A few weeks ago I tried one week of The Fresh Diet, in which I ate only foods lovingly prepared for me on an 1800 calorie (or less, gah) per day ration by the chefs at The Fresh Diet. Every morning I would open my door – in the dark of pre-dawn – to be greeted by this cheerful green cooler bag.
All of my meals, yes all of them, were inside this little bag, happily packaged in convenient containers. Some of them woefully small. What I realized then was that if I had chosen a meal with carbs – like noodles or barley or rice – the meal was much smaller. Salads and other veggie-heavy meals were bigger.
Duh.
To make this experiment worthwhile, I had to stick to the Fresh Diet meals only. No snacking, no drinking extra calories in milk or wine or cocktails. I work at home so I normally grab a snack every time I walk by the kitchen. It was really hard for me to not obsess over food – how many hours until I can eat my next meal? I drank a LOT of peppermint tea to keep my mouth occupied.
The meals themselves were delicious. Every day I got breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, and a dessert. I had cheesecake for dessert 4 times! I don’t know how they keep that cheesecake low-calorie, but I don’t care, because it was delicious and I looked forward to that cheesecake like a kid looking forward to Christmas morning. (Shout-out to Kristen Howerton for the heads up on the cheesecake.)
Meanwhile, yes, I did have a husband and two little boys for whom to make meals. I’ve devised a menu planning system that helps me deal with the various schedule changes in our family, so that didn’t really make a difference, except for the night when we were joined by my dear friend Jane, so it was like an impromptu dinner party with me eating my own special meal. (I did cheat and have half a glass of wine with her.)
Bottom line: does it work?
Girl, hell yes. I lost FOUR POUNDS (4 lbs.) in one week. I exercised at the same level as usual, so the only thing that changed was my calorie intake, and that did the trick. Two days off the diet and guess what. Boing! Came right back. I guess that means I am eating too much.
Rats.
Use the promo code semommar29 to get 3 days free with the purchase of a 31 day plan at $29.99 per day. This is a sponsored post but all opinions are my own.
This would be a great way to prepare for a few weeks, for some big event where we need to look good…like a wedding, or reunion. I think it’s worth it. And you had Jane for a guest! How great is that!
The $30 a day made my eyes bug out a little. I’m losing weight on Weight Watchers (34 lbs since mid-November, 30 more to go). My secret sauce is vegetable soup. I make a big batch twice a week (chopped veg, veg broth and just about 2 tsp oil) and have it plus something else (some corn tortillas with a little cheese for quesadillas) for several meals. I also eat it for snacks. So far, so good.
@Mom – I agree. The price tag is pretty steep for a regular person to use…regularly. And @Suebob – congrats on your accomplishment. My mom is a big fan of WW too!