I have tried out many different diet types over the years. I am, essentially, your classic yo-yo dieter. That doesn’t mean that they all do not work; it just means that I haven’t yet found my motivation or a healthy eating meal plan that I can stick to. However, I do need to lose some weight for my health more than anything.

This is why I agreed to try out the Slim and Save Diet Programme. Slim and Save provide meal packs to help you follow a VLCD (very low-calorie diet) plan. Depending on your lifestyle, they have a few different plans to choose from to make it easier to find one you can stick to.

Diets like these tend to be my go-to if I am honest. But, and this is a big but, I always struggle to stick to them. The complete change in not only what I am eating but the amount I am easting invariably means I fall off the wagon quite quickly. A few cheats here, a day off there and boom! Before we know it, diet derailed, and I am back to square one.

The Slim and Save VLCD Plans.

But I was determined this time it was going to be different. With Slim and Save diet plans, I could choose from the following options for my diet plan.

• Lifestyle Plan
• Lifestyle Plus Plan
• Simplicity Plan
• Simplicity Plus Plan
• 5:2 Plan
• Gluten-Free Plan

I opted for the Simplicity Plus plan. This meant I could have 5 packs a day plus 200g of selected vegetables. This would mean that at least one meal would feel like a proper meal giving me less room for self-destruction! The Simplicity Plus plan is for people over 17 stone in weight. Whilst I wasn’t tipping the scales quite at that weight, I am not far off it.

Was I Hungry on the Slim and Save Simplicity Plus Plan?

(The above meal is Spag Bol and is two portions. I took a Zumba class on day 4 of my diet, so I purposely kept two packs to have a larger meal after the class. I also spread my other 3 packs out over longer periods on the day.)

In a nutshell, yes. For the sake of honesty, I had a false start. I started, and within 24 hours, I was done. Partly because I wasn’t totally prepared. You have to be prepared food-wise and mentally to take this diet on, especially if you are drastically cutting back on calories like I was. Partly due to some family birthdays but mostly as it seemed to coincide with the worst fibromyalgia flare-up, I have ever had.

So I left it a few weeks and mentally prepared myself for taking on the plan again. Be Warned – it will not be easy, and you will need every ounce of willpower if your eating habits were/are like mine! Think a child in a candy store! Habitual grazer and all-around lover of convenience food!

But this time, I was ready, and I gave myself a good running start.

What are the meals like on a Slim and Save Diet?

It all depends on your tastebuds and expectations. If you are expecting well-presented food, you are looking in the wrong place. The meals themselves didn’t look appetising. But mostly, on the whole, I did enjoy them. There were some such as the Cheesy Pasta that I didn’t like and the Spicy Bombay Potatoes. They had a lot of spice but not a lot of anything else.

I was surprised to find I enjoyed the Chilli con Carne but was disappointed with the soups. I found they did nothing to fill me up and left me immediately wanting something else. The shakes, porridges and bars are actually some of the nicest I have tried. They have a great range of flavours too. The caffe latte wasn’t for me nor was key lime pie, but the vanilla ice cream shake is perfect for leaving until the last meal pack of the day. Kind of like being able to have dessert after dinner!

I want to point out my ‘burger mix’ failure in the pic above! I didn’t manage to make a burger shape; however, it kind of made a meal on a bed of watercress and spinach.

It is worth noting you can only have one bar a day. The rest you can mix and match as much as you like. I tended to follow this meal pattern.

• Pack 1 Breakfast: Porridge
• Pack 2 Mid Morning: Shake
• Pack 3 Lunch: Meal Pack
• Pack 4 Afternoon Shake/Bar
• Pack 5 Evening Meal: Meal Pack

Top Tips For the Slim and Save Simplicity Plan

I decided to add some tips for those looking at trying any of the plans as honestly, we all need some help if we are serious and want to stick to it.

• Plan your meals at the beginning of the day. Account for what you are doing and if you are going out, keep it easy with shakes and bars.
• If it helps, set your packs out for the day to know exactly what you are having.
• Drink the water! You need around 2-3 litres a day. You can have up to 600ml of selected fizzy drinks, so if you want to, drink those or any of the allowed drink choices.
• As much as you can stick to having the meals at mealtime and not a full day of shakes.
• Be prepared for the hunger, especially in the first week. But remove any temptation and keep reminding yourself why you’re doing this.
• Drink the Water! All of it!  So important it needs saying twice! Invest in a drinks bottle with the times on it, so you know how much you need to be drinking and when. Then drink quicker but consistently. Don’t binge on the water when you get thirsty as I did.
• Use the microwave timings as a guide; I found that some items needed longer or less time.
• Add extra water to the milkshakes if you don’t like them so thick. I added 240ml to mine to make them more to my personal taste.

My Weightloss on Simplicity Plus from the Slim and Save Diet Plans.

I am actually quite proud of how I did with this diet. It has made me realise that actually, I can stick to a plan like this. Is it for me long term? No, not really. I also had plans in the first week, so I had to take a day off to allow for this. But I got right back on it again after the weekend.

In the end, I lost 7lb even with a couple of days break. Coming back onto the diet, I found my appetite had drastically reduced, and I opted for the Lifestyle plan on most days. I hope this is something I can build on and my appetite stays reduced to help me kick start further weight loss.

Whilst this isn’t something I think I can stick to in the long term, the Simplicity Plus Plan is really restrictive, I would like to think that I would easily adapt the Lifestyle Plan into my days to help me continue on my weight loss journey.

Have you tried the Slim and Save Diet? Would this be something you would consider if you are looking to lose weight?