She may be famous for her calorie-laden culinary creations, and her win on the country's biggest baking show, but that doesn't mean Nadiya Hussain doesn't like to watch her weight.
The Great British Bake Off star has recently opened up about how she maintains her weight, after shedding three-stone back in 2012.
Mum-of-three Nadiya revealed that she uses a rather unconventional method, opting for just one meal a day.
Explaining her diet, she said, “On a day when I’m not working I only have one meal a day. So I’ll drink tea, coffee and have fruit but I’ll only have one meal a day.”
Nadiya continued, saying, “So I wait for my kids to come home, cook dinner and then I have dinner with them at 5pm.
“And I don’t really need anything after that.”
Bake Off winner Nadiya also shared that she partakes in regular exercise to keep the weight off.
She continued, “And then when I’m at home I try and – at the moment I’m doing 5k – so I’ll kind of walk and jog a 5k every single day where I can.’
However, it seems her outdoor adventures provide a far greater benefit to Nadiya then just physical exercise – with her admitting that they give her a chance to switch off too.
“Sometimes you need to not talk to anyone. I go for walks, that’s my thing. If I’ve got an opportunity I’ll find a gap.
“Even if it’s midday and the kids are around I’m like ‘I’m off’ and they just know she’s off, she just needs a bit of breathing space.
“And I just go off, I don’t listen to music. I love listening to the sound of my feet. I like the steps and I just go for a walk.”
Back in 2015, Nadiya spoke for the first time about her drastic weight loss three years prior, confessing that her happy home life with husband Abdal had lead to her piling on the pounds.
She told Hello! magazine, “I decided three years ago to do something about my weight. I briefly tried meal replacements and lost a stone but they didn’t suit me.”
Revealing how she lost the weight, Nadiya said, “Instead, I just ate smaller portions of food and walked a lot.
“I would do five miles before the kids got up and then go out again in the evening. I drank around 4L of water a day. Gradually, over nine months, I lost three stone”.
Of course, restricting yourself to just one meal a day isn’t necessarily the best or healthiest way to lose weight.
However, scientists have recognised the benefits of fasting.
Dr Xand Van Tulleken, who studied medicine and public health, previously revealed in his book How to Lose Weight Well, why eating one meal a day can be of benefit.
He said, ‘There’s a large amount of medical evidence that indicates that fasting is a safe and effective way of losing weight.
“The way in which this works isn’t clear but some researchers describe fasting as being a good kind of stress on your body, like exercise, and that it promotes fat burning.”
However, the British Dietician Association has warned that you can expect to feel very hungry if you do so, and that you may be missing out on vital nutrients by fasting.
If you plan to change your diet in any way, you are urged to consult with your doctor first for advice – as diets can affect different people in different ways.
