Losing weight the easy way (tescodiets.com)

Member Name: savingholmes

Product:	tescodiets.com
Date:	02/07/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Online support, weekly weigh-ins, electronic charts, mentor, meal plans, shopping lists

Disadvantages: The programme runs on java which I had to download - but could do that for free.

Losing weight the easy way

Having a family wedding and 40th birthday coming up in the next year, as a family unit we were keen to look our best - after all those photos will be on display for years!!!

What made me most keen to do something about a healthier diet was seeing that my husband and I and worst our son were all classed as obese! That was scary - especially as my son is only 11 and when he was younger he had a 6 pack all of his own he was so slim. I needed something that would work for us as a family and that would ideally not be too expensive!

I looked at local community groups but I have never been the kind of person that wants to go in front of people and be humiliated about my weight. Too many rings of sports days and other such humiliations for me. I know for other people it works well - but I am too embarrassed to even go in the door even though by some people's standards at size 18 I don't look too bad! Similarly my husband wasn't willing to try any of the local groups either! We have both done Atkins very successfully in the past but after a family tragedy we ate and ate our way back to being obese! Neither of us have the willpower to do Atkins a day. We have had a play with low GI diets but again some of the foods like bulger wheat, barley, quinoa just didn't appeal. We looked at other diets too buying various books without any success. Even Paul McKenna's book "I can make you thin" and his audio CD and "success journal" failed to make any impact on our collective weight!

Then a month of so ago after researching the internet for on-line diets I decided to give Tesco Diets a go! My reasoning was that at around £29.90 for 10 weeks - this would give me a kick start and lots of new recipe and meal ideas to try! I asked the online help person for some information before I signed up and got all my initial questions answered that way. You can choose to start your diet a few days later than your joining date - this allows your meal plan and shopping list to be generated. Think about when you usually go shopping and pick your weigh in day to be then and your diet start date a day or two after that. It just makes it a bit easier. I didn't do this straightaway but was able to make this important change even after I had paid which I was pleased about.

Tesco Diets offer a choice of about 14 different types of diet from low GI to low sugar to heart healthy to Totals (similar to Weight Watchers) or lighter options. I have been put on a diet with about 1400 calories a day. That gives me 3 evenly sized meals and a snack. I initially tried low GI but didn't like the menu plans so swapped to light choices instead. You can change your diet plan as often as you like and just generate new meal plans from what I can see. Initially I found a spent far more on food - the first two weeks I doubled my normal spend but I think that was because I was buying more oils, sauces, herbs, spices than normal and a lot more fresh fruit and vegetables. I have now worked out how to keep this more under control now and so my food cost has gone down to a more normal level again. You can even get them to generate a shopping list for you - but remember to times the quantities by the number of people you are feeding.

Another positive is that you can substitute ingredients or swap individual meals if you don't fancy them. Sometimes I have found that the system freezes when I try that though - so I tend to save often.

I tend to use about 240 calories on my breakfast and then eat another 200 calories of fruit at various points during the day. I then use 440ish calories on lunch and tea and then have another snack or two at other points in the day... Does it work? Well in the first 3 weeks I lost 5lb, my husband lost about 7lb and my son lost about 5lb too! I am thrilled to bits with this. They allow you to weigh in weekly and give you an on-going progress chart showing how well you are doing. The first week is the hardest so relax a bit the first week and then try to get stricter with yourself from week 2 onwards by which time it should start to get easier. We are now on week 5 and the whole family is happy and relaxed with the diet... although we are still weighing out some of the ingredients and calorie counting.

You can also include all your measurements wrist, thigh, hips, waist, fat percentage etc so you can track things other than weight so that if you are putting on muscle you can still seeing that you are losing inches or lowering your fat percentage. I find this motivating. I found out for example that my lean body mass is 9 stone 6 and since I should have about 24% fat my target weight was much higher than I thought. This meant that the ideal weight suggestions of 9st 3lb - 11st 6lb were actually not right for me and should be more like 13 stone because I have a large frame and if I keep the same lean body mass...

You also get a mentor and each week you can send them comments and they will reply with advice and support! They send you a weigh in reminder e-mail. There are also forums you can go on, diet news you can read and basic nutritional information. You can even email the Tesco nutritionist if you want to. I should point out that all the usual advice about seeking medical advice before diet and exercise still applies although I must admit I didn't do this. Ideally if you want to put the whole family on the diet you should get them to each join individually but personally I don't think that is necessary. Just remember that generally speaking the gents in the family can get away with a little bit more food than any females...

There is also the option to join the Recipe club for an extra £1 a week but since you get recipes anyway with the diet I haven't yet understood what that is about. Similar you can join an exercise on-line programme for another £1 a week. I haven't opted for either of those. However I have stepped up the exercise eg walking, swimming, gardening and housework and have had a lot more energy. My husband also repeats feeling healthier in himself - he has now lost half a stone! My 11 year old son is delighted with his progress too and happy to have more control over his eating. Even my 6 year daughter is finding the diet recipes okay. Luckily her target calorie intake is about 1550 anyway so it just means she can get away with more healthy snacks. So as I say - this diet is the easiest I have done - it feels like we are genuinely just eating healthily rather than dieting!

Summary: Absolutely loving the recipes - feel like I can cook healthily again for the whole family