The World of Kitsch : Claire’s New You Plan journey*
The World of Kitsch: Claire starts her New You Plan journey
*Weight loss results may vary. This is not a guarantee.
Claire Spence, a curious, dedicated blogger of all things retro approached New You with a keen interest in trying some of our meals and snacks! We were soo happy that she wanted to give it a go and gave her a week’s supply to get started asked her to keep us updated on her blog. Obviously, our range made a great first impression on her and well… she loved them so much that she actually ordered ANOTHER weeks worth of items from us!
She started the plan last Friday and we’ve been keeping track of her progress through her personal blog, The World of Kitsch ever since. We’ll be regularly checking up on her progress for the next few days & we are loving her blog so far! Check out how she got on with her very first weekend on the plan…
Day One
I read once that Monday is the worst day to try to start changing your eating, or dieting, so therefore Friday must be the best, right? Either way I’m starting today. I weighed myself this morning and I’m 9 stone 9.6lbs. My ultimate goal is about 8 stone 3lbs, but that won’t be achieved in this week, unless I chop off a foot.
I reckon the best way to get the 3 to 5 litres a day they suggest through me, is to buy 4 litres of water and use that as a visual guide to see how far I am along every day. I got eight 500ml bottles in the pound shop for £2, and I’ll just refill them from the tap every morning, but they should help me see how far I have to go each day.
With the whole week’s meals, shakes and bars in front of me it was tricky to pick which four products I was going to use today. For breakfast I picked the lemon meal replacement bar, which is really chewy and more like a treat than a traditional cereal bar. It’s the sort of thing I’d eat even off a diet if it were a snack choice. It’s a bit like a Boots Shapers Bar if you’ve had them? Only a bit bigger.
I also tried one of the pineapple fat burning powders in water. It contains calcium, chromium (which regulates glucose levels) and green tea leaf extract which increases fat burning. You can take up to three of these fat burner sachets a day to help increase your metabolism naturally. I love pineapple so for a dilute type product, it’s not too bad!
As mentioned in my little disclaimer at the bottom of each post, this week’s whole plan has been provided complimentary by The New You Plan, but I’ve gone ahead and placed an order for a second week. Once my package arrived & I got a feel for the products I knew the plan was ideal for me, so I decided to go ahead and stock up. You only enter the state of ketosis, which promotes quick weight loss, after a few days, and as I was only doing seven days, I wouldn’t get the maximum benefit of my hard work!
If you do place an order I’d really appreciate if you used my referral code VdxfiJV2 as it helps me save points to get discounts on my own ongoing purchases.
I picked only three shakes for the second week, as I imagine when I’m drinking so much water daily, I won’t want even more liquid as a meal. However, thanks to the Secret Slimmers New You Facebook I read tips from other Slimmers who suggest using the shake mix as either mousses, by adding less water, or turning them into ice lollies with a mould. In fact you can buy a lolly mould on the site if you like this idea, as I do. So I’ve ordered mint chocolate shake to make into lollies. They also say you can make up a vanilla, chocolate or hazelnut shake, heat it, and add a scoop of coffee granules to make a flavoured latte. The Secret Slimmers group is packed with lots of little ideas like this to tweak the products without losing the benefit of them.
1:30pm
Lunch time! My first trial of one of the low calorie meals. This was a bit of a shock to the system! The little packages are small, but just how small was a surprise. The broccoli pasta pack is akin to a child’s portion, but it IS a very low calorie diet, so if you’re going to do these things, they have to be done right. Positively, the meal is super easy to make up. There are instructions for hob or microwave, the later which just takes two 90 second spins and you’re good to go. It’s the sort of thing you could prepare in an office without fuss, or without anyone knowing it’s a diet product, if you want to keep it quiet. Also it TASTES GOOD! It may be a small meal, but it isn’t wasted calories because I actually enjoyed it.
Again the wealth of tools and resources on the New You Plan website come in to play here. The Secret Slimmers Facebook Page has recipes that customers have invented using the prepackaged meals, or you can check out slimmer Dawn’s amazing recipe ideas here. There are hints how to bulk up the meals without effecting ketosis, and ideas for long term users of the plan to vary the meals with spices to give them a new kick.
As I predicted, the water drinking is still tough for me. I’ve only reached my fourth 500ml bottle by lunch. Yet again Secret Slimmers comes into play as I’ve asked them how they found the new intake of loads of water when they started. Long term & super successful slimmer Dawn Pratt tells me it gets easier as the days go on, and she now manages eight litres between 2.30pm and 9pm daily! That’s good going!
5:30pm
I made the chicken soup as my third out of four product choice. Directions advise to use the fancy shaker, but I want to keep it for the shakes only, so I made the soup up with boiling water from the kettle and whisked it with a fork. This did the trick. The soup tastes good and is just like a regular cup a soup in flavour and texture.
I’m going to sign off for today now, but I will be having my first shake later, but I shall tell you all about that tomorrow!
*Weight loss results vary. Consult your GP before beginning a very low calorie diet. Products for this week supplied for review purposes*
Day Two
My second week order included freebies of the famous ‘Old Recipe Carbonara‘ which seems to be a big favourite on the Secret Slimmers Facebook Page. So I made it up as my second product of the day, for lunch. Again it’s a small portion for maximum weight loss, but it does taste good.
I want to talk about the very low calorie aspect of the diet, as it is noticeably restrictive compared to regular diets. You are going to have to say no to takeaways and eating out in order to maximise your results. It is low calorie, but then again it gets repeated success as you can see with the endless blog posts of before and afters of people who have stuck to the plan . I think you have to decide, before committing to The New You Plan, are you going to push to lose the weight you’ve always wanted to this time? Personally I’ve hovered around 10st for a few years now and perpetually wished I was 20lbs lighter. This diet does need commitment, you can’t cheat on it, and you can’t even really add any non-plan foods without being careful not to knock yourself off ketosis, but if you really want to lose the weight this time- this plan will work. It would be physically and scientifically impossible not to lose weight on a very low calorie diet, but it’s your own will power that guarantees success.
My plan for the rest of day two is to have another low calorie meal later, the noodle nosh I think, then end the day with a coconut bar. I read a tip about freezing your chocolate bars on the Secret Slimmers Page, so I’m trying that! Sounds tasty!
*first week’s products supplied for review purposes. Consult your GP before embarking on a low calorie diet. Results will vary from person to person*
Day Three
9:00am
The beginning of day three and it’s a Sunday, so that means eating lunch at my parents’ house as a family. The problem I’m pondering, over my morning porridge (lovely by the way) is how I’m going to sit and eat with my family and not get tempted by their food. I’m definitely sticking to the plan, so cheating & eating the same as them isn’t an option. Yet social eating is always going to turn up, so what can I do?
The Secret Slimmers Facebook Page comes to the rescue once more. You can combine the meals to make larger lunches or dinners, and the different combos are all tried and tested by people on the plan. This means you’ll use up two of your four products a day, but it will feel more like a Sunday Lunch, so you won’t feel left out.
Yesterday I was craving a Subway salad (I’ll definitely be using them to maintain once this fortnight is over), but I managed to resist and stay 100% on plan. If you do have little wobbles then it’s worth checking in over at the New You Plan blog, and reading some success stories to keep you motivated.
I have to mention that long term weight loss at this speed can cause issues like gallstones- but this is why:
1/ You should check with your GP before starting
2/ If you’ve a lot to lose then stick to the plan’s guidelines of staying on plan for 12 weeks, then taking a 2-3 week break before starting another cycle
3/ Make sure your water intake is at least two litres a day. Although there are some health risks, you have to weigh them up (pardon the pun) with the dangers of being overweight.
I’m still getting used to the size of the meal portions, but I’m not really feeling hungry. Any food cravings I have are more likely due to boredom, so I placed an order today for a product which should help if I feel like something but I’ve used up my four allowed items that day. Usually when I’m dieting I would have cup a soups in the house for evening snacks, to avoid eating something else savoury like crisps.
After lunch
Sunday lunch went fine! I tried the cottage pie meal and really liked it. In fact I wish I had ordered more of them, rather than the noodle meals, as it was bigger and tastier than any of the pasta meals so far.
After lunch my son & I went out shopping for a bit. We usually stop off at Caffe Nero, I get an espresso con panna & he gets their chocolate fudge cake. On The New You Plan you can drink tea and coffee, but they recommend you don’t use milk. I just can’t drink coffee that way, so I was glad they say if you can’t face black coffee, you can put a tiny splash of milk in it, but not more than 250mls a day.
I plan on having a noodle meal later, and a shake to total to my four daily meal plan items. I shall check in with you again tomorrow!
*Consult your GP before beginning a very low calorie diet. Results are varied and not guaranteed. Meal plan supplied for this week by New You for review purposes*
Stay tuned for more from Claire in the next few days – we’re looking forward to seeing how she gets on with the rest of her meals! Keep it up Claire!
