I've been trialling the Diet Chef programme in an attempt to make my jeans looser and I've just reached the end of my first week. I haven't been 100% faithful to the plan but I've given it my best shot.. and what did I find?
Day 1
Breakfast time! I had Lizi's chocolate granola and really enjoyed it, finding it filling and sweet. Lunch time came and I liked their red pepper soup. There are 2 choices for vegetarians (also Parsnip & Honey Soup) which isn't too bad but I could see how this might pall after a while. I ate a nakd snack bar (like a healthy Nutrigrain) to keep hunger away and finished with a chili for dinner. So far so good, I'm feeling full and not craving sweets just yet. At dinner time I tried the tomato pasta and quite liked it, but had to add a lot of seasoning. Went to bed feeling very smug and healthy.
Day 4
Been a little naughty lately, had work drinks last night (unavoidable) and ate some fried things that definitely aren't on the plan. Trying to make up by skipping breakfast today but feeling tired and craving stodge. Swapped lunch for dinner as the tomato pasta helped fill me up, it's a little bland but if you add some black pepper it tastes quite nice.
Day 7.
HUNGRY!! They say the plan contains 1200 cal a day, but as its basically three meals a day, and two being soup and cereal you do miss hot food. The milkshakes are a nice way to supplement the diet, and it's good they're ready made, but they do up your calories for the day. I like the fact the diet worked out at £6.79 a day, as that's only a little more than the weekly shop ( hey, Sainsbury's is my local OK), but I couldn't imagine keeping up this diet for longer than a month.
The verdict.
A heavy weekend and I virtuously stuck to small glasses of vodka and diet cola. The diet lets you indulge as long as you work out the calorie content and use the replacements instead of some of their options. Swapping the nakd bars for vodka is no chore though, and I managed not to buy a fry up on the way home, just cooking my chili while my friends ate their chips. Overall I lost 2.8 pounds and 1.1% of body fat which is not bad for a week. I imagine if I had more time to exercise (I only got to the gym twice) and less social events I'd have lost even more.
It's a great way to kick start your body into shape, just make sure you keep up the god work when you're eating 'normal ' (not prepackaged) food again. Still, I'd give it seven out of ten for the quick fix!
Related: Weight To Go: The Final Verdict