How I Lost 10 kg During Lockdown
Like most women, I have always struggled with weight gain — especially after the kids started coming. We wonder if we will ever look the way we did before the wedding. That was exactly how I felt going into 2020. So imagine my horror when the lockdown began.
A bad situation was about to get worse, but I refused to give in to frustration.
In the past, I had lost 5 kg, 6 kg, and even 8 kg on different diets. But eating a certain way felt boring, and most times I drifted back to my regular habits — and just like that, the weight was back.
So I asked myself the real question: how do I make the healthy way my regular way, so it becomes fun and sustainable? What have I learned from all the diets I've tried that I can actually keep doing?
Too many rules make it hard to stick with any plan, so I decided to keep it simple. During the lockdown, I made losing weight fun by following these basic principles, in no particular order.
Organic fruits and vegetables
Yes, this isn't new — we hear it all the time. But how many vegetables do you actually eat in a day? Getting your daily dose of vitamins and minerals isn't something you do when you feel like it; it should sit at the heart of your daily consumption in order to give birth to a new you.
Stock up on lettuce, spinach, cucumber, radish, celery, and the like. Use your juicer or blender to turn them into veggie juice, and make it fun by adding berries, beet, carrot, lemon, or ginger. Drink to your health.
Two thirds of your daily meals: plant-based and uncooked
You can eat as much as you like, as long as it is plant-based and uncooked. I made this easy by always keeping veggie juice and a fresh salad within reach. There are no rules — just play with a variety of colours, and let your senses wake up to the richness of nature.
My rule of thumb: lunch could be any cooked meal I was craving, as long as breakfast and dinner stayed raw and plant-based. I always looked forward to lunch — it was my cheat window — but I stayed smart about it and didn't overindulge.
Dance! Dance!! Dance!!!
This was one of the best ways I got my body moving and kept the negative news of the season from settling on me. Put on great music, dance to it, handle challenges one day at a time, then relax and sleep well. Your body deserves to be pampered.
Make your water interesting
I infused lemon and ginger into a flask of hot water and sipped it throughout the day. It kept me hydrated, gently detoxified my system, and made drinking water something I actually enjoyed.