Meet my husband Yudha (for those who don’t know). He just turned 41 yesterday (Happy Birthday once again sayang!) and I’m so proud of him because 2 months ago he set a goal of loosing the weight that he has gained over the past years, but haven’t been able to shed them. He was 76kg and he wanted to go down to his ideal weight, which is 66kg.
When we first got together 6 years ago, he was quite active physically, he did a few marathons and triathlons, including the ironman. So clearly he was into the intense and/or endurance types of exercise which required training.
Even though he felt fit, he always had trouble sleeping, waking up numerous times during the night, and he would wake up in the morning feeling tired. And as life continued and he focused more on work, he stopped exercising routinely and gradually gained some extra poundage. The stress from work and not being able to sleep well has contributed to adrenal fatigue. So we knew that there were, or could be, some health issues as well. Over the years there were some efforts to lose the weight, but none really stick. They were rather short-term and “not enough time” would always be a reason not to do it. We’re quite good with nutrition but he does like his sweets, so we knew that could contribute to the weight issue as well.
As a health coach, I took this opportunity as a personal project, and the ball started rolling when we moved to Bali. In beginning of April 2020, in the middle of the rise of Covid-19, we made our big move to Bali. And since the move and working from home, he has been able to stick to a few things that has helped him with not just his weight loss, but also his sleep, manage his stress, basically upping his overall health and wellbeing.
Today he weighs at 69kg (only 3 more kg to lose), which means he lost 7kg in two months, and here’s how he did it…
Intermittent Fasting (IF)
He’s always wanted to try doing IF so this was his idea. We know how beneficial fasting can be for our gut and overall health, so he gave IF a try. I told him that with anything in life, we need to go back to our body and let our body decide for us if it agrees with us. From 14-hour, now currently pushing 16-hour window of fasting. So far it’s working really well for him, his body is liking it. Breathing Technique
My husband and I practice breathing exercise 3-5x daily. The correct way of breathing really helps with managing stress and lowers the impact that stress has on our body. By doing the breathing practice routinely, he also lowers his stress response and this also helps with decreasing his hunger pangs. Less hangry episodes for sure. And of coz, he’s sleeping better too now. Qi Gong
Since the move to Bali, he also started doing qi gong exercise EVERY morning. Something that he never had the time (or interest, to be honest) to do it before. Exercises such as qi gong or doing the yoga sun salutations are great because you are not putting yourself (and your body) into stress mode. Therefore your body is in a rest & digest mode so you can digest and absorb your nutrition better, which also means that your body won’t hang on to the weight. Yes people, stress makes you hang on to those extra pounds you definitely don’t want in your body.
Home Cooking
We are cooking even more since our move, up to 85-90% of our food is home cooked and so we have better control of what goes into our food. Obviously sugar is something we managed to avoid even more. Since this is something that can often be found in our food if we didn’t cook it. Sunshine
There’s plenty of sunshine here in Bali. Which we are so grateful for. Sun is not just your source of vitamin D, but it’s what keeps us ‘alive.’ Bayangkan tanaman, tanpa matahari dia tidak bisa survive. Same for us humans. We need sunshine for our health and wellbeing. For good quality sleep. For our mood. And metabolically, as well.
Sleep
Here in the island we sleep earlier and we rise earlier as well. By getting our dosage of sunshine during the day, we get to sleep better at night because it helps support our body’s circadian rhythm (ritme natural tubuh kita yang membedakan siang/malam, tidur/bangun). Sleep also helps with losing weight process. If you don’t get enough sleep you may notice that you start to gain weight and also tend to make poor nutrition choices. Lack of sleep will influence your hormones that regulates hunger and appetite. Ghrelin, your hunger hormone will go up from poor sleep, making you feel hungry more often. Sleep affects not just our appetite, but also our mood, our thinking skills and outlook.
So as you can see there were no rigorous exercise involved or hardcore diets that eliminated the important macronutrients. The combo of fasting, breathing technique, light exercise, home cooking, sunshine and sleep, has proven to be the ingredients to his weight loss. And guess what? Most of them are free!
With only 3 more kgs to lose, we are looking into adding a bit more to the routine, such as bone broth diet (choosing 2 days in a week to fast and only consuming bone broth during fasting days), adding cardio exercise such as walking and/or running 2x/ week, and doing pilates 2x/week which strengthens and tones our muscles, especially our core muscles.
I’m so proud of you baby, you have successfully (and organically) shed your weight. Continue to improve your health & wellbeing my sweet! I love you!
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