The Exante Total Solution plan is a very low calorie diet (VLCD) that is designed to provide you with all of the vitamins and minerals you need whilst drastically reducing your calorie intake. I bought a two-week pack in attempt to lose some weight fast. I paid for the food packets myself (and have done in the past too) and this review was in no way commissioned by Exante.
If you’re here for the discount code, it’s at the bottom of the article.
Exante Total Solution Review
I won’t lie, I’ve done Exante before when I’m hoping to shed some weight in a hurry. I’m a bad dieter: I cheat, I binge, I use food as a reward. I have bad will-power and I make bad decisions surrounding food so I’ve never stuck to anything for very long.
I had grand ideas of lasting on this diet throughout the summer and up somewhere near my goal weight. I lasted 10 days on the Total Solution plan, which I’m pretty gutted about because it wasn’t that bad but getting back into it is always a chore.
The day-to-day
Exante is good because it involves very little planing and very little scope to cheat the system. The food is already portioned up and if it’s a meal or shake, you only need to add to water (so if you sneak a bit extra in, then you’re just diluting the portion, rather than eating bigger meal.
After periods of stress eating, I like the fact I don’t have to make decisions, cook or even shop. It’s freeing. The only trouble is, you feel hungry. The Total Solution Plan involves eating about 600 calories a day, which leaves you kind of starving.
The first three days are the hardest, as your body runs down its carb and sugar stores and goes into ketosis. If you scour the diet forums, you’ll hear this stage referred to as the keto flu. The first time I did this, I didn’t know it was a thing and just assumed I was ill. You will miss carbs and chocolate and the freedom to pinch chips of your partner’s plate.
Once you pass the ‘keto flu’ (towards the end of day 3), you’ll be in full swing ketosis and you’ll feel a bit brighter and less sluggish. During ketosis your body draws energy from its fat stores, which is why the weight falls off at a rapid rate.
How it went for me
Despite thinking I was a pro at this sort of thing and loving the taste of the food, I still felt rotten on days 2 and 3. I threw up on the evening of day 2, but as I’ve done the diet a few times before and never had this sort of reaction, I can only assume I was actually ill. I was sick a few times and had a feverish and sleepless night, but felt a lot better about half way through the next day. I did cheat and have some KFC chicken (no carbs) because I thought it would cure me (it totally did.)
If you’re considering doing this diet, you need to know that the food tastes great but looks kind of grim when you prepare it. I could have cooked it and put it in another bowl for the sake of showing it off in this blog post but I don’t see the point. There’s also the risk that you might think you’ve made it wrong. This is what a lot of the hot meals end up looking like:
The reason it looks a bit funny is that you have to add boiling water, stir, microwave, stir again, microwave again before you can eat it. This means you get these smudgey crusty bits of mush stuck to the sides of the bowl, making it look a bit messy. It doesn’t affect the flavour and most of the things I’ve tried are actually quite delicious.
The packaging has changed since I first tried this diet. I think it’s pretty and kind of cool now. It reminds me of stationery and looks like it’s going to be appetising. Some of the old packaging from when I did it before looked a bit medical, so I’m pleased it’s a bit more cool now.
The old packaging looked like the picture below and I always thought it made me look like I was on some weird special doctor’s diet because I was so huge. With the pretty packaging I don’t think anyone will ask, and if they do, I don’t think they’ll think I’m on some prescribed eating plan.
The results
Ten days on the diet saw me lose 8lbs. I’m certain it would have been more if I hadn’t had the KFC and I hadn’t sneaked a few nibbles of cheese and bacon throughout the week. I thought I could do this diet for longer but I felt a bit weak and although I wasn’t really very hungry after ketosis kicked in, I did feel like I needed a bit more food.
After breaking ketosis I didn’t fancy the journey to get back in it, because I already knew I’d feel bad for 3 full days. I’m pleased with my weight loss and I’m planning to do either the flexi solution plan, or the 5:2 diet plan because I think they might be a bit more manageable at the size I am now.
Exante Exclusive Discount Code for 2018
To use the exclusive Exante discount codes, click this link which will take you to the Exante site and use either of the codes below:
AHM40 for 40% off meal replacements
AHM20 for 20% off site-wide
