5 ways to kick-start weight loss eating Thai-style

I’ve been losing weight eating a Thai-style diet - 23 pounds in 12 weeks (and counting!) but every now and then ‘life’ happens and family events or holidays or work occasions and sometimes the diet slips a bit.

I was away camping this weekend and definitely didn’t stick to my own Tiniest Thai diet ‘rules’ as much as I normally do. Barbecues, bread, crisps, sweets were all the menu - and I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.

So this morning on my daily weigh-in, I wasn’t at all surprised to have put on 2 pounds.

I have 5 easy ways to lose them again quickly - and dropping them again quickly gives me huge motivation and makes me feel like I’m really in control.

I used to so easily kind of ‘give in’ after a big eating weekend and just feel, ‘oh well, I’ve ruined it now, might as well eat more crisps!’ and now I know I just have to get back on my eating programme - but kick-start it with some easy fast weight-loss tricks (that work for me anyway!).

I’ll only eat like this for 2 days and then be back on my normal diet way of eating Thai-style.

1. A Thai-diet naturally has little or no dairy, and my number one kick-start tip is to cut it out entirely. That means no yogurt and no milk in hot drinks. What I’ll have is an iced-coffee almond milk smoothie first thing, or a black coffee (1 tsp sugar’s fine).

2. Only fruit in the morning (after my coffee) - and only berries and citrus. Today I had a bowl of strawberries and a satsuma. Apples are too fibrous and definitely NO bananas (very high in carbs).

3. Very limited carbs - by day two I’ll probably have one meal with a couple of spoons of rice - but if I’m happy eating without carbs, two days of no carbs really helps me get back on track with the diet. And make sure any carbs you do eat are rice or rice noodles (not wheat or potatoes).

So what do I eat instead?

Soups - I like a packet tofu/miso soup that I get from the Asian supermarket, or I’ll make a tom yum soup with prawns.

Or salads - with just protein and vegetables. So no added bread, rice, pasta or noodles! And no oil in the dressing either - a Thai-style hot and sour salad is perfect as I can make dressings with combinations of lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and chillies.

4. I choose fish and seafood for these two days over meat. It’s lighter and easier to digest.

My salads will be with prawns and squid, my tom yum with prawns, or for dinner I might make steamed fish - but with LOTS of flavour! Either with lime juice, chillies, garlic and a tiny pinch of sugar, or perhaps with some chopped ginger, garlic and a spoon of oyster sauce.

Have the fish with a vegetable stir fry (use a few sprays of 1-calorie-per-spray cooking oil and a splash of water, don’t just pour in oil!) and /or a little rice if you’re feeling the need for carbs.

This isn’t a punishment - it’s a quick two days for motivation so if you want the rice just have it!

5. Snacks! For these two days, I’ll have radishes, celery or cucumber sticks with a little salt and pepper.

But sometimes I’ll be feeling the need of something more substantial - and it’s MUCH better to have something rather than just feel hungry and then grab crisps or sweets - the idea is NOT to be feeling really hungry!

And for these times I’ll have a hard boiled egg or two, with a few drops of soy sauce, or a teaspoon of sweet chilli sauce.

Oh, and one more, because I just thought of it ... Water. Drink lots and lots of water. I do anyway - I drink 2-3 litres a day - but especially when you’re eating like this and doing a quick kick-start, do remember to drink lots of water.

And there’s my quick-start tips that get me back on track and see results.

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