Tom Kerridge weight loss – chef reveals his 7 diet tips after shedding 12 STONE
AT his heaviest, telly chef Tom Kerridge tipped the scales at a staggering 30 stone – after years of grazing and snacking in the kitchen. However, five years on, the Salisbury-born cook, 46, has shed nearly half his body weight – and is healthier than he has ever been. He now weighs under 18 stone […]
AT his heaviest, telly chef Tom Kerridge tipped the scales at a staggering 30 stone – after years of grazing and snacking in the kitchen.
However, five years on, the Salisbury-born cook, 46, has shed nearly half his body weight – and is healthier than he has ever been.
He now weighs under 18 stone and has managed to shake all of his unhealthy eating habits.
And many of Tom’s fans, eager to follow in his footsteps, have been left asking exactly how Tom managed to drop an impressive 12 stone.
Here, we take you through the main ways Tom has transformed his physique…and kept the weight off.
1. Dopamine diet
Tom has credited something called the dopamine diet for helping him to blitz his body fat.
It involves boosting your levels of the so-called ‘happy hormone’ so that it’s easier to stick to your diet.
There are different ways of doing the diet, however, all are based around food that is thought to boost dopamine levels in the slimmer.
In particular, foods which you’re allowed to eat on the diet include unprocessed meat, dairy and dark chocolate, meaning that it doesn’t overly restrict what you can eat.
Most versions of the diet recommend avoiding caffeine and processed sugar.
2. Making healthy swaps
Tom believes that a big part of losing weight is about “arming yourself” with healthy alternatives.
This is so that when you’re hungry, you aren’t tempted to reach in the biscuit tin or gorge on a bag of crisps.
The Great British Menu star told The Spectator: “Celebrate the foods you can eat, instead of focusing on the ones you can’t. Have low calorie skinny popcorn next to you.”
Tom particularly enjoys having apples and grapes as a snack now – instead of chocolate or biscuits.
3. Prioritising breakfast
When Tom was at his biggest, he admits he used to regularly skip breakfast.
At the start of his day he would usually consume just two pints of coffee and then snack later in the day on cheese on toast and packets of crisps.
However, Tom now makes sure he eats a hearty breakfast every day – eating things like overnight oats or omelettes.
4. Ditching alcohol
One significant change Tom made to his diet regime was completely ditching booze.
He told the Radio Times: “I own pubs and, you know, I’m quite good at tasting. So I knocked all booze on the head. Stopped drinking, went completely teetotal.”
In particular, Tom says he gave up alcohol not just to make sure he was cutting out liquid calories – but also to help get in a healthy mindset.
He told Good Morning Britain: “Drinking on diets isn’t good – and that’s on any diet. It’s not a calorie thing or the sugar content, it’s the mindset.”
5. Cutting down on carbs
Tom says he became a lot more conscious of how many carbs he was munching on when he kickstarted his weight loss journey.
“Carbs are a big thing,” he said.
“The more you understand it and the more you look into it, you see that there are so many carbohydrates involved in sugar as well.”
6. Don’t deprive yourself
While Tom is all about eating healthy, he says it’s important to let yourself have a treat every now and then.
He told GQ: “There is nothing wrong with a flapjack in the afternoon when you get that 4pm lull if everything else is in place.”
Tom also pointed to Anthony Joshua who has a honed physique – but still allows himself to have a burger and chips every now and then.
7. Swimming
As well as diet changes, Tom also began a rigorous swimming routine to help him lose weight.
He started setting his alarm to 6.15am every morning so he could go swimming at the hotel up the road from his house.
He said: “On a busy day I swim a kilometre; on a relaxed one I’ll do a mile.”
More on diet and weight loss
According to the University of California, Berkeley, swimming burns an average of 600 calories an hour, depending on the stroke and intensity.
Tom, whose TV credits include MasterChef and The Great British Menu and whose Bucks gastropub The Hand & Flowers gained its second Michelin star in 2012, previously said he decided that he needed to change his diet during a moment of reflection around his 40th birthday.
“Say we live to 80. Well, I thought, I’m halfway there. And then, I thought … I’m not going to get there. If I’m like this, I’m not going to make it,” he said.