no one knows its source. This crash diet limits the daily energy value of the diet to 1,400 calories. See below what is included in the daily menu of the 3-day diet. And what you can’t eat on this diet is easy to guess from the same menu: you just need to forget about the existence of other products for this time.