What Kate Ate
Have you heard of the WhatKateWore blog? It's a fashion blog that chronicles Kate Middleton's fashion - what she wore, where to get it, affordable knock-offs (RepliKates), etc. With all of The Crown hype (Season 4 really was amazing) my social media feeds have been flooded with news of the Royals - what they eat at the holidays, what the grandchildren call Camilla, which outfits have been repeated, how often they go to the bathroom, etc. One repeating post keeps catching my eye: "You, too, can be slim and beautiful. See what Kate Middleton eats in a day to maintain her elegant figure." I knew what followed would likely be a daily meal plan horrifically low in calories and completely unrealistic, but I got up the courage to click on it one afternoon.
Kate's Macros
This, purportedly, is what Kate eats in a day and my estimation of the macros:
Breakfast
Green Smoothie: spirulena, kale, beet juice, and lemon (Macros: 132 calories, 16 g carbs, 8 g fat, 3 g protein (Glow Green Smoothie))
Lunch
Green salad or Gazpacho (Macros: 104 calories, 8 g carbs, 6.6 g fat, 1.6 g protein (this is for a cup of gazpacho))
Dinner
Roasted chicken (Macros: 300 calories, 0 g carbs, 16 g fat, 40 g protein)
Total Macros: 536 calories, 24 g carbs, 14 g fat, 45 g protein
I hope you are thinking what I was thinking after I read this: There is no way that this is what Kate ate. At least not on a regular basis. While caring for her children. If she did, she has likely trashed her metabolism and she's going to be very frustrated when she turns 40. Yet this is the sort of rubbish that the diet industry pumps out this time of year: ~800 calorie meal plans with little to no protein or fat that celebrities supposedly follow with ease. Don't get me wrong, if this sounds fun and sustainable, go for it (until you pass out from lack of nutrition)! But is this any proper way to fuel a princess?
Dukan Diet
When I googled "Kate Middleton Diet" the other thing that popped up is the Dukan Diet. Apparently Kate's mother, Carol Middleton, is a close follower of the Dukan Diet and it's possible Kate did it to get the baby weight off (I'm not sure any of these articles are reliable, LOL). As far as I can tell it's mostly a high protein, low fat, low carb diet. You mostly eat protein from an approved list of proteins for several days, then you get to add in some veggies, then you add in some fruits, bread and other things on occasion. There are four phases, which are described below:
Admittedly, I've tried a lot of crazy diets, but I have never tried the Dukan Diet. I like that it includes a lot of protein, but I can't imagine eating protein and oat bran for days on end. That sounds a little disgusting. And I almost burst out laughing when I read the four phases: Attack! Cruise! Consolidate! Stabilize! This isn't sounding much more fun to me than Kate's supposed green smoothie, gazpacho, and roasted chicken diet.
This is another article about how Kate got the baby weight off. I can't imagine working out for an hour on a few scrambled eggs, some shrimp, and a serving of chicken curry - especially with a new born baby. I am beginning to suspect that no one really knows what Kate ate . . . except for Kate.
What's Next?
Before you buy into one of these fad diets - I'm sure someone will (or has) come up with a crazy Corona Diet - I implore you to ask yourself one question: What Is Next? What is next if you set out on one of these crazy dead-end 800 calorie a day diets? If by some miracle you can stick to it, what are you going to do when all the weight comes off? Chances are you are not going to be sticking to green smoothies, gazpacho, and roasted chicken for life. That is neither reasonable, sustainable, nor the least bit fun. So the more likely scenario is that you boomerang back to a normal amount of calories, only to have downgraded your metabolism along the way and gain all your weight back and then some. This is the epitome of the yo-yo diet. Or, another likely scenario is that you will throw in the towel on this diet after only a few days, feeling defeated and like this whole weight loss proposition is impossible. I promise you, it doesn't have to be this hard, miserable, or crazy (no attacking! or cruising! required).
Consistency Diet
What if instead of doing one of these dead-end diets you committed to exquisite self care by following a diet of intentional and consistent eating? What if you determined the optimal amount of food and protein for meeting your body composition goals, allowed yourself a few treats each week (dessert and/or a glass of wine here or there depending on your desired results) and then practiced eating this way consistently? What if you stopped eating when you were full and cut out emotional eating? What if you learned to count on yourself to eat this way and enjoyed it? What if there was no white knuckling your way through another dead-end diet? What if you figured out a way to work out that you loved and followed because you enjoyed it and not as a means of getting pounds off (of course, I would insist on weight training at least twice a week)? Seriously, what if you did this for a year - what do you think the results would be? This is what I call the consistency diet and from experience I can tell you it's so much more fun than a life of green smoothies, gazpacho, roast chicken, and copious amounts of protein and oat bran only to yo-yo back to screw-it/throw in the towel eating.
Now, back to where we started: the WhatKateWore blog. While I despise the What Kate Ate Diet, I adore this blog. It is full of great fashion tips and beautiful pictures of Kate and the other Royals. And while I think the What Kate [Purportedly] Ate diet is sheer madness, this blog is pure brilliance. Here's my best New Year's diet advice for 2021: pass on the dead-end diets, create a reasonable food plan based on your body composition goals and commit to following it, make yourself a hot cup of tea (and maybe a biscuit if you are feeling fancy), curl up with this blog and ENJOY.
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