I volunteered to be a paid participant in a university study. APU is doing a product study on this diet and exercise program calle "Mama Wants Her Body Back". It's a 12 week study and all the participants have a food menu, keep a food journal, and have a schedule for doing the assigned exercises. There are a couple of DVDs and a stretchy tension rope provided too.
I made it almost two weeks. Then I called it quits. I'm done. Sure, I made a commitment, but I didn't know what I was getting into. It just isn't working for me and I don't need to continue for 10 more weeks to figure that out. They can take that result as proof that the diet needs improvement. At least for me!
The meal plan says it stresses portion control and healthy choices rather than calorie counting and skipping carbs. Well, that's all well and good, but... yup, here's the big but! But, I counted up the calories on my own. I know how to read labels! The diet was giving me fewer than 1000 calories per day.
I started to cheat because I can't do less than 1000 calories a day. I added in apples, green salad with vinaigrette, green beans, and things like that. Nothing that went against the spirit of the diet. And I brought my calorie intake up to 1200 per day.
One of the lunch choices, and I ate it every day because it is the best one, is one cup of diced tomatoes, white beans and cooked carrots heated into a soup. One of the dinner choices that I had was a 4oz piece of baked Salmon. Yipppee, 4 whole ounces of dinner. And it was fish, blech.
Still, I was feeling lightheaded, tired, crabby, dizzy and constantly HUNGRY! Gee, wonder why. The other day I started feeling like it was all just too hard and I felt kind of teary and emotional and that was the last straw. I'll be danged if I'm gonna shed tears over a stupid diet. So, I baked a pan of brownies and served myself up a big warm brownie the size of my head! I drizzled it with Kahlua chocolate sauce too. I boxed up the food journal, stretchy rope and dvds.
I did lose weight. At my first check in, they didn't tell me anything, but the next check in, I lost 4 pounds and a few cm from the measurements. I was all excited about the results, but seriously, anyone can lose weight fast if they go on a starvation diet. Those results aren't reflective of the diet, they are reflective of the super calorie reduction.
I think I lost 6 pounds total and I probably gained it back eating that pan of brownies and then having a piece of Libby's birthday cake. Oh well. I also ate a meal without guilt and it was nice! The recipes in the menu aren't very good and aren't worth sharing, so I'll spare you.
The diet is over. I am embracing my mama curves and have a new appreciation for my healthy lumpity lumps. Bring on the brownies!
18 comments:
It sounds like you made the right choice. Your kids would rather have a happy mama than a skinny one.
I doubt that they will print your comments about it in their study. Any diet that starves people isn't worth it. What worked for me was just watching what I ate, only just less of it. Oh and exercise.
Yikes! That is ummm unhealthy. 1200 is the minumum calories for women to prevent them from going into starvation mode, and that doesn't include any calories needed for exercise being placed on it. I'm surprised it got past the review board! If you do want to try something that is more ... flexible, look into SparkPeople. It's an online site where you set your goals (what do you want to lose, how quickly, how do you exercise, etc) and then it helps you build how to get there. LOVE it.
Ugh. That's crazy. How can you maintain that? The thought of a soup made out of tomatoes, white beans, and carrots is just sad. And once you're off the diet are you supposed to continue eating that? Yuck. You need enough food to function.
I'm on a diet now--something about insulin resistance. Mainly, I don't eat enough protein, especially for the running I do. We'll see if I lose any weight. I do feel more energetic and less light-headed and crabby. That would be enough even if I didn't lose weight.
I can't believe they would practically starve you just to get good results for their test. Just insane.
Good for you for calling it quits. Besides being a skinny minny is over rated. Or so I've heard.
;)
I was in a test program for the EXACT same program. I actually lost 24 pounds in 9 weeks. I lost all the baby weight and really toned my body. It was the first time a program worked for me. I feel great and I weigh less than I did in college. In my program we had a choice of what we ate and I never felt deprived or hungry. We could also eat as many vegies as we wanted. I loved it.
Wow, That's Great OneHappy! Congrats on your weight loss. Sounds like I should have participated in the Texas study instead. Hahaha! They let me keep the DVDs and the tension band. I actually like the DVD exercises, but the diet did me in.
I'm so glad I read your experience before wasting my $$ and time. I saw the infomercial this morning and put it on my list for the day.
B/f will be happy...he's the one giving me all these extra lumps lately.
I am using the DVD and resistance band but decided not to try to diet at the same time. The exercises are good. The DVD is set up in 4 minutes intervals which is good because I can get in one repetition before one of my kids interrupts me. Just this little bit of exercise does make me feel better! So readers; maybe you can take baby steps like me; and not throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak. Good luck to all.
Great review! Here are the best post partum exercises ever: Julie Tupler's Lose Your Mummy Tummy. Targets your diastasis and all the true child created problems--no diet included! I have had 4 kids and LOVE her stuff. I never do the whole workout but her "abdominal crunches" can be done while driving etc. and they make big difference.
Good luck!
Dont buy these! If you buy one, they keep sending them. Then they charge you the $20+ shipping each month
It's a SCAM - and the people they have in the video are not fun to watch....
This program is a total scam! The continuity program (in small print on the packing slip) is the only notification that I had for the additional $40+ fees for the additional crappy videos that they automatically send to you.
The original order took over 6 weeks to receive and I didn't even like the program. I am very unhappy in being deceived for a lousy 9.99 video.
I do hope you post this comment. This is Lisa Druxman, the founder of Mama Wants Her Body Back. Because you were part of a University Study, I cannot know if they gave you the actual program. But if they did, the real calories are much higher than that.
The nutritionist's analysis was 1238 kcal/day for A choices, 1562 kcal/day for B choices and 2003 kcal/day for C choices. Since people will most likely eat a mixture of the choices, then their nutritional intake will fall somewhere between the A and the C (i.e. 1238 kcal/day to 2003 kcal/day).
Our clients are having phenomenal results. My goal is to help moms get their bodies back but also to realize their unbelievable strength. I thank you for sharing this with your readers.
AWFUL!!! I bought the DVD and I've called TWICE to cancel and they keep charging my card. The workouts are Ok ,nothing special. The customer serivce people speak little to no english and the recepiton is horrible. I just called today because they charged my card again and I was told they were "in the process" of canceling my order. It's been two months!! It takes two months to cancel an order!?! Don't waste your time or money!!!!
Hello all- I have been doing this program for almost four months. At the beginning it was difficult to follow the eating plan and was hungry-they say to eat as many fruits and veggies as you want in addition to the recommended food plan. As I continued the program my cravings became less and less as if my body went through a food addiction and I was breaking all my bad food habits. To date I have lost 20 lbs and I have energy, strength and I finally fit into my size 8 jeans - not to mention I am in the "normal" category of the BMI chart!! This plan is not rocket science but simply eating healthy non-processed, low sodium foods! I never want to go back to eating the way I did, now I eat to survive not for comfort or the habit of putting food in my mouth at every moment! I am very thankful for this program and for anyone who follows it, it will work!! Thanks for reading. -Eva Garcia, San Marcos, CA
I have had the worst time trying to to even start this program. I ordered it dec 1st and was told it was back order but i recieved the free gift of diet pills and the fat burning cardio cd. I selected the 2 payment of 19.99 and 6.99 for shipping and handling. Its march 11 and i just got charged again and still havent recieved my dvds. This is really annoying and im losing my patience
I just placed an order for Mama
Wants her Body Back two weeks ago. I have to say that calling in the order was the worst and longest experience I have ever had with any product I have ordered from any company before. It takes literally 15 min. just to get through all the soliciting they make you go through first. It's a machine and so you have to press yes or no for each product or service they want you to listen to before they process your order. It was one offer after another. That was so irritating - then someone gets on the line and tries to hard sell you for more stuff. After all that - a couple of weeks later. I get a postcard from them saying that I need to call them because they delayed the order and that they need additional information. I called them and guess what they wanted to know... they just wanted to know if I wanted to change anything to the order before they ship (note that the rep said that it will not ship for another 7-10 business days). It was put on hold for that. There is some thing serious wrong with this process. Either they are trying to sell other products that I don't want or they have to seriously reconsider their ordering process. I haven't received the dvds yet - but it better be worth it.
The DVDs are NOTHING like the high intensity MWHBB boot camp.classes which incorporates a 2x week instructor taught group class.
If I had only used the DVD program I would have loved it. The inventor and instructor in the DVDs is realistic and offers modifiers for those of us starting out at a basic fitness level which as you get stronger you can change to the next intensity.
The classes that myself and a friend paid for, pay NO mind to fitness level whatsoever. We were running at a ten pace for a half mile as a warm up the FIRST DAY, told to do one arm pushups, side and front planks in the full position ( on toes as beginners ), the second class we were running the ENTIRE class with kettlebells over our heads and no water breaks, one woman vomited in the sidewalk trying to push through. Two people in my class of Moms have back and leg issues and the exercises are just too intense for most if us as level 1 fitness participants. One gal in the morning group has also had to quit due to hurting herself during the high intensity workouts.
If I would have been able to do the DVD series on its own, the program would gave been / would be fantastic. But our instructor is a marathon runner and holds a dozen other different classes each week, and 75% of the participants in the group are as well.
The $499 class is not worth the injury and not for the faint of heart, or fitness beginners.
I have a slipped disc and sprained ankle and can no longer go to the classes... I do NOT recommend this boot camp structure for the very out of shape beginner unless you plan to make a few Dr visits during the course of the class..eight weeks of hell.
Stick with the DVDs. Lisa takes into account fitness levels for all..
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