Cosmopolitan: Diet on Trial

There was only so many weeks I could go on complaining that I was ‘bloated’ when I realised I had actually just put on pounds and needed to treat the cause, not the symptoms! My portions were growing as quickly as my sugar habit and not only did I feel uncomfortably bigger but I had regular headaches and mood swings. So I corresponded with the founder of Bodychef, Jayne Ritchie who runs this food delivery service and provided details of my age, height, current weight and any food intolerances and dislikes so she could assess what meal plan to put me on. We decided on two weeks trialling the Mediterranean Plan and two weeks on the Low Carb Plan (there are eight types to choose from), both of which are set at 1200 calories per day. The deliveries came twice a week containing three fresh meals for each day which I can honestly say were very appetising. You’ll see from these example daily menus, which even include puddings with dinner, what I mean:

Monday: Lower Carb Plan

Breakfast:

sunflower seeds, natural yoghurt, berry compote

Lunch:

crudités, oatcakes x 2, shredded chicken strips

Dinner:

tomato and cucumber salad, chilli con carne, sour cream portion

Desert:

apple, grapes, cheese cubes

Saturday: Mediterranean Plan

Breakfast:

kkiwifruit deluxe museli

Lunch:

chicken and chilli chickpea salad

Dinner:

Italian style bolognese with wholewheat pasta

Dessert:

fruit salad

Now, I’ve tried food delivery diets before and some sound great but leave you starving, or they fill you up but taste like rabbit food. But not this one – this was tasty and effective. The first two days I admit I was hungry, as I was going from sizeable portions to smaller ones and I quickly realised I had to tailor it to my personal preferences. I’ve always been hungrier in the morning and during the day than the evenings, so I added the dinner desert to my breakfast meal and swapped lunch and dinner around as the evening portion is triple the size of the lunch. In the first week I lost 4lbs which became 6lbs by the end of the second week on the Mediterranean Plan. I only lost 1lb more on the following Low Carb plan but I don’t think it was due to the diet, more that my body had needed to shed the extra pounds it was carrying and I had reached my healthy weight. However, this made me aware of how hard maintaining your ideal size is. I managed to stick to the diet throughout Easter (my first chocolate-free April ever!), but I had commitments away from home during the royal wedding bank holiday that simply didn’t suit doing the diet, so I paused it. In these three days I put 2lbs back on, which I then lost when I returned to the diet, but it became very obvious that control and commitment are the only ways to avoid yo-yoing. It also highlights another limitation with the diet – the impact it can have on your social life. There’s no eating out or cooking with friends and no cheeky after-work cocktails let alone BBQs on sunny Sundays, but it’s a small price to pay for a short time span. It’s ideal for those who live busy lives and need a fuss-free plan. Or those who have a special event to look their best for, such as a big holiday or wedding. The website, bodychef.com, has a good weight loss time and cost estimator tool to get you started. Prices start at £17.98 per day but Cosmo readers can get a 10% discount by quoting COSMO when ordering online.