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FoodMover Program
On the original instructions, for the first week, everyone eats 1000 calories. This is knows as the "Blast Off" week. Take the 1000 calorie card and slip it into your FoodMover. As you eat that food each day, close the little door.When all windows are closed, you're finished eating for the day. After the first week, depending on your curent weight, you slip in a different calorie allotment card. With the new FoodMover, introduced with the SlimAway Everyday package, the BlastOff week's calories have been increased to 1200.
One main difference with the FoodMover is the built in extras. In the old FoodMovers, there are windows for your daily requirement of water, a window for daily exercise, for a vitamin, and along the bottom are windows for your daily affirmations called Motivators. Those are similar to the Project Me! affirmations but more uplifting and goal oriented. The 2003 FoodMover, the one with the windows lined up in a pyramid shape, the only extra is the water window. The daily motivators and exercise reminder are in the instruction binder.
The Original FoodMover Cards
1000 Calories - Blast Off Week
(click on thumbnail for full view)
1200 Calories
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1400 Calories
(click on thumbnail for full view)
1600 Calories
(click on thumbnail for full view)
1800 Calories
(click on thumbnail for full view)
2000 Calories
(click on thumbnail for full view)
After the first week, known as the Blast Off! week, then choose your daily calorie allotment from the chart below:
Slip the corresponding card into your FoodMover, and you're off! As your weight drops, change the cards in your FoodMover accordingly. For example, the first week you use the 1200 calorie card, no matter what your weight. Then on the first day of week 2, you weigh yourself and see your current weight is 155 pounds. Being a female, you would then choose the 1400 calorie card to put in your FoodMover. When your weight drops to say, 149 pounds, you would now remove the 1400 calorie card and put in the 1200 calorie card until you reach your goal weight.
For maintainence after reaching your goal, Richard suggests in the FoodMover Instructional Book to continue to use the present card, unless you're still losing weight. If so, move up to the next highest calorie card.
What should your goal weight be? Here's the chart from the FoodMover Instructional Booklet:
And don't forget to sign the "Contract With Myself" as a pledge for health!
A Quickie History of the FoodMover
(Please excuse any errors due to my sometimes faulty memory of late)
Over the years, Richard's original weight loss plan has evolved from cards cut of out construction paper for his own personal use to sleek plastic gadgets with movable windows to on-line programs to keep track of how much food one should eat.
His colored paper gave rise to his first commercial product, the Deal A Meal cards, which were carried in a plastic sleeve. You would choose which cards from which food groups you were allowed to eat that day, based on your weight, and when you ate as the day went on, you would move the corresponding cards from one side of the folder to the other. WHen all your cards were moved to the right side, you were done eating for the day.
As years went on, the cards gave way to a plastic gadget with wittle windows with movable shutters, but the procedure was the same - close the window as you eat the food, when all windows are closed you're done eating for the day. This gadget, known as the FoodMover, has come in grey, gold, blue, and in November 2006 it was released in purple.
For around 20 years, the Deal A Meal cards and Foodmover gadget were packaged in assorted ways - Move, Groove and Lose introduced the term "BlastOff" for both the first week on the food plan and his series of shorter aerobic videos. The gold FoodMover was introduced in the Broadway BlastOff package in the year 2000. A small cookbook was also included with some packages.
During 2002, Richard announced that for 2003 he has made some major changes in the FoodMover package. Instead of a 7 day BlastOff! week on 1000 calories, there will be a 30 day period of 1400 calories a day before switching to the calorie card based on your weight. The FoodMover gadget will also be changed to accomodate half-exchanges of food items, and the Exercise windows will be changed to more closely reflect how exercise should be done - aerobics alternating with toning. This new FoodMover package was to be introduced in January 2003, most likely on January First on QVC, like he introduced the last few packages. But something happened between Richard and QVC and the SlimAway Everyday package, which introduced a looseleaf binder and 2-sided Foodmover gadget, was delayed. When it was finally brought to market the BlastOff was still 1 week but was now 1200 calories.Instead of 3 small booklets there was a binder that included a 30 day food plan, as well as motivational readings, 3 videos that were referred to in the 30 day plan, recipe cards, and were supposed to also include the same vitamins and cruise coupon that all the other packages did but many mentioned they never got them in theirs.
In late 2005 he announced that a new plan/device/whatever will soon be introduced on one of the home shopping networks. It was never mentioned again.
In early 2006 he revealed that he "developed" what looks to be an electric steamer plate, and Steam Heat finally appeared in the fall. It looks just like every other electric steamer out there except his has divided compartments.In case you care, it's made in China.
This gadget marked Richard's return to QVC and the infomercial field. The infomercial for this product is slated to start running some time in early December 2006.
In the meantime, he continues to make fast-paced, frenetic videos with the same bad photography as all the Blast-Off's made after the Broadway set. He has also released a few audio CD's of workouts to music, too. In fact, he's been giving away the Gold Foodmover to his listening audience on Sirius radio, not the SlimAway Everyday package.
Mailing Lists of Interest
Click to visit 100-plus Women Only List
Click to visit the Richard Simmons Deal A Meal/FoodMover Recipes List (established in 1997)
Click to visit TheFoodmovers (formerly Move, Groove, Lose/Deal A Meal - mgl-dam)
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since October 2002
30-Nov-06
Deal-A-Meal cards are Copyright © Deal-A-Meal Corp. I have no affiliation with the company other than being a satisfied customer.
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