Slim Away Everyday
Introduced January 2003
This is what I wrote to the 100-Plus list on January 4 th, 2003.
I taped the infomercial from Lifetime, and just finished watching it. Here are my personal opinions on it.
First, it tells you to choose the calorie card for your weight, then it tells you to follow the 30 day food & exercise guide, complete with which windows to close for all your allotted foods. Well, I don't think the people eating 1200 calories are eating the same foods as someone on a 2000 calorie card, so what's the deal here?
The Water window appears to be just that one big window with a picture of 3 water drops. Maybe you just close the whole window when you drink all your daily water, and in the booklets he outlines how to figure out how much each individual needs, just like we've been saying here that each person's requirements are based on their weight?
The loose-leaf guide itself looks nice, and it contains the info that used to be included in the smaller FoodMover booklets. Instead of just a 7 day BlastOff week list of foods to be eaten, it has for 30 days. Each day also has a little bit of inspiration, the daily allowable foods, a picture of which exercise to choose, and a space on the bottom for your personal thoughts.
I'm confused as to the purpose of this thing. I assume you follow the book religiously for 30 days, then set it on the shelf and forget about it, because by the end of 30 days the diet - oops, way of life, is now a "habit", the word Richard tossed out, and there is no need to follow a food plan, just continue with the calorie card you choose 30 days ago until you need to go down to a lower calorie level. Well, wouldn't you then need to follow the lower calorie count for 30 days until *it* becomes a habit? And having to drag out the guide every time you need to figure out how big a portion is will become bothersome at some point and the people will just start guessing at correct size. He really should have kept those things in the small pocket-sized booklet for easy reference. My FoodMover booklets are in a 3.5" floppy box with the FM's right near my computer, because here is where I plan my weekly menus.
No mention of those infamous "half exchange" counts, so I'm guess the only change here is mention in the book to leave the window unsnapped if it's only half an exchange, snap it when a full exchange. The little window doors look identical to the old FoodMover ones.
The book also tells you which of the included exercise videos you should be doing each day, and he does mention you get a day off of exercise each week. The videos themselves must have been re-edited, because he now says they're 30 minutes long (the 2 BlastOff ones) and there is no mention of the weight segment that used to be included. The new toning video uses dumbbells, no toning cords, and it looks like you have to provide your own.
I'm assuming here that the 12 recipes included go along with the meals mentioned in the 30 day guide, but he doesn't come right out and say that in the infomercial.
The package also includes a week's worth of the new vitamin he endorses, and instructions on how to get 30 free days in the Clubhouse. Remember to keep your credit card handy when cashing in those free minutes, because it's required, but not mentioned anywhere until you get there. No card, no continue.
Again, I, myself, will not be purchasing this package. I don't need a new FoodMover, I disliked those newer BlastOff videos, I always toss those vitamins because they give me an irregular heartbeat, thanks to the herbal stimulants in the formula, and I don't need to be told what exact food to eat (I don't usually like what Richard recommends) or which exercise to do (Lately I prefer Leslie Sansone to his videos, except for his old ones). But for someone who is new on the journey to weight loss, this package look acceptable.
Okay, so I lied! I did go out and buy the SlimAway every day package afterall. I saw it cheap on-line and grabbed it.
The new FoodMover - I'm still confused as to why he made these changes. The water window is marked off in 8 segments and the window can be snapped one segment at a time as you drink each glass of water. The Extras is marked similarly on the other side for the three of thsoe allowed a day. The first window in each food group is now marked for a half serving, for those rare recipes that need it. You now have to change 2 cards, top and bottom, every time you change calorie amounts. There are no motivational windows or exercise windows any more, they're in the book.
The instructions are now in a small sized looseleaf binder instead of those pocket-sized booklets. It's a nice glossy paper, but easily ripped. BlastOff is now 1200 calories instead of 1000, and you still switch your cards at the end of this week. Each day has 2 pages in the book. Included here is a meal plan, which of the 3 videos (or walking or rest) you do on that day, your daily motivational message is here as well. On the bottom of the second page there's a space where you can write no more than a paragraph for your daily journal. What you're supposed to use at the end of the 30 days is up to you. Some people are cutting down printer paper and punching holes in it and putting that into the binders, but it gets filled awfuly fast. The best thing to do is just keep your journal in its own book, like we should be doing all along. You can also use your computer to keep a journal, too. There are plenty of software programs out there just for this purpose, but a plain old text file is good enough.
The videos - I was right about the BlastOff ones. All they did was remove the last 10 minutes from the ones that were filmed but never released, the section with the weights. The camera work, and everything else is as bad as I mention in my review about the rest of the BlastOff the Pounds videos. The toning tape is pretty good, though, and again, my review of it is on the Richard Simmons Exercise Video page.
My package also contained a few recipe cards leftover from the Recipe Club Richard now offers on his web site. Gee, just what I needed - instructions on how to make an egg white omelet and breaded fish, and breaded chicken, and yet another recipe for breaded fish, and another for breaded chicken. And three for salads, and two for soup, including that infamous cabbage soup.
Luckily whoever packed my box forgot to toss in the vitamins, so I didn't have to toss them out. It did have the coupon for $100 off the Cruise to Lose and for 100 free hours on the Club House.
24-Jul-03
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