Four weeks ago I started the Shake That Weight diet – I followed the Woman with Meal plan which involved having three Shake That Weight products and one 400 calorie meal a day. There are other plans depending on your weight and lifestyle and there’s a handy tool on the website to help you choose. You can also read more about Shake That Weight on my previous post.

So what did I think of Shake That Weight and how did I get on?

I ordered a selection of different products to try and there were plenty to choose from. Ordering was easy and I liked how the website tells you how many days worth of products you have in your basket. It also lets you know how many more products you need to add to take advantage of the Buy More, Save More offers.

I have done a few of these meal replacement diets now and I know from experience that I tend to prefer the shakes over the other products. However, I’m always willing to give things a go so I also ordered some of the different bars, some noodles, porridge, soups and pasta. Shake That Weight also have some meals which are more like actual ready meals so I ordered a selection of these too. Lastly I ordered some of the snacks and water flavouring.

I enjoyed all the shakes – I tried most of the flavours available and I think my favourite was probably the Caramel Delight. I was pleasantly surprised by the bars – when I’ve had bars on previous meal replacement diets they haven’t been all that nice if I’m honest but these ones are actually really tasty. The Marvellous Muesli bar was especially yummy. I also tried the chicken soup which was quite pleasant.

So that’s the good – now the not so good. I wasn’t a big fan of the noodles or the pasta carbonara. The flavours weren’t too bad but I just don’t like the ‘meat’ bits (which are usually soy protein) that these kind of products are always made of. I did find that adding plenty of seasoning (and even a squirt of ketchup to the noodles) did make them more palatable but if I’m honest I’d rather just stick to the shakes! Of course it’s all down to personal taste and you may enjoy them more than I did.

I tried all the ready meals and they were all pretty tasty. They were certainly a change from shakes and bars, and I actually found them really handy to have if the rest of the family were having something that didn’t fit in with the plan. My only real criticism of these what that the chicken was rather dry – I’m guessing because they don’t need to be refrigerated they have to be cooked like this to preserve them.

Lastly were the Shake That Weight snacks – you can have one snack a day on most of the plans, you don’t have to but I found it was great to have something I could have in the evenings (when I’m most likely to want to eat) that still allowed me to stay on plan. I tried the Sour Cream & Cheddar Zippers which were quite nice – they had a bit too much flavouring on for me but they were great when you just feel like having something to graze on.

I also enjoyed both the chocolate and vanilla wafers – you get two in a packet but I only ever wanted one at a time. They were a nice treat in the evening with a cup of tea in front of the telly.

While following a VLCD it’s important that you drink a lot of water – at least 2 litres a day. I find it really difficult to drink that much plain water so I tried the Blackcurrant Water Flavouring. It was good, it made my water taste like flavoured water that you get in the shop. You can also drink sugar-free squash on the plan so I’ve been having plenty of that too.

In addition to the three Shake That Weight products I also had a 400 calorie meal each day. One of the big plus points of this diet for me was that I could still eat with Barry and the boys in the evening. Mostly I adapted my meal so that we could all eat more or less the same thing. For example, we all had an omelette packed with veggies but the boys had potato wedges with theirs and I just had a couple of wedges and filled my plate with salad instead.

If you aren’t sure what you can eat for your 400 calorie meal there are some recipe suggestions on the Shake That Weight. There is also a closed Facebook group that you can join if you are following the plan – there are lots of ideas from the other members and also lots of support to help you stick to the plan.

So that’s my verdict on what I have been eating for the last four weeks but I suppose the big question is did it actually work?

Well, yes it did. Over the four weeks I lost a total of 8lbs, 2 inches off my waist and 1.5 inches off my hips. If you go from normal eating (or eating to excess) to following a VLCD it’s likely that you will see a big loss in the first week but it’s probably worth pointing out that I was already following a low calorie diet before I started Shake That Weight and so my loss wasn’t so big.

I found the plan easy to follow and fit in with family life too. I have to confess that I haven’t been very strict in sticking completely to the plan – I may have sneaked in a few bites of cake a couple of times, and I did find it very difficult to stop my habit of picking at the boys leftovers. Nevertheless, I am really pleased with my results.

In fact I’ve been so pleased with my results that I’ve just ordered another four weeks of products so I can carry on and hopefully lose some more weight to get me closer to my target, and if that’s not a recommendation then I don’t know what is!

Finally then I just wanted to say congratulations to Mel who won the giveaway on my last post for two weeks of Shake That Weight products. Commiserations if you didn’t win but you can still head over to Shake That Weight and order some of the products to try for yourself.

Even though my four week trial of Shake That Weight is over I’m going to be continuing with my weight loss and fitness plan and you can read more about how I’m getting on in my Fit by 40 posts.

 

**Disclosure – I was provided with a four week supply of Shake That Weight products in exchange for this review. However all opinions are my own.