A quite a few of you have commented about how much weight I’ve lost in the past few months and you are not the first. Remember my New Year’s resolution? Well, I blew it out of the water and then some! I’ve moved down from 65 kg (pushing the upper limit of my bmi) to a 55 kg. How I did it, I don’t mean to keep a secret. And I’m not dictating anyone to follow. If you’re happy with your weight, then enjoy the curves!

If you, like me, were feeling like you’ve let yourself go a bit, here are the rules I followed. Remember I’m not a health expert. And this is not an invitation for health experts to start bashing me. This is how I did it and stand by it. :p

• Shrink that stomach – only for the first week did I do a drastic diet. No, I didn’t starve myself :p I ate, but kept my calorie uptake to only 1000 calories a day. To do this I had to be aware of how many calories was present in everything I ate. This was an eye opener for me, because never in the world did I think my favourite pasta salads were 500 calories! The first three days were a struggle, but by the end of the week I was quite full with what I had.
• Break the night’s fast – Always have beakfast. I tend to have cereal or honeyed porridge, very tasty!
• Fruit snacking – Any snacks were replaced by healthy fruits. My saviour was green apples. I love them and kept a bag of them by my desk.
• Watch the cals - even after the first week, just be aware of the calories you’re taking in. Don’t go overboard. I believe they advise 2000 calories a day for women, 2500 calories for men. Think of them as points. What would you really like to spend them on? To be honest I really struggle making the 2000 calories and tend to reach 1500. But I find that so long as I’m getting all the goodness that I need from food to do my daily activities, I’m fine.
• Alcohol calories – that’s right. A glass of red can have 200 cals. I didn’t know this. So watch that too.
• Only the best – I like to spend my calorie points on food that I really love. So when someone offers me a bar of cadbury’s chocolate, I politely decline. If I’m going to have chocolate, I prefer Swiss chocolate ;)
• Quality over Quantity – Also, part of my ‘Only the best’ rule. I’d rather have a little of something that I really really love, than a lot of something I just don’t care much about.
• Smaller plates – help with quantity. For women who live with their men, you will be aware of the issue of serving up the same quantity on both your plates. This is evil! Mr H eats a lot, but also does a lot of martial arts every week. I hide from exercise. So get yourself a smaller plate and don’t pile the food up high.
• After 7 bad – Don’t eat after 7 pm. When I used to come home at 9 pm and have my meal, that’s when my weight gain began. The energy has nowhere to go!
• Vegetarian – Have at least two days a week when you don’t have any meat. This makes such a huge difference! I can now go a week without any meat and I really don’t miss it. Mr H has learned to cook some fantastic vegetarian gujarati curries (I recommend Hansas’ book) and I now prefer a Ful Cobi (cauliflower curry) to a serving of porkchops. Now that I eat less meat, I spend more for the quality of meat that I buy.
• Meat only once a day – if you do choose to have meat, try to not have it for more than one meal a day. Get your protein from other sources such as pulses!
• Scare factor – if you’re doing this for health reasons, scare yourself! Not only was a family member struggling medically with this issue, but I also watched scientist Dr. Gunther von Hagens perform an operation on an obese corpse. The insides looked strangled by the layer of yellow fat. Ugh.
• Climb a mountain – or two. Well, you don’t have to, but choose an activity that you enjoy to get yourself active. I’ve taken up fellwalking and really enjoy it :) I aim to go at least once a month, but twice would be better. My legs feel great! But you don’t have to go out of your way to do something like this. You can fit activity around your lifestyle. Instead of taking the elevator up to my office every morning, I walk up 7 flights of stairs. And yes, even in heels! No excuses!
• On the up – after losing a few kgs I found myself a lot stronger and a lot more capable to do activities I used to struggle with. Lifting things, standing around for much longer, I felt great. This was a very good motivator for me! So pay attention to your body, it tends to cheer you on when you’re doing the right thing.
• Break the rules – feel free to break the rules now and again :) When I tend to go out at night, my meals tend to be at 8pm and I tend to enjoy quite a few glasses of red ;)
• Treat yourself – I can never say no to spaghetti carbonara. I just don’t have it everyday.
• Lifestyle changes – Now when you do meet your weight target, if you want to keep at it longterm, you really should use the rules to help change your lifestyle. This avoids the yoyo effect. Check your weight at least once a week and if you see a shift, act accordingly.

My only worry now is: Will I still fit into my wedding dress?! o_o