BistroMD is a meal delivery service that helps you lose weight using pre-made meals and a calorie-restricted diet.
Find out everything you need to know about BistroMD today in our review.
What is BistroMD?
BistroMD, found online at BistroMD.com, is a weight loss system that delivers pre-made meals directly to your home.
If you’ve struggled to come up with your own weight loss plan, then BistroMD promises to make one for you based on medically-approved advice.
Where does the “MD” part of the name come from? Well, the company was founded by Dr. Caroline Cederquist, who specializes in treating overweight patients.
Dr. Cederquist found that her patients were listening to her weight loss advice – but often struggled to lose weight because they weren’t making meals properly or shopping for the right ingredients.
Dr. Cederquist decided to specially prepare food for patients and deliver it into their homes.
BistroMD was launched all the way back in 2005. Today, the company maintains a team of registered dietitians and world-class chefs. There are over 200 dishes to choose from.
The company is based in Florida but ships its ready-to-eat frozen meals all across America – including to Alaska and Hawaii (for an added shipping fee).
How Does BistroMD work?
BistroMD delivers ready-to-eat meals to your doorstep. They take care of all the ingredient shopping, food prep, and cooking. “All that’s left for you to do is enjoy great-tasting chef-prepared meals”, explains the official website.
BistroMD consists of a team of dietitians and chefs. The weight loss plans offered by the company are based on a daily caloric intake of 1,200 to 1,400 calories (1200 for women and 1400 for men).
The meals claim to be cooked and prepared by some of the best chefs in the country. They’re also balanced, nutritious, and consist of a variety of calorie sources (including lean proteins, healthy fats, and complex carbs).
Each meal can also be customized to your unique needs based on your requirements and weight loss goals.
When you sign up for BistroMD, you also get access to a team of licensed dieticians who support your weight loss goals and answer any questions you might have about dieting. You have unlimited access to this team.
You can sign up for 7 day programs, in which case you get meals for every day of the week (7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, and 6 dinners because you get one “My Night” cheat dinner per week), or 5 day programs, in which case you get 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 5 dinners (so you can do weekends on your own).
While signed up for BistroMD, you’ll also receive weekly “program material”, which includes weight loss tips, health information, and fitness advice.
Programs are available for both men and women.
Sample BistroMD Meals
BistroMD currently has over 200 dishes on its menu, including a variety of foods to suit all different tastes. Some of the most popular dishes include:
-Bananas Foster Pancakes with Sausage
-Ham and Swiss Omelet with Waldorf Apples
-Greek Chicken with Lentils
-Orange Glazed Salmon with Cous Cous and Vegetables
-Pork Chili Verde with Quinoa Stuffed Pequillo Peppers
You can see most of the company’s menu for yourself at their official website here.
You’re free to choose your own meals. The BistroMD experts will build a custom diet program for you, and then you’re free to customize your menu in advance, choosing from a range of pre-selected options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The meals promise to be “nutritionally and scientifically balanced”.
BistroMD Pricing
BistroMD gives a 25% discount for first-time customers. That significantly lowers the price of your first week, but the price will go up for all future weeks.
There are four different meal options available, including Standard, Gluten Free, Diabetic, and Menopause, although they’re all priced at the same rates:
-Full Program – 7 Days (7 Breakfasts, 7 Lunches, and 6 Dinners + My Night): $134.96 (First Week), $179.95
-Full Program – 5 Days (5 Breakfasts, 5 Lunches, and 5 Dinners): $112.46 (First Week), $149.95
-Lunches & Dinners – 7 Days (7 Lunches, 7 Dinners): $112.46 (First Week), $149.95
-Lunches & Dinners – 5 Days (5 Lunches, 5 Dinners): $89.96 (First Week), $119.95
Basically, the meals are priced between $7 and $9 per dish after your first week is over. The more meals you buy each week, the lower your cost-per-meal will be.
As mentioned above, My Night is your one “cheat dinner” per week, although the company advertises it as a “structured break to practice what you learn.
When you sign up for the weekly meal plans, you’ll automatically be charged every week and signed up for the autoship program. You can cancel at any time.
All prices above include shipping to the continental United States. BistroMD does deliver to Alaska and Hawaii, although you’ll face some additional charges.
What Do Customers Have to Say About BistroMD?
BistroMD is generally well-reviewed online. The weight loss program was also prominently featured on a Dr. Phil episode, where “the world’s heaviest woman” followed the program to successfully lose weight.
One of the best sources for unbiased BistroMD reviews is on Yelp.com, where customers have posted hundreds of reviews on the company’s dishes. We’ve read through all of those reviews to come up with the pros and cons list below
Pros
-Food is nutritious, and filling
-If you follow the system, you’ll lose weight
-Very few foods I haven’t liked
-Diverse range of foods available, including scallops, salmon, tilapia, pasta, pancakes, sausage, sloppy joe’s, cheesecake, gelato, and chips
-Excellent customer service
-Customize your menu to order things you like
-More energy after following BistroMD for a week
-Meals arrive completely frozen and can easily be stored
-Delivery is mostly on-time
-Customize delivery time and dates for your convenience
Cons
-Some people express disappointment with the quality of their food, stating that it was “beyond disappointing”
-Multiple complaints about the “tasteless” breakfast foods
-“The food, as delivered, looks nothing like the photos displayed on the website”
-Some of the dishes are hard to properly microwave without over-heating one portion and under-heating the other
-One reviewer claimed that “most of these meals are prepared months or even years in advance”, as they reported expiry dates going all the way up to 1.5 years into the future. That same reviewer claimed she got food poisoning after eating BistroMD meals
Many of the reviewers on Yelp reported that they tried other weight loss plans and meal delivery systems before eventually settling on BistroMD.
Many of the reviews are a bit suspiciously positive – and there’s also the problem of people either loving or hating the meals. People tend to either give BistroMD 1 star or 5 star, although the same can be said for pretty much any review system online.
Overall, customers either seem to enjoy the meals – or absolutely hate them to a point where they canceled after their first week. Nevertheless, few people had complaints about customer service, the website, the dieticians, or other parts of the BistroMD service.
Should You Sign Up for BistroMD?
Ultimately, based on the reviews we’ve read, it seems like it’s a good idea to try BistroMD for a week or two to see if you like the meals.
If you’re unimpressed, then you can easily cancel. Many people complained about the quality of the food – including the fact that it’s frozen and not made fresh (some of the dishes have expiry dates 1.5 years into the future).
At its best, BistroMD is a reasonably-priced meal delivery system that delivers healthy, ready-to-eat meals to your home at a price between $7 and $10 per meal.
The meals total up to 1200 to 1400 calories per day.
If you follow the plan as directed, you’ll lose weight. Plans are available for men and women and you can completely customize the types of food you eat.
BistroMD also comes with unlimited access to a network of dieticians you can ask for advice at any time. Customers generally indicate a positive experience with the company’s customer service and dieticians.
Overall, based on this information, BistroMD seems like a popular and effective meal delivery service – even if many reviewers are unimpressed by the quality or taste of the food.
