When I decided to go home in January 2020, I always did my daily routines at home, such as attending all classes, meeting some seminars, working on my thesis, and of course, doing consultancy with my supervisor. During that time, I rarely did exercises to keep my weight, always did bad habits, like eating, after that sleeping, working. Moreover, I paid less attention to the nutrition and portion of my food. And I’m not surprised if I gained weight. In fact, after graduating, I worked home-based, so I didn’t have to come to the office in Jakarta, I did all my job at home. And that’s one of the factors why I must keep doing exercises (every day) and eating healthy food. But now I live in Surabaya, still, in the same NGO, I was assigned to work on some projects here. I always try to make time on the weekends to exercise.
So, I just realized that gaining weight became a serious problem when I attended my friend’s wedding party in Bandung, in March 2021, I got a joke from my friend, like, “Hey, long time no see, you look fatter, haha”. That’s not a joke man! Maybe I don’t get in my shape because of the clothes that I wear, I answer in silence. Yeah, after returning home, I made my diet plan.
Firstly, I did research on youtube and some books about diet. I looked for a diet that fits my body’s and daily’s condition, that I still can feel fresh although I have an overload works. And I chose a diet program from Yulia Baltschun. Start by making daily activities list, food menu and portion, and an exercise timeline. So, here are the tips from me :)
Dietary Habit
Dietary habit is very influential on weight loss. With the wrong diet, there will be no effect on the body even though you have consumed low-fat foods. I still eat three times a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and you better not be late to eat. If you want to get used to having breakfast at 7 am, well every (around) 7 am you must have it and try to keep that habit in every day.
Food Menu and Its Portion
As important as dietary habits, food menu and portion selection are crucial roles in the diet. I feel this food menu below fits my body's ability and daily activity, besides because I am still fresh, it didn’t make me hungry in busy times. So, you can choose this menu and portion for your diet!
Breakfast: 35 gr green vegetables, 150 gr fruits, and proteins (100 ml milk). Mix them in a blender.
Lunch: 1 serving of rice, like nasi soto, sego sambel, lontong sate, nasi padang, etc.
Dinner: A lot of fruits.
Drink mineral water (honestly, I drink less than 1,5 L a day) and stay away from flavored and fizzy drinks.
Daily Exercise
Don’t forget to do some exercise, every day if possible. I usually jog for around 15- 20 minutes in the morning or do gymnastics or HIIT cardio (tutorial on youtube). For maximum results, I recommend doing HIIT cardio 2 times a day (morning and evening, like at 5 am and 5 pm), min. 15 minutes for each section. Wait for 2 weeks and you can feel the difference!
The Result
From April until October, I’ve lost 6 kilograms! Initially, my weight was 62 kg and it dropped to 56 kg until now. Yeah, not bad. Sometimes, I do the cheating day, which means I allow myself to eat what I wanted at that time, such as eating 2 portions of nasi padang at lunchtime, eating a bowl of indomie+egg at 11 pm, some snacks. But, it’s okay, as long as you can control your appetite, burn those fats by doing exercise, undoubtedly your body still gets in its shape.
