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You don′t need to record what you eat on our program, but you can if you′d like. We do strongly suggest that you keep a success journal to record your goals, thoughts, and feelings during the process of your bistroMD program.

If you need to check previous meals, this article may help you out!

When it comes to meals, we have you covered, but obviously you need something to drink with it! There are a few different options for drinks, so let’s break down what our choices are:

Water:

We recommend drinking a minimum of eight glasses (around 64 ounces of water each day) and consuming flavored zero sugar waters (i.e. Propel Zero, Fruit 2.0, Crystal Light) in moderation. This is because we want to sort of train our palates to not crave sweet beverages/foods.

To help make water more palatable, feel free to add a slice of fruit, vegetables (cucumber, citrus, pineapple), or herbs (mint) to make it more interesting. Its also ok to enjoy calorie-free sparkling water but keep in mind the carbonation in sparkling waters can cause gas and bloating, especially if consumed in larger quantities.

Diet Soda:

You can enjoy diet soda in moderation on your bistroMD program. After getting into a good routine with your eating pattern on bistroMD, you might consider cutting back on diet soda intake if the habit is more frequent.

We dont recommend making too many changes at one time, as this can be overwhelming. The nutritional aspect is the most important piece, so start by making sure you are comfortable and in the groove of eating your bistroMD meals and snacks.

Coffee and Caffeinated Drinks:

Feel free to enjoy your morning coffee or tea but be mindful of amounts, as caffeine in larger quantities can be dehydrating. If youd like to enjoy coffee (hot or iced), we recommend keeping it to no more than two, 8-ounce servings of caffeinated beverages per day. We also suggest using sugar substitute and reduced-fat creamer (or low-fat milk or dairy alternative) instead of creamer.

Alcohol:

If you are going to enjoy alcohol, please do so in moderation. For reference, one serving of wine is 5 ounces, 1 serving of beer is 12 ounces and a serving of liquor is 1 1/2 ounces. Moderate alcohol intake for women is 3 servings or less each week and 4 servings or less per week for men.

When the body is busy detoxifying alcohol, it cant focus on metabolizing food and fat as effectively, so less is more. We also suggest pairing your alcohol with protein to help keep your blood sugar stable.

The protein-based snacks from bistroMD are designed to keep your blood sugar stable and curb your food cravings. They also make sure that your metabolism stays steady throughout the day. If you have opted for a bistroMD plan without snacks, it is important that you add in your own snacks to insure youre getting enough calories and protein to lose weight.

In between meals your blood sugar can get low and your body will gravitate towards eating something high in carbohydrates in order to raise your blood sugar quickly. Sugar laden snacks will cause your blood sugar to spike and then drop, causing cravings. Your body will still want the sugar, or the carbohydrates and the cycle will begin again.

Starving yourself between meals will also hurt your weight loss progress by putting your body into what we like to call “starvation mode”. When you don’t drink enough water or have enough of the right food during the day, your body’s instinct will be to hold onto everything it gets. When your body holds onto everything you intake, it becomes much harder to lose weight, and in some cases you may see weight gain.

We generally recommend weighing once a week, on a designated day, and first thing in the morning after using the restroom and before eating/drinking to keep the process standardized and consistent.

If you prefer to weigh each day, know that daily weight fluctuations are normal and often unavoidable. Weight naturally fluctuates throughout the day due to normal fluid shifts caused by exercise, food/beverages, hormones, medications, salt, weather, water intake, restroom utilization, and other factors.

Know it is also okay if you want to focus on getting into a good routine with your meals and snacks and not weigh for a while (track healthy habits instead). Just do what works best for you!

We also recommend setting non-scale goals like how your clothes fit, how youre feeling, health goals like stress management, sleep habits, and fitness goals. All of these things factor into a much broader picture of your overall health and happiness!

If tracking progress with a scale, a healthy weight loss target is generally 1-2 pounds per week.

While frustrating, weight loss plateaus can happen based on various factors and are even to be expected. So that we can best assist you, we encourage you to reach out to our dietitian team at dietitian@bistromd.com.

Because we want to support you throughout your entire journey, we’ve made it easy for you to connect with us! Simply log in to your mybistroMD account and click on “Member Support” in the top navigation. From here, you will be able to submit an email directly to our team of dietitians, watch a helpful welcome webinar, and gain access to exclusive articles in our Health Hub. We also encourage you to join our members-only Facebook group for additional access to our dietitians and encouragement from our members.

In a nutshell, yes. However, we build your menu to create a specific balance of macronutrients and nutrients so the body is properly fueled and nourished each day.

For this reason, we recommend swapping out entire days (like Wednesday’s selections with Friday’s) or meals and snacks within that same day. For instance, you could eat Wednesday’s lunch for dinner and vice-versa.

We also recommend choosing more often from the ‘nutritionally balanced’ options, as those are nutritionally compatible with the original meal selected for your menu, when customizing your menu each week in your member portal (mybistromd.com).

The meals in the additional healthy options column are healthy meals on your plan but are not nutritionally compatible with the original meal selected for you. You may pick meals from that list and it may or may not impact your weight loss, depending on your situation.

For some people, like those that are more active or have higher calorie needs, selecting off the additional healthy list or mixing meals may not impact their progress. For others, it just may slow progress. For members with medical considerations, like high blood pressure and diabetes, having each day nutritionally balanced for sodium and carbohydrates is important.

We generally recommend eating every 3 hours to keep your metabolism revved, blood sugar stable, and hunger at bay. However, we recommend structuring your meal and snack schedule for what works best for you!

You may have some days that one pattern works well, and other days that your schedule is different. Really, the important thing is to make sure that youre eating your meals and snacks each day so that youre getting adequate calories, protein and nutrients.

First, know that it can take a few weeks to adjust to a new eating pattern. But it’s important to try and eat all of your meals and snacks each day so youre getting adequate calories, protein, and nutrients. While filling from adequate protein and fiber, the meals are low in calories.

To ease this transition, eating smaller, more frequent meals every 2-3 hours can help. You could also eat a portion of the heated meal, store back in the refrigerator, then reheat when you are ready to eat again. The same goes for snacks - enjoy half and finish the rest a couple of hours later or even with a meal.

If you decide you’d like to cancel your subscription, please log into your account, click the “Manage Plan” menu option in the top navigation bar, and then click Update Plan.

Here you can make requests to change your plan, or scroll down to find the cancel subscription link on the left side. You’ll have a chance to give us some feedback and then click Cancel Program to finalize the process.

If there’s any way we can help before you cancel, contact us. Either way, it’s easy to come back and reactivate your account whenever you’re ready.

Our customer service team is also here to help out if needed!

You should receive a tracking number for your order via email once it ships, typically within 2-3 days. Orders are typically picked up by FedEx Monday through Thursday and delivered Wednesday through Saturday each week.