Hara Hachi Bu - A weightloss post!

Hi there! 

Did you ever want to lose weight? I know I do, many times in my life! I am not obese, but I am a little chubby, and I am very unhealthy too! I eat a lot for my weight actually ~

But I wanna change my flabby belly and lose some kg's! I tried lots of things and none worked. These included: 

- Starving and over-exerzising (no, not an eating disorder. It didn't last long)

- Just starving and doing nothing

- Exercising but eating like a cow

- Different strange diets. Banana-diet, and whatnot. All kind of strange diets that worked, but never were temporary. 

I do not have very much disipline, so I need a diet that's easy to follow, hard to break, and with hardly any "rules". I also want a diet where I do not need to starve myself. Never starve yourself. Your body tells you it needs fuel, so feed it! 

Either way, let's get to this point. I found this japanese very famous diet that seems stable and good to follow. It doesn't involve crazy starving or overly much exerzising, just one good basic rule to keep in mind. Perfect!

(Google picture. All credit to owner.)

Perhaps you've heard about the 80% weightloss diet? It's also called the Okinawa diet, but the original name is "Hara hachi bu" or "Hara hachi bunme". 

Hara hachi bu is a simple diet or rather lifestyle change that you can start from today on. And the main rule is super simple: 

Eat only untill you're 80% full. 

But why, you ask? What will that benefit me? 

Because:

"The Okinawan cultural habit of calorie control called hara hachi bu, which means eat only until you are 80% full, plays a role as well as their habit of eating an antioxidant rich plant-based diet. Stopping at 80% capacity is actually a very good strategy to avoid obesity without going hungry because the stomach's stretch receptors take about 20 minutes to tell the body that how full it really is and 20 minutes after stopping you will really feel full."

(Taken from this website that provides lots of information about the diet!)

Other than that, just eat healthy. More vegetables, less meat. More fruits, less candy. Get Omega3 and and whole grains. You must also be active, don't sit on your butt all the time! Exercise in form of walking, running, swimming, ball-plays, dancing or whatever sport you may enjoy! (Picture: All credit to owner)

I used to be overweight A LOT during childhood. I was a fat child, yes. My heaviest ever weight was something in between 72 and 75kg (150lbs and 165lbs) and I was about 160cm tall.(5'2/5'3) That time my BMI was almost 30! So fat ah ~ I was lazy all the time. 


Now I am "only" 57kg (125lbs) and I have grown to be 172cm tall (something about 5'7). That makes my BMI almost 20 (exact 19.27). I do not weight very much for my heigh, but due to overweight before I have very unflattering flabby-fat. Especially my thighs, butt and belly is awful 

To reach my current weight I just ate healthy and forced to ride my bike 8km every single day for a year. (YES! Every single! Snow, thunder, rain, wind!) because my father got diabetes and forced the whole family to make a dramatic lifestyle change, since we were all heavily overweight. I had a drastic weightloss, and luckily my only stretchmarks are in my inner thighs! Also I grew taller which helped a lot as well. I didn't change anything (well, I don't ride my bike anymore), but my current lifestyle just doesn't make me lose more, it just makes my weight stable at where it is. But I don't wanna stay chubby! So, I am gonna give this diet a try. Are you? 

From today on, I will try my best to follow that. Afterall, I wanna look nice when I see my hubby in less than a month! Are you getting fit? Do you have any diet tips to share or some succesfull weightloss progress? Tell me in the comments!


Also, dear girls (and guys) just remember that everything is fine as long as it's in moderation! Eating a few candies once in a while, or having a delicious meal out with your friends is fine, as long as it's not everyday. You can still enjoy you favorite snack, just make sure you don't enjoy 6 out of 7 days a week! So don't punish yourself for being off every now and then. ♥