Lose weight, eat Greggs?

High street bakery chain Greggs has launched a summer diet plan, Minimise Me – despite including sausage rolls and doughnuts - that can help people lose weight.

Greggs has commissioned dietitian Laura Clark to devise a 30-day eating plan constructed entirely from its menu. It aims to encourage healthier food choices, alongside a more active lifestyle.

“Working alongside Greggs, the aim of this diet was to provide a supportive, holistic approach to recognising and then changing long-term food and lifestyle habits as part of overall weight management goals,” Clark said.

“It’s been a great challenge to work on and to see surprisingly how many lower calorie options Greggs now actually offers across its range.”

The plan was trialled on four dieters, including a new mum and a bride-to-be. They collectively lost over two stone and 14 inches from their waists in 30 days by eating exclusively from the Greggs menu.

The eating plan includes salads and wraps from the Balanced Choice range, as well as popular items such as sausage rolls, baguettes and doughnuts.

Greggs commissioned research that found the majority of Brits (63%) start dieting for their summer holidays at the start of July, and devised the diet plan in response to those findings.

Hannah Squirrell, customer director at Greggs, said that they wanted the experiment to be enjoyable, and said the diet plan was the only one she knew of to incorporate sausage rolls and doughnuts.

“We have worked closely with Laura throughout the 30 days to ensure the dieters were able to find the right balance with tailored exercise plans to suit each of their individual lifestyles,” Squirrell said.

“As part of our commitment to providing lower calorie options for our customers and given our strong presence throughout the UK, we have been developing our Balanced Choice menu further, which now includes a range of new salads, sandwiches, wraps, bakes, porridge, fruit, cold-pressed juices, drinks and snack packs all at under 400 calories.”

The bakery has also released a mini-documentary film to charter the progress of the four dieters.