Want to try and lose weight? Testers needed for Diet Chef products: £200 John Lewis voucher to be won for feedback. NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Diet Chef, the UK’s largest diet home delivery company, would like to Mumsnetters to put their offering to the test.

Diet Chef say "We give you breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack for each day of the week. Everything is calorie counted and portion controlled so you just tuck in and enjoy. We believe you should eat the food you love, so our menu, with around 100 delicious dishes, even include things like curry and pasta. With Diet Chef you can expect to lose 1-2 pounds a week, in line with UK Government recommendations for healthy, sustainable weight loss, while eating real, yummy food."

They have been working on responding to feedback on both meals and user experience, and would love to know what you think of the improvements they have made.

They would like to offer 10 Mumsnetters the opportunity to try out their diet delivery service for one month – this service is worth £245.

If you would be interested in joining the product test please click here and add your details.

Those selected will be sent a code, which will allow them to order a free 4-week hamper, with their preferred meal options. The meals are all delivered at the same time in one 4-week box, so you will need somewhere to store the food. However, because the food is heat sealed then pressure cooked within the packaging, you don't need to store it in the fridge; the cupboard under the stairs, a pantry, or a kitchen cupboard is fine.

We'd like testers to offer feedback at the end of each week, both on the food, the service and – if they don't mind sharing – how much weight they have lost and how they feel.

Everyone who offers feedback will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 John Lewis voucher.

NB Diet Chef is not recommended for breastfeeding mothers.

Good luck!

MNHQ

[MillyDots]

Everyone saying that nothing else has worked for them and they have put the weight back on, well that's because that's how diets work. Anyone can lose weight by cutting back but its then being able to live with a sustainable food plan for life. All diet chef will do is cause you to maybe lose weight quickly and then when you come off it and start bingeing on all the foods you have not been allowed, you will put it on twice as fast and add more weight too it because that is what sadly happens. Diets like this do not work.

[Mintyy]

You've missed my point itsfab, with your daft platitude. If you are going to the trouble of cooking for your family, then having these long life ready meals for yourself is neither time saving or convenient. If your family are having sausage egg chips and beans for dinner, why not have 2 sausages instead of your usual 3, 1 egg in stead of your usual 2, grilled tomato instead of chips, and water to drink instead of juice or wine (for example).

[Eva50]

Well, I've tried everything else so would love to give it a go!

[Itsfab]

Using diet chef is not always about saving time and convenience.

DC is for those who struggle to calorie count and weigh out food etc, it is an option. If it was as easy as just eating one less sausage there wouldn't be a market for DC.

[Itsfab]

I lost a stone on it last year.

[mrsbrownsgirls]

aye. me

[BIWI]

And did you keep it off, Itsfab?

[Itsfab]

yes

[BIWI]

That's really good to hear. What did you do to make sure of that?

[Itsfab]

[IScreamForIceCream]

BIWI, why the interrogation? You're coming across a little rude.

You do the lo-carby thing - that's lovely.
Other people want a different approach. That is also - equally - as lovely.

[pixiegumboot]

done

[BiscuitsAreMyDownfall]

Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth

Well done. If I get picked I plan to hopefully lose the initial weight and manage to carry on by eating sensibly and exercise. Anyone can put on weight after losing it initially no matter how it was lost in the first place. All it takes is a kick start.

[BIWI]

I'm sorry if it appears that I'm rude. But I don't believe in approaches like this. My low (not 'lo') carb stuff that I do here - as well as following myself in real life - is based on eating real, unprocessed and fresh food. Because it's not just about the carbs. It's about the quality of the food that we eat.

I worry that this kind of approach is not only about compromised food - how can something that is going to last for four weeks when it's delivered to you be good for you? - but also that it's about a way of eating that is totally unsustainable.

I will bet any money you like that the vast majority of those who get selected for this four week trial will not be able to sustain eating only the meals that they are provided with. They will get hungry, give in, eat biscuits/sweets/chocolates as snacks in between meals. They will end up in situations where they eat other foods - in the course of a four week period, they will be invited to dinner/go out/for a barbecue - where they won't have any other option than to eat someone else's food. Or, they will be at a meeting at work, or have to go on a long journey and will have to eat on the train/plane, etc. You get, hopefully, my drift.

And even in the unlikely event that none of this happens over a four week period, at the end of the four weeks, when hopefully they will have lost a good half stone, what happens then? Most people will simply revert to eating like they did before, because they have 'finished' their diet period.

And guess what? The weight will all go back on.

... and if they'be been doing a low calorie diet, then chances are - because of the effect on the metabolism that a low calorie diet has - that when they revert to the eating habits that they had before, their metabolism will be slower, so they will gain even more weight than they did before.

So if I appear to be rude - this is why. I get cross when people are taken in by apparently easy solutions to a problem. When all that is likely to happen is that it will make things worse for them in the long run.

If I thought that a four week period of eating new food, lovingly prepared by a company interested in proper nutrition would result in a significant weight loss that could be sustained in the future I would be totally delighted

(Oh, and I was actually genuinely interested to know how Itsfab had managed to sustain her/his weight loss ...)

I am totally happy to be proved wrong.

[funnyperson]

I would really like to do this if there is a vegetarian option. I'll be living away from home due to work, this autumn, with a minimal kitchen and this would be perfect for a very very very overweigh person like me!

[Itsfab]

Yep, rude.

I did DC for 3 months. I had one week out of 12 where I decided to eat normal food.

My children eat high quality food but you know what, I am fucked off with exercising loads and watching what I eat and having nothing coming off. It is effecting my mental health badly and makes me feel a failure. 4 weeks of eating what you deem to be shit food will be worth it long term if it helps me get some weight off that is actually going to cause more serious health issues than eating something like this for four weeks.

I am in a seriously bad emotional place at the moment and if I can get one tiny bit of stress removed then it is for all my family's benefit.

And I have NOT put back on the weight I lost on DC.

[Itsfab]

I have done DC so can speak more than you about it, BIWI, than just making sneery assumptions.

[IScreamForIceCream]

funny - there are veg. options on the menu - I checked!

[IScreamForIceCream]

itsfab - hope things change for the better for you soon.

[Mandyandme]

I have signed up. I am in a position where I can stick to a diet with no problem. The problems come because I am the worse cook in the world and the fact that everthing is delivered ready made is definitely a plus point. In fact if it works I will certainly consider carrying on with it. The incentive being not to cheat so it will cost less.

[Eva50]

A colleague did DC for 6 months losing several stone approximately 2 years ago. If she has regained any weight it isn't much.

[AngelieMumsnet]

Thanks so much to everyone who has applied so far. We're going to be postponing this product test until October - sorry about this. Everyone who has applied already will still be considered for the test in October, and Diet Chef may be looking for more than 10 testers then too. Sorry again for any inconvenience caused.

[gildedlily]

Sounds like this could get me started on shifting my excess 4 stone. I think not having to think about what I 'm eating would help me. Hope I get picked.

[Itsfab]

What is the reason for the postponement?

[DurhamDurham]

Ah that's a shame, I was crossing fingers and toes in the hope of being picked for this one. Good news that we will still be considered when it goes ahead in October.