 avagantor 8 years ago | Dieter Fink: Me thinks thou dost protest too much! (Shakespeare) Keep it simple. If you used all the time you devote to complaints towards positive actions, I believe your life would run smoother. Nothing is perfect. Take what you like and leave the rest. Though your points do have validity, try to accommodate the program instead of protesting every facet. You know the foods you like and don’t like. Use the Personal Menu Planner. There are a variety of foods/beverages that you can substitute for those you on your preferred list. If you wish to have tuna 6x a day, change the daily menu to specify this. We don’t HAVE to go with the suggested variety; we have the option to pick and choose and to substitute a serving with what we have on hand.
This is my routine: On Saturday or Sunday I print out my weekly menu plan, for the following week (showing all the foods I chose). With a pad of paper and pencil beside me I go through the menus for each day of the week and jot down those foods I don’t have in stock. I usually grocery shop on Sat., and cook on Sunday, so that everything is prepared for the following week.
When I buy meat or fish, I divide each package up into ‘proper amounts’, label and date them and toss them into the freezer. I look at the menu for the next day, so that I can take whatever protein is call for, out of the freezer to thaw, for the next day. It works if we work it. The point is to keep it simple. Yes, there is a little work in being prepared and ready for the next week, the next day; but it is all worth it in the long run. Do I like every part of the program? NO! But I’m not going to waste my time fussing when I can be doing something productive to make my life easier. |
 JaneyW 8 years ago | Thanks Ossie-Sharon for the feed back. Enjoying the program and the challenge. Now I have to incorporate my knee, back and shoulder exercises (which I hate) to help me move toward my goal of improved mobility. |
 Ossie-Sharon 8 years ago | Hi, JaneyW. That sounds fine – really, whatever works for you. As long as you are getting in enough nutrition, are not hungry, feel your body getting healthier, and are enjoying the plan, you are doing great. |
| JaneyW 8 years ago | I too have spent hours getting my plan together.
Perhaps what I have done is not correct according to the program but I would appreciate your feed back. I made several days menus. Copied each one and saved it in Word.I tried to have each snack and meal stand alone in meeting the exchange values. Then I created 6 separate sheets each labeled for Breakfast, Snack #1, Lunch etc. I copied each meal or snack one at atime and entered it on the sheet. I inserted a table and each box has a different complete meal. I now have six sheets with 6 to 12 meals to chose from for each meal or snack.
I created a grocery list on the dashboard from my menus with recipes I want to make in the next few weeks. I plan to create each days menu based on foods I have and recipes I want to use. Due to my immobility I have to make meals and snacks easy to grab. We had been living on Low carb and healthy(?) frozen meals. With one good meal most days. oh yeah and bars! so many bars. I am believing we can create a better quality of life with this program and our rehabilitative exercise. It’s just doing it consistently that makes it work.
Do my menu grids jeopardize my chances for success.
I am retired due to immobility and I needed a project. So I tackled this one. We found a grocery that delivers and has a Health Mart with many good things to choose from.
I do wonder how to make some foods not appear on my menu. I eat almost everything (could be the problem) but what I dislike…I really dislike. Salmon being one of them. I have tried to like it, It looks so good but the only way I can eat it is hidden in salmon patties with lots of carby things and onions. Thanks for your help! |
| Ossie-Sharon 8 years ago | Thank you, DieterFink. I have forwarded your feedback to our development team. I would be happy to work with you one-on-one if that would help – just let me know. |
 DieterFink 8 years ago | Ossie-Sharon
Thank you for the prompt reply. I am aware of most of the resources with in the program for the most part. However it took many hours of exploration and experimentation to understand what was there and then try to use them. Simply put the TDC program is not user friendly. The reason to spend the $47 to join was to simplify the planning and save some time making the right choices. I even spent the $67 to watch the five kitchen videos. That was a complete waste of time and money for me since I already knew and had been following for years the prescribed information. That was my misfortune. I didn’t expect to get so little for so much money. All in all the program does not do much to help without putting in more time than if I were to just sit down and plan a menu for a few days. My problem is I’m lazy and I don’t do a good job of portion control and food choices. I have said that if I could replace the hamburger and French fries with something healthy and nutritious and just as delicious and readily available none of us would have weight problems. I love fruits and vegetables but after I have spent an hour or more in the kitchen preparing a great tasting meal I tend to eat more then one cup or three ounces of everything I made. I know the only way to control portions is to not prepare more than I should eat. That takes planning and self control. I had hoped the TDC program would help and I hope it can in the future. Perhaps the best thing that could happen to the program is to have your software developers try to live by their own algorithms and see how they do.
I understand you customer base is all over the world and that there are an infinite number of possibilities but that’s what TDC software should be able to handle. That’s what your business should be. Make it simple to input information and then get back a sensible menu plan that can easily be changed by the customer. Eliminate all of the sales pitches we already bought the product now make it work for us. |
 Pat Wolfe 8 years ago | Thank for the reply to dieter fink it explains something I didn’t understand so I will change the quantitys see if that helps, perhaps it would help to explain like some american jargan I didn’t know Graham crackers were what we are supposed to be eating I just been eating normal digestives as that’s all we can get in the uk. |
| Pat Wolfe 8 years ago | Hi I was going to email the same message if the trim down club really wanted to help us the menu planner could be more helpfull. I live alone and make enough for 4 and eat the same meal for 4 days I really don’t like to do this plus there is no point having a seven day plan as I use the same one 4 times I am getting very frustrated and fed up with having to go through the food changes to get some variety for those 4 days for the other meals. they seem to think we all have large family’s or want to freeze masses!! Thank you for putting into words what I am not so good at I would like to hear what they have to say about this problem. as u say its not easy getting smaller amounts of food to follow this plan. |
| Ossie-Sharon 8 years ago | Hi, DieterFink. I have forwarded your message to our tech development team, and in addition, I will address the issues here as well.
Many of our Clubmembers have family members with whom they dine, and we encourage everyone in the household to share the same meals. For those who live alone or with a single housemate, “minimal variety” can be indicated in the Clubmember profile; additionally, meals and even entire days and weeks can be repeated if you wish. As far as produce goes, you are free to select whichever fruits and vegetables you want from the lists. We have the extensive list because we have Clubmembers in both hemispheres, so “in season” is relative. Selecting from food lists each week also gives you freedom to do exactly what you described – inputting “foods on sale for the week – and you can check out our recipe collection for preparation ideas (type the key food in the search box in the recipes area); similarly to the first issue addressed, you can “right-size” the recipe by using this guide – https://www.trimdownclub.com/reducing-the-size-of-recipes.
I hope this helps, and would be happy to address and pass along additional concerns. |
