While it's nice to know that (yet) another piece of advertising scum is bullshit, starving yourself like that probably wasn't the best idea.

Personal health and well-being over busting bullshit.

So. Who's going to take the Subway challenge??

We need to get you on the "Supersize Me" diet STAT! You need to get some healthy food in you!

Another shining example of corporate America's concern for its customers. The only weight problem I have is waiting for all those scam diet pill commercials to end so I can get back to my TV programs. But this nonsense is from an alleged respectible company.

Just like the tobacco companies; it's all about the profit. Who cares if someone actually geets hurt.

Dudes, she just set you up for a worker's compensation claim...and you documented it for the work to see.

Make that for the "world to see." Consarn it.

I hope I'm not the only reader who doesn't find this at all surprising.

Substituting two meals with cereal is not a practical way to lose weight.

Forgive me for saying so, but... DUH.

Just because television tells you that if you eat Special K for two weeks, you'll lose weight, doesn't make it true.

Not every televised advertising claim is 100% true?!?! You've got to be kidding me!

Seriously. Don't most sensible people already know that gimmicky diets don't work? And shouldn't it be obvious that "dropping 2 jeans sizes" is a claim that makes little-to-no sense and is nigh impossible to measure, seeing as clothing sizes (particularly women's sizes) are not standardized?

Actually, I'm pretty surprised she didn't lose weight if she really was sticking to this diet. A bowl of Special K with milk has around 300 calories (obviously if you have a mixing bowl full with half-and-half it'll be a little more) which is probably at least half of what most people's lunch has in it. Unless you're really pigging out at dinner it seems it would be hard to exceed your daily burned calories.

In addition, the packaging does give the standard legalese stuff about consulting a doctor before beginning a weight loss program, blah blah blah, but she (explicitly) chose to ignore this.

I am sure that many people lose weight following this diet. Even if Meghann didn't, you can hardly dismiss a statistical claim because you have one counter-example.

Here's the problem I have with it. The Special K diet is intended for people who actually need to lose weight, not women who are already quite slender, as Meg is. A person with excess fat on her body could conceivably lose a couple inches by cutting calories like this over the course of two weeks. Someone who doesn't have excess fat, however, will just get ill because she's got nothing to burn. Of course the diet's not going to work on a size 4, since it was never intended for someone thin.

We have a company nutritionist. I asked her about this diet, and she just sighed. She told me that Special K doesn't have enough to it for someone to eat only 2 bowls a day plus one meal. After while, the nutritionist stated that you wouldn't be getting enough nutrition from the cereal to stay healthy and energized, and would start showing the same symptoms that our guinuea pig did here.

I'm actually surprised she didn't lose a pound or two, because for most of the day she was subsisting on 500 calories, max! I tried this diet once a few years ago, and only lasted 5 days because I was STARVING the whole time.

Well, here's my rebuttal to your problem. No where on their website (and I'm also assuming the cereal box) did they say that this diet is only for fatties and not for women size 4 and below. If they had that disclaimer then yes, Meg would not be in the right to claim that this diet is bogus. In fact there are no fatty models on their site, only slim attractive women looking happy to be only consuming that "Special K." Who knows, they might all be bulimics to get that "Special K" look.

This is still better than the old Slim-Fast diet plan, which recommended a can of the stuff for breakfast and lunch and then a "sensible dinner." Considering that the product is little more than sweetened milk with vitamins added, I'll bet many of the people who tried it ended up giving up on dieting altogether.

I call bullshit on the bullshit calling. She claims she was hungry all the time. Hunger is a sign you are not eating as much food as your body would like. Hunger is why losing and keeping weight off is next to impossible. Its a very effective feedback loop. If she was hungry all the time, and eating as little food as she claims, she should have lost weight.

After visiting Meg's website I believe before and after photos are in necessary to put this issue to rest.

The biggest problem with cereal is that the serving sizes are not at all realistic. Most cereal has a serving size of 27 grams (3 quarters cup). I think that's the size of my spoon...

One of the best cereals out there for calories to volume ratio is Quaker Corn Bran. It's basically folded-over fritos without the flavor powder, it has a ton of fiber, so the calories it says it has in it are mostly undigestible (and it's not nasty either).

I said at the time two weeks wasn't long enough, and the stunt was stupid. To be newsworthy, it has to be stupid AND dangerous.

Wake me up when someone proposes only eating cockroaches for 6 months while exercising by tightrope walking across the grand canyon twice daily.

special k diet does work! I lost 23lbs in 2 1/2 months. eating 1 1/2-2 cups of cereal, 1% milk 2x a day. Even having peanut butter and toast in the morning and then eating "whatever" for dinner before 6pm. Exercise 30min-1hr daily. And still snack on healthy stuff between meals.