(Lots of) Newbie feedback and questions

[Sazbaz]

Hi. I’ve created one post for a number of things. Feel free to separate them out or ask me to do that in order to respond.

I joined a few weeks back while the kids were on school holidays so I spent that time fiddling with my menu planner a lot on a daily basis to understand how it all works. I’ve slowly grown to appreciate that it is the tool I’d hoped for but it’s not been that intuitive to get a grip of. And I have to say that the training doesn’t do it justice. I’ve read a lot of forum comments citing confusion and I totally get where they are at. If I had wanted to get up and running quickly I think I would have left through frustration of lack of progress which would have been a shame.

I joined purely for the nutritionally balanced meal planning. I’m already committed to the ‘right’ foods so my menu scored something like 91% first time without any changes to my usual purchases – raising to 93% with some tweaks. So, having done a lot of ‘playing’ and working out a lot of things myself the questions I have very much point out what I think is missing in the training and and site function. I hope you will take this feedback on board and action it to make trimdownclub exceptional 😉

First up: Can I assume that the personally nutritionally balanced plan is appropriate for any age?
I have an 8 year old son with learning and mobility issues who is starting to put on weight. I have a responsibility to manage this and need a structured way to do it that his extended carer group can buy into and follow.

Next: Training on the menu planner.
I found that the journey you intend new clients to follow didn’t work – I kept finding myself in places that didn’t match up to where you wanted me to be or the time or stage I was at in the weeks or menu creation.
Videos should be available on the page that they are relevant to as well as on the guidance journey.
There is no explanation as to what the little green + symbols are directing me to do regarding +fat/sweet.

Questions on the menu planner:
Does the menu update to reflect the nutritional requirement change that comes with weight loss input or do you have to create a new menu after you’ve updated?
Does it balance out through the day? – if you have additional fats in the morning does it reduce your requirement through the day?
If I want to use a recipe again that I have created for myself in the menu planner is there a quick way to simply select that again when creating a new menu – instead of re-creating it all over again. Would I have to submit the recipe to trimdownclub?
Why do I need so many options to fulfil my food choices? I can happily use the few that I like frequently and It means I’m selecting foods that I don’t want to appear just to get a blue indicator. Is there a way to prevent them from showing up in my planner?
Do you advocate fasting/juicing detox days and how might I build that into the menu planner?

Suggestions:
Free foods, free spreads, Food exchange list should be a one click direct resource link to access from the home page instead of searching the site for the info. I found them a pain to locate.
From and educational perspective it would be informative to have the k/cal info to put things into perspective and re train the relationship with required calories to show how a balanced diet provides what is needed.
There should be a search function in the forum – it’s a valuable resource to your members, I would have found a lot of answers much quicker and been much happier earlier on.
There should be an explanation about things like tomatoes being a vegetable (or a search function!) – peeps are short on time and this took me ages to work out!
You need an iPhone app for the menu at the very least! Now the kids are back at school and I’ve not frequent desktop access, I’m (and I’m sure most peeps) going to struggle to keep on track.

Finally:
I appreciate the marketing aspect of the email content but it’s starting to annoy me that every single one as far as I’ve seen has been a direct sales pitch. I’ve unsubscribed but concerned that I might miss genuine valued information about the site etc. Are there separate lists?

Thanks for reading and I hope some of this transpires to make the site even better than it is 🙂

Saz.

[Ossie-Sharon]

Hi Saz, and welcome. Thank you for your feedback – I’m glad you’re liking the site, and that you are coming in already so in tune with healthy principles. I am happy to answer your questions (I’ve numbered them for clarity):
1. Your son: The principles of the plan can be used for anyone of any age, but the menu patterns in the Menu Planner application are intended for people of specific measurements. If your son is physically active, his needs would be similar to yours (given your measurements); however, if his mobility is limited, it may be too much – if this is the case, please do repost, and I will put something together based on your pattern.
2. Menu Planner: Yes, the system does reflect the requirement change based on changing weight (which is why it is so important to keep it updated in your profile). Yes, intake is generally balanced throughout the day – so if you add food in the morning, it is recommended that you reduce later intake; this is much, much preferable over bulking up at night (unless that’s when you have a big workout).
3. New menus/recipe: You can repeat menus in general – there’s no reason to generate new ones if you have reached a high health score, and certainly no need to re-input food selections. Regardless, you are welcome to submit recipes to us.
4. Fasting/detox: No, we don’t advocate fasting, as it can actually slow down your metabolism. Keep in mind that our program in general is intended to be a gentle detox. If you are seeking something more focused, we have what we call a “detox,” but it does not involve fasting – you can ask Customer Service about this (they can be reached through the “Contact Us” link below).
5. E-mails: I will forward your query to Customer Service.
Again, thanks for your input, and please do repost if you have additional concerns or questions.

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