A super slimmer who would eat Pot Noodles for lunch every single day looks unrecognisable after ditching the instant snack – and losing a whopping six stone.
Tara Jennings, 26, would often have them for tea as well and was nicknamed the ‘Pot Noodle queen’ by friends because she was seen scoffing them so often. She ate more than 1,000 Pot Noodles in three years but after tipping the scales at 18st, she ditched the junk food for homemade healthy meals.
As well as pot noodles, Tara would also regularly eat frozen food that was cooked in her air-fryer because it was “a lot cheaper” and more “convenient”.
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(Image: Tara Jennings / SWNS)
She’s had fewer than 20 of the instant snacks since starting her health kick in April last year. And she now weighs a healthy 11.9st and has dropped six dress sizes, from a size 24 to a size 12.
Mum-of-one Tara, who works in a Texaco garage, said: “I was known as the Pot Noodle queen, I would bulk buy Pot Noodles and eat one daily, if not two a day. I would have it for dinner every day and then maybe tea. My son was young at the time so I would buy things that were convenient and it was cheaper as well.
“I would go to Iceland and all the frozen chicken would be three for £10 and fresh chicken from Aldi is about £4 for two breasts so it was a lot cheaper. When I first discovered my airfryer, it was so easy to wing food in there and wait until it beeped.
(Image: Tara Jennings / SWNS)
“I would come into the kitchen and then tend to my food and it was easier – I didn’t have to keep an eye on the oven or wait for timers. The food was also last longer because it was frozen.”
After ditching the convenience foods, Tara bought the ‘Pinch of Nom’ cookbooks which are filled of healthy and slimming friendly recipes. She then started cooking a range of different low-calorie recipes including margherita chicken, hunters chicken pasta and salt and pepper chicken.
This helped her lose weight because all the meals tasted like she had “cheated on her diet”, when they were actually healthy. Tara, of Blackpool, Lancs, said: “The first book I got was the comfort book, so it’s all comfort food recipes.
“You can eat a lot of it and feel like you shouldn’t have but in reality, it wasn’t that many calories or that much fat or sugar. You can eat as much as you feel like you need to and still be in a calorie deficit. I quickly found a couple of go-to recipes including margherita chicken which tastes like pizza – it tastes like you’ve cheated on your diet.
(Image: Tara Jennings / SWNS)
“They all taste like you shouldn’t be eating them – it’s like it’s got to be wrong but it’s genuinely insane. There’s also a salt and pepper chicken recipe and it tastes like you’ve bought a Chinese takeaway. I don’t remember the last time I ordered a Chinese. A few months into making this recipe, I ordered a Chinese and I didn’t like it – I didn’t think it was possible to go off your favourite takeaways. I couldn’t eat it so now I either make it or don’t eat it.”
Tara says she is now stunned by the difference in her appearance when she compares herself with old photographs.
She added: “Photos will come up on Snapchat or Facebook memories and I’m like ‘oh my gosh’. I see the difference between then and now but I still think I look big until I properly look at two pictures side by side.
“My family tend to notice quite a lot and said it was fairly impressive – my nan is always congratulating me. They notice it a lot more than I do.”
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