I had my son in 2014. During my pregnancy, I gained weight of around 20 kg. I went from 48 kg to 68 kg. My doctor suggested that I should eat more because my baby’s weight is low. So I was happily eating a lot. I gained weight but for the sake of my son. After I gave birth, I still weight around 66 kg. I switch my cloth size into a bigger size.
My weight slowly decreased thanks to breastfeeding and the busyness of taking care of my newborn baby. I did not do a special diet when I am still breastfeeding because my body needs nutrition to breastfed. After around 1 year 8 months, I stopped breastfeeding. Then I started to exercise again.
Things I Do To Lose Weight:
- The Right Mind Set
When I was pregnant, somebody says this to me “oh you will be so fat after gave birth and never return to your previous weight”. So rude saying that kind of thing to a pregnant lady, it makes me feel bad about myself (which I should not, because I am pregnant. Duh!). In my mind, I was thinking “no, I will manage to lose weight and prove you wrong”. First of all, do not stress out about what people said about your weight. If you are comfortable with who you are and healthy just ignore that negativity.
In my mind, I am determined to be back in shape after giving birth. Instead of thinking “I will not be able to be back in shape”, it is better to think “I can and I will”. I personally think that you need to motivate yourself and set goals on how you wanted your weight to be and how to reach it. My motivation was I want to be healthy and be able to fit in my old jeans. So if in the process you feel like giving up, think again about your motivations.
- Do The Exercise You Enjoy
I prefer exercise like zumba, aerobics, ride a bicycle, body combat and muay thai. I started to do zumba and aerobic first. Every time I do zumba or aerobics I feel like I am dancing rather than exercising, I enjoy it a lot. Riding a bike on weekends in the morning for 1 hour while having good weather feels so refreshing.
A more heavy exercise to burn out calories I choose body combat class and muay thai, that involves punching, kicking and jumping. I feel like a fighter, even though my punch is weak, LOL. I do yoga and pilates occasionally, but I prefer cardio exercise.
For muay thai, I was joining a class consist of 7 people. However, it is not convenient because you have to take a turn with everyone else and for me, it is a waste of time. It will be better if you hire a personal trainer so that you can get exercise that suitable for your needs and the trainer will only focused on you. It might cost more to hire a trainer, but it is so worth it.
- Be More Active Daily
Try to move more on a daily basis, whether you are a stay at home mom or working mom. During lunchtime, walk outside, use stairs or cleaning the house yourself. A lot of walking and constantly moving around can help contribute to the weight loss process.
- Food
As I said I do not do an overly strict diet, I just opt for a portion of healthier food and controlled portion. By the way, as Indonesian, I eat rice 3 times a day, every day. What can I say, rice is life. I cannot avoid rice at all although I know rice will affect my blood sugar level. What I do is reducing my rice intake from 3 times a day to 2 times a day; I eat rice only for lunch and dinner. I also reduce the rice portion in every meal.
I try to avoid instant noodle, I love instant noodle specially indomie. But I know it is bad for my health despite the delicious flavor. I eat instant noodle probably once or twice a month.
As for sweet beverages, I love drinking mocha and hazelnut latte from Starbucks, Thai tea (that is packed with condensed milk), and bubble tea. Previously, I can consume these beverages at least 3 times a week. Plus sweet stuff likes desserts. Nowadays, I am more conscious of my sugar intake. I no longer purchase Starbucks coffee that often and I have bubble tea just once in a while. I replace it with healthy juice; green tea/matcha and I make my own coffee. I drink 8 glasses of water per day and I snack before lunch and dinner.
Watch the sugar intake and meal portion. Even too many fruits can add up calories to your body. Another great tip is to use a smaller plate, so when you take food in a smaller plate, the meal portion will be smaller too.
- Take time
I did not lose weight overnight. It does take time to get back in shape, so be patient and enjoy the process. It took me around 3 to 4 years to get back to my previous weight before pregnancy. I want to lose weight and still be healthy. Therefore we must set a realistic goal. To be honest, stress also contributes to my weight loss, but I do not recommend you get stressed out of course. You can exercise to channel your stressed.
- Maintenance
Now I achieved my target weight. Then what? The answer is, of course, maintaining it. I will continue to balance between eating healthy and exercise. I still eat hamburgers, chocolate, cakes, pizza and all sorts of food but in moderation. I no longer go to gym 3-4 times a week anymore, due to my work schedule. I still go to the gym once every week, to do body combat cardio class. As a change, I do a 20 minutes workout at home 4 days a week before I go to work in the morning by using exercise videos on youtube.
Do I feel lazy waking up and exercise before going to work? Yes, I do, always feel so lazy and so sleepy every morning. But I do it anyway because I am determined to do it. People always say, “oh you already naturally skinny”, what they don’t know if there is hard work behind it. No, I am not writing this post to brag about my body. What I want to say is, if you are determined and willing to make an effort, then you will be able to accomplish it. Weight loss is not about being skinny; it is about having a healthy body that you are comfortable with.
ND PASSION 