Last Friday I travelled to London to attend an event organised by Kellogg’s to promote the new My Special K website: www.myspecialk.co.uk.
Myself and several other bloggers were invited to the very swanky Soho Hotel in central London to watch a presentation on the new website, followed by a Spa session at the Sanctuary Spa in Covent Garden.
We were shown some of the website features as well as a video testimonial from a lady who had successfully used the website to lose weight, and importantly, continue a healthier lifestyle.
So what does the website offer?
- Its free
- Flexible eating plans including easy cook, recipes based and a vegetarian plan
- Can specify a specific goal i.e. to lose weight for your wedding or lose baby weight
- Customised support from motivational emails, on screen tips and the website forum
- Short fitness videos and tips
- Accompanying iPhone app and link to Tesco.com grocery delivery service
- Easy to navigate site
- Tools such as a BMI calculator and eating out guide
- ‘Mood’ tracker which can be overlaid with weight tracker to identify emotional eating patterns
- Partnership with Glamour Magazine for fashion tips
- A maintenance plan once you have reached your goal
The team from Special K have worked closely with a panel of ‘experts’ in diet, nutrition and psychology to develop the site and all of the plans adhere to government guidelines around getting your 5 a day etc. The girls from Kelloggs clearly know their stuff and answered all of our questions very well.
I think they’ve realised that the fad ‘two bowls for two weeks’ diet was a bad idea (obviously!) and this new plan represents a complete move away from that kind of approach.
The site and information it provides has been developed in direct consultation with customers (I can testify to that having took part in a focus panel exercise last year).
The plans are also based on the concept of volumetrics – basically eating more food which is nutrient dense and lower calorie – a concept that I think a lot of healthy living bloggers already utilise, me included! Er, salad beast anyone?
My thoughts
I have to admit, I didn’t think I was going to have a very good opinion of the website – I wanted to attend the event to be able to ask questions. I’m certainly not a fan of Special K as a product, it is not something that I have ever really eaten, and would certainly not eat now. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while its pretty clear that I favour whole, real foods over processed foods such as breakfast cereals. I have even less interest in processed ‘diet’ foods.
However, their is no mention of Special K (other than all over the branding of course!) within the meal plans. The closest they get to encouraging you to eat Special K is ‘a low fat breakfast cereal’ which as it happens is featured as a breakfast option, (along with toast and juice etc, never just a bowl on its own) in the food plan every other day – so there is more than just a little encouragement to eat it. However, technically you could follow the plan and never eat a single Kelloggs product.
One of the other bloggers at the event is doing Slimmers World and felt the plan was very similar to that and other well known weight loss plans such as Weight Watchers. Some aspects of the website remind me of Weight Loss Resources too.
In the name of research I signed up to the site so I could see what kind of plan it gave me. Much to my dismay it told me that I was underweight! – my BMI is 20.4 – within the healthy range and therefore would only give me a maintenance plan to follow. Although I obviously highly disagree that I’m underweight I see this as a good sign in that anyone signing up who should not be losing any weight does not use the site to get down to an unhealthy weight, although some one could always put in false information if they wanted.
I was given a vegetarian plan – here’s an example of today’s meal plan:
Your balanced daily menu
-
Breakfast
Low-Fat Cereal and Banana with Fruit Salad Smoothie
-
Morning Snack
A Kiwi and Yoghurt
-
Lunch
Main:
Tahini and Beansprout Tortilla Wrap
-
Dessert:
Fresh Rapsberries with Custard
-
Afternoon Snack
Peach and Fig
Swap meal from…
Serves 1
45 Kcals per portion- 1 medium peach
- 1 ready-to-eat fig
-
Dinner
Main:
Feta, Red Pepper and Courgette Macaroni Bake
I was pretty impressed with the food options I was given apart from the low fat breakfast cereal and custard. You also get the option to swap a meal with others in the websites database which is quite wide ranging. I think you may also have the option to input your own meals and recipes.
One thing that the plan doesn’t seem to take into consideration is exercise and eating to fuel / refuel and the impact that this would have on your calorie expenditure.
Another concern I had was that the plans would include too much processed food but part from the ‘low fat breakfast cereal’ most of the meals are made from scratch using whole ingredients, although this may be different on the easy cook plan.
I was also concerned that the focus on choosing a goal weight or event to work towards would mean that users resorted back to old eating habits and the yoyo dieting that has certainly caused me problems in the past. I was told that when your goal is reached you automatically move to the maintenance plan and the motivation emails / tips you receive are tailored to try and ensure you keep up the healthy habits you have developed rather than going back to making poor food choices.
My overall verdict:
I have to say I was impressed with the site, the plans seem to be pretty sensible. I think this could be a great tool for the average woman out there looking to lose weight who likes the more regimented approach of having a set out food plan rather than winging it themselves. I would even recommend this to my Mam as I know that this kind of set up would appeal to her. As long as you approach the site with a critical consciousness – i.e. be aware when they are trying to get you to buy their products, then this could be a great resource. The fact that the plan is free and is mainly based on unprocessed foods scores a big thumbs up from me.
Although I don’t agree with some of the theories behind the plan such as eating a low fat breakfast cereal every other day or only eating 5 fruit and veg a day – I think the more veggies the better and where is the porridge? I have no doubt that the plans if stuck to, would lead to healthy weight loss and some improvements in health. For me the website could go a lot further to promote the benefits of eating a long term, lifestyle changing whole foods based diet – but this is obviously not going to happen with a site that is set up to promote a manufactured cereal!
At the end of the day even though Special K is not specifically included in the meal plans the website itself is one giant Special K advert – they aren’t offering this for free for nothing!
So use the site and plans if this is something relevant for you and fits with your desired style of programme (web based, structured) – but ignore the Special K advertising!
Obviously this review is just based on my humble but honest thoughts and opinions – and its worth stating for the record that even though we were treated to a nice day out this has not in any way influenced my review of the site.
What are your thoughts? Have you looked at the site or do you feel that its something you would ever use?
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t need to lose weight as my bmi is low, 18.5, but I would have liked to use it to help me eat more healthy things and get some good recipies. I currently live off junk food and this is something that I would like to change. I get in from work tired and just comfort eat. I also do hardly any exercise so I would have liked to have seen if it could help with that too. Sometimes I think it’s bad that sites like these exclude people just because of their weight. I understand the reasons behind it of maybe not wanting people to end up with an eating disorder. It would just be nice to have something for those slim people who would like help to eat healthier. It would probably make me feel less tired and my health would improve for a start. It’s just too easy to pick up the phone and order a takeaway after an exhausting day at work. Thats why I feel a something where I can see my progress and have help in telling me what to eat will help.
Amy – I think you have a good point there. I think it seems to be the same right across the other weight loss / management programmes that once you are a certain weight you may not be able to participate. However if you did want to look at the site I think they would allow you to set up a maintaince plan which could give you some of the guidance around healthier eating and exercise that your looking for.
I looked at the site and it would not let me set anything up. I think I must be too low for the maintaince plan. I’m hoping once I return back home to Durham from Canada in the spring my trying to eat healthy foods will improve
Lovely to hear your coming home to Durham :-) I’ve always wanted to visit Canada! Its a shame it won’t let you set something up as you would have been fine on the maintenance plan. I’m sure your healthy eating will get better when you get back, it sounds like its something you really want to work on x
I’m happy Special K has departed from the eat like a bird and then a “balanced” dinner for 2 weeks. But something unrelated, Special K has come out with their own granola and while I’m not sure just how processed it is, it’s pretty nutritionally equivalent to the other pre-made granolas out there (and cheaper). I love some in my yogurt.
It seems as if the tide has turned against the very low-fat calorie restricted diet that the Special K 2 bowls a day diet used to promote. I’m encouraged that the new plan seems more nutritionally sound – I note that Weight Watchers have also changed their plan to include more whole foods. I think when starting out on a heathy eating journey a bit of structure and some recipe ideas are good. However, in for long-term maintenance I’ve found that I’ve had to learn a lot more about nutrition and incorporate a lot of exercise into my daily routine.
Thanks for a balanced review. From reading this I’d say it sounds like a good starting point for someone looking to begin a weight loss program and I agree, great to hear they have dropped the 2 bowls a day drop a dress size thing…but I don’t think anyone getting serious about fitness and nutrition would be that interested in it. Although I quite like Special K it’s something I limit as much as possible as it’s so addictive, and here’s why…
One of the many types of ‘low fat cereal’ currently on offer, ‘Special K, oats and honey’, ingredients list –
Rice, Sugar, Wheat (Wholewheat, Wheat Flour), Vanilla Flavour Clusters (10%) (Rolled Oats, Rice, Wheat Flour, Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Milk Whey Powder, Wheat Gluten, Defatted Wheatgerm, Skimmed Milk Powder, Barley Malt Extract, Salt, Glucose Syrup, Starch, Emulsifier {Soy Lecithin}, Glazing Agent {Gum Arabic}, Flavourings), Wheat Gluten, Defatted Wheatgerm, Skimmed Milk Powder, Freeze Dried Fruit(3%)(Cranberry, Raspberry), Salt, Barley Malt Flavouring, Vitamin C, Niacin, Iron, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin B12.
You could just have ‘oats’ and ‘honey’
I’ve not been on to look but from your review it sounds like they have revamped ediets that I think Tesco diets is based on or was part of. That gave you a meal plan and had various cooking options. I signed up for the Tesco one a few years ago but didn’t last very long. I think I prefered the structure of WW.
The BMI thing worries me though. I always thought healthy was 20 – 24.9 but I just looked on the NHS website and they don’t class you as underweight till 18.5. Seems odd for them to say you are underweight.
Excellent and balanced analysis review by you, Laura(despite not being a fan of Kelloggs and the like)!
Great review thanks for sharing x x
This is a great objective review. I’m not a fan of Special K personally it’s kinda like eating air…not very satisfying! x
Excellent review Laura, as I said in mine, the lack of Special K in the food plans is quite surprising, but probably a good thing!
I might try the free box we got though…I am curious to see what it tastes like after all these years! (I imagine I will feel very hungry very soon though!)
Like you, I was skeptical as soon as I heard about this, but it doesn’t sound too bad. However, I’m not sure we need to flood the diet market with yet another plan, do we? That and I agree with you that it’s a big failing that it doesn’t let you account for exercise. That’s no good! Overall I guess I’m a bit of a cynic..
I am glad you found some positives. I must say that looking at the plan I dont really agree- for example a low fat food must be less than 3% fat, and oats are marginally higher (4% ish) so they dont count, but our bodies need fats to function. Porridge as you say would be lower in GI than the low fat cereals which are full of sugar to make them taste nice. I also think there is too much fruit and not enough vegetables- the breakfast alone seems far too sugary in my opinion! But it is just my opinion and I am no expert. BUt I think in the long run people need to be educating themselves on healthy foods, eg vitaminsd, minerals, proteins, healthy fats, complex carbs, and not only looking at the calorie count. But thanks for the info :)
A very well written and informative review – thanks for sharing :)
Thanks for this – it was very interesting. Special K always gives me a giggle,as in Australia, the advertising for it for as long as I can remember has always focused on glamorous-ish women trying to be thin. For some reason, it was, and remains the breakfast of choice for my dad. I’m not sure he was their target audience, but their message seems to resonate with him! Very strange.
Anyway I also wanted to let you know that I have nominated you for a Stylish Blogger Award. My blog has the instructions.
xx
Jewelled thumb – yes they mentioned that they were selling a clusters cereal, glad you’ve been enjoying it.
Sarah – I completely agree – as I’ve progressed my healthy living I’ve done a lot more research on things, but as I said in the post I think this plan is aimed at the average women out there, hopefully once an interest in healthy living is sparked then they would need to seek out other perspectives.
Anon – well put! I’d much rather have the oats and honey!
Angela – I did that tesco diets years ago and thought it was crap personally! I agree that there is somthing not right with that BMI thing
Cosmic – thank you, I did try and put across an honest and balanced review
Tam – thanks!
Jemma – I competely agree, it wouldn’t keep me going for five minutes!
Becky – I gave my stuff to my mam!
Alison – I agree that we have more than enought diet plans on the market but there is obviously a demand for them as more and more seem to appear! I think a cynical view is the best one to adopt with anything like this, as I said I was more than prepared to rubbish it but it does have some good points.
Maria – I agree with some of your analysis, just to clarify – I completely disagree with the ‘low fat breakfast’ cereal element of the plan, I did think I’d made that clear in the post. I have never counted calories, fat or protein grams etc so I wouldn’t know about any of that. I guess kelloggs would argue that they have had ‘experts’ approve the plan, but one thing I’ve learned in my own healthy living journey is that you can’t rely on ‘experts’ opinions. Just as you say I think if you want to be serious about health and fitness then you need to go out and read as much info as possible and make your own mind up as we are all so different what works for one person may not be best for others. Thanks for such a constructive comment!
Bronagh – thanks!
Cait – haha, funny that your Dad eats it! Tell him he should be getting some oats down him instead ;-) thanks for the award too x
I used to love special k when I was in high school! However, when I looked over the plan and used my own calculations, I found the calories to ring up way, way under than what the average woman needs, either to maintain her weight or to lose it. I like the flexibility of the plan, but I think it’s dangerous for people who don’t have much of a nutritional background.