How to lose your thighs in 10 days

Catchy isn’t it? I thought so too. If this were a diet, I probably would have tried it already. Maybe that could be my next career move - inventing names for diets and diet food. ‘Lose the wobble with no trouble’. ‘Fat Combat – the all new diet pill and weight loss fitness program’.

With so many different diets out there, all promising you will look like Jessica Alba and Jennifer Aniston sooner than you can say starvation, how can you choose a diet that will work? Luckily for you, I have tried them all and am willing to reveal them to you:

Myth No 1: You can eat as much as you like, as long as everything you eat is fat free.

I believed this and I stuck to fat free everything for almost 7 months. I sacrificed creamy milk for milk flavoured water, chocolates for marshmallows and wine gums (nom, nom, nom) and pizza for tuna salads and stir-fry’s. All my fat free dieting ultimately resulted in hungry bum (when your pants begin to ride up between your bum cheeks while you walk) and muffin tops (rolls of fat - better known as love handles which fold over the tops of your pants) because I wasn't exercising and I was consuming tons of sugary foods with the belief that all that sugar would magically dissipate while I sat watching Grey’s Anatomy re-runs.

Myth No 2: Eating nothing all day will help me lose weight.

I call this the acetone breath diet, because that’s what happens to you. Starving yourself results in breath that smells like the inside of a nail salon, skin break-outs, brittle hair and nails and most of all, irritability. Sounds appealing right? Then, when you do decide to snack on a celery stick or two, your body believes that this wholesome goodness needs to be preserved for the duration of the fasting period, and deposits it on your inner thighs and buttocks for ‘safe keeping’.

Myth No 3: Drinking all my food will help me lose weight.

How ridiculous is this concept? I chuckle at the very thought of this absurd theory. Do you want to know why you lose weight? BECAUSE WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND BLENDS A CHICKEN BREAST OR A STEAK? The only stuff that tastes ok blended is cooked veggies and fruit. Any guesses as to how long you will last on a diet like this?

Myth No 4: Drinking apple cider vinegar will burn away my fat.

Seriously? If you are truly that desperate for a miracle cure that you are willing to drink litres of apple cider vinegar which is thought to help reduce appetite instead of following a healthy, well-balanced diet, then nothing I say is going to convince you otherwise.

Myth No 5: Diets that promise more than 0.5 – 1kg of weight loss per week.

Anything more than this and you are losing water. Don’t be an idiot and attempt to lose 5kg in 7days. You will just end up really dehydrated. Slow weight loss over several weeks is much easier to maintain over the long term.

What worked for me is this:
1) Get your lazy @ss off the couch and go to gym, go for a run on the road or walk for AT LEAST thirty minutes 4/5 days a week. A combination of weight training and cardio will give you the best results (more muscle = more energy burned).

2) Eat 6 small, low GI meals a day. Foe example:
Breakfast: ½ cup of All Bran Flakes with 1 cup low fat milk.

Snack: 175g low fat or fat free yoghurt (plain is best but I eat the flavoured ones.)

Lunch: 30g whole-wheat bread with 50g of chicken breast and a side salad.

Early afternoon snack: Piece of fruit (green apples, plums, and any berries are best).

Late afternoon snack: Piece of whole-wheat toast with peanut butter.

Dinner: 50g pasta with steamed fish and a Napolitana sauce or one chicken breast with plenty of salad or veggies and 2/3 tablespoons of cous cous.

3) Allow yourself one cheat day a week where you can eat all your favourite foods. Fat Fridays are my favourite day of the week.

4) Weigh yourself once a week. No more, no less. This will give you a much more accurate indication of your progress because your weight fluctuates each day depending on hormones, how hot or cold it is, whether you have exercised or eaten etc.

5) Don’t let weight loss consume you. Too many women lose sight of themselves and become wrapped up in a world of size 8’s. Have a healthy goal in mind and stop when you reach it. Skeletal is not sexy.