We all know that losing weight, and especially keeping it off, is hard. At least that has been my experience. Fortunately there are programs like BistroMD that can help make it easier
How does BistroMD make weight loss easier?
They’re a meal a delivery diet plan, so they send a variety of fresh-prepared meals right to your door, so you can make smart and healthy eating choices throughout the week by simply popping one of their meals into a microwave.
The meals taste good, help keep you full and satisfied, and may be the missing piece in your weight loss arsenal if you’ve been struggling to keep the pounds off.
This BistroMD review is going to take a deep dive into their diet delivery service, so you can see if it’s just what you need to finally reach your weight loss goals…
How The BistroMD Meal Delivery Service Works
Contents
BistroMD offers you a variety of weight loss plans to pick from, that will ship frozen meals right to your door every week. You have over 150 chef-prepared meals to pick from, that can be heated and ready to eat in about 5 minutes.
Simply pick your plan, enroll in their program, and you will have an awesome selection of meals to get you through the week.
Their weight loss philosophy focuses on four core principles:
- Fueling Your Metabolism: You will eat “adequate lean protein” every 3 hours.
- Stabilizing Blood Sugar: They help your body maintain proper blood sugar levels by feeding you low glycemic carbs.
- Helping Feel Full & Satisfied All Day: Their high-fiber foods combined with the right amount of protein and healthy fats should help you avoid wild hunger swings throughout the day.
- Heart Healthy Meals and Snacks: By using healthy fats and moderate sodium, their meals are considered “heart healthy.”
Picking Your Weight Loss Plan
BistroMD offers several programs, including several for people with special diets. The first thing you’ll want to do is to decide which of their programs is going to work best for you.
The BistroMD website can help you figure out which of their programs is going to be your best fit, but here are their current programs:
- Signature
- Gluten Free
- Heart Healthy
- Diabetic
- Menopause
How Many Meals Will You Want Each Week?
BistroMD offers customers a lot of flexibility, so you have meal plan options that are going to fit your needs and lifestyle. At last check these were a few of their meal plan options:
- Full Program: 7 Days or 5 Days of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner + Snacks
- Lunches & Dinners: 7 Days or 5 Days of Lunches and Dinners
For me, the Full Program, 7 days per week was the perfect starting point. I wanted to make sure I lost the most weight possible, and didn’t want to have any slip ups. By letting BistroMD take care of pretty much all of food every week, I knew I had have the best shot at staying on track.
After a month or so, moving down to one of their 5 plans or just lunches and dinners seemed appropriate, so I had the opportunity to make smart eating choices on my own.
Ultimately, you’ll have decide how many of meals you want BistroMD to send every week. Budget is obviously also a factor to consider.
BistroMD Menu: Picking What You’ll Eat Each Week
The BistroMD Menu has more than 150 meals – each one doctor-designed and chef-prepared. There’s plenty of variety so you shouldn’t get bored over the weeks or months that you’re on their program.
Here’s a quick look a some of our favorite meals from BistroMD’s menu:
Our Favorite Foods from the Breakfast Menu
- Steak and Egg Scramble
- Cheese Omelet with Turkey Sausage
- Italian Style Omelet
- Canadian Bacon and Swiss Omelet
- Caramelized Mushroom and Onion Frittata
- Western Egg Scramble
- Chicken Dill Crepe with Fruited Quinoa
- Uncured Ham and Cheese Frittata
- English Muffin Sandwich with Egg, Turkey, Sausage and Cheddar
- Smoked Chipotle Pork and Eggs
They also have a variety of other options including crepes, waffles, bagels and more. I don’ mind this options either, but prefer to start my day with some protein, so opted for more of the egg-based dishes.
Our Lunch/Dinner Menu Favorites
There are lots of great meals to pick from on the BistroMD Lunch and Dinner menu, and they’re all pretty dang good in my opinion. Of course, there are some you’ll enjoy more than others, but you’ll quickly figure out what your favorites are, and then you can customize your menu with your favorite meals sent your way every week
Here are a few of our favorite lunches and dinners:
- Oven-Fried Catfish and Spicy Tomato Leek Sauce
- Grilled Chicken Marsala
- Pork Enchiladas with Salsa Verde
- Grilled Salmon with Creamy Pesto
- Lasagna with Garden Marinara
- Meatloaf with Honey Bourbon Glaze
- Blackened Chicken with Creamy Smoked Paprika Sauce
- Chicken, Rice and Cheddar Casserole
- Sweet and Sour Meatballs
- Hickory Smoked BBQ Beef with Yukon Gold Potatoes
Snack Menu Options
BistroMD also has a nice line up of snack choices that you can have sent your way if you opt for their Full Program. These include foods like:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake
- Dark Chocolate Coconut Bar
- Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake
- Glazed Cinnamon Bun Bar
- Strawberry Cream Shake
- Salted Caramel Pecan Bar
All of these items make great mid-morning or mid-day snacks, and as you can probably tell, they make great after dinner desserts too!
How Many Times per Day Do You Get to Eat?
We briefly detailed this above, but you will eat every three hours when following the BistroMD diet plan. A typical day might look like this:
- Breakfast: BistroMD meal or a healthy breakfast you make on your own
- Snack: BistroMD snack, or a healthy snack of your choice
- Lunch: BistroMD lunch, or make your own/eat out
- Snack: BistroMD snack, or a healthy snack of your choice
- Dinner: BistroMD dinner or you can make your/eat a restaurant
- Snack/Dessert: Depending on what you’ve eaten, you may have room for one of BistroMD’s delicious dessert options
This is just an example of what a typical day might look like while you’re on BistroMD. Obviously your typical day may vary depending on which plan you pick.
If you opt for their Full 7 Day Program, then pretty much all of your food for the day will come via BistroMD. If you opt for the 5-day program, or lunches/dinners only, then it will be on you to figure out your other meals and/or snacks.
How Many Calories Do You Get to Eat per Day?
The BistroMD meal plan sticks to a pretty strict daily caloric intake. Here’s the breakdown for men and women:
- Women: 1200 Calories per Day: 3 Meals + 2 Snacks
- Men: 1400 Calories per Day: 3 Meals + 3 Snacks
How BistroMD Supports Your Weight Loss Journey
When it comes to making your own meals, or healthy choices when dining out – don’t worry – BistroMD has guides that will help you learn what counts as “healthy” so you won’t have to figure it out on your own.
All of these materials can be found under the “Support” tab on their website.
This includes PDF guides that are designed to guide while on their program, as well as give you tips and advice for continuing your health journey when you’ve graduated from their diet.
So to summarize, BistroMD offers support in the following areas:
- Support Hub on their Website with Diet Guides, Meal Planning Tips, and More
- Get Support from Registered Dietitians – Book a phone call or email them
- Join the Private BistroMD Facebook Group
All of these tools are available as part of your membership, so be sure to use them, especially if you find yourself struggling at any point, or you just have a question, need tips, advice, or feedback.
How Do You Cook their Meals?
The BistroMD meals are what’s known as “heat and eat.” That means you simply pop them in the microwave and cook them for a few minutes.
Most BistroMD meals are ready to eat in 5 minutes or less.
To get the best cooking results, BistroMD suggests letting the meals thaw overnight in your refrigerator, then they should cook more evenly.
RELATED READING: What food delivery service helps you lose weight?
Some meals can be heated your regular oven, if you prefer that route, but I found that the microwave is the easiest and best way to heat them.
Does the Food Taste Good?
The BistroMD meals are great, if you manage your expectations going in. So what do I mean by that? Just remember what you’re signing up for – you’re getting heat and eat meals.
While these are some of the best diet meals we’ve tried, they’re not going to rival something you’d find at your favorite local restaurant. They are, however, quite delicious for pre-made, frozen meals that you heat up in your microwave.
So in summary, yes, the BistroMD meals taste great, just remember what you’re signing up for!
How Much Weight Can You Lose?
Results will be different for everyone, but on average BistroMD says customers can expect to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week when following their eating plan.
Another factor to keep in mind – people with more weight to lose tend to drop weight faster, so you may see even better results, especially when you first get started.
Pros and Cons
As with any diet plan or program you’re following there’s going to be good and bad aspects to their program. While we’d suggest that the good far outweighs the bad with the BistroMD diet plan, we’ll detail a few aspects that could be considered a negative for some:
Pros
- Easy to follow weight loss plan
- Meals are quick and easy to make: Most are ready to eat in 5 minutes or less
- Large menu variety: 150 meals to pick from
- Program backed by science
- Some of the highest-quality diet meals we’ve tried
- Resources for continued success once you’ve graduated from their program
- Consult with dietitians via phone or email
- Private Facebook support group
- Affordable: Meals start at just over $8 per meal
Cons
- Significant up front investment
- Frozen heat and eat meals aren’t for everyone
- Not all people with special diets will be able to order
- Can be hard to maintain weight loss if you don’t stick with a healthy eating plan
Real Customer Testimonials
BistroMD has some impressive before and after stories and pictures on their website, and there are plenty of other places online where you can hear from verified customers as well. ConsumerAffairs is a great resource, and has a solid collection of positive and negative reviews for BistroMD.
Here are a few highlights that are worth sharing here:
The meals arrive promptly after ordering via FedEx with dry ice and I enjoy 2 meals daily simply by using my microwave. I cannot say enough about how much I enjoy this diabetic program (Silver Cuisine), not only for the ease and convenience, but for the absolutely delicious food and the selections I have to choose from. This company is so responsive and friendly when you reach out to them for any problem.
The packaging is earth-friendly. The food is healthy and good. The portions are satisfying. I eat less garbage and extra food in general when I stick to their plan every day. I can avoid shopping for food at all with this subscription.
Here were a couple of complaints we wanted to share:
The Heart Healthy program is low fat and “low sodium” only. They DO add salt to the meals. Every meal has fish, chicken, turkey, bison, or pork, with the exception of 2 tofu recipes, in this plan. There is a lot of meat in each meal. A Mediterranean diet, often recommended by cardiologists for heart patients, recommends fish and poultry weekly, which I would consider not more than about 3-5 meals, as it is not in the Daily category. It considers red meats (including pork) only monthly.
I researched probably about 40 prepared food delivery companies and came down to BistroMD. I have been on this program pretty much for over 6 months and lost a lot of weight and their food is superb….Biggest issues have had is communication with customer service and their answer is always “NO”. Weeks after weeks they would send me identical meals when in fact they have hundreds to choose from. Why I ask.
Pricing Options
BistroMD pricing starts at about $122.43 per week – we go in to much more detail on our BistroMD cost page.
Summary
BistroMD is a solid choice if you’re looking for a proven meal delivery diet program that can help you reach your weight loss goals. The food is good, easy to make, and should leave you feeling full and satisfied throughout the day.
Getting started is super easy – just pick your plan, how many meals and snacks you want them to send, and you’ll have an awesome selection of weight loss meals delivered right to your door in a matter of days.
Right now is a great time to get started – as you can save $57 or more on some of their most popular programs.
