Diet Chef - really????

[cheesecake]

Just watching the Diet Chef hour and have had to post. Oh my goodness, so many issues I don't know where to start!
The 'snack' items which are supposed to curb our hunger of an evening or whenever we feel a bit peckish. Who is this woman kidding??? She suggested we have half now and half later, hmmmm, so one mouthful now and one later. The whole idea is completely laughable if you ask me, you have to pay for your own fresh fruit and veg, noodles and rice, milk and bread and potatoes, so what are you getting for £139 a month really? The portions are tiny, and the program isn't addressing much other than calorie control, I can do that at home thanks with much much cheaper and better looking meals from the local supermarket.

Also, this is 1200 calories a day if I heard right, once you've got your scientific manual and equipment out to work out "what you're allowed". 1200 calories is chronically low and this low is only ever recommended under GP supervision in certain circumstances, not just as Sara Griffiths said "to work out your portion size, or help get some discipline".

These 'diets' wind me up incredibly and I very much dislike them being available on shopping telly at all, without any serious GP advice, I know all too well how weight gain and being unhappy with your body can lead to looking for any answer, and these idiots pimping this as a sensible idea for anyone is very disturbing.

I urge anyone thinking of trying this to not bother, go to your GP and they can offer a wealth of advice, support and most importantly, check that it is ok for you to start trying to lose weight. There really is zero point in getting thinner on this 'diet' then when you begin eating normally again (as you haven't changed your lifestyle, just dieted) you pile it all on again.

 

[China Girl]

So true, how anyone would want to eat that mush and slop is beyond me.
By the time you had bought all the fresh food to go with it, your food expenditure would be far more than most people would normally spend.

There are quite a few of these meal plan things around now, it's obviously a good money making scheme (con)

 

[May]

Total waste of time money and everything imho ...these companies are laughing as I said before ...all the way ......the weight loss industry so a pigging joke ...next to the porn industry they must be raking it in ....put the word NEW DIET..on the front of any magazine or newspaper ....and they fly out the door ...( sorry to use that term ...) ..even put the new topic DIET and you will get thousands of views from the title .....even with no content, as curiosity will get people....did anybody see One Born every minute ...The other night a young girl was on it who developed anorexia bulimia from a throw away comment but a friend or teacher ...can't remember which ...but this started a whole spiral of eating issues for her ....which was something like ...keep eating like that and you'll get fat ....bless her...her other half was so devoted and their baby adorable :mysmilie_12:

 

[Crinkly]

They keep plugging 'and you get all this for just a £5 a day'
But add in half a pint of milk, rice, pasta and potato, as appropriate, fresh berries and yog, and all the veg that you would need to feel full... Kinda makes that sentence nonsense, doesn't it?
Also, if you look at the blurb, they recommend 1500 cals for dieting men, and similar for women over a certain BMI
No point in bothering, is there, if you have to increase the food so much more.

And there is no way that a 5'10" woman should be dieting on the same calories as a 4'11" should be.

It makes a nonsense of the whole thing.

I love the idea of convenience, no fuss food, but this is not the way I would ever choose to do it!

 

[QuiteVacuousChat]

Diet Chef is really just junk food in small packets. Folk would be better choosing to eat nothing with an ingredient list (i.e. fresh food like we're designed to eat). Watch the lard evaporate and the radiance of the skin come back.

 

[louise66]

I may not be the best qualified person to comment, never having been overweight (exactly the opposite), but I am a firm believer that there is one surefire way to lose weight : reduce your calorie intake. Even without exercise, you should see a result. I have always opined - this is NOT a medical prognosis, but a personal one - that you can eat whatever you want, as long as you do not exceed 1000 calories (lady). If you love chocolate, have a mars bar, or any other brand of chocolate bar! Just take the calories of your 1000. Once you have lost the weight, you have to be able to afford to eat, and Diet Chef, and Jane Plan, and the ilk, do not offer this. Weight loss companies play on the emotions, the insecurities and desperation of people who have repeatedly tried to lose the pounds, and have constantly failed. If it is the regimen of these plans which you find appealing, prepare your own meals, ready to serve when needed. I think WW is an absolute rip off. They put points on food, so you feel you have to buy their meals, to be able to follow the points system. A bit like blackmail, really.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

As someone who has always had weight problems (I blame my gran not the crisps!!!) I can sort of understand why someone thinks of this as a very easy, if expensive way to achieve weight loss. However as we have all said diet chef etc is not the way to go.

The only plus is that I would imagine very few continue past their first order as once they see the muck and add the extra cost and then see that the loss they were hoping for hasn't materialised they stop. The only pounds lost are from their bank account but at least they have learnt a lesson.

 

[Silver Fox]

These plans are so expensive but suppose they appeal to busy working women who want convenience.What do they teach anyone about eating healthily & portion control?Now I have swapped my food shopping to the 'discount' supermarkets I am not only saving money but eating fresh produce & no ready meals.There are plenty of ways of dieting both in groups & on your own.These 'meals' look as though in the space of 30 minutes after eating I would be heading for the biscuit tin.

 

[Vienna]

My OH`s daughter followed one of these ready meal diets, it wasn`t Diet Chef though. Yes she lost weight but it cost her a fortune and she was always hungry. In the end she gave up with it and simply cut the crap from her diet instead. No more sugar in her tea, no more fried food or takeaways, no more cake, chocolate etc and fizzy drinks and so on. She now eats the same meals as her hubby and kids but off a smaller plate and eats fruit instead of puddings or desserts. She`s lost 2 stones doing this and says it doesn`t feel like a diet, just like sensible eating instead.

 

[May]

Sadly there will always be people who over ride reasoning and opt for the toot that is " dished" out by this diet twaddle ...not their fault ....pressure from everywhere these days...selfies have not helped ....I think we just need to begin to embrace ourselves and not compare ourselves and eat lovely healthy food and a gorgeous mouthwatering choccy bar thrown in if we want one ....:mysmilie_492::wink:

 

[SallyMc]

I got a real "bargain" weeks worth of Diet Chef a couple of years ago, loads cheaper than QVC.

Apart from the cereals, I thought it tasted horrible so not such a bargain really.

Only threw the last few meals away the other day......found them lurking in the back of a cupboard!

lol

 

[boffy]

if dieting were that easy there would be no need for gyms, diet chef, slimming world, jane plan in fact no plans at all. there is an increasing trend for people to be obese in the developed world. a trend that is growing. gastric bands are even suggested by doctors now so high is the risk of diebetes and weight related death. being fat is a killer

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

May, it isn't chocy or cakes with me, my weakness is crisps, nuts in fact anything salty and savoury so a double whammy, but I rarely have them, only as a treat as I can't stop once I start. Plus point, don't take anything sweet except at Christmas

 

[Starlight]

Just saw a little of this - did the 'chef' who was presenting follow this diet, if so she wasn't exactly slim was she?

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

I got a real "bargain" weeks worth of Diet Chef a couple of years ago, loads cheaper than QVC.

Apart from the cereals, I thought it tasted horrible so not such a bargain really.

Only threw the last few meals away the other day......found them lurking in the back of a cupboard!

lol

Sally, you mean that you didn't "gift" the rest of the set you didn't use? That lollipop lady is missing out. Move over DB Flint I'm gunning for your job!

 

[thatu]

There are also a few tricks of the trade - drink a glass of water ten minutes before and after each meal, chew your food to a pulp, eat what you want but with less fat and sugar, not no fat and sugar. Don't snack in between meals unless it's fresh fruit and vegetables and don't eat late at night. You lose weight slowly but steadily this way, your food bill goes down and you don't spend a fortune on slimming products.

 

[iloveshopping]

I was carrying an extra 16lbs and I lost it in 8 weeks from last October doing the 5:2 diet that Michael Mosely introduced on Horizon. I've kept the weight off and all my old clothes fit again. Almost got OH on it too. I have to do the occasional day just to keep any surplus off and I don'6 eat after 8 o'clock at night.

 

[May]

A lot of people have emotional eating issues ...and sensible eating just doesn't happen when the emotions kick off for a lot of people .....the menopause for me personally is making me have very odd mood swings ....and when I want chocolate i want it and no piece of fruit will cut it for me ....but I think if a person doesn't panic and look at it as fine then it shouldn't cause a problem but I really think emotions are " stuffed down with food" and not addressed for any number of reasons .....and that is not shameful ....i just really feel for people i this position.....it can happen to anybody ....

 

[Vienna]

A lot of people have emotional eating issues ...and sensible eating just doesn't happen when the emotions kick off for a lot of people .....the menopause for me personally is making me have very odd mood swings ....and when I want chocolate i want it and no piece of fruit will cut it for me ....but I think if a person doesn't panic and look at it as fine then it shouldn't cause a problem but I really think emotions are " stuffed down with food" and not addressed for any number of reasons .....and that is not shameful ....i just really feel for people i this position.....it can happen to anybody ....

I agree. After my first hubby died I spent every night alone and I just ate and ate. Comfort eating, literally. I remember the first Christmas Day without him, sitting in my dressing gown and eating Cadbury Roses instead of cooking a meal. Thankfully I eventually saw sense. Emotions can and do control how we approach food.

 

[May]

I agree. After my first hubby died I spent every night alone and I just ate and ate. Comfort eating, literally. I remember the first Christmas Day without him, sitting in my dressing gown and eating Cadbury Roses instead of cooking a meal. Thankfully I eventually saw sense. Emotions can and do control how we approach food.

So sorry for your loss Vienna ...