Weight Loss and The Outside Food

Few days back I went for a lunch at my friend's place. There were group of people. The usual reaction when people come to know that I lost 20 kgs (which I don't tell but my friends do) is that I will be asked about the diet I follow and how can they start with loosing weight. I tell them start by giving up outside food, eat whatever you want to eat at home and limit the outside intake. I never fail to get this reaction "oh no, thats difficult." OR "I seriously cannot give that up".

Now here is the fun part, the same people are ready

1.To follow a specific diet which will ask them to avoid a certain food group.

2. To follow a diet which will ask them to stop eating after a time in a day.

3. To spend money on a dietitian who will tell them the same thing plus would restrict them further.

But these people are simply not ready to give up outside food and start eating home made healthy food.

One super intelligent soul in that group asked me "why are you calling restaurant food bad. Me and my colleague eat thali every day for lunch at this restro and its like homemade thali. You should give it a try. Its like home made and healthy". It took me a minute to give him the answer, how could a person call a meal laden with oil healthy???.

So, lets see why restaurant food is a big No while dieting.

1. 1 tsp of oil has 40 calories, its a general knowledge. Try frying onions in 1 or 2 tsp of oil and then try frying them in 2 table spoon of oil. It takes a longer time to cook with less oil because oil gets hot and cook food, a less oil will cook food slower than more oil. No one in the restaurant has time to cook your veggies slow.

2. Oil is evident in all the gravies that you eat. The proof is in front of your eyes.

3. If you think ordering a whole wheat tandoori roti is of any good then think again. Its a little better than ordering a butter naan but it is laden with calories.

A) The portion size is more than the roties that you cook at home, its thicker.

B) One friend of mine was famous for her chapathies. They were soft and would melt in the mouth. Her way of kneading the dough was to use lots and lots of oil. Once the dough was kneaded she would again spill 1 cup of oil on it and work on the dough till the oil vanished. When I ate those chapathies I could never say that so much oil was involved in kneading the dough. The gluten of the dough is always developed with fat. The more you work on the dough with fat the more softer the outcome will be. The yum naans and the tandoori roti are such soft and delicious outcomes.

4) Its general knowledge again that burgers, french fries, pizza are laden with calories.
Now here are the few questions that might pop up in your mind

Are you in your senses Shiva?? I need a break from home made food. It gets dull and boring and I am human I get tempted.

No one is asking you to sacrifice it for life. The initial period is to break the addiction. If you are in the habit of eating the outside food on weekly basis Or 2 times a week, a complete No will get you out of the habit.

Give it up for few days and you yourself will see the difference in weight. The weighing scale will speak for the weight. Once your habit is broken you can introduce it again in your lifestyle but you yourself will be cautious.

In past it was a must for me to eat 2 -3 times in a week. Sometimes too tired from office to cook, sometimes craving for that kind of food, sometimes bored, sometimes depressed, sometimes sad, sometimes happy and want celebrate. You name it and there will be an excuse. Now, its not a big deal. Its twice in a month. I just tick in my calender when I eat out so I keep a track.

Homemade food is boring

No it is not. It is as interesting as you can make it.

Ok, but I just need to eat out.

Then be smart. You cannot have everything in life. You yourself know you need to give up few things to lose weight. So make a choice do you want to lose weight OR do you want to keep eating out and make no difference to your weight.

If eating out opt for

A) Idlies, uttampam, dhokla, khandavi. These cannot be much adulterated with oil.

B) Subway sandwiches again are a good option, just stay clear from mayo and cheese with the sandwiches.

C) If you are a non- vegetarian asked for grilled stuff.

D) Steamed rice with stir fried vegetables.

I break down at the sight of food.

Then you should not be that weak. My mouth used to literally start watering with the smell in the restaurants and by the time food came I used to be so hungry. Where food was concerned I had no will power. I used to hate myself so much for being so weak.

But you are weak only for the few occasions after that you are absolutely strong. I clearly remember mine.

A) The very first one when I had started my weight loss. My husband is a big samosa fan and so am I. So he ordered samosa and insisted that I take a bite. The smell was killing me from inside. I told him I'll just go and look at few things in the mall. He was upset that I am leaving him all alone while he eats but I requested him. I just walked and did window shopping till he joined me. That incident is etched in my mind. Do you know why??? because I was almost about to break, it took me all my power to say no to one bite and walk away. once I walked away I was fine.

B) The second one was that of my cousin and DH having burgers one after the other while I sat drinking coffee (I had told about this earlier). Why is this etched in my mind?? because that day I sat there without taking a bite and I did not walk away. I realized that I do have a will power. It might sound stupid to you but to me that day was a revelation. Burgers used to be my biggest weakness and I sat through 4 of them being eaten by two family members.

C) When I was n Delhi my sister, my BIL and my DH used to have a blast with Nizam's kathi kebabs at least twice in a week. Those kebabs smelled heavenly and looked deliciously gorgeous. We would all go in a car and they would enjoy the kebabs sitting in the car. I sat through them, with all that tempting smell. Why is this etched in my mind??? because this is my biggest thrill. I was the strongest here. All three of them would go for 2 kathi kebabs each. And I kept saying NO. They tempted me no end but I stood my ground.

My sister said "how can you say No to these, I can never satisfy myself with 1, I need 2 of these". Though she is not over weight I pointed out to the double chin that was coming up, she was shocked and kept looking in the mirror. By the time I was about to leave her place she told me "How could I ever eat 2 of those, even half is so filling".

To me this is my tried and tested secret. My cousin is down by 5 kgs only by giving up outside food, my BIL has lost lot of weight by doing the same, my DH does nothing in terms of exercise but he has lost so much weight why?? because in our house outside food is banned. We also do not keep the phone numbers for home delivery.

So you see it works. It worked on me and it worked on people I know.

If you want to lose weight at any cost then why not save some money and eat at home.

We all get tempted and we all fail but the real winner is who stands her ground in spite of failing and in spite of being tempted. We all want to run and we all fall but the real winner is who stands up in spite of falling.

We all stand in a crowd that says YES and wants us to say YES but a real winner is who says NO in a group of people who say Yes.

One fantastic response that I got from a reader

Hi Shiva,

Until now, I have read all the blogs of Weight Loss posted here. Since then, I have become your fan. I too want to loose 10 kgs. and you inspired me here so much.

About outside food, let me tell you my experience about restaurants. One evening me and my friend went to one restaurant and as usual it was full, so we were asked to go upstairs in a/c room. As we have to pass the small kitchen area, I saw one guy putting 500 gms of butter in one paneer dish. That dish was meant for 2 people. It was a horrible scene for my eyes and I left the restaurant at that moment with my friend.