Hello Worldwide Ultimate Family, I’m writing this article so can share my personal experience on how to live healthier in general, with hopes that I can help give some encouragement to anyone who wants to start their journey into healthy living. Also, this if for anyone who is stuck in the middle when it seems like nothing is working. Before I get into that I have to share my background story to help you understand where I’m coming from.
I am Chinese, and I was born in Indonesia. Back home it was normal to have one or more servants to do home chores on a daily basis, a house maid is what we call it here. They do everything for us including preparing our food daily per our instruction, mostly veggies, seafood, and meat (chicken and beef). Very rarely would we eat outside since we got help from the servant. Since everything was so easy, I could always maintain my weight with some diet and exercise. Believe it or not, I was actually a really active person. Beside school, I had some lessons outside as well, like math, dancing, piano, jiujitsu, and more.
I moved to the United States in my mid-twenties. It was a big change for me. Living here has not been easy, but as time has gone by, it has become a little easier. Since I never touched a kitchen before prior to moving, I’m having a hard time adjusting to this new life here as quickly as I can, by learn cook easy things and buying fast food when I was not able to cook as I am busy working as other people here. Within this short time, I already gained weight, without me even noticing it. I’d say about 30 lbs. or so. And it kept getting worse when I got married and had kids. It started to snowball, and I ended up gaining another 20 lbs. By this time, I hated to see myself on the mirror and I felt stuck. So, I was just living my life like that for years, and did nothing about it and always felt tired, all the time. When my ex-husband started to complain is when I finally got motivated to diet and exercise, but I stopped when he told me he didn’t see any changes; even though I already lost about 10 lbs. at that time. I really hate the dieting process. I hate it I can’t eat what I like, when, where, and what I want to, so I just gave up.
I tried a second time when I wanted to have my second child. We tried for about 2 years and nothing happened. I tried dieting again after I looked it up on Google, I read that being obese can be the major reason that some women can’t get pregnant. 
I tried so hard to lose weight with the hopes that I could get pregnant, and finally I got pregnant after 1 year. After a lot of exercising I lost 26 lbs. Even though this time I tried to lose weight to get pregnant, I did it for a good reason, to get healthier. Once again, I tried to lose weight with the wrong reasons. So, after my son born, I gained a lot of my weight back, or maybe more. I felt everything was out of my control. Not too long after that my marriage was over, and I decided to get a divorce. I didn’t care about anything, specially about my health.
After got help from church and did divorce seminar, which included some positive affirmations/activities, I made the decision to get back up. I realized I have to do something for myself. So, I started looking for information online, and this is the first time I heard about the Keto diet. I collected all the information I could get my hands on and kept a promise to myself that I will do it one day, but that never happened because I felt so hard. I couldn’t imagine that I wouldn’t be able to eat rice, the basic food I ate every day since I was small. I didn’t know what I would eat without rice or other carbs. I was really concerned and scared that I would fail again. After 1 year collecting information, and help and courage from some of my friends, I finally made my mind and started my journey. But just after 3 weeks in strict keto, I got sick (keto flu) and it pushed over the edge to stop the diet right then and there. I lost 15 lbs. during this time. I was so happy. It felt different, because I know this time I did it for myself. I just needed to know what I did wrong and how to avoid it.
By this time, I started my keto diet again for the second time and will make all the way; wait for it, the third week in a row. So far, I’ve lost (only) 3 lbs. compared to the first time tried the keto diet. With my older age, having two children (infants), and a busy daily basis life, it gets harder to do exercise and lose weight. But I know I won’t give up until my health weight goal is complete. I feel more relaxed now. I feel better now currently, than I did before. I truly love myself and I made the decision that I will not stop because I want a healthy life. If any obstacle comes in my way and I have to stop again, I will back up and do it again and again.
The conclusion from my story is:
- Every person has a different background/culture; different kinds of foods that they like to eat (the good and the bad). When you want to start your journey, people will think they can’t for many different reasons. Their age, time restraints, work, plain laziness, etc. They’ll start questioning “Ok what can I eat now to stay healthy?” But the real answer is that, actually you can still eat most of the food that you want to, you just need to change your bad habits, like limiting portions or eating slowly. Another thing you can do is adapt the way you are preparing your food, from the oil you use, to the quinoa instead of white rice, substituting stevia instead real sugar, and grilling instead frying.
- The Differences of our body. I want to bring up some things I believe are wrong about peoples thinking process when it comes to the body/food relationship. A lot of people have a misconception that skinny is healthy and fat is not healthy. Remember skinny people are not always healthy. Everyone has different body types, and how a person looks can depend on their genetics and hormones. You should do some research and find out what kind of diet is perfect for your type of body, and also blood type. See article (https://www.webmd.com/diet/a-z/blood-type-diet). Some people need to lose weight, some need gain weight, some need more muscle, some need maintenance to control their illness, etc. But just remember, always ‘listen’ to your body, if you don’t feel good, something is wrong, and you may need to stop what you’re doing. (and of course, help from the doctor if you think you need it or if you have another issue, example you are diabetic).
- Goal and determination. Question your ultimate purpose or your goal. Do you want start on this journey for losing weight or and get healthier? Remember, set your mind right before you start the journey. Keep it in mind it is not an easy process, but it’s not impossible. Do research and find out what kind of diet is good for your type of body. Do not just follow other people or the current diet trends. Ask people around you who can help, and do not feel embarrassed or shy to ask someone, like I was at one time. You never know, sometimes other people experience can be a big help. It’s a really nice feeling when you know someone going through the same thing and you both can support each other, as well as give each other strength to reach the goal. On the other hand, sometimes friends can influence you to hold you back, but if you ‘fall’, it’s not your friends’ fault, it’s your fault for listening to them. It comes down to how strong your mind is. And even though you may fall once, it’s not a fail, you can always get back up and continue. Nobody will judge you. This is about impowering your mind, so take your time, and do things little by little. Make a healthy lifestyle a part of your habit. Keep practicing, it will easier in time and never give up. Every little change will mean a lot and make a difference. No diet method is superior to the other, the best practice is the one you can stick with for a long time.
- Preparing food. Before you start, you have to plan a head what kind of food you can eat and how to prepare it. This is important because, it will help you to get ready and might help you to stick with your diet. For example, if you have busy life, you need to pick what kind of foods can prepare a short time, or you can prepare, and freeze portions so can save it in some containers for couples of days. Adjust it to fit your personal lifestyle and so you can fit in an easy way to eat in-between your activities. If you’re at work and get hungry there might not be any healthy food close by, so you’ll probably go out and buy food outside, which is less healthy or can kick you out from your diet. Once again take your time to do this right. As a mother, I can say healthy a lifestyle is should start from home. And I need to show to my kids by example, as they’ll be part of a new generation and hopefully, they can do this for the rest of their lives.
- This is another important thing that I wanted to touch on for losing weight and being healthy. Diet alone is not really enough. Maybe you still can lose weight without exercise, but it’s once again not only about losing weight, it’s about your new lifestyle, a healthy one. The exercise will help the body to create hormones to feel happy and satisfied. A happy person will have more confidence about themselves, take it from me. It definitely works. Find your time, 5 minutes is better than nothing. But at the same time don’t overdo it and force yourself, it is all depend how your strong you are and how persistent you are at it. Some people can do cardio for 5 min, some can do up to 1 or 2 hours. Some can do this on a daily basis, and some just can do once a week. You decide how long or how often, nobody is judging you, but yourself. Just make sure you do something!
- Love yourself, last words from me: This article has been my journey to my healthier life. I hope you got something out of it. Do this because you care and love yourself and want a better life and not for anybody else, for any reason. Being happy and enjoy doing it is the key to keep doing it consistently. Push yourself to the max to be better you. Good luck and don’t give up!
Healthiness is one of the most important things for everyone and each individual has different thoughts, approaches, and ways to talk about health. My mission for writing is to help someone understand and give them the courage to start living a healthier life.
Wenny Indri was born in Indonesia in the 80’s. Her heritage is Chinese. Her family immigrated to Indonesia before she was born. She finished school at a Christian School and received a bachelors degree in computer accounting in 2003. In 2004, she came to California, USA. She lives with her mom and her kids. She has been working steadily since 2006.
