- RE:FRAME
- Posts
- THAT's WHY I LOST WEIGHT
THAT's WHY I LOST WEIGHT
why being skinny is still the thing, longevity more than a trend, and how to buy fashion to get rich.
in this edition, i'm sharing:
- weight loss journey
- longevity w/ chatGPT
- buy fashion get rich
last sunday i thought i was late with this newsletter. somehow hours turn into days, and days into weeks, and somewhere in between, i get lost. my rhythm is 7 am first bottle, then every three hours on repeat. in those three hours: tummy time, play, chats, maybe a walk, a nap, and then it starts all over again until 7 pm for the last bottle. what day is it? i honestly couldn’t care less. but what this showed me is: if i can’t remember it, it needs to go in the calendar. i really need to save my brain power for more important things - like endless “you are my sunshine” singalongs, and all the bla, brruu, and ooowwwh. and also: writing newsletters, interviews, social media posts, and founding a new start-up by night. love, d.
if you can do me a small favor - in a few days, i’ll send out a quick 2-minute survey that will really help with my start-up. as a thank you for your time, i’ll gift you access to all of my personal branding webinars, for free.
*trigger warning, the following text is about eating and health disorders*

THE SKINNY CONCEPT
born in 1986, i had it all - the fat shaming of britney spears after giving birth, posh spice and her size double zero, diet plans, fasting, liters of bitter tea and cabbage soup. nothing seemed to fit better than a skinny body. years later, i can still count calories without thinking. in my late twenties, i was focused on building muscles in the gym. my hack to eat more. and today is the scale still my best friend. truth is, i never really found a way out. no self-love workshop ever healed what broke during those early years. and so it goes, even when i try, i fail. but every day, i fail a little better.
people cheered my new skinny appearance — on social media, in private messages, in real life. “you look damn good!” “nobody would guess you had a baby three months ago.” and so on. and so on. nobody asked about my health. when i was in south africa, people asked if i was happy because i was skinny. and honestly? so why is there always this weight dilemma? CAN WE PLEASE STOP COMMENTING OTHER PEOPLES WEIGHT!
i lost weight - 8 kilos in four weeks and luckily gained 2 back. but it wasn’t just weight i lost. i lost muscle. i lost my full hair. i lost my health. i’m back on daily meds. my knees hurt. sometimes i’m too weak to pick up my baby from the floor.
the secret? it’s an autoimmune disease: morbus basedow. i had hoped pregnancy had healed it. no more signs, no more symptoms. but suddenly, it came back. luckily, i caught it in time.
PROPAGANDA WE ARE NOT FALLING FOR. raising a boy edt.
read more on instagram. |
THE LONGEVITY HACK
not a single day has gone by in the past few years without hearing about longevity and all the ways people are hacking their health. i love it. i like the idea of getting old and staying healthy. i don’t need to live forever, but i want to feel good while i’m here. people track everything: their pulse during workouts, their recovery at night, their steps, macros and micros. and honestly, that works in my favor. autoimmune diseases are often triggered by an unhealthy lifestyle. i pay close attention to my macros and i supplement for my micros. this is why i’ve been wearing a fitness watch for over ten years. mainly to track my resting heart rate and how quickly it recovers after exercise.
![]() | in beginning of may after one week, my resting pulse shot up from 62 to 110. i started losing weight, felt shaky and tired, nauseous and constantly hungry. my hair was falling out in chunks. i called my doctor to confirm what i already knew: morbus basedow is back. and this time, it hit harder than ever. besides the meds i need, i’m working on my health again. more focus on night recovery (which is a joke with a 3.5-month-old, but we’re getting there). clean food. proper supplements. and now that i’m going back to the gym, i asked chatgpt to write me a plan. |
LONGEVITY w/ CHATGPT
i asked chatgpt everything about morbus basedow and what i can do to feel better from a holistic point of view. i educated myself and started adding small but important steps into my daily routine. chatgpt also calculated the best time to take my meds and when to pump, so there’s the least amount of substance in my blood. it wrote my shopping lists. the audio guided me through meditations. and today, chatgpt wrote my new fitness plan.
prompt/ act as a nutrition and fitness trainer and write a new plan for me, 38, female, mom of a 3.5-month-old baby, with morbus basedow. sporty, but lost weight and muscle within a few weeks. i need to rebuild strength, especially in legs, glutes, and core. machines shown in uploaded pics. prefer 3 workouts/week, max 40 minutes. explain every exercise and technique. include daily protein shake + creatine dosage.
this helps me a lot right now. i just ask what i need, and then implement it. no overthinking. i now have a plan i can update weekly. it took less than 5 minutes, and the exercises are actually really good. and this is why you should add creatine for your longevity: creatine helps improve high-intensity exercise performance and supports muscle growth by increasing energy in muscle cells. it may also boost brain function, improving memory, focus, and helping reduce mental fatigue.
copy your plan into notes and add columns for date, reps, and weight to track your progress.
CRITIQUE: ne thing is for sure, longevity isn’t accessible to everyone. if you lack money or time, you can’t buy expensive gadgets, stack supplements, or spend hours on meditation and sleep. and while the wellness world often sells longevity as a lifestyle choice, it’s also a privilege. that doesn’t mean small steps don’t matter, they do. but we need to stop pretending it's just about discipline. it’s also about access.
NOTE2SELF
i lost weight. and even though i lost my hair too, i still like the number on the scale. it gives me the feeling that i did something good. that i achieved something. that i can be proud. every time i try to correct that thought, the truth in me pushes back. hard. i’m still afraid of gaining weight. i still can’t look in the mirror and name only the good things i see. unless i count the flowers behind me. will this ever go away? will i always feel more worthy when i weigh less?
YOU CAN SHOP YOU RICH
it’s true. no joke. but the technique is different. it’s not about buying a kelly or a birkin. imagine you’ve saved up for a tiffany’s bracelet. and now you go there - boom - four figures gone from your account. instead: buy shares in the company. benefit from every sale. and maybe one day, the bonus buys you the bracelet and thanks to the profit, you benefit even more.
(no financial advice.) this is exactly what i did with suri frey. in 2023, they launched an nft project where owners not only co-created the bag but also shared in the sales. and every few months, when i check my wallet, there’s a new payout waiting.
there’s an active family & friends voucher valid until june 30th — safe 40% on category family and friends w/ code: BESTEFREUNDE
which brand do you admire? don’t buy the product — buy the stock instead.
you made a powerful decision for yourself by reading RE:FRAME to the end. let’s turn that power into action - add five more in: five forwards to friends, five shares, or simply your five mins of reflections. your next step matters.