Getting the most from a diet food delivery service

Total Diet Food meal

Many people choose to combine a new exercise routine at the same time as starting a new diet. Here at Muddy Plimsolls, we’ve worked with many people who have done just that. And a diet food delivery service, is a more and more popular way of making that diet a reality.

Now I can’t comment on the food side of things, not being a qualified dietician. But if you’d like to combine getting your meals delivered with an exercise programme, I do have some advice for doing so successfully.

Avoid a dramatic drop in calories

I had a client who decided to hire me and follow a 5:2 diet at the same time. For those that don’t know, the 5:2 is an intermittent fasting diet where you eat normally for five days, then reduce your calories to a quarter of what you’re used to for two days. Whilst I can’t comment on the weight loss results, I do know that my client’s energy levels for exercise where totally messed up. On the fasting days she had no energy, felt dizzy and lightheaded. On the first day back on normal food she wasn’t quite right and wasn’t really able to exercise to the extent we knew she could. So it was more like a 4:3 diet. And that didn’t go well with her training programme through the week. Eventually she changed her diet and her training experience rapidly improved.

Ease into an exercise programme for the first week or so

Give your body time to adjust to the new levels of calories-in and calories-out. So don’t start with training hard for 3 days a week. Begin with just once or twice a week, and make sure your trainer knows in advance which diet delivery service you are using. Details such as how many calories you are taking in, and what proportions of carbohydrate, protein and fat that represents will help your trainer adapt your workout to be most effective.

Give yourself a cut-off point for review

A week is too short. Give it a month. And have something to review. Measure your weight. Or try on a pair of jeans from the wardrobe that you haven’t been able to fit in to. At the beginning of a weight loss trial, I suggest clients find an item of clothing that no longer fits. They should try it on, make a note of where and why it doesn’t fit, then pop the note into the pocket. I suggest jeans because they are usually quite unforgiving. Then put away the item. Four weeks later, try on the clothes again, reading the note to remind yourself. This makes for a more objective judgment than looking at yourself in a mirror.

Muddy Plimsolls clients enjoy a 10% discount off London’s freshest diet delivery service Total Diet Food. To claim your discount – and many great discounts from a selection of other health/fitness retailers – simply sign up for one of our 4-Week Training Plans.

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