It's been over 2 years but I'm back

So since my last post in Nov 2009, I've had another 2 kids (total 3 kids now) and totally lost the weight for the 2nd child. Currently I am shedding the weight from my last pregnancy. My baby turned 14 weeks today and I've already lost just under 12kgs of the pregnancy weight - simply by applying the techniques I summarised in The Sari Diet (details on an older post).
So if you would like to know when I start posting again, email me on dietchic@gmail.com and I will let you know. I'm hoping to get it up and running by the 3rd week of December. I've been busy tidying up my spreadsheets which actually give a recount of exactly what I ate each day, amount of exercise and how much weight I lost as a result of it on a weekly basis. So email me and join me on my journey.

The Sari Diet is finally ready for you to read!

I admit, it's been a while but I have finally put together the complete story and tools on how I achieved my weight loss success, so read my advertorial as an introduction!

How I lost 34kg on my own weight loss plan after 20 years of trying – The Sari Diet
At 152cm tall, I weighed 86.5kg. I was desperate. I was 33kg’s heavier than when I had gotten married in 2001 (I began my weight loss program in August 2007).

Therefore, I set out to create a weight loss plan that had to have the following criteria:
1. the weight loss plan could not cost a lot of money.
2. the food and menu plan had to be able to accommodate and adapt to my family.
3. the exercise plan had to accommodate my time restrictions.
4. It could not deprive me of the foods I liked. I was sick of tasteless, expensive food!
5. it had to be easy to follow and adaptable.
The Past
It’s worth noting here that I am the girl that would:
a) hang around the wedding cakes and run around after the bridesmaids trying to score a piece of the fruit cake.
b) select the cream-based cheesy pasta dish instead of the healthier tomato-based alternatives.
c ensure my plate was always left clean!
d eat the potato chips straight out of the bag.
e indulge in junk food after a night of consuming alcohol.
f. wear maternity clothes well after I gave birth.

I was the ultimate lazy dieter. A big reason why people don't stick to diets, is they want a ready made plan that tells them what to eat and eventually when they don't like the food, they give up, it's too hard. Being on a weight loss program designed by someone else is like someone trying to become a billionaire by trying to emulate the exact formula for success that the billionaire has followed. The secret to success is to find your own way to success.
I found my own weight loss plan was the easiest way to lose weight fast

If, like I have, you have begun a weight loss plan that consists of pre-packaged diet foods - ask yourself this question? After you finish, is the diet going to be sustainable? Bear in mind there are weight loss programs that don't allow you to eat for up to 5 hours, require you to take a set of diet pills at specific times of the day? How about those powdery meal replacement shakes? Or tablets that suppress your appetite (why would you want to do this?)? How realistic is this? Do you see yourself carrying on with these sorts of programs after 4 years? 5 years? Do you really think it will be feasible to engage in this type of weight loss program if you are on holiday, at a party or at a work dinner? And if you do lose the weight, do you think you will be able to manage and sustain the weight loss? Often we hear about people that have lost a lot of weight but rarely do we get follow-up information on how these people are doing a year, 2 years or even 5 years later.

The weight loss plan I created for myself was the best way to lose weight for me. This is my story and how I managed to lose well over 30kg in under a year.
After over 20 years of failed diets, I managed to managed lose weight and I’ve managed to keep it off.

The weight loss diet I personally created was the best way for me to lose weight.

The billion-dollar weight loss industry
If you have ever tried to lose weight with commercial diets and expensive gym memberships, that magic piece of exercise equipment, diet pill or weight loss supplements and still not succeeded, then the chances are that you are not aware of several key aspects that I had to learn about to ensure my weight loss success. In my book (that is available in digital format), I discuss these key ideas that were crucial to my weight loss success.

There are so many diets that I have tried, and, yes I have lost weight on many of them. But,I spent so much money, time, effort and energy and in the end I could never keep the weight off in the long term. I was on that constant pattern of the yo-yo dieting.

Many companies and individuals have created complicated rules about dieting and weight loss. We often see articles in magazines, newspapers, online and other forms of media that put out information that can be confusing. Low carbs? Low fat? Exercise in the morning? Do not exercise in the evening? This either puts people off entirely or forces them to look at the more expensive commercial weight loss programs.

These days, people are confused about weight loss. They are also impatient to learn about food, diet and exercise. They want a foolproof plan they don't need to think about and often turn to really expensive commercial plans or costly gym memberships. The problem with this is that all this effort can sometimes come at a large expense with no long-term benefits because we have not learned enough about some of the key elements of weight loss success – something which I have tried to capture in The Sari Diet.

What are these other diets guaranteeing you in a lifetime? These 'fad-type' diets are a worldwide billion-dollar industry and consumers, through aggressive marketing techniques, desperation and lack of time, are convinced these will provide the solution to their weight loss problems. In the short-term they may lose weight but they have learnt virtually nothing (or a minimal amount) of what you really need to learn to successfully lose weight. I have attempted to place what I believe to be these key components in The Sari Diet. All of the factors I discuss were key to my weight loss journey. They are not complicated techniques or ideas, but are often overlooked by most of us, in favour of just knowing about 1 part of this weight loss puzzle.

I see failed dieters around me all the time both at work and socially. I have family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances that are all trying to engage in what they believe to be the best way to lose weight, basing their plans on their own often unsubstantiated theories based on what they may have read or heard in the past. However, often what I notice is that they are only concentrating on 1 part of the weight loss story. You need to know about all of them. I have attempted to be as comprehensive as possible in The Sari Diet.

What’s wrong with fast weight loss?
Some diets promise that you will lose weight quickly, but really, how sustainable is this? Exactly what are you losing? Who wants to lose just water or muscle? What about diets that 'promise' you will lose 10kg in the first 6 weeks? What happens after 6 weeks? What are the effects of crash dieting and significant weight loss in such a short amount of time? Is the food that you are consuming on these programs or the intense exercise program you are on, going to be sustainable in the long run? This is why it is so important that the BEST weight loss plan is the weight loss plan that works for you and your lifestyle. This is what I have attempted to emulate in The Sari Diet. I want the reader to learn as I have and work through what works for them with the information I have put together.

Why create your own weight loss plan?
I understand the battle. I've been there. Weight loss is not about sticking to a food and exercise plan created by someone else, for you, which is likely to incorporate foods you dislike or includes an exercise plan that is unrealistic for your lifestyle. True, successful weight loss is about a lifelong program that will be flexible enough to accommodate you when things such as life get in the way of your goals!

I wish I could get everyone that wanted to lose weight just to read what I have to say, because I believe that I’ve been enlightened to successful weight loss methods. I cringe when colleagues sign up for weight loss programs in the hundreds of dollars. It is actually incredibly easy to understand once you understand the key concepts and together with the diet spreadsheet I provide to you.

Lose Weight and Control Your Weight Loss, Your Way.

So how do I know about failed commercial weight loss programs and expensive gym memberships? I have been there, done that. I was going to the gym about 5 times per week and I was not losing any weight! My food and exercise program were all wrong. Once I adapted the methods used in The Sari Diet, the weight loss was immediate. I had the FORMULA correct. The Sari Diet is all about a weight loss program that is for life. You can enjoy the foods you like so long as you are aware of certain things.

During my successful weight loss initiative, I learnt to BAKE, I ate sweets and I drank alcohol! During all my years of unsuccessful weight loss, I never had sugar in my tea. I now have some sugar in my tea! It does not have to be all about DEPRIVATION. Many weight loss programs claim to have feedback from so called 'successful weight losers" where the dieters claim to have lost 6kg in 2 weeks" or "5 kg in the first week", “20 kg in 7 weeks”, but how much were they overweight in the first place? What have they actually lost? Have they managed to maintain the weight loss?

I have tried to be as simple, concise and effective in my explanation as possible.

I have no formal training, I am not a trained nutritionist, dietitian, medical or health professional and nor am I a personal fitness trainer, but I have experienced the services of all of these. I have also failed miserably at countless numbers of diets. The one and only diet that worked for me, was the one I created by myself for myself. In The Sari Diet, I provide you with the tools to start you on your way.

It's amazing how much integrity goes into creating an information product like this when you have actually done the program and believe in it. I would hope The Sari Diet is genuine, open and honest. During weight loss, the only one you can cheat on is yourself!

I had to create something that allowed me to have sugar in my tea, allowed me to eat sweet porridge, go out for dinner enjoy my booze!

There are a load of weight loss books out there that claim to know the secret to weight loss. Each book is filled with pages and pages of information, research, statistics, plans and exercise programs, all hoping to get their share of the billion-dollar weight loss industry. The Sari Diet is cheap, and it only contains the information that you will need to get you started on the successful weight loss journey I am sure you will have.

The essence of this mini book is that it is not going to be filled with pages and pages of ‘so-called’ weight loss information so you can feel as if you got your money’s worth because of the length of it. I have tried to cull out all the crap and refine it. I give you my story, my tools, and that is it.

This was the easiest and cheapest weight loss program. I want to make it accessible to everyone, not just those that can afford expensive programs. And, at 37 years old, I have tried a lot of them. I do not want to discount other weight loss programs, but I believe the magic of The Sari Diet is that it enables you to work out what works for you and your lifestyle. You have total control.

The fact that I was successful at this weight loss program also ensured success in other areas of my life. It gave me confidence to seek out and strive for more goals (both professionally and personally). Let's face it, once the weight comes off, life goes on, it becomes time to achieve your next goal whether it be financial, personal or professional.

I never felt I had earned the right to write about my weight loss success until I had kept the weight off for a significant time. Now, I feel more qualified to write about how I did it.

I am desperate to try to help anyone that is struggling to lose weight, because it is actually not that hard once you let go of all the weight loss myths and preconceptions. You just need to grasp a few key concepts and you will be on your way.

The cost of The Sari Diet
It does not matter where in the world you are, The Sari Diet weight loss program will only ever cost you $5USD which is available to you in an electronic format that can be emailed to you. Thus, incurring no postage charges.

If you would like it in paper format or CD then there will be an additional charge of $5USD + postage. Please specify when ordering.

The cost of The Sari Diet has been kept low. Think about the other ways you might spend seven dollars. This is around half the price of a takeaway meal and less than 1/2 the cost of an aerobics class. The goldmine of knowledge to be gained in The Sari Diet is going to set your weight loss achievements apart from the rest. So, it’s a pretty small investment!

What you get?

1. An electronoic book format of just under 60 A5 pages of material that will inform and provide you with the tools I used to lose over 30kgs in less than a year. You will be able to refer to this and read it at your computer at anytime!
2. I have also included a "Diet Spreadsheet" that I developed while I was on this weight loss journey. There are two worksheets, one containing sample data and worksheet and the other worksheet is a 7 day blank spreadsheet that you can copy into another spreadsheet for as many weeks as required. I suggest leaving the one you purchase as a template and create another spreadsheet to enter your information. This can only be emailed to you.
3. Up to 3 support emails for any questions you may have on the Diet Spreadsheet or The Sari Diet book.

The before and after pics

I have attached 2 images. The first one is of me almost at my maximum weight and then what I looked like afterwards. There are more pictures. They will appear on this blog shortly.

Currently I am also 33 weeks pregnant and I have attached 2 pictures showing me at almost the same time (in number of weeks) for pregnancy’s 1 and 2. You can see the difference for yourself.
During my pregnancy I used some of the tools I applied in The Sari Diet and I have managed to keep my weight gain healthy. Pregnancy is not a time to worry about a strict diet and exercise regime, but apply techniques sensibly. I have managed to control the weight gain and I have been exercising right throughout my pregnancy.

Please note: We do not recommend you undertake any kind of weight loss program during pregnancy. It is imperative you consult your medical or health professional before embarking on a weight loss and exercise program.

Support our cause with your purchase
For every sale we make, we have pledged to annually donate a percentage of the sales to the Rescue Foundation. It is a chance to support our fight against child trafficking in Nepal, Bangladesh and other parts of India. Once you have made a purchase with us, and you allow us to keep your email on our records, you will be notified when our donation is to be made.

The India-based Rescue Foundation is a non-profit organization that works for the rescue, rehabilitation and repatriation for victims of human trafficking from different parts of India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Human Trafficking is the third biggest illegal trade after drugs and arms in South East Asia. Often the girls are sold into forced prostitution and physically and mentally abused.
The Rescue Foundation forms a highly-skilled group of people. This includes the Rescue Team that work with the police to raid brothels and rescue girls. Often the girls are forcibly hidden in concealed cells which have been constructed in the walls or ceilings of these brothels. The Rescue team is experienced in locating cells of this type.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING THE SARI DIET, THEN PLEASE DO EMAIL ME ON dietchic@gmail.com to see how you can immediately obtain a copy.

From the Rescue Foundation website (www.rescuefoundation.net).

Every year between 5000 & 7000 Nepali girls are trafficked into the red light districts around cities in India. Many of the girls are barely 9 or10 years old. Between 200,000 and 250,000 Nepali women & girls are already in Indian brothels. They are locked up for days, starved, beaten, burned with cigarettes and mass raped until they learn how to service up to 25 clients a day.

Trafficking in women, girls and children is easy along the 1740 mile long open border between India & Nepal. Trafficking in Nepalese girls is less risky than smuggling narcotics and electronic equipments and arms into India. Traffickers ferry girls without the hassle of paper work or threats of police checks. Bought for as little as Nepali Rupees 5000, girls have been known to fetch up to Indian Rupees 100,000 in later transactions. Girls may not leave the brothels until they have repaid their debt, at which time they are sick, with HIV&/or Tuberculosis and often have children of their own.

Our frequent raids over the years have resulted in the arrest of brothel keepers & traffickers responsible for promoting trafficking in persons & for maltreating the girls. Moreover, the shameful situation of forcing children into prostitution is also heavily curbed by our timely and forceful intervention.

We are involved in rescuing victims of human trafficking who are sexually abused and are subjected to severe mental and physical torture for forcing them to prostitute. This is the most neglected field of work in India. Due to a rampant, deep rooted social stigma in our country, there are very few NGOs attempting to rescue girls from brothels. We are the biggest NGO in India involved in rescuing approximately more than 300 girls annually. We are also the only NGO in India who assist the victims for rescue, rehabilitation and repatriation. For more information please visit

NGO = non-governmental organisation
For more information please visit their website. http://www.rescuefoundation.net/.

Fad Diets and Pregnancy

So, I haven’t written in a few days, but a lot has happened. First things though, Office-Girl-Who-Sits-Next To-Me-Doing-South Beach Diet comes into work about 4 days after my 2nd post and goes “I’m off that diet. Who wants to live without carbs, I’d rather eat pasta.” My point exactly. Deprivation often leads to excessive eating of the very food we have deprived ourselves of. There are so many of us that do this. As if our suffering factor goes up, we will be bound to lose the weight. This morning she came into work and said, she’s back on track – calorie counting – she wondered if I knew how much a KFC Zinger Works Burger was – there’s just no helping some people. Calorie counting is the best way to lose weight, but you need to make sure you eat the right food groups and in the right quantity. A strict calorie controlled diet that is, say, high in carbohydrates and high in fat, may ensure eventual weight loss, but because there is no balance amongst the food groups, you will not end up feeling as full for long, develop potential water retention, have dangerously varying blood sugar levels. Balance is key.

The other major thing that has happened is that on Friday 15 May I weighed myself (like I do most weeks or fortnights) and I was 54.2kg, so it appears that I have gained about 1.2kgs. In addition to this key fact, I did a pregnancy test. It appears I’m also 6 weeks pregnant! This is great news, a surprise but a good one nonetheless. So as soon as I found this out, guess what I ‘googled’? “Pregnancy exercises’. The literature supports activities that do not require too much bouncing or ‘up and down’ activities. Normally I combine my elliptical trainer workout with skipping, so I ‘skipped’ the skipping and instead increased my arm weights and today I began a series of squats and butt lifts. This is the only modification I have made so far. Normally I do 20 minutes at 5:30am and then 30 minutes in the afternoon. After about 12 minutes this morning, I felt a slight cramp, so I cut the workout short. Apparently if it starts to feel uncomfortable – stop. It certainly explains the amount of food I’ve been eating in the past couple of weeks. However, today I am back on track. I had my usual Weetbix and Soy Milk, 2 mandarins, 1 banana, and some sweet slices for morning tea. I also ate a Chupa Chup lollipop. When I got home, my Mum had sent some chevda (this is an Indian savoury snack), so I had 1 cup of Indian tea with a rather generous serving of chevda. Then for dinner I had some rice, curried lamb, curried yoghurt and ¼ potato sakh and ½ an apple. And that’s pretty much it. I only had 2 cups of tea today. I am put off it at the moment.

The other thing I am going to do (from tomorrow) is to begin using this gadget that you keep on your body and it calculates the number of calories you burn. I will see how this goes. I have decided that I really cannot do much about the tummy factor at the moment, but I may as well use this preggy time to concentrate on keeping my arms and butt toned – safely. I might also take pregnancy vitamin supplements. Last time I had Elevit and I found they were great for my energy levels. So the next few months are going to be definite interesting ones.

Lemon Detox Diet, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and other Fad diets

In our office the girl who sits next to me has started doing the South Beach diet, she does it part time during the week and hardly ever over the weekend. She says she struggles because she 'loves her carbs' (don't a lot of us?). The lady across from me is doing a high protein diet, she comes in and has a shake every morning and then 'treats' herself to her morning coffee. My cousin has started the Lemon Detox diet - she thinks it might give her headaches. A close friend is such a true believer in Weight Watchers, she has decided to become a consultant. In the past I have also lost a lot of weight with both Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig however one word comes to mind when I hear of people going on diets such as these: DEPRIVATION.

Deprivation is a common element in all of these diets. Often the dieter is just focussing on what they are not 'allowed' to eat. This essentially has 2 flow-on effects:

1. They end up not sticking to the diet (either in the long term or the short term).

2. If they do end up losing some weight, once this weight has come off and they decide to 'indulge' over any particular weekend, they end up feeling bouts of guilt for 'veering off track'

As soon as we make a deliberate attempt to give up anything we like, be it alcohol, chocolate, butter, carbohydrates, desserts; it is human nature that we will become obsessed with these foods we have chosen to give up - simply because we are no longer 'allowed' them.

Any weight loss program one undertakes needs to be realistic. It needs to build in the foods you like. It needs to allow you the foods you like. They say that most dieters gain back their weight within 5 years of losing it. There are many reasons for diet failure but the top ones (in the past) for me were:

1. Failure at maintaining weight due to comfort, depression and/or emotional eating. The reasons used for this could be that I had suffered a loss of a loved one, we had a family wedding, an overseas trip, we had friends visiting from out of town. I guess what I am saying here is that it did not matter whether the reason was positive or negative - I always had an excuse for overeating.

2. Eating Binge,So Why Carry On? After a big blowout (which could last for anything from 1-7 days), I would think that because I had this massive blowout, I may as well carry on. It would be a steady downward spiral. The flow-on effects would be that I would carry on over-eating. And then I would think that exercising would be a waste of time because what would be the point with all the food I had begun to eat. I am sure you get the drift! The trick is that now if I over eat, I do feel a bit of guilt, but I get over it. I might forgo a planned snack or dessert or I might take the baby out in the stroller in addition to my regular workout.

3. Loss of control over amount of weight gain: In the past, if I gained say 1-2kgs, I would feel disheartened and then before I knew it, I had gained 10kgs. Now, if I gain 500g-1.5kg (which I did over Christmas), then I 'nip it in the bud' before it gets over the +2kg amount.

4. Pregnancy: This is a huge one. It seems as if everyone around me thought it was ok for me to be about 37kg overweight. Some of the comments I got were: "you've just had a baby, it's ok", "you had a Caesarean, you can't exercise", "you are a Mum now, so don't worry about what you look like, you have a wonderful baby!". I could not believe this. What about things such as self pride, self awareness - these things do not necesssarily disappear simply because one has entered parenthood!

5. Inconsistent Exercising: If I got a falling NZ dollar for everytime I made an excuse to not exercise, I truly would be that elusive billionaire that I have always wanted to be. Today I have no excuse. I do not even look for them. If something occurs during my day that does not enable me to do it at the designated time then I MAKE UP FOR IT. For example, I normally hop on the Elliptical Trainer between 3:10pm-3:40pm. Sometimes I might have to go to the airport, shopping, my daughter is sick. If this happens, you will still find me on the treadmill later on the evening. I have been known to sit on the Elliptical Trainer and do my regular 30 minutes even after 9pm!

I guess what I am trying to say, is to MAINTAIN WEIGHT one must seek balance and practice weight maintainence with MODERATION. The yo-yo dieters out there are known to have a massive blowout, starve and exercise for a week, then they are back on track, only for 1 'event' to trigger off a binge and the circle goes around and around.

How I lost weight on a budget, after baby, while working full time.

Welcome to my first post. This blog is the beginning of a journey that I already started back in August 2007 when my daughter was just 6 months.

I found myself heavier than I was during pregnancy. At just over 150 cm tall, I weighed 86.5kg (just under 14 stone). To lose this weight seemed like an unachievable task. When the size 18, 20, 22 and 24 clothing and underclothes were beginning to feel uncomfortably tight, the sweatshirts were riding up, the maternity clothes still fit and I had no energy for my baby and I always seemed to be out of breath, I decided I just had to lose the weight until I got down to my target weight. I just randomly selected somewhere between 52kg-54kg because in the past, this is the weight that allowed me to wear the clothes I wanted and the weight I felt most comfortable at.

I decided (almost half heartedly to be honest) to embark on a journey. A journey that took me about 9 months before I was happy with the eventual weight I ended up at (53kg). Now, almost 1 year later, having kept the weight off, I feel justified in sharing this experience with you. I did not want to go on a fad diet that would help me get weight off for that wedding or party or birthday, only to gain it just a few months later, once the many "festivities" had ended. This diet had to be for life. It had to be real. It had to be cheap. It had to work in with my family. It could not be time consuming. Equally as important was that the diet had to be resilient to any events that could incur overeating habits that I had suffered from in the past (stress, fatigue, boredom, a great love of food, a fondness for a nice wine, a hectic social life, inability to say no (you know, the work Monday morning teas, your Uncle's 50th...). Where do I begin?