resident lactivist
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: SAN ANTONIO
Posts: 985
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eDiets
I have seen eDiets come up in these boards from time to time. Did a search here, in fact, before joining up myself. To help out anyone who is considering joining them, I am posting here a portion of my journal entry on the subject. I hope this will help answer questions any of my fellow Chicks might have about the program/site.
First of all, cost. It is $2.99/week, which is billed to your credit card quarterly (ie, every 13 weeks). This works out to a roughly $40 charge to your card four times a year. You can cancel it after 4 weeks, and be charged roughly $12. If you cancel it after one month, one day, you'll be charged for 5 weeks. Whatever "unused" portion of the time you've bought in advance will be refunded to you.
When you sign up, you answer a questionnaire. This helps them assign you a goal weight and a calorie allowance. To get these numbers, they want to know things like your sex, height, age, & activity level. (I answered the activity-level question wrong and so was assigned only 1200 - 1300 calories to begin with, but a dietician at the site asked me specific questions about my activities and exercise routine after I complained about it, and reassigned me very quickly.) They arbitrarily assigned me a goal weight of 130, but didn't complain at all when I asked it to be changed to 150, though when I gave myself a goal weight, it only let me go up to 149.
You'll want to note that that $40 gets you only a meal plan, e-mail assistance, recipes for what's on your menu, shopping lists made from your menu, and access to "diet tools", among them a way to calculate your approximate basal metabolic rate (the number of calories you need to continue to live, basically), & your BMI. To gain access to the "community" there is an extra charge of $1.99 a week (personally, I like 3FC so much it seemed like a waste of money to me; this is my support!) and another $1.99 will get you a "personalized" exercise routine. I didn't sign up for either, so I cannot comment on them. They will also try to sell you a spiral-bound food journal and dining out guide, and also a CD set that is supposed to be motivational, apparently.
There are 19 eating plans available: Atkins, Slim-Fast, Shape Up! (Dr Phil), Eating For Life (Body for Life, the food side), Zone Perfect, Dr Nicholas Perricone's Nutritional Face-Lift Program, eDiets.com Weight Loss Plan, Nutrisystem Nourish, Living with Type 2 Diabetes Diet, Heart Smart Diet (based off the AHA plan), Low Sugar, Low Sodium, High Fiber, eDiets Alternative to Jenny Craig (which gives you a menu of frozen meals, basically), Lactose Free, Low-Fat, Healthy Soy, Vegetarian, & Cholesterol Lowering. If you're not sure which one you want, before you sign up you can take their "Diet Needs Analysis" quiz, which has questions like "Do you feel as if you might be addicted to carbohydrates?" & "Do you find yourself constantly thinking of food?" Based on your answers to the "DNA", they will recommend two diets for you. (You don't have to choose one of them, however.)
Once you sign up, you can change your program at literally any time, and as often as you wish. I'm following the Living with Type 2 Diabetes diet, as it's very similar to South Beach, but briefly switched over to Eating for Life to try and see if I could shake up my calorie allowance that way. Within the plan you can make further selections, like excluding things (I excluded fish because Rob doesn't like it, shellfish because it's expensive, egg substitutes, & soy because I don't care for them) and selecting "high fiber" & "low sugar" (which I did). You also choose whether you want a "recipe based" or "convenience based" menu, or a combination of the two.
Once you make all those selections, you're presented with a week's worth of meals, with your Day One being the day you join up or change plans. Generally speaking, you get three meals and one snack. These are assigned pretty much at random, but you can change them and select a new one from a list. The list will be of foods in your calorie range & the meal type (lunch & dinner meals seem to be the same). You can also select fast food or choosing your own meal. If you're planning on eating out or eating something from outside their database, you have a handy breakdown of the approximate calories to include in your meal or snack.
Right now, I'm on a 1600 - 1700 calorie diet. Here's my menu for tomorrow:
Breakfast
cold cereal with milk, almonds, fruit, & cottage cheese: 3/4 c whole-wheat cereal; 1 c lowfat or nonfat milk; 1 oz whole almonds, 1/2 c lowfat or nonfat, low-sodium cottage cheese; 1 small apple
Lunch
lean pork stir fry with brown rice and fruit (I have a recipe for the "lean pork stir fry"); 1 serving fruit of choice
Dinner
grilled marinated steak with healthy fries, 1 serving fruit of choice, 2 c mixed salad greens, 2 T lowfat or nonfat, low-sodium salad dressing
Snack
4 graham crackers (2.5" square); 1/2 T low sodium peanut butter
Since it is a diabetes-management diet, I'm advised to take part of my main meals to eat later on. For instance, I intend to keep back the cottage cheese & fruit from tomorrow's breakfast to eat a couple of hours later.
I hope that helps anyone who is wondering about eDiets. I'll do my best to answer any questions, and I hope other Chicks with eDiets experience will chime in too. It's not for everyone, obviously, but it is handy to me because I loathe working out menus for the week, but when I don't plan ahead I eat poorly.
Last edited by GreatBigMonsterMomma; 08-03-2004 at 01:08 AM.
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