Special K diet was introduced by Kellogg’s, the makers of special K breakfast cereals in 2004. Later the company abandoned the plan and its propagation. In 2020, a Twitter user, Kayleigh Ann, 29 brought up this topic again. And was surprised to learn some throwback stories shared in the comments section of her tweet.
Special K diet of Kellogg’s
In the early 2000s, Kellogg’s company funded some studies and came to the conclusion that the special K diet could assist weight loss. In 2002, the Purdue university conducted a study on this diet and said that it helped rapid weight loss. It could lead to a person losing as much as 6 to 13 pounds in 2 weeks , the researchers said.
The special K diet (Source: The Sun UK)In this diet, the slimmer replaced two of the major meals of the day with special k cereals, 140 g in 100 ml of low fat milk. This was continued for 14 days. But the amount of weight loss varied. Age and genetics and type of dinner that the slimmer took affected the results.
Many women had started this diet in their teens. And looking back at those days, some shared their throwback stories on Twitter in 2020.
Kayleigh Ann, 29 and her tweet
The company has stopped on the marketing of this plan after starting it in 2004. Many women who took the diet plan forgot about it. But they did not think it was effective. In 2020, a Twitter user, Kayleigh Ann, 29 from Manchester remembered on how she had taken this diet plan in her teens. She tweeted:
“Does anyone remember in the early 2000s when Special K brought out a “diet” where you just ate Special K for breakfast and lunch and then had a small meal for dinner? Wtf was that all about? Fucking hell.”
The special K diet (Source: Pinterest)She told Huffpost UK that she just recalled the old memory when she was 14 years of age and had followed this diet for weight loss. And she used to carry around a sandwich bag containing the special k cereals. She thought of asking on social media whether anyone else had followed the diet and what they felt of it.
Response to Kayleigh’s tweet-the throwback stories
No sooner had Kayleigh tweeted, her tweet got a lot of likes. And people started opening up about their own throwback stories on it. One tweeted:
“I remember being a teenager and trying this for a week,”
And another commented:
“Yep, I remember that – I was in school, too,”
A third woman added:
“I felt v guilty if I broke from it,”
The special K diet (Source: Pinterest)This lady was 13 years old at that time and adhered to the diet diligently. Further, she commented:
“I think a lot of teens were in a similar boat. I hope teenage girls now aren’t being suckered in to something similar.”
The old ad about the diet had the picture of a slim lady in a red swimming attire. Many teenagers aspired to be like her. Addressing the ad, one lady wrote:
“I think about this ALL the time,”
“I remember being a kid and watching this thinking I’d always be slim like the lady on the Special K advert as I will do that diet when I’m older.”
Some were starving on this diet but continued because their friends adhered to it. Kayleigh told Huffpost UK:
“It’s upsetting that we felt we had to change our bodies at all, let alone as teenagers!”
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Earlier, a spokesperson for the company had said:
“The challenge is just a two-week kick-start, not a permanent way of eating.”