Our shakes and soups plan is a 16-week diabetes remission plan based on years of scientific research into the best strategies for reversing type 2 diabetes. We’re different because we understand the science behind diabetes reversal and combine it with a holistic and fully digital approach to changing behaviours. This means that our Patient Operations team can provide a high level of support throughout your plan because all of the behaviour change is delivered via our app.
We always say that we’ll support you for life—but the intensive bit of our plan is 16 weeks long, consisting of a 12-week diet replacement, during which you'll consume 800 kcal/day, and 4 more weeks of gradual calorie increase. You can learn more about the Habitual journey on our Soups and shakes plan page here.
The first step with Habitual is to decide and sign up for the plan that's best for you (at least to start with—you can always change later!). Once you’ve paid and downloaded our app, we’ll do a quick medical onboarding to make sure you’re safe to get started, then you can claim your free taster box. When you've tried the meals, you can order your first monthly meal box via the app, then you'll get started on your plan! Over the course of the 4 months you will receive daily behaviour change lessons in our app to help you learn about the science of nutrition and feel confident in your decisions as you create your new way of eating for a healthier, happier life. You can learn more about the Habitual journey on our Soups and shakes page.
The outcomes of the plan differ for each participant, but as our approach is based on years of scientific research so we can share the average outcomes which have been observed. In the clinical research, average weight loss on a total diet replacement plan is 15kg at 6 months; Habitual participants see an average of 17kg at 6 months. Along with this weight loss comes a variety of health benefits: 46-60% of people put type 2 diabetes into remission, 60% of patients improve knee pain symptoms, and half the risk of a heart attack or stroke.[1]
Reversal of the underlying disease process of type 2 diabetes is possible for many people undergoing a low-calorie diet programme, however it’s impossible to say when it will occur. Whether and how quickly you’re able to achieve remission depends on factors such as how long you’ve been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, your starting weight, and your body’s response to different foods. What we can say is that blood sugars tend to stabilise at healthy levels within the first few weeks, even without medication. Type 2 diabetes remission is measured by taking at least HbA1c tests separated by three months.
Absolutely! While we talk a lot about reversing type 2 diabetes, our soups and shakes plan is suitable for anyone needing to lose 10-15kg to achieve better health—whether that’s reversing type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes, lowering blood pressure, curing sleep apnoea, reducing knee pain, or simply feeling better day to day. You can check your eligibility by signing up to a plan here.
During your 16 weeks with Habitual, our app guides you through in-depth lessons and exercises to change your habits and your psychology around food, exercise, and your relationship with yourself. So it’s really a combination of your food plan plus the Habitual app: a low-calorie diet creates the mental space necessary to break, build, and practise new habits, whilst the lessons in our app guide you through the psychology of doing just that.
You might think that eating just 800 calories means you’ll be hungry all the time... but incredibly, that’s not the case for most people! You may be a bit peckish during the first few days, while your body is adjusting to the reduced calorie intake, but after that you will feel surprisingly full!This is because during Total Diet Replacement (TDR), your body goes into a state of mild ketosis, which has a satiating effect. There is also research to suggest that an all-liquid diet increases satiety, meaning that you’ll feel fuller than if you were eating the same amount of solid food.
- 2/day - Two Habitual meals per day, plus your own low-calorie meal
- 4/day - Four Habitual meals per day—no other meals needed
We understand that there's no one-size-fits-all solution to losing weight and creating healthier habits, which is why we offer three different plans—all based on scientific evidence for weight loss and type 2 diabetes remission. Our plans vary in terms of pricing, flexibility, and simplicity, allowing you to choose the one that best suits you, your lifestyle, and your budget.
Yes! You can easily switch between plans within the app. Simply open your profile (located at the top left of the Today screen) and tap on your current plan. Any changes to your plan will take effect from your next payment.
All of our plans come with a complimentary taster box, allowing you to sample all our flavours before ordering a full box of meals. To claim your free taster box, you'll need to download the Habitual app and complete a brief medical questionnaire to ensure it's safe for you to get started. Once you've completed the questionnaire, your box will be dispatched from our warehouse, and you can expect to receive it within a few business days if not sooner.
We hope you'll love our meals—but if you don't, we'll happily refund your first payment and cancel your subscription. Simply email subscriptions@tryhabitual.com with a subject line 'Refund and subscription cancellation request'.
Yes, of course! Ahead of each month’s new food order you can choose how many of each flavour you would like to receive. So, if you have a few select favourites, you can make sure you get to enjoy those as much as possible.
For TDR to work as reliably as it did in research trials, it's important that you stick to just the four Habitual meals each day (at least most of the time). However, you can enhance your meals with additions such as zero-calorie hot sauces, dried or fresh herbs, and small amounts of garlic, cinnamon, and zero-calorie syrups. Where possible, we recommend drinking water, but you can also include tea and coffee (ideally black), diet soda, sparkling water, herbal tea, and flavoured zero-calorie water. For something to chew on, sugar-free gum is also allowed. Read more about what you can and can't eat while on TDR.
Here at Habitual we understand that life happens and that sometimes it just isn’t practical to be on TDR. That’s why in the plan we place a big emphasis on giving you the tools to get back on track should a planned deviation happen. But we know that full TDR isn’t feasible for some people, so if you would like to customise your journey, we recommend getting in touch with our Patient Operations team first to plan your personal journey - or you can switch to our 2/day plan from the Profile section of your Habitual app.
Total diet replacement (TDR) is a nutritional tool used to achieve significant weight loss. All meals provided by Habitual are technically TDR, but it can be a bit confusing because TDR is both a classification of a food product, and a way of eating which can be used to achieve weight loss.
When we talk about TDR as a type of meal, we are referring to the fact that each meal contains all of the micro and macronutrients your body needs. A TDR meal is similar to a meal replacement, but it contains more nutrients.
When we talk about TDR as an eating strategy, we’re referring to a period of time during which you only eat TDR meals. Each day on TDR consists of four nutritionally-complete soups, shakes, and porridges instead of your regular diet. Each meal contains everything you need to stay healthy while providing a total of 800 calories per day. It is the quickest and safest way to lose weight without surgery and has been clinically proven to help people lose about 15% of their body weight on average.[2,3]
It's important to note that TDR is not the same as "meal replacement." Meal replacements are readily available (these are what you’ll see on the shelf in Boots), but their nutritional value is not sufficient to be used as a complete diet replacement.
Our 4/day include enough meals for four Habitual meals per day, and you won’t need any other food. Our 2/day plan provides you with two Habitual meals, plus guidance on a third balanced meal which you make or buy (but preferably make!) yourself. In all three cases, we advise sticking close to 800 kcal per day in order to achieve your weight loss goals. Our 2/day plan isn’t considered full total diet replacement since it includes some whole foods, but it is still a recommended 800kcal per day. If this doesn’t seem right for your circumstances, our Patient Operations team will be happy to help advise as to how you can customise your plan.
TDR has been tested in large randomised control trials and proven to be not only safe, but also incredibly effective. TDR provides you with all the micro and macronutrients your body needs, keeping you safe and healthy while losing weight. The significant weight loss associated with a TDR diet means it is best suited to people who could benefit from a substantial amount of weight—around 10-15kg. We therefore do not recommend it to anyone with a BMI of less than 24.There are a few rare conditions and recent health events that might preclude someone from undertaking TDR. That’s why we work closely with your GP before welcoming you onto the full plan, to make sure that you can benefit from the journey while staying safe and healthy. Read more about the safety of TDR.
The Habitual app is available to download for free for all plan participants from the Apple and Play stores.
Once you’ve purchased your plan, you’ll receive an email and SMS text message advising you to download the Habitual app. Alternatively, you can search for the app on the Apple App Store and Android Play Store.
When you open the app for the first time, you’ll be asked to enter the email address you used at checkout. You’ll then receive another email and SMS text message containing a magic link—simply click this link on the device you have installed the app on and you’ll be successfully logged in.
If you experience any difficulties while using the app, please contact us at hello@tryhabitual.com and we’ll help you figure out the problem.
It's through our app that we'll get you onboarded and set up to claim your free taster box–so it is essential that you download the app. It’s also the Habitual app that sets you up for long-term habit change. Whilst a low-calorie diet will help you achieve safe and rapid weight loss, it’s the content, lessons, and exercises in the app that will help you keep the weight off for good. The Habitual soups and shakes plan isn’t just another diet, but rather a tool to help you build a sustainable, healthy life. We (and the research) find that weight regain is much more likely for those who do not engage in expert behaviour change, so taking full advantage of what our app has to offer is important for long-term health and weight maintenance.
Rest assured, your data is safe with us! Your app login is tied to your email address, so only people with access to your email can login to your account. All of our backend systems are protected so that only you can access your data—we even encrypt your journal entries so that only you can read them.
The Habitual app accompanies you on your health journey. By using the app throughout your time with us you'll learn how to break, build, and practise the habits that will keep you healthy for life. We’ve built our app especially to help you achieve your health goals by including features that are proven to lead you to success. From tracking your habits, daily habit change lessons, and regular journaling, to direct access to our Patient Care team, real-life rewards celebrating your wins, and weekly progress reports, you’ll have all the tools you need to hand, every day.
We’ve designed our app to be as easy and as efficient as possible—we want the app to accompany you on your journey, not take it over. You’ll be encouraged to track your habits each day, which will only take a couple of minutes. Every day a new lesson will unlock—some days you’ll have an exercise, other days you’ll have a break. How long you spend on the exercises is up to you, the most important thing is that you complete it to the best of your ability. During busy days and weeks, it is possible to save all the lessons and exercises to complete in one go, but we do advise you try to keep up with the plan on a weekly basis at the very least. Taking 10-15 minutes each day should be ample time to make the most of the Habitual app.
While we would love to help everyone to achieve better health, unfortunately our current offering is limited by BMI range and a few exclusion criteria, all based on scientific evidence about what makes plans like ours safe and effective for patients. If you feel you've been wrongly excluded from participating, please feel free to email medical@tryhabitual.com.
We take your safety seriously, and part of this commitment means working with your GP to ensure the appropriate medication decisions are made. During our medical onboarding process, we communicate with every single patient’s GP to ensure their medications are adjusted (if necessary) before they start a plan. If you are on blood sugar or blood pressure lowering medications, we will require you to confirm that you’ve spoken to your GP before starting a plan. If you are not on these medications, we still recommend that you see your GP for completeness—though in most cases they won’t be altering your other medications.
If you are on certain medications (i.e. Gliclazide, Gliperimide, Glyburide, Glibenclamide, Alogliptin, or Vildagliptin), medical onboarding will take as long as it takes to see your GP. This could be a quick phone appointment, so in many cases patients can complete medical onboarding in a matter of days. But if it’s harder to get an appointment with your GP, do please be aware that you won’t be able to claim your free meal box or start total diet replacement until you have done so.If you are not on any of these medications, medical onboarding can happen in a matter of minutes—we’ll simply ask you to complete a medical history and we’ll have a quick look to make 100% sure you’re safe to go.Either way, you’ll be able to claim your free taster box as soon as our medical team gives you the sign-off.
Yes—as we are not a GP service, your GP will remain your primary care provider even whilst on the Soups and shakes plan. We suggest that you see your GP at least before starting a plan, and depending on your medical conditions they may recommend more frequent check-ins as you go through a plan. Habitual is a complement to, not a replacement for, your GP, and we will partner with your doctor to ensure your safety throughout your plan—so it’s important to continue to see your GP.
If you take certain medications (such as for blood sugar or blood pressure), we will require you to see your GP before starting one of our soups and shakes plans because you may need to completely stop or reduce your medications before beginning on total diet replacement.
In rare cases, some GPs will not approve participation in the Habitual Soups and shakes plan for a variety of reasons. We are happy to speak to your GP on your behalf in the case that they simply need an explanation of the medication changes we have recommended—however in the case that your GP feels it is unsafe for you to participate in one of the plans, we will offer you a full refund for any fees paid.
That really depends on which plan you sign up for! The more Habitual meals you opt in for, the more you'll pay—but do bear in mind these meals will replace what you would be spending on groceries or eating out. You can learn more about our pricing here.
Your monthly payment includes lifelong access to our app (including expert-developed behaviour change lessons and exercises, as well as historical access to your tracking information and journal entries so you can see how far you’ve come!), ongoing support from our Patient Operations team, and access to a bespoke cohort of peers that you’ll go through your plan with. Your monthly payment will also include Habitual meals, either enough for 2/day or 4/day for 28 days (which is also how often your subscription will renew) and a free gym membership!
If you wish to cancel your monthly subscription at any point, please cancel through the Habitual app (via the ‘Help’ option in the Profile section). Please note that if you do decide to cancel, any outstanding payments for meal boxes already ordered will be taken.
While the first step for getting started is signing up to one of our plans, do bear in mind that all plans come with a free taster box—and if you decide that the meals aren't for you, we'll refund your first payment, no questions asked, as long as you haven’t yet placed an order for your first monthly box. Plus, it's easy to switch plans in the app, so you don't need to worry about choosing the wrong one.
We understand that it won't always be convenient to follow an 800kcal plan, which is why we encourage you to actively include guilt-free time off whilst on a plan. If you need to pause your meal delivery at all, you can change your subscription to Digital—you'll maintain access to the app without receiving monthly meal boxes. To discuss a break and switch your plan, contact Patient Operations via the Care team tab in the app.
Taster boxes are shipped via Royal Mail tracked 24, and monthly meal boxes are shipped via DPD. Orders placed before 1pm Monday-Friday will be dispatched the same day for delivery within 1-2 business days: Orders placed after 1pm on Friday, or on Saturday or Sunday will be dispatched on the following Monday. There are sometimes unforeseen delays with our courier partners, particularly around the Christmas holidays—in these cases we do ask for your patience and understanding.
When your box ships out, you will receive tracking information via email. If you’re having any issues tracking your delivery, please reach out to us at hello@tryhabitual.com with details of your order including your name and shipping address.
Unfortunately we cannot accept exchanges due to food safety. With your free taster box you will be able to try each of our meal flavours, so you should have a good sense of which are your favourites by the time you place your first monthly box order.
[1] Taheri, S., Zaghloul, H., Chagoury, O., et al. (2020). Effect of intensive lifestyle intervention on bodyweight and glycaemia in early type 2 diabetes (DIADEM-I): an open-label, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, 8, 477–489.
[2] Astbury, N., Aveyard, P., Nickless, A., et al. (2018). Doctor Referral of Overweight People to Low Energy total diet replacement Treatment (DROPLET): pragmatic randomised controlled trial. BMJ 362: 3760. Accessible here.
[3] Lean, M.E.J., Leslie, W.S., Barnes, A.C., et al. (2018). Primary care-led weight management for remission of type 2 diabetes (DiRECT): an open-label, cluster-randomised trial. Lancet 391(10120):541-551. Accessible here.
