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Sizzle in the sand
Tone up for your two-piece in just two weeks with this speedy healthy diet plan.
The road to the beach is paved with good intentions. You start the year vowing to work hard and count calories, but before you know it, it’s May and your jeans are as tight as they’ve always been.
If your promise to shape up in time for summer has fallen through, don’t despair — it’s not too late to sizzle on the sand!
We’ve put together a super-speedy diet plan that will get you ready to rock your swimsuit in just two weeks.
This 14-day food plan — repeat week one — is designed to shift fat by creating a calorie deficit of about 500 calories a day.
The average woman needs 2,100 calories a day just to maintain her weight — this plan is around 1,600 calories, so you’re ‘saving’ 500 calories a day.
You need to save 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat, so that’s two pounds over two weeks.
That may not sound enough to get you looking fab in your swimsuit, but thanks to the low-GI carbs you’ll have plenty of energy to burn even more calories if you add an exercise routine, to your eating plan.
In addition the diuretic foods will help to reduce bloat and water retention, pep up a sluggish digestive system, and flatten your tummy.
Go figure!
DAY 1
¦ Breakfast: 2 eggs, scrambled, with 1 thin slice wholemeal toast (no butter).
¦ Morning snack: 1 apple, 6 almonds
¦ Lunch: baked salmon fillet on mixed leaves with 2 teaspoons oil/vinegar dressing and 1 wholemeal roll, no butter.
¦ Afternoon snack: 1 low-fat yoghurt with ½ pack of blueberries.
¦ Dinner: Chicken tikka masala made with 1 skinless chicken breast, spices and 3 tablespoons fat-free Greek yoghurt. Serve with 1 cup cooked brown rice.
DAY 2
¦ Breakfast: 1 Weetabix with ½ pack strawberries, 2 tablespoons fat-free Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of agave nectar or honey.
¦ Morning snack: 2 sticks celery with 2 tablespoons low-fat cottage cheese.
¦ Lunch: Small baked sweet potato with ratatouille and 25g crumbled feta cheese.
¦ Afternoon snack: 2 satsumas, 2 Brazil nuts.
¦ Dinner: Pork stir-fry made with 100g lean pork, and a handful each of sugar snap peas and baby sweetcorn. Toss through a simple sauce: mix together some soya sauce, ginger, garlic and chilli in equal quantities. Serve with 1 cup cooked wholemeal noodles.
DAY 3
¦ Breakfast: Porridge made with 40g rolled oats, 275ml skimmed milk, 25g raisins and 2 teaspoons agave nectar or honey.
¦ Morning snack: 1 slice melon chopped and wrapped in 2 slices prosciutto (fat trimmed off).
¦ Lunch: ½ carton bacon and lentil soup.
¦ Afternoon snack: 1 pear, 25g cheese.
¦ Dinner: Quorn Bolognese with 100g Quorn and 1 cup cooked wholemeal spaghetti.
DAY 4
¦ Breakfast: French toast made with 1 slice wholemeal bread, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon skimmed milk and pinch of cinnamon, served with ½ carton berries.
¦ Morning snack: 1 cup instant miso soup.
¦ Lunch: Chicken and avocado wrap made with 1 wholemeal tortilla, 1 skinless chicken breast and ½ avocado. And add 1 teaspoon oil/vinegar dressing.
¦ Afternoon snack: 1 small bunch grapes, 1 Babybell lite.
¦ Dinner: 1 skinless cod fillet, baked, served with steamed spinach and carrots.
DAY 5
¦ Breakfast: Beans on toast with 1 small can low-sugar baked beans and 1 slice wholemeal toast.
¦ Morning snack: 2 carrots with homemade tzatziki, (fat-free Greek yoghurt, mint and cucumber).
¦ Lunch: One can tuna in spring water, 1 boiled egg, ½ can anchovies, drained and blotted, salad leaves and 2 teaspoons oil/ vinegar dressing.
¦ Afternoon snack: 2 oatcakes, 1 slice lean ham and mustard.
¦ Dinner: Tiger prawn kebabs and quinoa tablouleh. Six prawns marinated in garlic, herbs and lemon juice, served with 1 cup quinoa.
DAY 6
¦ Breakfast: American pancakes made with 1 egg, 30g ½ white, ½ wholemeal flour, 150ml skimmed milk. Serve with ½ pack blueberries.
¦ Morning snack: 1 apple, 6 almonds.
¦ Lunch: ½ carton pea and ham soup.
¦ Afternoon snack: 2 squares dark chocolate.
¦ Dinner: Grilled 100g lean steak with a sauce made from tomatoes, courgettes and onion, with 1 cup cooked brown rice.
DAY 7
¦ Breakfast: 1 English muffin, toasted, split and spread with 2 teaspoons peanut butter.
¦ Morning snack: 2 celery sticks, 2 tablespoons cottage cheese.
¦ Lunch: 1 baked sweet potato with vegetarian chilli.
¦ Afternoon snack: 1 pear, 6 walnut halve Stuffed pepper, made with 1 pepper cored and filled with a mixture of 1 chopped tomato, 1 slice wholemeal bread, crumbed, 1 beaten egg and 50g feta cheese.