How I Lost 66 lbs Eating Huge Portions: My 10 Rules

Can I tell you the thing that still makes me laugh? I am a volume eater. I need massive portions. I love food, I think about food, I get properly excited about food. And I lost 66 lbs anyway.

Not by eating less. By eating differently. And honestly, once you understand the handful of rules underneath it, the whole thing stops feeling like a diet and starts feeling like the way you just eat now.

So here they are. My 10 rules. The ones I actually follow, the ones I go back to whenever I have let things slide a bit (which I do, because I am a human being with two kids and a fridge).

1. Veggies at every single meal

This one is so basic that people skip it. Non-starchy veggies are the lowest calorie density food there is, around 100 calories a pound, and they take up loads of room in your tummy. I aim for a 50/50 plate: half starch, half veg. Breakfast included. Yes, veg before breakfast. A few cherry tomatoes or some cucumber while the porridge is cooking counts.

2. Preload before your meal

Before I sit down to the main event, I have something big and light first. A bowl of veggie soup, a salad with a fat-free dressing, or honestly just some carrot, cucumber, apple or grapes while I am cooking. By the time the proper food arrives I am already half full, so I naturally eat less of the richer stuff without ever feeling like I am holding back.

3. Choose wet starches over dry ones

This one changed everything for me. Potatoes, rice, corn and porridge are "wet" starches. They hold loads of water, so they fill you up beautifully per calorie. Bread, pasta, crackers and tortilla chips are "dry" starches. Still fine, but they are much easier to overeat. When I want to lose, I lean hard on the potatoes and rice.

4. Go easy on the healthy fats

Healthy does not mean unlimited. A tablespoon of flax or chia on my porridge, a tablespoon of tahini, a quarter of an avocado if I am having one. That is it. When I have let this slide (hello, holidays), the scale has told me about it.

5. Eat when you are hungry, and actually check

My test is simple. Am I hungry enough to eat a head of broccoli? Some Brussels sprouts? A big bag of grapes? If yes, I am genuinely hungry. If the only thing I fancy is a biscuit, that is not hunger, that is something else. And the magic is to stop when you are no longer hungry, not when you are stuffed.

6. Notice when the meal stops being amazing

Here is a little trick. Halfway through a meal, ask yourself if you are still enjoying it as much as the first bite. When the enjoyment drops off, you are done. You can always save the rest and come back in twenty minutes if the hunger returns. It usually does not.

7. Cut the overstimulating stuff

Dates, maple syrup, loads of salt. All of it makes food more exciting, and more exciting food means you eat more of it, however healthy it is. I sweeten with fruit now. Berries and banana do the job, and my taste buds have completely adjusted.

8. Watch out for food amnesia

Little bites while cooking. Finishing the kids' leftovers. A lick of peanut butter off the spoon. None of it registers, and it adds up. I call it food amnesia because you genuinely do not know you have eaten it. My fix is a snack platter of grapes, oranges and cucumber left out on the counter, so the mindless nibbling lands on something light.

9. Sort out night-time snacking

Brush your teeth straight after dinner. Sounds daft, works brilliantly. It is a signal to your brain that eating is done. If the urge hits anyway, I make a warm drink, tea or hot water with lemon. And if I do genuinely need something, it is fruit, not dates.

10. Never leave the house without food

If you leave the house empty-handed and hunger strikes, the hungry monster comes out and you will eat whatever is nearest. I always take something. Fruit, oil-free hummus and carrots, a baked sweet potato, leftovers in a tub, a jar of overnight oats.

The rule underneath all the rules

Consistency. I spent about five years with half a toe in this way of eating, dabbling, knowing about it, not committing. My weight did not move. The moment I went all in and trusted the process, it came off, and it has stayed off.

You do not need to be perfect. You need to be consistent most of the time. And you need to keep your kitchen clean of the stuff that calls your name at 9pm, because what is in the house is what gets eaten. More on that in another post.

Watch: I filmed the full version of these rules in my top 10 tips to maximise your weight loss. I am in a towel in a half-decorated bedroom because it was the last day of the year and I wanted to get it out. That is about as glamorous as this gets.

Big plates, not tiny portions. That is the whole idea, lovely. Start with rule one tonight and see how you feel.

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