Trim Healthy Mama Plan Review

I recieved a copy of Trim Healthy Mama Plan from blogging for books in exchange for this review. I am always open and honest in my opinions. 🙂 This post contains affiliate links. 

I received an opportunity to review the Trim Healthy Mama plan and immediately was on board! I have been hearing some online buzz about this style of eating and crazy enough the SAME day my book arrived a friend told me that she has been doing Trim Healthy Mama for the last two months and has lost 11 pounds! Trim Healthy Mama definitely has a huge, supportive online presence and tons of raving fans, but I wanted to read the full plan for myself and then decide what I thought!

What are the basics of the plan? 

• Don’t be a slave to your food anymore!
• Lose weight by varying how (and how much) you pair macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fats) together.
• Eliminate all the “bad stuff”: white bread, fast food, soda, fruit juice, white potatoes, cookies, most whole grain packaged products, except for a few low carb options.
• Lifestyle shift, NOT a diet

Basically two sisters, Pearl and Serene,  have created a simple way to explain macronutrient pairing that (to me at least) focuses on regulating blood sugar so your body doesn’t store your sugar as fat (or your fat as fat), but burns through it instead.

Meals that center on a protein + fat are called S (Satisfying) Meals. One example would be a pot roast with gravy and mashed cauliflower. Meals that center on protein + carbs are called E (Energizing) Meals; carbs would include fruits, starchy vegetables and whole grains like quinoa, oats, sprouted grain/sourdough bread and brown rice. An E meal might consist of lean ground turkey taco meat, brown rice, and fajita vegetables in a rice bowl topped with a bit of light shredded cheese. Fruits are considered carbs. Meals can be filled in with “Fuel Pulls” or you can use just Fuel Pulls to create a meal. Fuel Pulls are non-starchy vegetables, berries, egg whites, light dairy, unsweetened nut and coconut milk. An example of a fuel pull breakfast would be a green smoothie with spinach, berries, and greek yogurt. From there you create a varied menu that includes the different types of meals, mixing in more or less of one kind per your body’s respones and your weight loss and healthy goals.

 

What??

I know. It’s a bit confusing at first and I definitely don’t have it figured all out. For the best explanation I’ve read outside of the book, check out Gwen’s Review (she’s been doing THM for a few years and has lost 40 pounds and has great recipes too!) and her quickstart download. Both are excellent and sometimes it helps to just have it broken down multiple ways.

Pros of the plan:

• Very balanced, healthy approach both in food and emotional components.
• Conversational style of writing that is easy to read.
• No elmination of food groups, just a limit on the type of carbs and, like most plans, eliminating or reducing unhealthy processed foods.
• Lots of examples in the books of different diet perspectives, helpful meal plans, specific recommendations for pregnancy/postpartum, vegetarians, and special diets.  I LOVED the section for nursing and preggo mamas.
• The plan is flexible, not rigid. You make the meals work for you and there is more than one approach laid out. One sister is more organic, pure, raw and the other is all about those healthy living shortcuts when needed (I related more to her!).
• Large, active community on Facebook and SO many recipes on Pinterest. I saw a question posted on the FB page about a type of meal and one of the authors got back within a half hour. #awesome
• A LOT of women have had a amazing success on the plan with getting to healthier weights and eliminating health risks!

Cons of the plan: 

• There seem to be quite a few special ingredients needed for some recipes. Now, you don’t need-need them and some I have like flaxseed and whey protein powder, but there are a lot of add-ons that they sell so that can get pricey in a hurry. This is also what is holding me back from buying the cookbook since I’ve read a couple reviews that say a lot of the recipes call for their specialty products.
• Like with all plans this has a learning curve. The book indicates that it is something you can step into (do just breakfasts the first week, then breakfast + snacks, etc.), but it can be a little overwhelming at first. If you decide to use this plan then definitely lean into the online world for help as you settle in. There are great Facebook groups and resources on Pinterest to help!
• As a Christian I appreciated their point of view on honoring God with our health and bodies, but it was a bit heavy handed and extreme at times. Definitely nothing in the core of the plan, but some of their asides just rubbed me wrong, like how they don’t eat pork because God told Israel not to, ignoring the fact that God gave New Testament Christians that freedom (Acts 10:9-16). Personal peeve, but one I can get over. 🙂

Bottom Line: 

This could be the plan for you! You guys know I’m not a “one way only” for weight loss gal–there are many paths to the same mountain. I’ve tried lots of different approaches based on what was going on in my life. This is a good fit for me now and one I am easing into by focusing on eating most breakfasts and lunches using the THM approach. Since I’m pregnant, my goal is NOT weight loss, but healthy eating for myself and my little one.  I appreciate having a bit more structure in my healthy eating style because the first trimester was ROUGH on my diet (no appetite for most veggies and meat) and I want to get back in the groove of making better choices. If you want to do the plan, you need the Trim Healthy Mama Plan book! I’m not sure if you NEED the cookbook, but it may be helpful and does have over 350 recipes. For now, I’m going at it with Pinterest and finding plenty of recipes, but I may break down and buy the cookbook, just out of curiousity’s sake!

Have you heard of Trim Healthy Mamas? Any THM fans out there with tips or other feedback on the program?