Obesity and the cost on the country is very topical at the moment, filling many of our headlines. We are breeding a nation of fat children, fat adults and fat elderly people. But what is the answer? Wider ambulances and hospital beds? Gastric bands on the NHS? Only eating salad for the rest of our days?
I've never made any secret of the fact that I've struggled most of my life with my weight and consequently my self image. It was hard growing up in a family where a 'Niles' bum is the norm (basically a large, wobbling bottom which was the trade mark of the whole family) and you get described as clever, not pretty or thin!
I have literally tired every diet going; weight watchers, slimming world, slim fast (not good when you're allergic to milk), starvation, laxatives, fitness, cabbage soup diet, Hollywood juice diet and a whole lot I can't even remember the names of. What I'm saying is they don't work! Correction, they all work for a short space of time, and then when you're normal life resumes you go back to exactly where you were before.
Over a year ago my best friend got engaged and asked me to be chief bridesmaid, an amazing honour. This is something I had the pleasure of doing on 2 other occasions but this time I vowed I'd lose weight and look my best for the photos, therefore I set about devising my own plan (using my cooking addiction) to do it sensibly and keep it off this time.
The wedding came along in November 2013, and I'd manage to lose 2 stone, which made me feel amazing, and to this day I've lost 3 stone 11lbs, dropping from a size 16 to a size 10 (ish) . How did I do it; menu planning and healthy eating.
Since doing my own menu plan, and seeing the results, I've devised a few others for friends and family. My friend Steph needed to eat a low GI diet and her husband Dan wanted to eat healthily too, so I wrote them a plan that combined both. I did a 4 week rotating meal plan which had breakfast, lunch and evening meals covered. It contained the 5 a day, a minimum of 2 fish portions per week and also one vegetarian meal per week, but more importantly it gave them one day off a week to be naughty and enjoy - one thing I learn early on so you're less likely to deviate.
Have a look in the recipe section for some of my low fat, but packed with flavour suggestions.
What is the future for me and my eating plan? Well I'm not going backwards and therefore meal planning will be a part of my day to day, but I'll always make sure I save some of these calories for a yummy bottle of Marlborough sauv blanc!
A few before and after photos. I'll let you decide which is which!
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