You want to be Slim fast quick right? (Slim Fast Heavenly Chocolate Milkshake Powder)

Member Name: xxfoxyredxx

Product:	Slim Fast Heavenly Chocolate Milkshake Powder
Date:	31/08/09 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Doesn't taste vile, is easy to prepare and not a bad price for the amount of servings you get

Disadvantages: Is powdery and boring and you do get hungry

Anyone who regularly reads my reviews will probably know that I've had an eating disorder in the past. Well I tackled that by eating sensibly and going to the gym regularly. However since doing that I still (and guess I always will be) weight conscious of keeping my size 8 figure intact.

I have a habit of snacking which was a couple of weeks ago helping me to pile on the pounds and I had a weight gain of about 6lbs which seemed rather all of a sudden. Although I'm aware that it's largely down to my weight training I still felt a bit too heavy and my first thought was panic followed by eating disordered thoughts. I mean when your used to being bulimic and eating loads and chucking up etc it's easy to feel down and think of reverting back to type!

However instead of resorting to those drastic measures I simply cut down on what I was eating and thought about trying a meal replacement for a week rather than doing some extreme diet and believe me when looking online there are plenty of those that were tempting to give a whirl to lol.

Anyway when I was in Tesco's I saw this and in this flavour. I like chocolate, quite like chocolate milkshake drinks and after reading up on the back of the tub about it didn't feel this would do me any harm in the short term as its packed with vitamins and minerals and all the stuff a body needs to function as well as allowing me top up on that with snacks a meal of my choice.

The Packaging:

Well in size it's 450g and it's a metal tub with a bright red plastic lid to the top of it you simply and easily pull on and off and under that a white label you peel off that protects the powder and keeps it fresh. The tube itself is red and white with a brown swirl of chocolate on it and I'm told it is Slim Fast Heavenly Chocolate Milkshake Powder and that to 'just add milk', that it's nutritionally balanced and contains 233 calories a serving and that there is approx 12 servings in the tub. On the back of the tub I'm told a bit abut the product and how to make it, ingredients and allergy advice is given, then I'm given an example of what to eat and when (to get the best results from the product), warnings are listed, a full nutritional table is shown, size, the recycle symbol and the best before date are all shown as well and finally contact details for Unilever are given (the manufacturer of the product) and there is the standard bar-code shown. Nice enough informative tub this is and I like the handy plastic scoop that's given inside.

A Bit About The Product According To The Information Given On The Back Of The Tub:

At Slim Fast we believe that losing weight should be a pleasure.... that you should be able to enjoy a variety of foods that are delicious as well as nutritionally balanced. Because if you're happy with what you're eating, it's easier to stay motivated and success will follow.

An example of how to use this product for the best results possible:

Breakfast: Slim Fast smoothie, shake or meal bar.
Morning Snack: Some fruit or a Slim Fast snack bar.
Lunchtime: Slim Fast soup, smoothie, shake or meal bar.
Quick Treat: Slim Fast snack bar or a bag of savoury snacks.
Evening Meal: Prepare your own healthy 600 calories evening meal.
Me time: Low fat dessert or a Slim Fast snack bar.

How To Prepare The Shake:

Take 250ml of cold skimmed milk.
Add 2 level scoops of powder to milk.
Cover and shake for approximately 20 seconds (for best results use a blender and add ice).

Me And The Shake:

The first thing that confused me was the information on the back of the tub when I sat down and read up on this product before making it up. My issue was the list of ideas of what to eat. I mean evening meal is simple you just make something for 600 calories of your own choice. The snacks and stuff though I wanted to know what value they should be calorie and fat wise because I didn't want to eat more than I should but didn't want to be eating only Slim Fast products after all and would like to be able to pick from other low fat offerings too! However I did manage to work it out and make my own decision on that one and it isn't rocket science lol!

So I basically decided that as I was only doing it for a week I'd have this shake for breakfast, lunch, make a meal in the evening and have snacks of fruit in between. My normal intake of tea and coffee and soft drinks wouldn't differ and I was good to go.

Make sure you stock up on milk for this you really hammer it and do store it in the fridge so it is cold otherwise it's simply awful lol.

Making it up was really easy and fuss free. 250ml cold milk, 2 level scoops of the powder and a good shake was all it took. I remember when I first opened the tub feeling rather disappointed. Yes it looked brown and powdery but it didn't smell at all appetising! I recognised the smell of soya and that was predominately the smell with a hint of chocolate to it. Not great but hey ho it's the taste that counts!

The taste was ok. It's obviously a milky drink and if you mix it really well you get a light brown drink but I always managed to get some dark brown bits that were horrid powder lumps I couldn't bash out for love nor money and I had to fish them out before drinking it which was rather off putting. It was a thin liquid though and didn't to me look at all milkshake like lol.

It doesn't taste all that chocolaty and the drink certainly isn't heavenly by any stretch of the imagination. It's not rich and interesting and it's more of a drink I wanted to just get rid of and consume and it left a rather odd lingering after-taste to boot. To me this could simply do with a bit of a chocolate flavour and to be a little more sweeter and thicker!

Anyway consume it I did twice a day, eating my snacks and preparing a meal at night that was low in fat and healthy.

Was I Hungry?

Yes all the time. I felt less bloated for sure and I wasn't starving to be totally fair but my top tip for following this plan is to buy a couple of flavours or to use the meal replacement bars and soups to swap and change about a bit. It gets very boring, it get sickly and I went to bed dreaming of food...but follow the plan I did with odd smelling breath (due to consuming so much milk) but I plodded on determined.

Results:

I lost 8lbs in one week and that was without exercising (read on as to why lol). Not bad and I was rather impressed with that but do I think it's a great idea? No not at all and I don't believe a liquid diet is healthy at all. I can see from the information on the can it is nutritionally balanced and you are consuming over 1300 calories a day which isn't too low in reality in the short term but for me it's only a short term quick fix solution.

However on the downside as soon as I started eating again I gained back most of the weight I had managed to loss and saying that I don't mean started snacking again and reverted back to my old ways I simply started following my Weightwatchers maintenance plan (as I'm a gold member!) so I wasn't being a pig or owt like that lol.

Verdict:

I believe in a way of life of healthy eating and regular exercise combined and believe that, that is the only way forward really in the battle of the bulge. With this I felt a bit weak after day 3 of following the plan and so much so I didn't feel energetic enough to go to the gym where as on a normal healthy eating regime (again such as Weightwatchers) I would be able to do that but with this it simply wasn't possible and by day 5 I was getting headaches and restlessness but I just kept on with it till day 7 due to sheer bloody mindedness.

I wouldn't say to people not to try this. If you have a special event coming up and you want fast results (even if they don't really last) than I don't believe this will hurt you but personally I wouldn't advise people to resort to this in the long term cos not only is it not kind to your body and you'll regain all the weight anyway with this sort of regime you have to incorporate it into your lifestyle forever to keep the weight off. That's the same as Weightwatchers and Slimming World really but it's not so hard to do that!

I wouldn't avoid this product, it isn't terrible but it isn't the right way forward for me personally and it certainly isn't enjoyable!

Available in all good supermarkets and chemists etc priced at around £5.49 a tube (12 servings).

Summary: Worth a punt if you must!