COUNTING THE CALORIES

COUNTING THE CALORIES – IT’S WORKED FOR US AND IT CAN WORK FOR YOU

We’ve found a way of eating ourselves slimmer and we want to share our discoveries with you. The secret is to make better choices and use little tricks to reduce your daily calorie count. Calorie counting might have fallen out of favour somewhat over recent years, replaced by all sorts of wacky dieting ideas, but it does work. We’re the living proof. We’ve lost pounds and inches!

We’ve made all the recipes in this book as low in calories as possible while not compromising on the taste. And we’ve had a nutritionist check them out and do calorie counts for each one so you know exactly where you are. If you eat these, without cheating, you will lose weight – and you’ll love us for it.

We have to confess we’ve never really thought too much about calories and the amount of food we were taking in but we know a lot more now. As many as a quarter of us Brits are obese and it’s not good for us, so it seems that many of us are taking in much more than we’re putting out.

Our experts explained to us that in order to lose weight, you have to take in fewer calories so the body has to use its stores – makes sense so far doesn’t it?

The average man needs about 2,500 calories a day and the average woman about 2,000. That does, of course, vary according to how active you are, your build and other factors. For instance, if you work on a building site, you use more calories than if you’re sitting at an office desk.

We were told that to lose a kilo (about 2 pounds) a week we should cut our calorie intake by at least half – to 1300–1500 calories a day – and that’s what we’ve done. Before we started the diet, we kept a food diary for a few days and the results were quite something. We realised that we were scoffing about 3,500 a day before and that was way, way too much.

LOSE WEIGHT WITH US

Cook the recipes in this book, don’t cheat on portion size or extra snacks and you will lose weight too. But we’re not experts – we just know what’s worked for us – so we recommend that you check with your doctor before starting any diet. When you reach your target, relax a little – but not too much – and continue to weigh yourself once a week. The minute the scales start to creep up, get a bit stricter with yourself and get back on track.

Once you’ve achieved your weight loss, treat this book as your maintenance manual, your everyday cook book, to help you keep in shape.

CALORIES

A calorie is a unit of energy contained in food – you’ll see the calorie count listed on lots of types of packaged food. We burn calories to produce energy, but if we take in more than we need, they’re stored as fat.

On packages you’ll see calories given as kilocalories, the proper name, but don’t worry, they’re the same thing. On some packages you will also see a figure in kilojoules, another way of measuring food energy. This will be a larger figure (there are over 4 kj in one calorie) so don’t be alarmed. Calories are all you need to worry about for the recipes in this book.

Bear in mind that calorie counts on packaged food are usually for a serving, not for the whole pack, and one brand can vary from another. 

OUR TIPS FOR A SKINNIER YOU

 

• Buy some good scales and weigh yourself once a week. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after you’ve had a wee. We’ve found we can weigh as much as kilo more in the evening.
• Once you’ve reached your target weight, keep checking regularly and go back on the plan if you find you’ve gained a few pounds. It’s a whole lot easier to lose two pounds than two stone.
• Buy a full-length mirror, if you don’t already have one. Get your kit off, stand in front of it and take a good long look at yourself.
• Rethink your eating habits with the help of the recipes in this book. You can still enjoy lots of your old favourites if you cook them in a slightly different way to make them lower in calories but with full-on flavour.
• Reduce the amount of fat you eat – and that means oil as well as butter. There are 9 calories in a gram of fat, whatever kind it is.
• Exercise might not take off the pounds by itself, but does make you feel healthier, fitter and more energetic.
• Make carbs the smallest portion on your plate. Choose wholegrains and cut right down on starchy white carbs, such as white bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. If you’re making a sandwich, go topless – use one slice of bread instead of two. When you make mash, mix in some leeks or cabbage to make it go further.
• Spice things up. Spicy food is full of flavour so we reckon it helps you feel more satisfied. No need for diet food to be bland or boring – the chilli is the dieter’s friend.
• Eat protein. It fills you up and keeps you going. Don’t forget, though, that cheese is fat.
• Be sure to eat breakfast, have a good lunch and a meal in the evening. Make this a habit.
• If you give way to temptation one day and overdo it, don’t despair and give up. Just be extra strict with yourself the next day to make up for it. It’s like your bank balance – if you slip into the red, it’s payback time. Think of your meal plan over a week, rather than day by day.

THE DEMON DRINK

It’s dead hard, we know, but it’s important to avoid alcohol if you want to encourage and maintain your weight loss. All types of alcoholic drinks are full of empty calories – and if you do give in and have a couple of drinks you’re more likely to throw caution to the winds and guzzle down more food.

Instead, drink mainly water; fizzy or still. Add a dash of angostura bitters to your fizzy water when you want a bit of a change if you like. And if you want the occasional low-calorie fizzy drink, such as diet cola, that’s fine too, but limit your diet drinks to just a couple a day or you may find any sweet craving you have could worsen. Look on it as a bit of a sabbatical – time out until you’ve got things under control.

A FEW POINTERS FROM US

We’ve given a calorie count per portion for each recipe and we mean per portion. So if the recipe is for two, don’t think you can eat the whole lot and have the same calorie count.

Weigh all the ingredients carefully and use proper tablespoons, teaspoons and a measuring jug. This is particularly important for these recipes because if you use more of an ingredient than indicated in the recipe, you’ll change the calorie count.

You’ll notice that there are quite small amounts of high-cal ingredients, such as Parmesan cheese. That’s because the flavour is strong and you don’t need a lot. Trust us and don’t cheat.