Editorial probes: does healthy food delivery make sense?

Dmitry Kapuschak

head of offline marketing

This is not the first experience of delivering separate ready-to-eat meals for me. However, I hadn’t ordered from BeFit before, so it was interesting to see how diverse the menu was.
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I’m a big guy, so I didn’t want to reduce everything to 1300 kcal per day right away and chose the optimal option of 1700. At this calorie level, an adult male can be satiated and still maintain the necessary calorie deficit to lose weight. The name of my program “Balance” perfectly reflected the essence – eat well, but do not forget about physical activity. The latter on self-isolation is a problem. I decided that I would go to the office every day and also spend active weekends.

Valeria Barinova

Lifestyle editor

I chose 1300 kcal a day for myself, as work was quite a lot, there was simply not enough time and energy for sports. My baseline calorie intake is around 1650-1700 kcal daily, so I decided to reduce my calorie intake right away without adding activity.

Dmitry Kapuschak

Head of Offline Marketing

The program was designed for 7 days. It is convenient that you can choose the right intervals for meal delivery. The morning from 8 to 9 and delivery once every two days suited me. The couriers respected the intervals and I found a detailed menu in each package. The day consisted of 6 tightly sealed containers of food, with an emphasis on breakfasts: either two first or two second meals. If you’re counting proteins, fats and carbs, you’ll be glad you did, each meal has them already counted for you.
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It’s a big misconception to think that HEA foods are tasteless. I was brought not only green beans with salads, but also chicken steaks, ratatouille, beef stew and other delicacies. There were also healthy desserts that can partially close the shortage of sweet tooth. Some familiar dishes seemed unusual, such as “vinaigrette with baked fruit”, but it’s all a matter of taste. I was initially open to different dishes. Most importantly, there were no questions about the quality and freshness.

Valeria Barinova

Lifestyle editor

I, too, chose morning delivery to my home every other day, and once I moved the place of receipt – I had to leave early for work. I mentioned it the evening of the previous day when I got a call to clarify delivery details. I found it super convenient that there were no problems with this – the food was brought at the same time, but to a different address. So you don’t have to be tied to your house the whole time.

There were 5 meals in my package: breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. The diet was familiar to me in taste, I’ve been trying to avoid adding sugar, excessive amounts of salt and lots of sauces to my dishes myself for a long time now. That’s partly why I had little use for sauces here too, even though they were made with healthy ingredients.

Dmitry Kapuschak

Head of Offline Marketing

I’ll be honest, I tried to eat according to the numbers on the containers. Each one is numbered, so it would be clear what to eat in the morning and what to eat in the evening. But flavor desires are very hard to beat. I saw a dish I wanted to eat here and now, and I didn’t look at its number anymore. The challenge was to at least not eat 2 containers at a time. There were difficulties with that too. In the office, it’s not easy to get distracted 3-4 times a day by food. I separated my meals, but I devoured them rapidly, always in a hurry to get somewhere. But if for the first week you have to beat yourself up, then for the second week and beyond you can develop a habit. Lunch time – a gap free from work and worries, 3-4 times for 15 minutes a day – the best option.

Valeria Barinova

Lifestyle editor

Five meals a day was a novelty for me. Usually, I had a solid breakfast and dinner, and coffee instead of lunch. And my body was already signaling that it wasn’t quite right to eat like that, and I knew it myself. The ideal diet is small portions several times a day. Finding time for them for the first two or three days was not easy, but then you gradually readjust, and the feeling of hunger reminds you of the uneaten contents of the container in the fridge.

Dmitry Kapuschak

“Championship”

Everyone knows that when losing weight, sports and proper nutrition are inseparable. Unfortunately, there was almost no sport in my healthy eating week. But even daily activity can produce results. Walk where you can take the bus or elevator. Do 15 minutes of exercise, whether it’s in the morning or evening. You don’t have to aim for 10,000 steps, just get moving, and along with sensible food intake, results are inevitable. In my “weight loss hit parade” food is paramount. It remains to form lunch habits and be ready to meet the courier in the morning.

Valeria Barinova

Lifestyle editor

Let me remind you that I didn’t pursue the goal of losing weight, so I didn’t keep an eye on the indicators. However, the cleansing of my diet has yielded results: this week, unwanted redness and rashes have disappeared from my skin, and my body has tightened up a bit. I was pleased with what I saw in the mirror.

During this time I made a conclusion for myself: I love cooking too much to give it up for one or several months in advance, but I will still use the delivery service – I will exclude weekends from it, in which I will make my own menu for the day and leave a reserve of calories for unexpected dinners with friends, so as not to be a bore who sits in the corner with her container. That kind of compromise works for me.