Two things that increase your weight or do not allow it to decrease are-
- Oil/Fats
- Sugar
Upon once having a discussion on ‘sugar-makes-us-fat’ with my dad, he said, the thing that makes us fat is fat, so by common sense, if you eliminate fat from your diet, you will lose weight.
But the debate on sugar is also common sense. Why do dietitians ask us to eliminate sugars from our diet?
The answer is simple.
Sugars give us instant energy. Carbohydrates are the first form of energy. If you don’t take carbohydrates, your body will naturally move on to the second form of energy which are fats. So in order to have energy to work, your body will use up the fat and viola! That’s what you need to lose!
To speed up the process of weight loss, you must eliminate both sugars / carbohydrates and fats from your diet, and you must only eat the third form of energy which are the proteins.
Yep! This is basic biology knowledge.
My Slimming World Journey
Disclaimer: This post has not been sponsored by slimming world, I am just sharing my journey. If you live in UK, I recommend you to join a group nearest to you. It really helps.
The story is a bit funny. I got locked out one day and luckily there was one tiny window that was opened.
My neighbour went through that window and saved me £300 of hiring a locksmith. She has 3 children.
I asked her how she is so slim.
She said its because of slimming world.
I’ve never been on a diet before and honestly I never believed in diet programs.
I thought walking and eating fruits and vegetables was enough but I was so wrong.
This time I was desperate because my brother’s wedding was coming up and I had to do something. So I joined slimming world.
On the first day, They give you a package of reading material that contains all the information.
My consultant, Gill, went through the main points with me.
It is not about starving yourself but its all about food optimisation.
You don’t have to starve yourself, you just have replace certain things like
replace sugar with sweeteners
use fruits where you can to makeup for sweet taste
cook meat in its own nature oils (not fat)
eliminate oil, fat and sugar completely.
There are 3 Categories:-
- Free Foods
- Healthy extras
- Syns
Free Foods:
Free foods consist of all meats, eggs, vegetables, fruits and fat free dairy that you can have all day with out any guilt, provided that they are cooked without oil and sugar.
1/3rd of your plate should be salads.
Healthy Extras:
Healthy extras mostly consist of dairy and wheat products that you must have proportionately, best to weight and measure according to slimming world food optimization book.
There are 2 types of heathly extras: a and b.
You can have 2 healthy extra As and 1 healthy extra B.
Syns:
Syns (Sins) are foods that you must avoid at all costs. This includes dates, olives, honey, nuts, avocados and so many more things we think are good for weight loss.
What I Eat In A Day:
Breakfast:
Every single day I’ve had two biscuits of Weetabix mixed with one banana cut into small pieces in 200ml of milk.
Lunch:
For lunch I usually have left overs from the dinner one night before with a huge portion of salad.
If there are no left overs, I make oil-free eggs, with no-added-sugar baked beans, salad and sometimes Mackerel (oily fish in Free Foods) fillets with it.
Dinner:
I cook oil-free Pakistani foods. Scroll to the end for Recipes.
Since I started dieting, I’ve mostly had the same kind of foods. It can get boring but you have to stay dedicated.
I like to keep things simple and make foods that are not time consuming so you wont see me preparing complicated foods.
Snacks:
I tried not to have any snacks between meals but you can have bananas or any fruits & vegetables you like provided that they don’t contain any oil or added sugars.
Drinks:
Don’t drink any kind of juices freshly squeezed or from the concentrate. Freshly squeezed juice is just sugar. Always eat the fruit so you get the fibre as well.
Juices from concentrate are just sugars too. Avoid them at all costs.
You can have any teas and coffee provided that you make it at home and not purchase from outside. Nescafe coffee has sugar in it even if it doesn’t say on the label. You can have black coffee but then it should be authentic coffee. Nescafe coffee is not actually coffee, it’s just dust.
Do not drink alcohol at all.
Rules (write these on a paper and stick it some where you can see)
1/3rd of your plate should always be full of salad. It can be a simple salad made of cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce.
Never skip a meal.
Best time to weight yourself in in the morning after you’ve been to the toilet, make sure you’re wearing light clothing.
Don’t weigh yourself everyday
Go for a brisk walk or do something that makes your heart race like skipping or dancing.
Keep a food diary
There are no cheat days
My Diet Plan & Exercise
DAY 1:
2 weetabix with 200ml whole milk and a banana. (cut banana in small pieces and mix in Weetabix)
Snack: No snacking
Lunch: Chicken pulao rice made in half tsp oil, tomatoes, spices, chicken without skin.
Snack: Low fat strawberry yogurt.
Dinner: Plain omelette. Boiled broccoli & carrots. Plum tomatoes and celery.
Snack: 1 biscuit after dinner
Exercise: Brisk walk for 2.6 miles
DAY 2
Breakfast: 2 weetabix with 200ml whole milk and a banana.
Snack: Plum tomatoes, celery, one apple one banana.
Lunch: roasted chicken leg piece, plum tomatoes, celery, peas and baked beans.
Dinner: oil free chicken pulao with tomatoes, cucumber and green leaves.
Exercise: None. ( it was a weekend but you can exercise)
DAY 3
Breakfast: 2 weetabix, one banana, 200ml wholemilk. 1 mug of tea with no sugar.
Snack: banana, 2 sips of Diet Coke.
Lunch: Oil-free chicken pulao with salad.
Snack: half banana, half cup fat free yogurt with 1/4 teaspoon of naturally occurring stevia leaf sweetener.
Dinner: chickpea pulao cooked in 1tbsp veg oil enough for 3 people with salad and potato raita in fat free yogurt.
Dessert: 3tbsp normal ambrosia custard2 sips of Diet Coke
Exercise: None. ( it was a weekend but you can exercise)
DAY 4
Breakfast: 2 weetabix, one banana, 200ml wholemilk. 1 mug of tea no sugar.
Snack: none
Lunch: 4 tbsp oil free haleem, 2 shami (chicken+lamb) kebabs oil free. Lots of salad.
Snack: none
Dinner: carrot pea broccoli blended soup, some banana.
Exercise: Brisk walk for 3.5 miles
DAY 5
Breakfast: 2 weetabix, one banana, 200ml wholemilk. 1 mug of tea no sugar.
Snack: none
Lunch: oil free chickpea pulao with salad and fat free potato raita (yogurt).
Snack: 150g normal custard
Dinner: oil-free chicken pulao with vegetable raita (in fat free yogurt) and green leaves. 6 tbsp of Honey flavoured fat free yogurt.
Exercise: Walked 1.5 miles
DAY 6
Breakfast: 2 weetabix, one banana, 200ml wholemilk. Tea with skimmed milk.
Snack: none
Lunch: Sushi Roll with americano coffee without milk and sugar.
Snack: none
Dinner: 3 boiled eggs, sugar free baked beans and salad. 2 Bourbon biscuits.
Exercise: Walk 3.7 miles
DAY 7
Breakfast: 2 weetabix, one banana, 200ml wholemilk. Tea with skimmed milk.
Snack: none
Lunch: salmon sushi role, americano coffee (no milk or sugar)
Snack: None
Dinner: boiled chicken boiled rice with vegetable raita (fat free yogurt). 4 bourbon creams in whole day
Exercise: Walked 2.9 miles
How To Make Oil Free Chicken Pulao
Ingredients
- 1 chicken (fat and skin removed)
- Salt – to taste
- chillie flakes – 1 teaspoon
- green chillies – 2 big ones
- garam masala – 1 table spoon
- rice – 2 cups for 4-5 people
- zeera – half tea spoon
- Water – 1.5 cups
- 1 large onion
Method
Roast onions, zeera, salt, chillie flakes and green chillies on high flame.
If you can’t roast them properly you can use 1 tablespoon of oil to fry everything. This much oil is fine for food cooked for 4-5 people.
Add chicken and cook thoroughly.
Once the chicken is tender, add 1.5 cups of water.
Once water boils, add rice.
Once rice are cooked, enjoy.
The rice may be quite dry so for that use raita made with fat free yogurt.
Make sure you eat lots of salad, 1/3 of your plate should be salad.
How To Make Oil- Free Mutton Pulao
Follow the same steps as for chicken pulao. Just add boiled meat instead of chicken.
How To Make Oil Free Qeema Aloo
Ingredients:
- Qeema – 1/2 kilo
- 2 Diced Potatoes
- Chillie flakes – 1/2 tea spoon
- Green chillies – 2 big ones
- Salt to taste
- garam masala
- fat free yogurt
Method
Boil the qeema.
When a bit of water is left, add diced potatoes, onions and all the masalas.
when the water dries , cook on high flame by constantly stirring.
Enjoy with a roti, boiled rice or oil-free tarka rice and lots of salad.
Syn Free Chicken Roast Recipe
iNGREDIENTS
If you want any more oil-free recipes, please comment below and I will add more recipes for you.
