Say no to diets. A hungry person’s guide to losing the festive chubfeatured
Now that January is here, a worrying number of people are turning to faddy crash diets in an attempt to lose the weight that they gained over the Christmas holidays. If you’re one of those people, let me stop you right there. Have a word with yourself, love. Faddy diets are not going to do you any favours, and you’re likely to become so miserable and boring while you’re starving yourself that none of your friends will like you any more.
I know how it feels to struggle to fit into your clothes all of a sudden and to feel uncomfortable in your own skin. But losing the weight you want to see the back of in a short space of time is not the answer. It will only return as soon as you look at a slice of Victoria sponge cake anyway.
In October I adopted a new healthy lifestyle, I was tired of having to wear the same three or four items of clothing again and again because nothing else in my wardrobe would fit me. For over a year, I had been eating three chocolate bars a day, tens of sandwiches a week and God knows how many burgers and chips. So in October I ditched all this junk and turned to more natural, filling foods instead.
And guess what? Not once did I let myself get really hungry. On my new diet healthy regime, as soon as my stomach started rumbling, I’d eat.
A typical day (excluding the Christmas period) now looks a little something like this:
Breakfast: A three egg omelette with chicken, mushroom, peppers, and onion
Lunch: Huge jacket potato and cheese & a ham, lettuce, cucumber & tomato salad with a bit of salad dressing
Dinner: A fairly large portion of chilli and rice
Snacks: Mullerlight yogurt, banana, apple, pear
I cut down my bread intake MASSIVELY and would have no more than one bread roll each day.
I stopped eating chocolate (If you want to treat yourself to the occasional bar that’s fine, but my chocolate intake had become insane so I decided to go cold turkey)
I aimed to fill half the plate with fruit, veg or salad as much as possible.
I started eating a RIDICULOUS amount of potato. My friends have taken the mick out of my potato intake, but I really think that the amount of potato I have been eating has helped me to lose weight by filling me up and preventing me from snacking.
I have the occasional treat. Whether that’s a Koppaberg, plate of pancakes, or a big slice of cake at the weekend. You could even have a Cadbury’s Flake every day if you wanted to, as long as you eat lots of fruit, veg, and healthy filling foods the rest of the time.
As a result of this, I lost a stone in the space of 8 weeks. Not radical, but considering I never let myself get really hungry and the only exercise I did was walking and the occasional bike ride, I’d say it was a remarkable achievement.
The inspiration for the above came from my new found Slimming World membership. I don’t want this to look like one big advert, because it’s perfectly possible to lose a few pounds without Slimming World’s help. You don’t need to count calories, and you don’t need to weigh all your food, and you don’t have to go hungry or only eat foods that are yellow. Cut out the obvious junk, eat big portions of healthy grub, give yourself the occasional treatand be a little bit more active when you can and you will lose the weight. I know all this is easier said than done. I couldn’t have done the above without SW’s help because I was lacking the motivation and belief in myself.
Whether you go it alone, buy an exercise DVD or join a slimming club, I just ask one thing. Don’t do any silly crash diets, please.
Photo credit: Pancakes
