Papri’s Weight Gain Challenge 2: Ordering Out Vs Home-Cooked Meals

(My name is Papri Das and I have taken on a two-month weight gain challenge! Follow my journey, from why I want to put on weight, to my first two weeks by clicking on the links below)

Weeks 2, 3 & 4

I need to remind myself to eat as many times as my nutritionist has asked me.

Papri Das

This was my promise to myself at the end of week 1 of the challenge. In a bid to fulfill this promise, I tried to eat as much as possible. The only catch was, I was ordering in day in and day out. Mostly out of habit.

And sure enough, all that ‘bahar ka khana’ got to me and I immediately fell sick.

Getting the Kitchen Ready

After recovery (which was by the end of week 2), I knew I could not depend on Swiggy and Zomato for the entirety of the challenge. Which meant, I got to cook all of my meals myself. Easier said than done.

It involved a long and complicated process which started with making my kitchen functioning. You see, so far I only depended on it for making ‘two-minute noodles’ and some fries.

Shopping for Groceries

The next nightmare was going out to shop for vegetables, meat and other grocery items. Which was tricky. I didn’t know half the items in the menu, at first.

My nutritionist and partner in crime, Rupali Datta came to my rescue. And on our day out shopping, she also gave me some valuable tips on how to order out my meals if at all I had to depend on it.

How to Order Out in a Healthy Way

Tip 1: Drain the oil out when you order your food and the oil settles on top.

Tip 2: The other thing is choose good combinations. When you have ordered a chicken gravy which will have more gravy if bought from outside, do order a salad along with it. Similarly if you are ordering a sabzi, order a dahi with it so that at least one thing doesn't have oil in it.

Tip 3: Order from a place that is known for fresh food, rather than using frozen items because those don’t retain their nutritive values. It should be a place where there is a fast turn over so that you are getting fresh, it has retained its nutritional value.

So there I was, at the end of week 4, with a functional kitchen and homemade meals. I wish my pride at my performance at being able to keep up with the diet was proportional to the actual weight gain.

(Follow @Quintfit and @PapriTweets for updates on how I fare and join me next week to find out what trump card I use to get the better of Papri’s Weight Gain Challenge.)