The 24-hour diet promises rapid weight loss success. But how effective and above all useful is this type of diet actually?
The nutrition coach Achim Sam and the scientist Prof. Dr. Michael Hamm developed the 24-hour diet and promise a weight loss of up to two kilos within 24 hours. During this time, your carbohydrate storage is completely emptied, which should boost fat burning. Sports units combined with protein-rich foods are intended to prevent the yo-yo effect. In a test in 2011, the University of Freiburg was able to demonstrate various successes of the 24-hour diet.
What is the 24-hour diet?
With the 24-hour diet, you have to calculate more than one day.
Day 1: Preparation
Intensive sports program to empty carbohydrate stores. Endurance sports are well suited for this.
Do not eat anything two hours before exercising.
After exercise, protein-rich supper.
Seven hours of sleep.
Day 2: Actual diet day
Women: no more than 800 calories
Men: no more than 1000 calories
Breakfast: high in protein
Two hours of exercise
Lunch and dinner also contain protein
No food intake for 4 hours between meals
Drink 2.5 liters of water
Experts recommend fish, meat and dairy products on the diet day. However, meat and co. can be replaced by foods with vegetable protein. The 24-hour diet is reminiscent of the ketogenic diet due to its protein orientation.
The diet should by no means be permanent. However, according to the inventors of the diet, it can be done once a week in order to be able to record constant weight loss.
Criticism of the 24-hour diet
Crash diets are criticized for achieving weight loss through water loss and muscle mass reduction and disrupting the metabolism. The disturbance of the metabolism then leads in turn to the famous yo-yo effect when the body is supplied with normal food again. The German Society for Nutrition also warns against lightning diets due to a lack of nutrient intake.
Achim Sam and Prof. Dr. Michael Hamm want to prevent exactly that with their new weight loss formula – although it is a crash diet. The advantage of this diet is that you will not be hungry.
As the experts themselves point out, the 24-hour diet is by no means a permanent solution. Limiting calorie intake alone would have fatal consequences. In addition, the physical strain combined with the low calorie intake could become too much for untrained people.
As with most diets, a change in diet is better
Losing weight within 24 hours sounds tempting. But dieting is not a long-term solution. It would make more sense to generally eat a balanced diet and exercise regularly. Your body and your health will benefit from this.
A diet like the 24-hour diet, which is based on meat and dairy products, is also bad for the climate. After all, animal products are responsible for around 60 percent of food-related climate emissions. Therefore, you should only consume them in moderation. If you do not want to support factory farming, then look out for organic seals such as Demeter, Naturland or Bioland when shopping.
