Yes I found the food shopping much more expensive as I was making separate meals for me, but still shopping/cooking for the rest of the family too, even before all the extra ingredients and protein powders etc.
The plan I'm doing is from www.freedomdietcoach.co.uk I paid £75 for my plan, but I think they've got a Christmas offer on at the moment so it's apparently now a bit cheaper
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For this I filled in quite a detailed questionnaire and they produced a 6-week plan incorporating the foods I specified (and more importantly, leaving out the ones I hate!), but they've said the plan can be used for longer than 6 weeks if I don't reach my goal in that time. When the 6 weeks are up they'll send me my maintenance plan to follow once I've lost all the weight I want.
As the plan was produced just for me, I imagine that other people's would be different depending on their specifications - but as a guide, mine is low sugar, 3 healthy meals a day, no snacking except 1 piece of fruit if I really need it (I don't have this any more but did for the first few days whilst I got used to it). They included quite simple recipes for my meals, like sausage casserole and shepherd's pie, which really suits me as they don't take forever to cook and everyone else in the family eats them too so I'm not having to make anything separate for me. It's really made me so much more organised with food shopping and planning what we're eating every day as a family and I'm so glad I started it as it's got me out of a rut of unhealthy snacking and disorganised last-minute grabbing of whatever's in the fridge. I suppose it just took the hassle out of wading through all the ever-changing diet advice too, as I know I'm eating a healthy, balanced diet now, which has kept me motivated.
Sorry I've rambled on massively
- if you have any specific questions please feel free to ask me...