As you all know, I’ve been trying to change my lifestyle a bit in a bid to lose weight. Which I’ll go more in depth with in a post soon. So, I decided to take action and ‘ease’ myself into a routine. This is where So Shape comes in…
Often, I would skip meals, breakfast especially. So I wanted to have something that created a routine for me, something that was easy to do, convenient for me and that would in time, help me do it naturally on my own. Plus, the nature of my job means that sometimes I literally don’t have time to eat so these were super ideal as I could have them on the go. I was contacted by SoShape to see if I wanted to take part in their 28 day challenge. Of course, I said yes because I was desperate to shift some weight and mentally, I felt like I was ready to start tackling my issues. So that’s a good start right?
The idea of their 28 day challenge is that you replace a meal with a shake. So, with the 28 day challenge, I had a shake for breakfast. Then one of their savoury options for lunch/tea and a ‘clean’ meal per day, usually a chicken breast and veg. I’m not a massive lover of chicken so I would often eat quorn, veg and rice for tea. Don’t even ask me about fish *gags*. The good thing about So Shape is that you are actually getting all the things you need from a decent meal in the shakes, so that definitely had me reassured. For this challenge, I was able to choose 6 sweet options and 6 savoury options – I had 5 savouries as one flavour was doubled up. I was also given a So Shape bottle which I love and still use on a daily basis for smoothies (now that the challenge is over).
You’re probably thinking, but weren’t you hungry?
Surprisingly, not anymore than I would be if I was on a normal diet. My problem was that I would always miss breakfast, maybe even miss lunch, have a couple bad snacks and then tea. Whenever I did have breakfast, I always preferred a liquid form anyway so the transition from porridge or a smoothie to a shake was no problem at all. Like I said at the start, it was a routine that I needed and this challenge definitely helped me get into one.
There’s some massive benefits to the SoShape meals.
They’re high in protein, low in sugar, vegetarian friendly – most of them are gluten free and full of nutrients that help towards a healthy, balanced diet. The sweet options I chose were: Lemon Cheesecake, Cookies & Cream, Speculoos, Stracciatella, Vanilla & White Chocolate and Mint Chocolate. The savoury options were: Spicy Bolo Pasta, Mushroom Risotto, Cheese Pasta, Tomato Soup and French Garden Soup.
It was way better than I expected hunger wise.
It wasn’t really any different to how I would be if I was on a normal diet. There was only a couple days where I was proper hungry and that’s because I couldn’t finish the savoury option for my lunch. I’m quite a fussy eater anyway and the cheese pasta just did not agree with me. I couldn’t get my head around the texture, taste and smell so they remained untouched for the rest of my challenge. On those days, I would substitute for a salad of some sort just so I’m still eating ‘clean’ and stuff. My other least favourite savoury meal was Mushroom Risotto. It just wasn’t what I expected and again – it was the texture for me. Tomato Soup was fine but I’m 99% sure there was pepper in there and I’m not a fan of pepper at all. See, fussy…
However, I absolutely loved the French Garden Soup and Spicy Bolo Pasta. These two had to be my favourite savoury meals. I would always find that I couldn’t finish them because I’d be so full. I looked forward to the days when I knew I’d be having either of these.
Now, the sweet options – oh my god!
I genuinely looked forward to these every single day. They definitely helped curb my sweet tooth craving (98% of the time). My least favourite shake had to be Speculoo. Which was such a shame because I was most excited to try this one. It’s a shortcrust biscuit with a hint of cinnamon. To me, this sounded h-e-a-v-e-n-l-y but when I tried it, it tasted more like curry? But, the other flavours were just amazing. My absolute faaave was Cookies & Cream. There were even little chocolate biscuit bits in the shake. I made sure I saved one for Day 28 just so I could ‘reward’ myself so to speak. I’m drooling now at the thought of Cookies & Cream! I also absolutely loved Mint Chocolate, Lemon Cheesecake, Stracciatella and Vanilla & White Chocolate. The Mint Chocolate shake tasted exactly like the ice cream.
In the first week, I lost a total of 4lbs.
I’ve found that whenever I start to eat well and increase my water intake, I get really bad water retention which obviously doesn’t help with weight loss sometimes. Despite that, I still lost on the first week! So I was really impressed! I wasn’t expecting to lose anything so I did a little squeal when I stepped on the scales and saw that.
The second week, not gonna lie – I struggled, MASSIVELY. It was Pancake Day and Valentines Day next to each other so of course… It was kinda like a treat yo self moment. But, whilst treating myself that lil’ bit – I made sure I was really strict on myself. Y’know the ‘80.20’ mentality. My cravings for chocolate were kicking in though but my idea to replace this was by having the Stracciatella shake or Vanilla & White Chocolate shake. Despite these cravings and the dreaded back to back days, I managed to lose another 3lbs.
The third week was probably my worst.
I’ll admit that I didn’t stick to the plan as well as I should’ve. I resorted to a lot of comfort eating that week. Me and Kayne had a family funeral mid week and I was incredibly stressed, sad, anxious and scared to go. I just don’t deal with it very well. Obviously, no one does really but it was hard because of the circumstances and I had to be strong for Kayne, who really doesn’t do well with emotions, he is very much a closed book. Sadly, my head was not ‘in the game’ for most of the week understandably, but thankfully. I still managed to lose 2lbs which I was surprised and happy with on all accounts. I’m not sure how I lost the 2lbs but I’m taking it anyway!
My final week was a success.
I felt very motivated. After the rocky time in week three, my head was in the game more than ever. I felt very determined. I didn’t cheat or have any little sweet treat, despite the little devil on my shoulder telling me to have a bar of Galaxy Cookie Crumble. Since it was my final week, I just wanted to smash it so I could do my final weigh in and be happy with the result. So, my final weigh in – I lost another 3lbs!
Overall, I lost 12lbs and a total of 15inches across various parts of my body and dropped a dress size. I felt so much more alert, healthier and my stomach was so flat. I bloat reaaaaaally bad but because I was clean eating, not eating the crap I usually would eat. It made such a massive difference. There were some progress photos taken but I am 100% not comfortable with sharing them. They were more for my own personal purposes to be honest.
Would I do the So Shape Challenge again?
Yes, I probably would but only if it was for the sweet shakes because cos y’know COOKIES & CREAM! Although I enjoyed the savoury meals, I didn’t like all of them. Or maybe I just need to try some different flavours? The Pesto Pasta one looks so yummy. Perhaps next time, I ought to try that instead of the cheese pasta, aagh. If the So Shape Challenge sounds like it could be the one for you, then check them out and use my cheeky lil code: KATIE10 to get 10% off a 14 or 28 day challenge. I’m so glad I tried out So Shape because it’s really help me kick start my weight loss journey. I’ve joined the gym and everything now *gasps*. My weight, I will go into on another post as my weight is incredibly personal and even just talking about it all on here now is a massive step for me.
What do you think of So Shape? Would you ever consider them? What sweet and savoury options jump out are you? For me, it’s DEFO Cookies & Cream and French Garden Soup. (Spicy Bolo Pasta comes at a close second though). Make sure you check out my most recent blog post, all about World Duty Free and all the amazing brands they have on offer!
