Remember last weeks post that I am reviewing a diet at the minute? My first post here - Diet Chef Review
I am doing really well at the minute, I think. The hardest part at first was giving up treats!! Surprise Surprise.. Red Magazine described me as a sugar snacker. Giving up just like that to one small treat a day made me poorly. For a day and a half I had a terrible migraine that would not go even through the night. I know it was a lack of sugar as I have tried many times before to cut down and get bad headaches.
A day after the diet started I went for my usual run first thing Tuesday morning and felt very weak, I realised this was because on Monday I had stuck religiously to the diet, not accounting for the extra intake needed for my exercise. Doh!!
I was not sure which foods I could add to the diet meals. A quick call to the Diet Chef helpline soon sorted that. They explained to allow for any extra activity, suggesting what to add from their range. All nice and simple, also suggesting a few links on their site for BMI and such, very helpful.
I went to Diet Chefs personal profile page and got my BMI checked out ( a great page to start with if your considering a diet), I was very pleased to see that-
You are within the normal weight range for your height. You should consider carefully whether you need to diet.
Based on your height, weight, age and level of exercise we estimate that you will burn 2429 calories (kcal) per day. For a healthy weight loss of 1-2 pounds or 1kg per week stick to 1729 calories per day.
Once you add your daily milk, fresh fruit and vegetables you will be consuming around 1200 calories per day - so you should add a further 529 calories daily to reach your target intake. This will ensure a steady and more sustainable weight loss.
Yes! This means I get to add a slice of bread to my soup, or something extra to fill me up.
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Adding fruit to cereal is a great start to the day.
Recapping then, what tips I have to share so far -
1) The website is easy to order from if you choose the month's plan you can pick 28 breakfasts, 28 lunches, 28 dinners and 28 snacks. Think wisely on what you would really like to eat. I picked far to much soup when I am not too fond of soup!! So many different meals to choose you end up picking all sorts for variety. Online ordering makes things too easy!! Be careful!!
2) My parcel arrived very quickly so prepare yourself a few days in advance, that you may be hungry on the diet and keep lots of fruit and vegetables in stock. Hide the chocs or eat them all before you start!!!
3) Check out your body mass index on the BMI calculator page, ( you will find this at the bottom of the Diet Chef homepage) you need to know how many calories you will use, especially if your exercising.
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4.) Keep active, a little exercise can earn you something else to eat. Even a treat!
5.) Install a fitness app on your phone. I would have been nowhere without My Fitness Pal.Helping me keep track of the calories. Or for the non-nerds a paper and pen!!
6.) Think of adding lots of coloured vegetables, this makes it visually appealing.
Some of the food I am really loving, ( mostly the sweet things) the vanilla flavour protein bars are yummy and filled me up nicely for dinner. All of the cereal is top quality, I really enjoyed the luxury muesli, especially after my run.
I am not too keen on some of the dinners. I thought they might be sourced fresh, something that you store in a fridge. I think that I am so used to buying fresh dinners each day I am worried about dinners in a packet. A food that has chicken in, that you can store in a cupboard for a year?
Reading up on how the meals are prepared I get some reassurance, the dinners are freshly made up by the Diet Chefs experts, then all sealed in airtight packs and cooked in pressure cookers in advance so you just need to warm them up. I think then this is more one my hangup than the meals themselves.
I am loving my progress so far and feel lots healthier, so all is good :)
About this review- I got sent a months supply for the purpose of these reviews. I have not been paid for this post and all thoughts are my own honest opinion.
