Let’s be honest, if you’re wanting to lose weight, it can be really difficult to find a diet that is guaranteed to give good results but not cause you to sacrifice your health (and sanity).
As a company, we’ve always been of the opinion that no one should feel pressured to lose weight for their wedding. However, over the last few months, we have received dozens of emails and DMs from couples asking us if we could recommend any diets to help them get back to a weight and body image they were comfortable with.
So, when The Real Food Diet reached out to our team promising a diet that will help you lose weight, without feeling deprived and ensuring that your body got all the nutrients and vitamins it needed daily, we were intrigued and two of our team, Elaine and Max, were both keen to try The Real Food Diet’s 2 week plan.
So, here are their individual experiences, their results, what they thought about the diet and how it has changed their mentality.
Elaine’s Experience
What were your reasons for trying the diet?
For a few weeks prior to trying the diet, I hadn't felt happy with the way I looked. I had gained about a stone over lockdown and had increased the amount of alcohol I was drinking. I knew I needed a kickstart to lose weight and it is something I wanted to do, so when Stacey from The Real Food Diet called us, I felt this might be a good opportunity for me.
There were 3 reasons I was intrigued by The Real Food Diet’s offering:
- I have previously worked in the diet industry and was keen to see what the plan would look like and how it would work.
- I had been doing some diet research anyway and when this came up, I felt interested in the plan and wanted to give it a go to see if it would work. Equally, I don't want Guides for Brides to promote anything to our couples that could have cost them a lot of money and failed.
- I’ve tried meal replacement shake diets in the past and they did work but I would much prefer to learn how to eat better and find a way to have a sustainable and healthy diet. I hoped this would give that opportunity.
What was your experience of the diet?
Overall, I can honestly say that I enjoyed it and so did my fiancé. That’s not the usual mentality we have with dieting. It wasn’t all smooth sailing and there were, of course, days where I felt more hungry and craved some of the sugary treats that I was used to having. However, in general, I really didn’t feel deprived!
The meal boxes were delivered in good time and presented brilliantly. The fact everything was already portioned and I knew exactly what we would be eating on a daily basis made doing the diet so easy! There was no need to go to the supermarket and be tempted by the chocolate bars that were on offer so that made cutting those out much easier. There was also no need to actively count calories, which is brilliant for me as that is one of the more difficult things to do when dieting, in my opinion.
What did you enjoy about the diet?
One of the things my fiancé and I most enjoyed was trying recipes and foods that we would have previously turned our noses up to. Who knew veggie bolognese would be so delicious?!
I also enjoyed discovering the substitutes we could make to our day-to-day foods to make them healthier or lower in calories.
What did you find most challenging about the diet?
There wasn’t really anything that was a particular challenge. I would say the one thing I struggled with was when I didn’t like the recipe. I would still eat it, but you don’t feel as satisfied with your meal and that affects your mentality. This was really the only downfall of The Real Food Diet, so if you have a well-developed palate, you should have no problems at all.
Elaine’s results
I lost 7 pounds in total across the two weeks, my fiancé lost over a stone. We were both happy with that.
Although I found the 800 calorie diet a great kickstarter, I personally did not feel like I could maintain the commitment to such a low amount of calories. However, the 800 calorie diet has been designed for people to do for up to 12 weeks (or longer if they need to), so this is definitely an option if you feel committed enough.
However, it has changed my mentality towards what I eat and the same goes for my fiancé. I continued with ensuring I eat something for breakfast of a similar nature (I previously didn’t eat breakfast) and have been making sure I have sensible portion sizes, which I now understand the importance of. While I have put some carbs back into my diet, I have now swapped to low-carb bread and I make sure I eat more vegetables.
I have continued to lose weight and nearly 4 weeks after I started the diet, I have dropped a dress size and lost a total of 11 pounds. I am also much less bloated, so I feel better about how my body looks too!
This diet taught me to eat a more balanced diet and that carbs don’t need to go into every meal I have. I also realised that my original downfall was definitely portion sizes and that I, a woman who works in an office, don’t need the same portions as a man who works in a very physically demanding job.
Overall, I am happy with the results and would recommend this diet to others who are feeling the same way as I was.
Max’s Experience
What were your reasons for doing this diet?
I have been on different diets and trying to be better with food for about 15 years now. I have tried lots of things. I saw The Real Food Diet as an opportunity to stick to something for a couple of weeks to see if it would be the right thing for me without worrying that it would be too much of a commitment.
I was also attracted to it because it removes one of my most common problems - making sure the food I have purchased doesn’t go to waste. I am a single guy and many in my situation will know that it’s pretty much impossible to just buy one chicken breast from the supermarket, for example. I don’t like seeing food go to waste and if it’s in the house I will make sure I eat it.
What was your experience of the diet?
I’ll be honest, I have tried so many diets that I was skeptical that this wouldn’t work or that I would be eating ‘rabbit food’ for two weeks. But, I was pleasantly surprised. The meal boxes were delivered on time and well presented. They were also very conveniently labeled and packaged, so I could easily find all my ingredients for each meal.
The main thing that struck me was that the diet was very easy to do. The recipes are easy to follow and the pre-prepared portions and ingredients were fantastic. I usually turn to microwave meals because it’s quick, easy and you can buy them in single portions.
Like Elaine, my job revolves around my desk and while I am constantly on my feet at the weekend, my usual weekly exercise of Aikido has stopped due to covid. I think this has helped me find better, healthier meals and helped me understand the importance of monitoring my portion sizes.
What did you enjoy about the diet?
I enjoyed cooking the meals and using more than just a microwave. It was fun to cook a variety of meals all while knowing that I wouldn’t be eating in excess. It was also fun to relearn cooking techniques that I had forgotten how to do. For example, I hadn’t poached an egg in over 20 years!
If you want to know what my favourite meal was, the burger was amazing! I wish I knew what the spice mix was, which is another benefit of choosing the plan as spices all pre-mixed for you. I also really enjoyed the beef stir fry and have added it to my weekly meals because it’s so tasty and easy!
What did you find most challenging about the diet?
The final weekend of the diet, I was ripping out a bathroom. It was a very physical weekend and I did struggle with the limited calories on that day. Stacey did warn us that we should avoid doing more than our usual activity for this plan so I wasn’t surprised I felt a bit weak.
The 2 week diet is definitely a quick kickstarter and not something I could continue with for an extended period of time. The Real Food Diet also offers a 5:2 diet in which they provide diet food as before but just for 5 days in a week. This would probably be a better option for me so that I could have a balance between dieting in the week, and eating more at weekends.
Max’s results
I lost 13 pounds in 2 weeks! I was very pleased with that, but I recognise that it’s too extreme to continue for me. Since then I have increased portion sizes but not put carbs back into my diet (and to be honest I don’t miss them!). I have lost 7 pounds since.
Prior to this diet, I would add rice or potato to every meal to ‘bulk it out’, now I just use veg! I have also stopped eating treats like chocolate and crisps regularly. I am not craving them either.
From doing this diet, I realised that all the unhealthy snacks I was eating were actually down to habit rather than hunger. Of course, there is always the temptation of the supermarket and the headache of having to portion the food myself - which having the food delivered to my door really helped me avoid.
Overall, I am really happy with the results and think if I could afford to do so, I would push myself further and stick to the plan for a few more weeks.
About The Real Food Diet
Created with the support of nutritionists and expert dietitians, The Real Food Diet is a ‘diet in a box’. This meal-delivery plan provides you with easy-to-make, fresh and healthy meals that give you all the vitamins and minerals you need on lower calories.
The Real Food Diet was founded by Stacey Lyons. As a self-confessed yo-yo dieter, Stacey had tried everything from Dr Atkins to the Cabbage Soup Diet. So, when she tried this low-calorie, low-sugar diet that she could stick to, the results were revolutionary.
If you would like to find out more about The Real Food Diet, get in touch with their team who are more than happy to walk you through the experience and provide you with the support you need to get started. If you want to try The Real Food Diet for yourself, you can use the code BRIDE10 and get a 10% discount on each box in your chosen plan.
Please remember, you should always speak to a medical professional or dietitian before starting a new diet plan, especially if you have underlying health conditions.