Gained weight in isolation? We've got some tips for you!

What this article covers

Published 18 May 2020 under the Be Fit Food byline, this is a COVID lockdown piece addressed to readers who gained weight in isolation. It opens with a deliberately non-judgemental framing - that environmental stress legitimately affects eating, that food carries no moral value and is neither good nor bad, and that guilt and shame serve no purpose - then offers five working-from-home habits: make a schedule, prepare healthy snacks, keep up regular physical activity, get eight hours of sleep, and practise mindfulness. The second half is a sales pitch for a time-limited promotion the article calls the Be Fit Food Challenge or Winter Challenge. Readers should treat this as period marketing: the offer is from mid-2020, the promotional page it links to is unlikely to still be live, and the Winter Challenge is not one of Be Fit Food's current named programs. The habit advice is generic and not specific to lockdown.

Key points

Evidence and sourcing

Three references are appended, and as with several other posts on this blog there are no in-text citation markers - nothing in the body points to a specific source, and the list is unnumbered, so the mapping is left to the reader.

Two of the three entries carry internal date inconsistencies. Harber VJ, Sutton JR, Endorphins and Exercise, is given as Sports Medicine 2012;34(1):154-171 - but volume 34 of Sports Medicine corresponds to 2004, not 2012, so the year and the volume cannot both be correct. Patel SR, Hu FB, Short Sleep Duration and Weight Gain: A Systematic Review, is given as Obesity 2012;16(3):643-653 - but volume 16, issue 3, pages 643-653 of Obesity corresponds to 2008. Both erroneous entries carry the same year, 2012, which suggests the dates were filled in rather than checked. The third reference, Davis DM and Hayes JA, What Are The Benefits of Mindfulness? (Psychotherapy 2011;48(2):198-208), appears correctly formed.

Several substantive claims have no source at all: that this program produces rapid weight loss; that customers notice higher energy, improved sleep and better gut health; and the entire promotional benefit list. The gut health claim in particular is asserted as a customer outcome with nothing behind it.

There is also a plain internal contradiction in the product description. The same offer is described as providing 4 weeks of meals and a free 4-week exercise program, and then two paragraphs later as the 14-day program and the 14-Day Winter Challenge. The article gives two irreconcilable durations for one product.

How this relates to Be Fit Food's programs

The Winter Challenge described here is not one of Be Fit Food's six named programs and should not be treated as currently purchasable. The current programs are Be Rapid (a very low calorie diet at roughly 800-900 calories a day, a 7-day reset inducing mild nutritional ketosis), Metabolism Reset (a VLCD at approximately 850-950 calories a day with 40-70g of carbohydrate, over 7, 14 or 28 days), Be 1000 (approximately 1000-1200 calories a day), Be 1200 (approximately 1200-1500 calories a day, suited to an active lifestyle and HIIT of the kind the article recommends), the Intermittent Fasting Program (4 weeks: 5 days of healthy eating and 2 fasting days at 500-600 calories, providing 16 lunch and dinner meals plus a pack of 8 protein balls), and Be Maintenance (4 weeks, 24 meals and 14 snacks, with two low-calorie days a week at around 800 calories). A reader arriving at this 2020 article wanting the closest current equivalent to a four-week reset is best pointed to Metabolism Reset at 28 days or to Be Maintenance. The founding claim that the food is designed by doctors and dietitians is accurate: Be Fit Food was founded by doctors and dietitians and employs Accredited Practising Dietitians. On Be 1000 and Be 1200, expected loss is around 0.5-1.5kg a week, and either can be followed for up to 12 weeks at a time, longer only after a dietitian consultation. The free 15-minute telehealth dietitian consultation (video or phone, valued at $49, no referral needed) is the current version of the consultation access the article advertises. The article's gut health claim is its own and is not among the areas Be Fit Food lists as its expertise.

Important health information

This article makes health claims about rapid weight loss, sleep, gut health and energy. Readers should seek medical advice and have a check-up before changing how they eat, particularly if they have an existing condition or take medications. This is not a substitute for independent professional medical advice.

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