Delivered Zone Diet meals gaining popularity

As a party planner for the stars, Jodi Thomas' schedule leaves little time for eating right.

Fed up with getting by on coffee and candy bars while coordinating events for hundreds of people, Thomas signed up with the Zone Diet At Home food delivery service. For her, weight loss was an afterthought.

"I'm eating right, the food is good, and the bonus is I lose weight along the way," said the 30-year-old Santa Monica resident who lost five pounds in a month.

Peggy White, 58, a software engineer from Redmond, Washington, is busy, too. But she joined a meal delivery plan because she desperately needed to slim down.

She wouldn't disclose her weight before signing up with Zone Seattle but said she lost 96 pounds during the next year. She said it was well worth the $40 a day she paid Zone Seattle, an independent firm based in Seattle that delivers to about 160 people in Seattle and Portland.

Neither woman missed cooking. Thomas said her stove is mere decoration. White was glad to stay out of the kitchen.

"One, when you're in the kitchen you want to eat things and cheat," White said. "Two, it's having to spend time in there to figure out what to eat and whether it's OK."

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