Ever ate just potatoes for three days in a row? Probably not, but I accepted the challenge. This is called the potato hack. No, really, it is a thing!
There is a podcast by Andrew Taylor, a guy who ate nothing but potatoes for ENTIRE YEAR! He lost a tremendous amount of weight, not why I accepted the challenge, but also kept it off! Not to mention he is off his long term medication and self cured his depression!
Now are your curious? Keep reading!
Potatoes have a bad wrap because we believe they are too starchy, WRONG! Just like creamed spinach, it is healthy until the cream gets involoved. The science behind this challenge is that you are burning fat. After the 3-5 days returning back to a relatively healthy lifestyle, the weight stays off! I had to look into this myself.
Guidelines: You can eat russet, gold, yellow, and red potatoes, drink only coffee or mineral water, and black tea. Little to no exercise and only a dash of salt to cover about a pound of potatoes a day. When potatoes are chilled, they metabolize into a prebiotic. No wonder I stayed fulled for long!
I am not someone who promotes or lives on diets, and this totally goes against everything I believe in. But here we go! Note: I did not do this to lose weight, I did this in search IF I would lose weight, how my body would react, and how I would feel during and after the process. I am anemic so this was a bit scary. This is my journey with the SPUD-tacular journey.
Day 1:
Monday, 6:30 a.m: Boiled russet potatoes with coffee is not a typical morning meal. I really had no appetite but new I was about to teach a hot yoga class so I had to eat something. About 4.5 hours later after I have taught 2 classes I was starving. Lucky me, I get to home come to potatoes.
12 p.m: I noticed I am really full after a small potato so I stop eating. About an hour later I am somewhat hungry again so I eat another one. No exercise, no other food, just me and my blog the rest of the day. Oh, and mineral water.
3 p.m: Naturally I am starving during this time so I grab coffee because a potato is not sounding too exciting. I am starting to really feel the afternoon dip so I ended up having 2 coffees.
6 p.m: I am dying to go to pilates, spin, yoga, anything however in the guidelines it says no exercise. The coffee was a mistake because it got me so wired!
6:15 p.m: I eat 2 more potatoes, this time golden (yum) and yellow (meh) with a dash of salt.
8 p.m: I am looking for the cookies! I didn’t crave them but I am so use to having something sweet in the evenings and I was unable to! BOO! I think my body literally went into shock. I had an instant headache, questioned my life choices, and thought no way am I going to be able to make it another day. My blood sugars went slow so I had a bite of potato, chugged water and went to bed a little angry.
End of day 1. I was hungry at times, right after eating just 1 potato I was full. It was kind of magical! I miss my protein cookies and snack 🙁
You can see the timelines that I was hungry, note that! It was important because I felt hungry, then after eating smaller portions I was full again.
Total water : 1.25 gallons
Day 2:
Tuesday 6:30 a.m: Woke up feeling surprisingly great! My skin felt great, body felt great, but I knew what I had to eat so my mood instantly changed. Ugh. Potatoes.
No surprise, a boiled potatoes with a little salt plus coffee. Weird.
I didn’t have to go to work until 9:30 so I did some laundry, cleaned the floors and I was toast. I was exhausted even after coffee an hour and a half later. Water! Usually at this time I am hungry again after my morning breakfast so I go to food for water instead of water itself. Not this time….no way was another potato voluntarily going into my mouth! So I opt for a mineral water.
10:00 a.m: I am at work, keep in mind I teach hot yoga so I am sweating constantly with my students, and I notice the room spinning a bit. I instantly chug water and breath through the hour. Perfect.
11:30 a.m: I am home and inhale potatoes which is so hard in the first place because they are so dense. I wasn’t playing, I thought for a second I may have to break the seal on my granola! This is where my body knew I had to increase my water intake throughout the day and actually eat for nourishment and not because I was hungry. AH-HA! That is the difference! This was point that I realized what this challenge was challenging me to do. Understand need and want.
I drank less while eating potatoes during this time because I know I need to eat substance. The water is important to spread out throughout the day and not just with a meal. Obviously I could never be okay with a water fast. I commend you all!
At this point I am so full my pants were so tight. I ate 3 potatoes with salt and 8-ounces of water. Sound like nothing right? Come join me!
3 p.m: I grab an extra large coffee and good to go until about 6. During this period I was analyzing the shock my body was going through. I wasn’t craving anything. Not even chocolate! Y’all! This is a big deal, this was the STARCH of controlling my eating! It made me realize how dependent I am on certain food group….like chocolate for instance 😉
6:45 p.m: I get home, eat 2 potatoes. I was dying (not craving) for a salad, anything else but a potato. My body told me I was not hungry but my eyes did. It was a wake up call. I eat what I see even when I am not in the mood for food. The usual thing I grab is something sugary.
End of day 2: Realization of my eating habits and daily water intake. My craving have completely vanished and body is resetting. WOW!
Total water: 1.5 gallons
Day 3: Final day.
6:30 a.m: Someone tell me it is Friday! Same routine except I grated one potato and threw it in my waffle maker. Delicious! Well, as delicious as it can be. At least it wasn’t boiled (eye roll). Chug some water and out the door.
I am starting to really get irritated that I can’t put anything on these potatoes.
8:30 a.m: At work, practicing with the class, and I see the weight loss in my face. I see my body in the mirror. I see myself glowing. My students even saw a difference in my face and the fat loss. Sweating about 400 calories each class and only eating potatoes for the past 2 days, it is a miracle I am not shaky, I am not starving, I am not craving, I am not dehydrated. The only thing I might be is a little tired.
10:30 a.m: I arrive home and shower. STOP! I didn’t even think to go to the fridge? After a yoga class, spin, pilates, whatever, I always hit the fridge first thing. This is a routine that is broken. I only eat when I am hungry, not when I am suppose to! However, in order to build muscle and repair fiber is to eat something within 10 minutes after activity. With my job, I am always moving so this is learning that food is nourishment not a hobby. Unless you are a blogger like me, HA!
12 p.m: I go for 2 potatoes and a mineral water. Coffee shortly follows.
I flow through my Wednesday routine for the next 7 hours. With another coffee at 4:30 p.m.
7:30 p.m: I arrive home. Ate 1 potato and went to work on my project. Soon to be announced! I was so over bland potatoes. I was ready for the day to be over and ready for my morning oatmeal tomorrow.
Total water: 1.25 gallons.
This experiment was extreme. There are other ways to lose weight, but this by far the fastest way to control my cravings. It is all mental. The physical part is just an added bonus.
I ate about 3 pounds of potatoes in 3 days. Drank more water than I ever have and felt great doing it. I complained because it was irritating knowing all I could eat was potatoes. But the hack worked. The next morning I wasn’t hungry or craving my oats. I ate them anyways and ended up not eating until 4 p.m, which was a salad.
I remember as an athlete in my teens the saying was “the way you do one this is the way you do everything.” I committed. Can I keep the commitment to myself? How do I show up behind closed doors? What direction do I go when I am not given one? Am I going to cheat and break my commitment?
All these questions popped in my head through the process. I held myself accountable.
The hardest part was I craved my work outs because they are the mental cleanse for me. Which was learned. I do not punish my body for what I eat even though I joke “I gotta work out off that cake.” Potatoes were a mental cleanse for me, too. My body enjoyed the time off and taught me NOT to be scared of eating only starch, not be scared that I am not physically active, and understand food doesn’t over power me. This was a game changer. It is okay not to bust my butt working out, there is always tomorrow. It is okay to challenge my body, it is an amazing machine. It is okay to eat potatoes, they are nourishing. Just bland after 3 days 😉
P.S. the stupid thing about all this, all I wanted after 3 days was a sweet potato!
Now you ask, would I do it again? Without a doubt, yes.
Would you ever eat just potatoes for 3 days? Comment below!
