How to Use the Copenhagen Diet

The Copenhagen diet, also known as the 13-day or Royal Danish Hospital Diet is a strict and severe short-term diet. Proponents of the diet claim you can lose 13-22 lbs in just 13 days. This is not a way to lose weight healthily and keep it off in the long-term. Most of the weight you will lose if you complete this diet will come from lost water not lost fat. It also instructs you to consume large amounts of cholesterol and protein rich food which can damage your health. It causes such a shock to your metabolism that you should never complete the diet more than once every two years. It also has no connection to the Royal Danish Hospital.^[1] To lose weight healthily change to a balanced diet and take regular exercise. Speak to your doctor before trying any radical diets.

Steps

Part 1 Completing the First Week

1. 1 Drink two litres of water everyday. The diet gives your metabolism a major shock, and you should consider carefully whether this is a good choice. If you do go ahead with it you need to make sure you consume a lot of water. It is recommended that you try to drink two litres of water a day during this diet.^[2]
2. 2 Follow the guide for day one and two. If you do decide to complete this diet, its proponents claim you have to stick to it very closely. It features a dramatic drop of in calories, which may leave you feeling weak and fatigued. On day one you are instructed to have just a coffee with one teaspoon of sugar for breakfast. Lunch is two hard boiled eggs together with 400g of boiled spinach and a tomato. Dinner is 200g of beef served with 150g of lettuce drizzled with lemon juice and a little olive oil.
   • On day two you are again instructed to skip breakfast, just drinking a cup of coffee with one sugar like the previous day.
   • For lunch the diet requires 250g of ham and one fat free yoghurt.
   • The dinner is the same as day one: 200g of beef, with 150g of lettuce as a side. You can add a little oil or lemon juice to dress the lettuce.
   • If you begin to overly tired or weary from the sudden drop in calories consider whether or not to continue.^[3]
3. 3 Tackle days three and four. On the third day you will again be consuming very few calories. You can add one piece of toast to your breakfast coffee. For lunch you are combining elements from previous days, eating two hard boiled eggs, 100g of lean ham and 150g of lettuce. In the evening you are instructed to eat just one tomato, some boiled celery, and one portion of fruit. This could be, for example, an apple, orange or pear.
   • On the fourth day you stick with the minimal breakfast of coffee and one slice of bread.
   • Lunch is just one pot of fat free yoghurt coupled with a 200ml glass of orange juice.
   • For dinner the diet requires you eat one hard boiled egg, along with one carrot, and 100ml of cottage cheese.^[4]
4. 4 Move on to days five and six. Day five begins with the same austere breakfast of coffee and one slice of bread. It is followed by 150-200g of boiled fish, such as salmon. For dinner on day five you are instructed to eat 250g of beef with celery as a side.
   • Keep to the same breakfast of coffee and one slice of bread on day six.
   • Follow this with two hard boiled eggs and one carrot for lunch.
   • Dinner on day six should be 300g of boiled skinless chicken breast, alongside 150g of lettuce to garnish.^[5]

Part 2 Finishing the Second Week

1. 1 Continue to days seven and eight. You are now a week into the diet and will probably be tired and hungry. Day seven starts with no breakfast, just a cup of tea with no sugar. It gets worse with no lunch, just lots and lots of water. You do get to eat something in the evening, but only 200g of lamb and one apple.^[6]
   • Day eight is a little easier, but you still go without breakfast and only drink a coffee with one sugar.
   • Day eight is the same as day one: two hard boiled eggs with 400g of boiled spinach and a tomato for lunch.
   • In the evening you can eat 200g of beef with 150g of lettuce. You can add a little lemon juice and olive oil to the lettuce for extra flavour.^[7]
    
2. 2 Keep going for days nine and ten. On day nine you continue to skip breakfast, just drinking a coffee with one sugar. At lunch time you are permitted to eat 250g of lean ham along with one pot of natural yoghurt. For dinner you can eat a little more than the previous evening: 250g of beef with 150g of lettuce.^[8]
   • On day ten you have one slice of bread with your coffee for breakfast, the first solid breakfast since day six.
   • Lunch is two hard boiled eggs together with 100g of ham and some lettuce on the side.
   • The food for the evening the same as day three, just one tomato, some boiled celery and one serving of fruit.
3. 3 Push on to days eleven and twelve. The end is almost in sight, and you will no doubt be feeling the strains of such a severe diet. On day eleven stick with a coffee and one slice of bread for breakfast. For lunch eat one pot of natural yoghurt and drink 200ml of orange juice. Day eleven is the same as day four and for dinner you again eat one hard boiled egg, one carrot and 200ml of cottage cheese.^[9]
   • On the twelfth day have just one carrot for breakfast, before eating 200g of boiled fish for lunch. You can add a little butter and lemon juice to the fish.
   • For your dinner eat 250g of beef with some celery on the side.
4. 4 Finish on day thirteen. On the final day start with the familiar breakfast of one cup of coffee with a slice of toast. For lunch you can eat two hard boiled eggs along with one carrot. On the last day the diet advises you to skip the evening meal altogether.^[10]

Part 3 Maintaining Your Health and Wellbeing During the Diet

1. 1 Monitor yourself during the diet. The Copenhagen Diet involves a dramatic drop in the nutrients as well as the calories you consume. It also involves skipping meals on lots of days which can be damaging for your health. If you do undertake this diet it is important to monitor how you feel closely.
   • If you begin to feel especially lethargic or light-headed than you should re-consider completing the diet and opt for a more balanced approach.
   • There is little available medical advice for those using this diet, most likely because no medic would recommend you to do it.
2. 2 Be wary of exercise. The severity of diet means that it is unlikely that you will have the energy or enthusiasm required for even moderate exercise during the two weeks. It's important to try to keep up some physical activity but don't push yourself while on the diet. Gentle exercise such as walking can be one way to keep up some activity.
   • The fact that you will probably not exercise during the diet highlights how extreme it is, and it's short-term nature.
   • Doing a diet that involves exercise instead will help to maintain lean muscle mass while you burn fat.^[11]
3. 3 Understand this is not a long-term solution. The nature of this diet means that most of the weight you lose will be water weight, rather than fat. As a result, you can find that you rapidly re-gain the weight lost during the course of the diet. This can be a very demoralizing experience but it does reflect the short-term nature of severe diets such as the Copenhagen Diet.
   • Understanding that this is a short-term option will help you understand the changes to your body that you experience.
   • You can use the diet to kick start a new healthier lifestyle.
   • The self-control and discipline you learn sticking to the diet could help you push on to more healthy lifestyle.
4. 4 Set the right goals. The Copenhagen Diet is not an answer to an unhealthy lifestyle and nor is it a path to a healthy one. You can experience quick weight loss over the two weeks but this should be coupled with positive goals for long-term health. Try not to focus exclusively on pounds shed, but changes that will lead to sustained benefits.^[12] The Copenhagen Diet should only ever be one part of your broader goals.
   • You can start by undertaking the diet, but have goals for a longer period than the two weeks of dieting.
   • Be specific and realistic with your goals. You want to be able to measure your progress and not set yourself an impossible task which will only act to demotivate you when you struggle to attain it.^[13]

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