How I Lost 4 Kilos in a Week with the Kefir Diet, But It Came with Some Unexpected Consequences

I've been hearing about diets for years, but I've never actually tried one – until now. I was last on a diet 20 years ago when I was in the hospital for gastroenterology. I was on 'table number 5' where they served all steamed or baked food, no fried or greasy stuff.

But this time, I decided to go on a diet voluntarily, just as I was putting some pastries in the oven.

And when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror...

I was taking a selfie, not expecting to write a review, so please don't mind the mess in the background and the dirty mirror.

Just look at me.

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My stats:

Height: 169 cm

Weight: 76.1 kg

diet for weight loss

Age: 35 (I figured it was time to get in shape after my birthday)

I'm not a mom (pregnancy affects your figure, so I thought I'd mention it).

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I'm following a kefir diet.

I've heard about this diet for ages – kefir is great for your gut, keeps you full, and it's a pretty straightforward diet with no fuss.

Kefir is a very accessible product.

I was really particular about the kefir's ingredients when I was choosing it:

natural compositionmilk and a natural starter culture

short shelf life – in this case, 14 daysSo, it's a product with a natural composition, no artificial additives.

The idea behind the diet was:

I had a beginner's diet – a 'gentle' version, I guess.

YOU CAN EAT ANYTHING YOU WANT UNTIL 6 PM, BUT AFTER THAT, ONLY A GLASS OF KEFIR.

That's basically it – a pretty simple diet.

I did allow myself some flexibility – it was hot, so sometimes (after 6 PM) I'd have a bit of compote.

I should've stuck to water, but compote is just more enjoyable.

I also allowed myself some fresh berries occasionally.

One day, it was strawberries.

Or strawberries.

Raspberries are another option.

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To get a clear picture, let me repeat myself:

I drank kefir for roughly half the days.

For the other half, I had kefir with a bit of compote (on hot days).

And for about a third of those days, I had kefir with a small serving of fruit (like the amount shown in the photo – one handful).

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When it comes to any diet (and really, just eating in general), it's crucial to consider every single calorie. You see, people who are trying to lose weight often have a weird mindset:

- I'm not eating anything, and my weight keeps going up.

- Oh, you ate an entire bag of nuts? That's a lot of calories.

- So what? It's just food, right?

Of course, it's food – and those nuts are super calorie-dense.

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Any food, even liquid (except for plain water), counts as calories. Even tea is a significant source of calories if it's got any sugar in it, so it's essential to log everything.

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Diet menu:

I'll show you what I ate in the form of regular photos.

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And here's the paradox – because my brain finally understood that after 18 days, I'd already lost weight, I made a conscious effort to eat earlier on the first day.

My 'why' portions during the diet were bigger than without it...

I was having tea with 1 spoon of sugar for breakfast (I always do it that way – I don't like super sweet tea) and 1 pastry.

diet reviewsIt's really weird to have pastries during a diet (I don't eat them often), but still...Actually, they're not as calorie-dense as store-bought ones – those have all sorts of chemical additives, cream made from plant oils, and so on.

Here, it's a delicate pastry dough made with kefir, topped with a varnish from jam, and the cream is 20% sour cream whipped with condensed milk. In 1 pastry, there's roughly a tablespoon of it.

This isn't an excuse – pastries are calorie-dense, but, I repeat, not as much as store-bought ones.

Lunch was soup, half a pack of chips.

diet for beginners

Dinner was at 17:00 every day (usually between 19:00 and 19:30).I had a mountain of mashed potatoes with meat and fresh vegetables.

diet menuI ate everything, although I usually eat less. I had a pretty minimal starting weight, around 150 grams, but the worst part was when I'd eat carbs for the day – my weight loss would be minimal the next morning.

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Next day.

Breakfast was the same – a pastry and a cup of tea.

Lunch was a fish soup made with low-fat fish (minnow).

diet menu for a dayYes, I always had a slice of bread with every meal!Occasionally, I forgot to take a photo.

Other than the pasta, I always had a slice of bread with lunch and dinner (as usual).

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After that soup, I was hungry again just two hours later because it felt like I'd gone almost a whole day without eating normally.

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My previous dinner was at 5 pm, lunch at 1 pm – 20 hours had passed, and all I'd had was a cup of tea for breakfast and a bowl of soup for lunch. I really wanted something more substantial, but I still had a snack, and my main meal was at 5 pm, so I wouldn't be tempted to eat anything else after 6 pm, just a cup of kefir.

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So, after the soup, I had two slices of smoked sausage without bread (they're thin).

food photoAnd then a little more nuts.

Simple DietI had the same sauce with the same rice and tomato for dinner.

Diet FoodAgain, I caught myself thinking that the portion was bigger than usual.

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Breakfast was the same pastry and tea.

Lunch was the same fish soup + sandwiches.

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Instead of sausage, I made myself a relatively healthy snack: black bread, mustard, melted cheese, pickled herring, and fresh onion.

Diet for Weight Loss for WomenI ate 2 of them – they're about the size of a matchbox, I cut a regular slice of bread in half.

By the way, the combination of mustard, melted cheese, and fish reminded me of sushi in taste) Try making it this way – it's quite tasty.

Dinner was pasta with sauce, vegetables.

Diet Menu for Every Day Breakfast was tea, a sandwich with melted cheese and tomato (a pinch of herbs de Provence)

I have to say, the meals I made with this diet were pretty satisfying, but I didn't add sour cream to the pork and beef stew because it was already quite rich.

effective diet However, even after those meals, I found myself craving something else a couple of hours later, so I had a small serving of grechka with garlic scapes.

For dinner, I had pasta with mushrooms and cheese.

Breakfast was just a sandwich with cheese and a cup of tea.

Lunch was a soup, and that was it.

For dinner, I had rice with a sauce, a fresh cucumber, and a compote.

NOW THINGS START GETTING REALLY INTERESTING: AFTER ABOUT 5 DAYS, MY APPETITE STARTED TO REGULATE, I WAS EATING LESS, AND THAT'S WHEN I STARTED TO SEE REAL WEIGHT LOSS.

The food is nutritious and calorie-rich, but those 15-hour fasting periods on a cup of kefir are still taking their toll.

Breakfast was a hard-boiled egg, a cup of tea, and one cookie.

Lunch – soup and half a cottage cheese with raisins (that's cottage cheese puree). Dinner – pasta with mushrooms and cheese (and a spoonful of sour cream in the sauce).

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MAYBE I'M JUST GETTING USED TO IT.

I didn't feel hungry, which is weird when your blood sugar drops from not eating: my head didn't spin, I didn't feel nauseous, my hands didn't shake.But! I felt drained: it's like I just woke up, but in a bad way – general weakness, sluggishness, and a numbness to emotions (when I'm hungry, I'm irritable – but this time, I was the opposite).Even depression kicked in. I just wanted to lie down and stare at one spot, even looking at my phone felt like too much effort. No tears or bad moods, just a general feeling of being a vegetable.xa0

I checked my blood pressure.

This was after lunch, not in the morning – and I wasn't hungry.

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This is ridiculously low for me – my top number is usually 115-120, and my bottom number is 80-85.

I was really expecting a bigger difference between the morning and night measurements, but it was only 20 units instead of the 40 I was hoping for.

After that sweet tea, my blood pressure didn't spike, which was a relief.

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The next day, I felt pretty sluggish again, like I was still recovering from a cold or something.

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For breakfast, I had some tea and two echpochmaks (those are tatar pastries with potato and meat filling, store-bought, but not that filling).

I suddenly felt a boost of energy, my drowsiness went away, and I got hungry again. I guess you could call it a rebound, but I stuck to my diet (after 6 pm, it was just a glass of kefir and sometimes a handful of fresh berries from the garden).

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Lunch was a bowl of soup, followed by some butter with cold cuts a few hours later.

Dinner was mashed potatoes, two meatballs, and some fresh tomatoes.

But this time, I stopped eating when I felt full, leaving some of that leftover mashed potato behind.

Breakfast – tea, butter with sausage, that's pretty much every day for me.

Lunch is usually a calorie-controlled meal – soup, potato pancakes, ham, and veggies. Dinner is usually buckwheat, meat, and garlic scapes.

diet menu for weight loss That's pretty much my daily menu for the past week.

I followed this diet for 9 days – I had 2 liters of kefir and drank 200ml every day (and used 1 cup for pastry dough). That would've made it exactly 10 days.

Here's my weight loss on the scale:

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kefir dietdiet for adults

diet scales

diet for weight loss for women

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weight lossThese aren't photos taken every day, but more like 'one-off' shots – there were loads, but I've only included a few here.

Those last two photos, 73.5 and 72.3 kg, aren't a one-day difference.

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Thanks to the kefir diet, I managed to lose around 3.8 kg (nearly 4 kg) in just 9 days.

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Here are the diet results in pictures:

weight loss reviews

diet resultsI didn't change my underwear for a decent pair for the sake of the experiment, as my figure might look better in different underwear.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: I used to do crunches almost every day about a year ago, and I even started to notice some definition and muscle mass. I then stopped, but after losing weight, they've appeared again. So, the slight definition on my stomach isn't due to weight loss or photo editing, but my old workout routine.To be honest, my body shape isn't an apple shape, as it might seem, but rather a pear shape – I've got a lot of fat around my stomach. My stomach area tends to lose fat easily, even when I lose a few kilograms.xa0

Diet benefits:

I was pleasantly surprised by the weight loss – even when I was eating calorie-rich foods.I didn't experience any dizziness or nausea, although I did notice a drop in blood pressure, which left me feeling down and drained.When I stopped the diet, I didn't feel hungry or the urge to devour everything in sight – my old weight didn't come back!xa0

Now, the downsides:

On top of the low blood pressure, I started experiencing some digestive issues. I've got IBS, gastritis, and a gallbladder that's prone to twisting. These conditions are pretty common, not super serious, but it's best to eat smaller, more frequent meals to ease the discomfort. After using the bathroom in the morning, I'd get these cramps and my stomach would start to hurt.I lost a ton of weight and my face started to sag (those blue arrows), and some of my subcutaneous fat 'migrated' downwards, leaving me with jowls (the red arrow)weight loss for womenThis isn't a 'before-and-after' – it's the same photo, just with some arrows to illustrate the changes.I started getting wrinkles around my mouth, which I never had before.weight loss after dietAgain, not a 'before-and-after' – just a general view of my face now, and the issue I'm talking about.My face has aged significantly after this diet – that's a fact.This diet has taken a toll on my mental health – now I understand the phrase 'can't think about anything except food.' It's not just hunger, but constantly checking the clock and thinking 'how much time is left until 6 PM, I need to eat this and that, it's 5 PM now, but I'm not hungry, but if I don't eat, I'll binge after 6 – I need to eat now, but then I'll write this review, but then I won't have time because...'

Honestly, for me, it was a bit of a mixed bag.

I learned one thing for sure – I won't be binge-watching Netflix on diets anymore, but overall, I'd say my experience was positive, so I'd definitely recommend this diet.

Instead, I've decided to eat smaller portions and snack more frequently – it's something dietitians recommend, and it's also great for my digestive system, especially my gallbladder.

I even cut my hair off just 30 cm of thick hair in the barber shop.