The Slim Fast Challenge – Final Weigh In

Well 14 days of the #slimfastchallenge are up and Monday morning was the final weigh in. I have held off weighing myself all week so this week’s weight was a surprise.

I jumped on the scales and was really disappointed. I’ve lost 4lbs in 2 weeks. Normally I wouldn’t moan about losing 4lbs but I’m disappointed as I weighed myself on day 5 and had lost 3lbs. For an additional 9 days of dieting I was expecting more than a 1lb loss.

I’ve followed the diet to the letter and even tried harder with my exercise for the past 2 weeks. I was expecting to lose more than 4lbs on such a low calorie diet.

I will reserve judgement for another week though as I suffer terribly with water retention and bloating once a month. The perils of being a woman mean that most months I can put on several pounds which disappear a few days later.

I haven’t minded doing Slim Fast as I’m so busy during the day that grabbing a bar or shake is easier than fixing a meal. I’ve not really felt hungry and I’ve enjoyed creating evening meals for under 600 cals.

But, I did feel like I was consuming quite a lot of sugar. The shakes and the snack bars had very high sugar content and I was permanently left with that strange taste in my mouth that you get when you’ve eaten too many chocolates!

Maybe because of the disappointing weight loss I’m feeling that Slim Fast wasn’t great for a quick fix diet. I’ve done both Weight Watchers and Slimming World in the past and have lost more in the first 2 weeks of being on those plans. I also feel they promote better eating habits and sustainable weight loss. I fear my 4lbs lost is going straight back on again!

Thank you to Slim Fast for giving me the opportunity to try out the #slimfastchallenge.

The Slim Fast Challenge – Day 5

Today is day 5 and I’ve yet to fall off the wagon! I’ve actually found doing Slim Fast a lot easier than I thought I would.

I haven’t suffered from any rumbling tummy and have enjoyed everything I’ve tried so far. I am totally in love with the snack chocolate bars. They taste like you’re having a Mars or a Snickers but are a fraction of the calories.

I’ve enjoyed some really nice balanced dinners some of which have come from the recipe ideas on the Slim Fast website. My boys really liked the fish finger pie and for the first time in ages we had a dinner time without a single complaint about the food!

My only complaint so far is that I feel like I’m constantly eating sugar. The shakes and meal replacement bars have really high sugar content. Having 2 of these a day is nearly your recommended daily allowance of sugar straight away.

The bit you’re waiting for though. I got on the scales for the first time this morning and so far 3lbs have disappeared which I’m really pleased about.

The Slim Fast Challenge – Day 1

The big day has arrived. Last night I enjoyed a big roast dinner and a glass of wine as my last supper! A meal like that isn’t going to fit in my 600 kcal dinner allowance.

I’m going to be brave and admit that this morning I stepped on the scales and I weighed 13st 9 lbs which makes my BMI 29.9. Not fantastic by any means but that’s the reason I wanted to give Slim Fast a go.

Breakfast
This mornings breakfast was a bit different from the normal toast and marmite. I had a banana shake about 9.30 and made sure I planned a busy morning of baby clinic and visiting my parents to take my mind off any hunger.

I picked banana this morning as I’m not a huge fan of banana milkshake and wanted to get it out the way but I really enjoyed it. I expected them to taste a bit powdery but it was just like any normal banana milkshake. I downed it in secret so the kids didn’t try to steal any and flew out the door. Having a shake for breakfast is an awful lot more convenient than my usual breakfast choice.

Lunch
We had lunch at about 1ish as we’d been out all morning. I’d packed one of my snacks to have during the morning but was too busy so I added them onto my lunch.
Lunch consisted of a bag of cheese bites and a chocolate peanut meal replacement bar.

The crisps had plenty of cheese flavour and were lovely and crunchy. They certainly made up for not having my lunchtime bag of crisps.

The meal bar had plenty of chocolate on it which sorted out my lunchtime sugar hit and certainly gave my jaw a workout with how chewy it was. It tasted great.

I had a snack mid afternoon of barbecue flavour tortilla crisps. They had plenty of flavouring and were certainly a great afternoon pick me up. Unfortunately the kids spotted me having these and wanted to try them. They enjoyed they as they came back for seconds!

Dinner
I was really looking forward to dinner. I struggled cooking the kids dinner as it was making me so hungry. I literally ran down the stairs and did the quickest dinner we had in the house. Dinner consisted of a tuna steak, asparagus, cous cous and leftover barbecue corn on the cob coming in at just under 600 kcal.
I saved my final snack of the day for after dinner as I always like to have something sweet. I swapped a Slim Fast snack for a Muller Light yoghurt. Anything counts as a snack as long as it’s under 100 kcal.

Exercise
I took the twins to baby clinic so walked just over a mile and a half with the pushchair.
Fitbit steps today – 7265

The Slim Fast Challenge – Introduction

I have lost an awful lot of weight in the 10 months since my twins arrived. I weighed myself on the morning of my c-section and to date have lost 6 stone 7lbs. Some of that was baby weight but most was there before I fell pregnant.

While pregnant I had gestational diabetes so had to modify my diet significantly. I have kept up with this healthier eating since having the babies and also added in exercise at least 3 times a week.

In the last few months though, my weight loss has stalled and as the pounds have stopped coming off, my motivation has faltered.

When offered to opportunity to give the Slim Fast Challenge a go, I jumped at it. I’m hoping it will give me the kick start I need to get back on track. I’m also due back at work next month as would love to walk back into the office looking a million dollars and making them think I’m excelling at parenting 4 small people plus looking after myself!

The Slim Fast 3-2-1 plan sounds perfect for me. The 3 snacks, 2 meal replacement bars or shakes plus 1 meal of 600 kcal should suit my busy days where I sometimes struggle to sit down to eat. It also still allows me to have an evening meal with the Mr and secretly put him on an evening meal diet too!

I will be starting Monday morning and I’m quite looking forward to trying all the different flavours of shake and the snacks. Some of them sound really yummy and still allow me to have a hit of chocolate!

If I can get down into the next stone bracket, a place I don’t think I’ve been since I was about 5 years old, I’ll feel that Slim Fast has been a success.