The weekend means post-work cocktails on Friday, dinner date on Saturday, a huge fry-up on Sunday morning, then coffee and cake with friends in the afternoon - most of us love to fill our weekends with good food. The calories we consume then are sadly often all too noticeable on our waistlines. Luckily now there's a way to reverse the food sins of the weekend - the Monday diet. Give it a try next week. Even a 24-hour day of balanced nutrition is enough to get your flat stomach back by Tuesday.
Those who battle through diet day reap the rewards - the next day the scales will already show you're between 600 and 1500 grams lighter. The best thing: You can eat normally for the rest of the week.
Susanne Ploog has written a book that introduces ten one-day diets to help you starve off those weekend calories. We've selected four of the best:
Drink, drink, drink
On a fasting day, you exclusively stick to liquids. Healthy teas, soup and juices all count. If you get very hungry, it's OK to bend the rules and have some fruit or vegetables. Kick the day off with two cups of Yerba Mate Tea and an apple. Every hour, have another drink of any of the ones listed above. At lunch and dinner you can allow yourself a piece of fruit to go with it.
Get fruity
If you up opt for a fruit day - you've guessed it - you'll only be eating fruit for 24 hours. Melon, apricots, kiwi, blueberries... any variety is fine. Up to 2kg of fruit is allowed in one day. It's also important to make sure you're drinking at least two litres of water and herbal teas. If you have a fruit snack every two hours it will stop you wanting to binge and your sweet cravings are also curbed.
Veg out
This is basically like the fruit day, with the only difference being that you swap the fruit for uncooked vegetables.
Rice is nice
Rice is known to help flush out unwanted water in your body, immediately beating the bloat. It's also great for filling you up and will help kick those cravings. If you go for a rice day, be prepared to live off brown rice for 24 hours. In the morning, prepare 200g of brown rice (without salt) and then eat this spread out over the day. It's fine to add a little tomato, herbs or carrots to make it less bland. Also make sure you drink a lot of water and herbal teas without added sugar.
Soup kitchen
Before Monday, cook a soup with the following ingredients: 250g leeks, 450g red pepper, 300g broccoli, 250g celery, one cabbage, one large onion, 400g tinned tomatoes, vegetable stock and two spoons of olive oil. Eat the soup spread out over the whole of Monday - preferably two large platefuls at lunch and dinner. Also aim to drink at least 1.5 litres of water and herbal tea without added sugar.
Anyone who has the willpower to try one of these diets for just one day can reverse the damage done at the weekend. It's much easier than waiting for the weight to pile on and then having to hit the gym hard.
