Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
"Happy New Year with digital fireworks" lit up on the LED screen of my scale. Well luckily leave that out, I thought to myself because the matching numbers that appeared didn't really make me feel happy! Does my feeling of happiness depend on the numbers the scale gives me? No, not necessarily, but the wardrobe that is full of clothes that no longer fit me. good intentions
Looking nice does give you a certain feeling of happiness right? Will I then set good intentions or good goals for 2022? The latter seemed a lot smarter to me than the former. Because you can promise yourself all sorts of things, but actually executing them seems a lot more logical to me. My most personal blog ever, which I spent a long time debating whether to make it public. But hey a mega stick behind the door I would say now!

Do you have to be slim to be happy?
The answer to that is of course no! That is really not necessary, but for me it is a goal that I have been pursuing for many years. Because once, a long time ago, I was really very slim. In my teenage years I was already slim, to the point of being skinny. Until I turned eighteen and my hips started to form. The perfect figure that you see in many magazines to this day. Wasp waist, visible abs, good ass and long slim legs. And then I got a friend who didn't think even that was enough. Hearing day in day out that you are too fat and that there is still quite a bit to lose resulted in an emaciated body that weighed less than 52 kilos.
And also a distorted image in my head. Do you know that song that is currently playing a lot on the radio by Meau? She actually sings it exactly as it feels”because that shitty feeling that arose then,
that will never go away and you did“. In the end I had the strength to choose for myself and leave this toxic relationship behind. But that seed was planted and ever since then I've had a little voice in my head that says every day "if you're slim you're better".
The big differences.
With pants size 32, which was even too big with the belt, I slowly came back to a normal weight of around 64 kg and size 36. And I stayed in that for years, always in the back of my mind that voice that shouted that being even slimmer might be would be nicer. Until I decided to say goodbye to a very unhealthy habit and addiction. I stopped smoking and gained a good 15kg! Goodbye size 36, hello size 42-44. The scales touched 87kg and I decided it couldn't go on like this. I went to the gym, went on a diet and pretty quickly weighed around 75kg again. It's like taking off a coat and being yourself again. At least the one you recognize in the mirror. But still not myself, because I would certainly still have to lose at least 5 kg. Preferably a number that started with a 6… between 65 and 69 kg.
Yo-yo effect and bouncing on the scales.
And then I got pregnant… from 75kg starting weight I ended the day of my delivery at the astronomical weight of 100,4kg. I had never felt so fat and unattractive. And that with the most beautiful present in my stomach. During that period I hardly took any pictures of myself, and I certainly didn't do a “belly photo shoot” like that. And over the years that followed, I lost weight, gained weight, and lost weight again. The well-known yo-yo effect has not been spared me and that is how I have spent the past ten years.
Set good intentions or charities?

Help I'm a food blogger!
All my working life I have had various jobs, but the best one I started a few years ago. I registered with the Chamber of Commerce and became a food blogger. Talking about food, taking pictures of food, writing about food, my whole life suddenly revolved around food seven days a week. It did that before, but the upward trend on the scale has not stopped since the start of that career. And I am to blame for that myself. Because the clincher "every pound goes through the mouth" certainly applies to me. Suddenly I agreed with a few kilos more. So I went from around 70kg to around 75kg. Oh, I thought, those few kilos don't get in my way. I went beyond my own limit and bought jeans in just a size bigger. But I stretched the limit one more time, and apparently I agreed to a weight just under 80kg.

How often are you going to push your limits then?
I've asked myself that question before, but I didn't do anything about it. Due to a serious injury I had put my running career on the back burner, and I also went to the gym less and less. And so my weight crept back up to what it is now. We all know losing weight and getting slimmer can only be done if you burn more than you take in. So it's time to get moving and embrace sports. Time to start eating more balanced. I think that's a terrible word, by the way. “Balance” but it is the “key to success”. I will therefore not follow a diet because in recent years it has turned out that that does not work! Yes for a while until you are so tired of what you can and cannot do.
Measuring is knowing!
Well there we go, with the proverbial buttocks exposed… What did that scale say when I stepped on it? Up to 86,6 kg clean on the hook! Why do we find it so difficult to tell exactly how much we weigh? It's one thing to throw that into the conversation. I can still remember that Linda de Mol was going to announce in her magazine how much she weighed. Really bizarre that it was some kind of national event! But I'm doing it now and will use it as a stick to track my progress and help myself. Setting goals is the most important and the goal is to weigh 70kg again. So 16,6 kg has to be lost. That's a lot I realize, a lot! And that can't happen anytime soon, no matter how much I'd like to. So I'm going to cut that 16,6 kg into smaller pieces. To make it easier for myself, to make it clearer, and to make it feasible.
- weight: 86,6 kg on 03-01-2022
- fat percentage: 42%
- BMI: 27,6
- chest size: 106 cm
- belly size: 96 cm
- buttock size: 113cm
- thigh circumference: 66 cm
- calf size: 39 cm
- arm circumference: 31 cm
For example, I know from previous times that weight is not always everything, those numbers on the road scale are only relative. How much do your muscles weigh? How much does your fat weigh and if you gain more muscle and less fat, the scale can best stay on the same number. That's why I also mention the centimeters. We can see from these centimeters that something is actually happening.

Set good intentions or charities?

Set good intentions or charities? How long will that take then?
No idea! I know better than anyone that it is not easy, that it takes a lot of time and that sometimes it will go slowly and sometimes quickly. I do give myself a sober start because we start this trip with a dryjanuary. I find it quite confronting to think that I have not been happy with my body for more than half my life. And then the social media where everyone always seems so perfect doesn't help either. Apart from losing weight, it is also about my head. And what goes on in there. Because that bit of dissatisfaction is not only physical, but also psychological. Because if I achieve that goal in time, then I also have to make sure that I will be satisfied with that.
Lifestyle and Delicious Bites
Well then the next problem arises. Because how am I going to make all kinds of delicious snacks, lose weight and ensure that I feel better about myself? The biggest challenge for me will be to find a good balance in this regard. With great recipes, but also every now and then a thick burger or a fine pasta. I recently asked via an Instagram poll whether you would like to read more of these types of lifestyle blogs and the answer was yes.
So I will regularly update you on how this journey is going and pass on some new measurements. For the time being, if you meet me, you will mainly see me in sportswear... A: because that is the only thing that still fits at the moment, and B: I am going to teach myself to enjoy sports and embrace it completely! Stay tuned as I always say in my stories. Do you want to set good intentions or good goals? The goal is clear.

Delicious Happen is a multi-media company, so you can also find me on various social media. follow me on Facebook, Pinterest en Instagram under @delicioushappen. If you make this recipe I would love it if you tagged me #delicioushappen. A comment below in the comments is also nice of course!
Set good intentions or charities? good intentions