Hello everyone!
I recently needed to shed a few pounds, get rid of excess water, and most importantly, bring down my weight number. The competitions were coming up, and I needed to get in shape. At the time of starting my weight loss journey, my weight was 60.4 kg, with a height of 167 cm. I'm already pretty lean, but I'm not exactly ripped, with a soft stomach. My ideal weight is around 54 kg. At that weight, I'd have a six-pack!
I'm a professional athlete, specializing in sambo and weightlifting, and I'm part of my region's team. I compete in tournaments, and I train hard, with 5-8 intense workouts per week. I try to maintain a weight of around 57 kg, which is my comfort zone. Before weightlifting competitions, I usually gain a bit of weight, but on other occasions, I have to lose weight.
My current goal is to quickly lose 4 kg.
I learned about the kefir diet from a recommendation, and it was at the top of the list, so I thought, 'this must be a sign!'
And that's exactly what happened. It stuck with me.
I want to make one thing clear: I didn't starve myself. I still had enough energy for my workouts, even if it wasn't at full capacity. And let's be real, starving myself wouldn't have been great for competitions!
So, what did my diet look like?
Breakfast was either oatmeal or cottage cheese.
Lunch was something relatively low-calorie, with veggies (fiber).
I have to admit, my diet was pretty basic - just snacks and dinner, and that was kefir. I know, it's not a lot, especially considering my doctor temporarily restricted my protein intake just a week ago because of a bad blood test result. I'll be retesting in November, and I need to keep my daily protein intake under 60 grams to avoid overloading my kidneys and liver. Normally, I'd consume around 100-120 grams of protein per day, but with this diet, I was lucky to get 44 grams. To be honest, I was more worried about my weight than my protein intake.
That's my 'before' photo. I didn't take too many pictures because I wasn't exactly thrilled about my weight...
Day one
I'm not a big fan of milk, cottage cheese, or sweet yogurts, so kefir was basically the only thing I associated with weight loss.
On my first day, I had 200 grams of cottage cheese, 50 grams of milk, one tablespoon of butter with oil, two mandarins, and an apple. Everything else was kefir. I drank way more water than I should have - 2.7 liters - and even went to the gym to pull some weights. By the way, I'm not a fan of those tight leggings that show off your bum. I prefer wearing normal shorts that don't show anything, and they also make me sweat less. Although, I don't have any girls in the gym with me... we're all there to lift weights and prepare for competitions, not work out at a fitness club. The photo isn't from this day.
I make sure to drink a ton of water, and usually go through two 0.5-liter bottles after a workout.
Day two
Day two started off with a bad night's sleep, since I had a bunch of important stuff to take care of from 8 am and I was worried about oversleeping. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I use a water tracker on my phone and a pedometer, and I transfer all the data to my computer before bed. I keep a spreadsheet in Excel to track everything.
I had a cup of kefir for breakfast, followed by 134 grams of cottage cheese and 50 grams of milk for lunch, and then a serving of grechka with veggies and suluguni cheese for dinner. I went through a whole liter of kefir throughout the day.
Here's the weight of the cheese:
And here's the weight of the grechka:
And here's the weight of the veggies:
Of course, I had my workout.
Day Three
I started my day with oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch was a scramble with two eggs and some veggies.
I devoured a pack of yogurt in one day and had a glass in the evening. I stumbled upon some cheap dried prunes on my feed and had the whole pack (250 calories) in one go. It was super tasty, but I have to keep an eye on my diet because prunes can be constipating.
And, of course, I had a workout.
Day Four
I was thrilled to see the scale moving in the right direction.
My breakfast was oatmeal and lunch was grechka without any veggies - I just didn't feel like cooking them. I had my second pack of prunes.
I have to say, the fifth day was a real challenge. I was feeling pretty weak and my mood wasn't great either.
Day five
Since I wasn't tracking my weight, I was a bit anxious about it, so I ended up eating pretty lightly - just some yogurt and cottage cheese for lunch, and oatmeal for breakfast.
Day six: the final day
I finally weighed myself and was thrilled to see that I was down to 55.5 kg! I was feeling pretty relaxed after that, so I had a nice breakfast of oatmeal, followed by some butter and oil for lunch, and then some yogurt and a bit of cake. I also went to the pool for a relaxing swim to take my mind off things.
Day seven. Competition time! I'm loving the excitement!
Woke up at 55.1kg, feeling pretty good.
And the real culprit behind all this? My competition scales! They're so much fun to use!
At the competition, I weighed in at 55.9kg - I had a bit of water and oatmeal for breakfast, as the scales were a bit off. After weighing in, I headed straight to the dressing room for a protein shake and a energy bar. It was a real rush! The bar and drink were way more delicious than usual.
So, how did I do? I performed amazingly well! Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos in the process - our whole team was competing at the same time, and I don't know who took the pictures. But we did get some great results: 69 reps with two 12kg kettlebells. I took first place!
Here's a photo of me on the podium. My teammate took the picture - our photographer wasn't quite on the ball that day.
I think this photo is what I look like after
The Verdict
I only see this diet as viable in two situations:
I was in a pinch, like I was before my competitions or surgery. Sometimes, with a lot of extra weight, they'll refuse to operate. It's better to lose weight quickly and get the surgery over with than to spend months trying to lose the weight and delay the treatment.out of stupidity! If you don't need to lose weight right now, don't put your body through stress!Every victory comes with a price - a diet this strict isn't cool and it's not healthy. If I hadn't rushed into it, I would have lost weight in a more gentle way. There are plenty of competitions, but I'm on my own. Of course, the consequences will be worse if you're constantly sitting on diets like this for too long.
Why did I lose weight so quickly?
There are a few reasons:
- I have a big muscle mass, and we all know that muscles burn a lot of calories
- I was doing intense workouts
- I was taking at least 12,000 steps a day
- I have a fast metabolism
And that's a wrap. If you're looking to shed a few kilos without any hassle or consequences, I'd recommend checking out my detailed review on calorie deficit here.