From a waterbed with lipstick to a chateau briand
In June 2019, I walked into what was then still HealthCoachPlus; I had an introductory meeting with Robert Havelaar.
I felt unhealthy, unfit, and my wedding was a year away, so after many diet plans, shakes, and other attempts to lose weight, I decided to finally seek real help. I have always been overweight and have tried many diets, but so far, they have failed.
I had a goal: to lose weight because I was getting married a year later and I wanted to look more vibrant and fit in my dress.
Behavior
Together with my trainer Robert, I then agreed on what a realistic weight goal would be for the first few months and how I would... power supply could start tracking to gain insight into what I was actually eating.
I soon realized that at many moments throughout the day I was just sitting there eating, without reason or excuse, and I simply couldn't understand why the scale kept showing more weight.
Coaching with Robert helped me gain insights into my own behavior regarding what I ate and drank in a day.
I drank many liters of soda, but didn't include it in my calorie plan.
I grabbed a quick bite to taste how my dish was… I went out to eat and enjoyed it three times over, literally, but didn't put this in my nutrition plan. I just guessed what I had eaten and put this to my advantage in the app…
The weight finally only started to go down when Robert made me realize that you quickly consume many more calories without realizing it if you don't plan ahead in your diet.
Choices
In addition to my lifestyle coaching, I also took a personal course twice a week. group training And that was going well; I felt myself getting fitter and fitter, and by then almost a year had passed when COVID-19 forced us to get creative with our exercise. I hadn't reached my target weight yet, but I had already lost about 10 kilos by then. Because group training was temporarily no longer possible at that time, I decided Personal Training to start doing because I wanted to keep exercising since I was going to get married..
Unfortunately, more and more rules were introduced by the government, and we postponed our wedding.
I work in healthcare and started working more and more due to understaffing. Making choices regarding healthy nutrition became more difficult for me alongside an irregular job, studies, family, and caregiving. I relapsed into old behavior, which meant opting for the easy and quick option and making excuses for myself to justify what I was doing. Meanwhile, my weight was increasing again and I was starting to feel physically worse. My binge eating increased; I had an excuse for everything just to be able to eat, preferably unhealthy and excessive, because that was quick to prepare or deliver. During my evening shifts, I often ordered food with colleagues because it was tasty and easy. When I got home, I would just grab a sandwich or dessert because I was hungry. I wasn't hungry; I literally had a sugar crash. As a result, I started feeling unwell and thinking about food again.
Picking up the thread
After the 2020 holidays, I thought, "Now I really have to turn things around, because in five months I’m actually getting married." I had bought my dress in early 2020, custom-made for how I was at the time. By then, well over 14 months had passed, and I put my dress on again. It was too big! What a wonderful feeling it gave me when I returned my dress to the bridal atelier with the statement that I had become too small for it. This gave me more motivation to push ahead with my lifestyle change. Exercising twice a week and meticulously logging everything into my food app again ensured that I had reached my desired weight for that time around the time of my wedding. After the wedding, I went on my honeymoon and let it all go; I had achieved my goal, right? After the honeymoon, I was left with a semi-healthy lifestyle. I wasn't really gaining weight anymore and wasn't losing much. From June to October, I had fallen back into old habits again; my mother was terminally ill and passed away after a short illness. I did faithfully attend my weekly workouts, but I didn't say much about my lifestyle or events to Robert. Until Robert said during a bootcamp, “Carlijn, tomorrow you’re going to stand on your boyfriend again.” I knew I wouldn’t see good results, so I went to my body scan appointment the next day feeling terrible. I was shocked by my weight and burst into tears. I rattled off how I was doing and how my life had been turned upside down at that moment. After I had recovered a bit from the whole rollercoaster ride with my mother, I started working out again and told myself to ask Robert for an hour to coach me on my choices. No sooner said than done.
Baking phase
Together with Robert, I discussed my goals, and he gave me more insight into my macros and calories. As a result, I have adjusted my lifestyle again and am seeing good results. It took a while to unlearn old habits, and I am certainly not there yet. However, I am now 20 kg lighter than when I started in June 2019.
Planning, filling in, tracking, and measuring is knowing what your week looks like. This gives me good results, and my workouts with Robert are getting better and harder. You’ve probably seen me in photos at RWIJK GYM 😉
It has been over two years now, and I am grateful and happy that Robert always managed to motivate me during training sessions and coaching conversations. I have learned to handle difficult situations regarding food, and I have learned to look at my own behavior and to be allowed to be critical of it. When I started this adventure, I thought I could quickly learn to eat differently. However, it took me 1.5 years to make that happen, and I regularly relapsed into old habits. Unlearning behavior is so much harder than learning something new. What I have also learned is that dieting is very temporary; adjusting your lifestyle and learning to manage it ensures lasting results. That means it takes time to start seeing results.
I want to work towards a Chateaubriand and I'm not there yet; I am currently in the finishing phase. Next summer, I will be the Chateaubriand!
For this reason, I have decided to continue training at RWIJK GYM for the rest of 2022 and 2023. Once a week Personal Training and once a week in a small group.
Carlijn van der Meer Sandifort
Do you want to feel comfortable in your own skin again, just like Carlijn? Then sign up for an intake interview with a try-out training.
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