How to eat junk and still lose weight

'I love rice, biryani, noodles, Maggie, rolls and all of these are foods I should ideally not have if I want to lose weight or maintain it,' says Debolina, a mother of two kids. 

'I know I will not be able to give these up for life, I don't want to. So why not eat smart instead.'

After the birth of her second baby, Debolina had reached a whopping 80 kg, which she managed to lose and bring her weight down to 55 kg. 

Here she shares her weight loss secrets.

Yesterday as I was heading out for my walk, a friend of mine asked me how I am able to control my food craving and do I starve myself.

If you have read any of my articles earlier, you would probably remember that I have lost almost 30 kg in 2 years (external link), and till date have been able to maintain my weight to where I brought it down.

After the birth of my second baby, I had reached a whopping 80 kg, which was quite a lot for me. 

I managed to bring my weight down to 55 kg, and then pushed myself more and brought it to 52 kg.

Today, my weight has been steady between 52 and 54 kg (a 2 kg fluctuation is absolutely normal and almost everyone goes through it).

The other thing about my weight loss was that I did not go on any fad diets, did not starve myself, and did not even go to a gym.

So, the one thing that really helped me was to manage my cravings, but also eat what I like in a smart way.

It is important to eat all food types in moderation

Many of us feel that giving up on rice or roti, or cutting out ghee and butter from your diet forever will make you lose weight.

However, when you give up on fats, carbohydrates and calories completely, your body goes into a starvation mode.

In such a scenario, when you have even the tiniest amount of fat or carbs, your body will stick on to it and interfere with its digestion.

This is actually very harmful, because now your body will try to hold on to it for as long as possible.

It means that, when you starve your body, the smallest bite of unhealthy food that you eat can cause the biggest damage.

How to eat what you like and still lose weight

I honestly did not go by any weight loss or diet book, but I used myself as a guinea pig, and I have definitely been extremely happy with the results.

The trick for me was to continue eating what I like, but in very small moderation.

Here are some tricks I tried that worked:

• Stopped eating rice or roti at night.
• From eating rice or roti every day, I first reduced it to eating 3 days a week. Then, reduced it to 2 days a week. This meant that while I love eating rice, I don't miss it so much that I suddenly end up eating a lot of it.
• I don't like sweets, but if you do, you can have a small piece of sweet over the weekend. Or if you are really craving that piece of mithai in this festive season, break a small piece from the bigger one and have that. Eat slowly and savour each bite.
• I loved having sugary tea, but first reduced it to half of the sugar content. Slowly, as my body got used to it, I reduced it further.

I love rice, biryani, noodles, Maggie, rolls and all of these are foods I should ideally not have if I want to lose weight or maintain it.

I know I will not be able to give these up for life, I don't want to.

So why not eat smart instead.

I still have these, and my weight is not going out of control.

Because, if I order a biryani today, I will share it with others, and will make sure I eat clean and light for the next three four days. See, balanced it out, right?