I weighed myself for the first time in 10 months. I could feel I had lost weight but the scale is such a haunting nemesis that I wasn’t sure it would also reflect the loss. It did! It showed I was a whole ten kilograms down.
This might very well be the highlight of 2025. It has taken me 3 years of Drs, diets, supplements, lifestyle changes and hundreds of hiked kilometers to get to this point. There were days, I honestly felt like it just wouldn’t happen. But here I am – 10kg lighter!
So what worked….eventually.
The short answer is trusting myself and my body but the longer answer is a little more complicated.
Back in 2022, I had adrenal fatigue. It was rough but thanks to a good homeopath I managed with meds and lifestyle changes to fix that but the weight remained an issue. I tried everything – intermittent fasting, calorie deficit, exercise and even a diet tablet. Nothing worked. At some point I stopped picking up weight but it just wouldn’t budge. It was beyond frustrating and it was about more than how I looked – I knew that something was not 100% with my body.
At this point, I had cut down my coffee intake to 2 cups a day and only good quality coffee. I was already lactose and gluten free and eat almost no processed food or sugar. I was walking 2-3 times a week – at least 5km each time. I was managing my stress and getting enough sleep. The point of acceptance was not far off, even though I still felt that there was something wrong with my body.
The lady who runs my walking group does Bioresonance Scans, so I booked one because we had already done one for Emma and it had helped us manage some of her issues.
Disclaimer: I know that this route is not for everyone. I know that the scans are not seen as proper medical testing, I know natural medicine is frowned upon by many people. I made my choices and decisions, knowing all of this.
The scan picked up a few issues I was already aware of and a few I wasn’t . Based on the results she said insulin resistance was causing the weight issues. The insulin resistance was caused by my cortisol issues when I had burnout. The two are linked and are caused by stress,
I was given a bunch of natural supplements (again see the disclaimer), a probiotic and an eating guide.
A few of the eating guidelines she suggested.
- Start the morning with a glass of water with a few drops of celtic salt and lemon in.
- Wait until 10h00 to have your first cup of coffee and limit it to one.
- Eat brunch rather than breakfast and lunch and make it protein heavy – no carbs. This is, essentially, fasting but not the strict kind where you have to fast for x no of hours and then only have a few hours of eating. Its more about creating a rhythm with your body.
- Try have an early dinner and if you are going to have a carb, have it with dinner but make it something like chickpeas or quinoa rather than rice or potatoes.
- Bone broth fast every Monday. Basically every Monday you just have bone broth all day long. This helps to “reset” your pancreas which helps with the insulin resistance. And its a great source of collagen.
- Rawbiotics daily and then start introducing fermented foods, like kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut etc. This is to heal the gut.
It took me about 3 weeks to implement all of these but now, 4 months later, it is a way of life. I still struggle a little with the early dinner but have pushed my brunch up to 11h00 most days, sometimes even 12h00. I eat when I am hungry but some days I only get hungry then, so it is not a case of me starving myself.
Huberman has a really great podcast on cortisol and the rhythm of the body. It is long and he gets quite technical but it is worth listening to.
She also gave me tools on how to better manage my stress. Learning how to manage my stress was instrumental in this whole process and also probably harder than the dietary changes.
A few things she suggested to manage stress
- Breathing exercising – she suggested some videos from Wim Hof.
- Starting my bed time routine earlier than bed time – shutting off devices, work etc earlier in the evening. Listening to mindfulness meditations at night.
- Taking Ashwagandha at bed time when I am a little extra stressed.
- Being aware of what triggers stress and learning to manage it better through meditation, talking about it, taking a time out etc.
- Doing more things just for me, things I enjoy and help me to unwind and switch off for a while.
Our bodies know what they need to do, everything she suggested is designed to help strengthen my body so that it can do what it needs to do on it’s own. This is exactly what I wanted because I knew this was the only way I would be able to maintain it.
She warned me it would not happen instantly, it would take time. All the changes I had made after my burnout had helped the process along but I was just missing a few pieces. Once we added them, my body had what it needed and the weight started coming off. Not only is the weight coming off but I feel better and I look healthier. My skin is loving the collagen and every Monday I now crave the broth, that doesnt mean its nice, it just means my body wants it. I have very little carbs now and when I do, its sourdough bread or sweet potato and honestly I don’t miss it anymore.
There may have been traditional meds I could have taken or diet tablets but sticking with the natural approach has worked for me. It has helped my body heal and has taught me to listen to what it needs – some days it is fresh sourdough bread lathered with butter or a brownie – instead of feeling bad about it, I go with it and then carry on with regular scheduling. The goal was never to follow a strict diet or be on supplements forever, sure there are some that will stay, like magnesium and probably selenium.
I can’t promise you that your body will react the same way mine did but I can tell you that ditching the meds and finding natural alternatives can’t hurt, provided you find a health care provider you trust.
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