Soul Mate 3-day Detox Diet

Ok - first things first... anybody else hate the new blogger dashboard??! I really dislike it and manage to keep the old one until yesterday... now it's over... oh well, suppose it's a matter of getting used to. :(
Anyway, onto today's post:

I'm a sucker for this ready-made diet plans... I did Diet Chef few times (review here) and I was pleased with the results.

I think I know a lot about healthy eating but I like to mix things up.

 It's not only a case of loosing weight but more maintaining because having a plan to stick to - when I get bored - keeps me away from junk food.... especially, if you pay for it! ;)

I always wanted to try a detoxing plan where you only have juices - and I can do smoothies myself like for an occasional afternoon snack - but I don't have the knowledge to make them nutritiously 'correct' as your ONLY food intake.

So, I was glad to see a Groupon offer and decided to give this plan a trial.

You get delivered 6 juices x day and you need to drink them in the order that they are labeled, one every 2 hours. It's, also, recommended to try 6 glasses of water per day (something that I do anyway).

I started Day 1 with a warm glass of water with some lemon juice (like every morning) and then had Juice 1 at 11am.

My most favourite juice is no. 2 - pineapple, banana and coconut... simply perfection!

My least favourite is no. 1 - because I hate ginger!!!

I found it quite easy to stick with it because since you have a drink every 2 hours, which is quite close and by the time you finish one, it's nearly time for the next one.

I felt a bit hungry on Day 2, around 4:30 before Juice 4 but I had 2 glasses of water and that kept my hunger at bay.

How did it fair? Well, I lost 6 pounds so I was pleased but I have no illusion that the weighloss was actual fat; still, it's great to get rid of bloating and just give your liver a break, really.
I would recommend if you need a flat stomach quickly, maybe before a special occasion.
Would I do it again? Yes, absolutely. Unfortunately, it's pretty expensive - even with the groupon voucher which was £60.
There's also a 5-day plan but I don't think I could cope with it... I really kinda of need solid food after 3 days :)

Have you tried anything similar yourself? Did you enjoy it?
xxx

Diet Chef - Update

It has been 2 weeks and the results are in! This diet has been a total success for me.

I know I know... you're all interested in the nUmbErs - I lost 6.6 pounds and 3.5 inches all over my body. I'm quite pleased with that especially because I enjoyed the food and I never felt hungry.

For breakfast, I most enjoyed maple syrup & pecan granola or cocoa porridge.

For lunch, you can choose between a soup and milkshake; soup was probably the food that I liked the least so I often opted for chocolate or caffelatte milkshake.

Dinner is a completed cooked meal and my favourites included lasagne, korma, paella - you require to add a side vegetable to this meal.

Finally, snacks like salt & vinegar popcorn, chocolate chip cookies - plus 2 fruits.

The choices are much more vast, this are just examples of my personal tastes - plus, you can customise to better suits your life style (I like to swap lunch with a lighter dinner).

Here is something I don't quite understand: the 'finish' plan, as above, should provide 1200 calories but it doesn't add up. Maybe the explanation is that some food, like milkshakes, are fortified with vitamins and minerals. I repeat: I didn't feel hungry!!

If you want you can increase to 1500 calories adding some carbs at lunch, for example.

What else to add - I'm back on normal diet now but I'm planning on doing diet chef again next month for another couple of weeks... I think it's a great way to give your metabolism a boost and I totally recommend it.

you can check my previous post here.

Diet Chef

23/08/11 - Update here.

Today I'm starting the Diet Chef!

I've lost quite a bit of weight since the beginning of the year - about 2 stones in just under 4 months - in a steady, healthy way, controlling calories and going to the gym. You know, I'm getting married in April next year so I'm trying to get in the best possible shape - call me vain! :)

Anyway, I was starting to get fed up with always eating the same things and that's the main reason I decided to start this program (also, I got it quite cheap, nearly half price, with a www.livingsocial.com  voucher).

So, how is it going to work? They provide breakfast (it could be muesli bar, granola, porridge), lunch (soup or milkshake), snack (salty or sweet options available) and dinner (a complete meal: pasta, curry, stew...); on top of that, you need to add milk for breakfast, 2 fruits as snacks and 1 portion of veg with your mail meal.

It looks promising and I'm excited to start it now!!! :)

I will post an update after my 2 weeks - stay in touch!

xx