Towards the end of March, Lisa Lillien released her latest book, The Hungry Girl Diet. It is a four week program that claims: “Big portions. Big results.” I own several Hungry Girl cookbooks and love Lisa’s TV show and really wanted to give this a try. She claims that HG test dieters lost an average of 10 pounds in four weeks, with some losing more towards 20. I’m standing up in two weddings in the next couple months, so I was STOKED to try it out.
(And random sidenote: my friend Kelly met Lisa recently in Chicago! So jealous!)
Anyways, I started by stocking up with all the food for week 1. I’ve never consumed so many fruits and veggies before! It took quite a bit of prepping on Sunday, but was well worth it. If I didn’t prep, I wouldn’t have been successful throughout the work week. And there are dishes. Lots of dishes. All those storage containers really add up!
Each day contains three meals and three snacks, which you can eat however you want. I usually had mine mid morning, one in the afternoon and then one as a “dessert” after dinner. All of the recipes she has are for single servings, and the diet is set up to be roughly 1300 calories a day. Of course, she notes that if you have 75+ pounds to lose or if you are a frequent exerciser, you should add in more snacks. On some days when I was super hungry, I did add in some extra snacks (I blame it on the half marathon training.) Also, LOTS of water. One glass with every snack and every meal. She encourages water in the morning instead of coffee to fill you up, but I’m not quite there yet—still need my cup in the AM!
As for the portions, they really are quite big! Take breakfast for example. The oatmeal portion was seriously HUGE (my bowl was about to overflow), but it was rather bland. Next time, I’m adding WAY more cinnamon and trying sweetened soy or almond milk. The eggs/english muffin was perfect for a quick breakfast during the work week. Raspberries/blackberries are fiber powerhouses according to Lisa, so she sneaks those into the diet here and there too.
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Lunches were pretty good too! But again, lots of prep, so be prepared. (And in case you can’t tell, the salad on the left is accompanied by Greek yogurt, the veggies on the right are accompanied by dip.)
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Dinners were good too! HUGE portions. On the left, the steamed broccoli slaw/cabbage (a tiny bit of olive oil and marinade on it for flavor) with salad, tilapia and shrimp was pretty good (I added the shrimp), and the veggie stir fry was my favorite dinner thus far. SUPER flavorful and I didn’t even miss the rice that I usually would add to it.
I also made a HG version of fettuccini alfredo with broccoli slaw and Laughing Cow cheese wedges with chicken. There’s a reason I didn’t post a photo of it. It looked like….hmmm- well, not appetizing. But the taste wasn’t terrible!
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And since I’m a sweets girl, I’ve found a few tricks that help curb the sweet tooth: Sour Patch Kids gum (seriously, just like the candy) and Target’s version of the VitaTop, Yasso Bars and Veggie Muffins. YUMMM.
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I also picked up some Quest bars, which are SO tasty and full of protein. Like 20+ grams. Whoa. (Check out Sierra’s review on them).
So at the end of week 1, I’ve lost four pounds! I definitely feel a lot better after switching up my eating habits drastically (I am a chocolate bar a day kinda gal so this was HUGE!) Still trying to find that happy balance in adding extra snacks due to half marathon training, so we will see. The portions really are quite large and leave me feeling pretty full. Weeks 2-4 on the plan have a lot more variety in terms of options for meals.
Week 2- bring it!
Are you doing the Hungry Girl diet? What do you think?
I’ve been really interested in trying this diet out since you’ve started posting about it! I requested it from our library, but they don’t have it in stock yet so I might just have to order it!
That’s great! Yeah the book just came out on March 25th I believe so it might take a while for the library to carry it…these recipes are ones I want to make all the time, not just in the four weeks, so I think it’d be worth it to purchase the book! Let me know if you end up doing it!
That veggie stir fry looks delicious and so does that salad! Glad you are having so much success. I really need to look back in my recipe book and add some more of her recipes into rotation!
The stir fry was definitely my favorite dinner so far- YUM! She has such good stuff- I also subscribe to her daily emails and there are some good recipes there too!
Holy cow – it does look like a ton of food! I think that to be at all healthy, some part of Sunday has to be spent on prep…otherwise you get halfway through the week, you’re burnt out, and the easiest solution is to grab for something that likely won’t be fresh!
I know right!? Sunday funday…prep day- you got it! That’s exactly right. Halfway through the week, I’m washing my Tupperware though LOL!
Wow! That’s awesome. I need to do something about losing this last 10 pounds of baby weight. Maybe I will purchase this book!
I think you’d love it Lindsay! It’s just good on how to adjust eating not only for the four weeks, but as a lifestyle all the time! The food actually tastes pretty good, too!
Only 1300 calories? I would be so hungry all the time. I ran my lifestyle by an RD and she suggested 1500-1700!
When you add in extra snacks, do you just eat a larger portion of the prescribed snack?
I’m definitely eating more in the 1500 range since I add on some snacks. I do get hungry 3-4 hours after a meal, but that usually means another one is around the corner! When I do the snacks, I sometimes eat more of the same snack, or add another 100 calories of a different snack altogether- there are TONS to choose from!
thank you for posting such a through review of this diet and including pictures–that always helps! i would like to revamp my eating habits and actually have a menu to follow so i don’t get stuck with not having any idea of what to make for dinner and end up eating a box of mac & cheese. it sounds like there was a lot of prep involved, but then at least you knew you had all your meals planned for the week! i think i am going to look into this further!
You bet- happy to help! That’s how I felt too- having the plan/structure in place helps. It’s a lot of work, but totally worth it in my opinion! Let me know if you have any questions along the way!
I used to love her but then I shifted more towards whole foods and don’t read her newsletter a lot because it’s mainly processed foods. How much of the diet is processed foods?! It doesn’t look like a ton to me.
Honestly, there isn’t much processed stuff in this diet! Lots of fruits/veggies, greek yogurt, egg substitute, whole what bread, lean protein, etc. The only “processed” foods I eat are usually the ones I chose from her HUGE list of snacks- I love the Fiber One brownies, Quaker granola bars, various frozen treats and those Quest bars.
Thanks for sharing this! It seems like the plan is more about eating healthy, than dieting and cutting things out. I mean, all of those meals look amazing! I’m glad it’s going well for you!
P.S. I put cut up apples in my oatmeal and it adds lots of flavors!
So true- it’s just adjusting my eating habits to be healthy…because healthy eating should be part of the lifestyle alll the time- not just the duration of a “diet.” Oooh apples in oatmeal sounds so tasty! Will give it a try!
Holy cow, this looks amazing, Valerie! I really need to overhaul my eating habits and eat more whole foods/real foods. Seriously, I want to eat almost everything that you posted here, and I’m not a veggie lover!!
I’m not crazy about veggies either but her recipes are so good! And each portion is huge so I feel like my mouth is so busy eating food that I feel fuller (plus the nutrients are keeping me full much longer than a cookie would…)