My Diet and Exercise Routine in 2008

My diet consisted of six timed meals a day, three main meals and three snacks. The meals were just enough to satisfy hunger while the snacks were mainly made of fruits and veggies. If for some reason a meal time came and passed and I hadn't eaten, I just let it slide and have some fruit. Let me give a practical instance. There was a day I went for a church program that extended till very late in the night. Dinner time came and passed while I was in the hall. I got home really late that night so I just went to bed, hungry!!! However the next morning, I was the first to wake up, guess what I had for breakfast? GARRI AND OKRA SOUP!!! Lol! In my opinion, this was a good move because the best time to eat heavy food is in the morning. The reason is because your system is most active during the early hours of the mornings. However, please do not eat Garri and Okra soup in the morning!!! I decided to put together the diet plan, as much as I can remember on this post. Please, please and please, this plan was tailored specifically for me. I feel I should let you know how it all went down with the financial aspect. As you know, I was not working at the time I started this weight loss journey, so you can imagine how I coped with all the fruits and veggies. For the snack s part, I was eating mainly garden egg and groundnut, cos it was the cheapest and easiest fruit to get lol!! Then sometimes I would just buy those N50 fruits that all these Aboki guys sell, yes I eat that too and I am still alive and well, thanks for asking, lol!! I honestly feel it's okay to eat those, I know some people might object to that, though.

My 7 days diet plan in 2008

For exercise, I did a forty minute, total body burn aerobic exercise twice every day, except weekends. Now this must not be the way your own should be. I did this because I wasn't working at that time so I had all the time. Besides I felt I needed to stay active, since I wasn't actively involved in any other thing at that time. The aerobics exercise lasts for about 1 hour, including warm up and final stretches. When I started, I could only do about 5 MINUTES of the entire thing!!! The first week was horrible cos I was in serious pain for that whole week. Sometimes I felt I was going to pass out, but my dietitian actually told me that I was going to experience these feelings, so I knew ahead of time. I was determined and I didn't want to give up. By the third week I could do at least 20 MINUTES NON STOP!! I kept improving until my stamina was greatly developed and I could do the entire thing without stopping, I actually started looking forward to my exercise time!! So if you have ever tried exercising and given up even before you got used to the exercise, try again, please don't give up!! 

Front cover of the Aerobics DVD I used for my exercise. 

I have also added a couple of tips I feel you might need as well. Please put down your reactions in the comment box below.

I DID MY BIG CHOP!!!!! YAAAYYY!!!

I did my BIG CHOP YAAAAAYY!!!! I know this might come as a surprise if you read my post on “Why I decided to go natural”. In that post, I actually said I was not going to do anything drastic, but you know how human beings are na, ah ah. Na naija we dey ooh and anything is possible ;)

I decided to do a BIG CHOP TAG to answer all your questions concerning my big chop. I actually took the tag questions from my fellow Nigerian Naturalista, Ifeyinwa. She also has a very great blog and it is amazing, visit loveifeyinwa.com for all your queries on lifestyle, beauty and natural hair.

So HAIR we go! Ha ha ha ha ha

How long did you transition for?

I transitioned for almost six months. My last relaxer was 24^th November 2012

Why did you decide to do the big chop?

I actually planned to do a long term transition for about 12 months, but I changed my mind. The reason is that I was so anxious to see what my natural hair looked like. Besides it was not easy dealing with the two different textures, the combination (relaxed and undergrowth) made my hair look so untidy. So I just decided to cut off all the relaxed ends and rock a short do.

How did you do your big chop?

My hubby helped me. I told him where to cut off and he did it very well. People actually thought I did it in a saloon, that’s how good he was.

What products did you use?

I washed my hair with DUDU OSHUN then followed up with TRESEMME NATURALS NORISHING MOISTURE CONDITIONER. I love that conditioner!! After I rinsed out the conditioner, I applied a generous amount of the conditioner to my hair so the line of demarcation could be clearly seen.

What was your initial reaction to your new do?

Before the cut, I was a bit nervous but after the whole process, I was relieved and I felt good. I was happy I finally did it.

What were other people’s reaction, spouse, office, family and friends?

Normally I hardly worry about people’s opinion concerning my personal decisions. Cutting my hair was no different, though I was interested to know what their reactions would be. For my spouse, I would say he is just neutral about the big chop but I am sure he can’t wait for the hair to grow back, lol. My co workers already saw it coming because I had been announcing it for about two months before I did it. The first person I saw in the office actually told me I looked gorgeous, need I say more? Lol. Then my family and friends know me well well, I’m always up to one crazy thing or the other. So for my family, it was just a case of Acharacha doing what Acharacha does best, being crazy! Lol. Generally I have gotten more positive reactions than negative ones.

So there you have it dolls. If you have more questions, tips or words of encouragement, please put it in the comment box below.

Thanks for stopping by.

How I lost about 15kg in 2008

If you are reading this, my guess is that you may have read a good number of articles that have a title related to this. Anyway I am not going to type away saying, “Oh when you apply these ten easy steps, you’ll become like Agbani Darego in a month”. No I can’t promise that, far from that. Rather what I am going to do is to tell you a couple of things that I have done to lose weight (yes I have had weight loss battles too) and keep the weight off! In 2008 I went through a dramatic weight loss journey that I didn’t document quite well, so I am sorry that most of this article will based mainly on what I can remember. I didn’t even take before and after photos, I just had to dig through my old photos to simply compare. However, I did go through this weight loss journey that a lot of people thought I was seriously ill by the time I reached my weight loss goal!! Lol!!

Ever since I realized that being fat was not the best, I had this strong desire to be skinny. I wanted people’s description of me to have “slim” or “skinny” in their sentences, ha ha!! So I sort all kinds of ways to achieve that. I tried different forms of exercise, diets and so on, none of these helped. One day, I was watching the story of Yoanna House, talking about her weight loss journey on “The Style Network”, she said something that really struck me. She said “….at that point I realized that I had to change my life style”. I was like, BINGO!! THAT’S IT! I HAVE TO CHANGE MY LIFESTYLE!! So here are couple of things I did to shed some flabbiness!!! Enjoy!

1.       The first thing I did was to get professional help: I met my friend who is a dietician. She was working in University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu at that time. I asked her to educate me on the healthiest way to lose weight. The first thing she did was to calculate my body mass index (BMI) to determine if I was obese or not. It turned out that I was not obese but almost on the verge of becoming overweight. I’ve forgotten what the result of the calculation was, but based on that, she drew up a seven day diet plan based on my BMI, my food likes and dislikes. I promised to follow the plan to the letter.

2.       I developed an exercise routine: apart from the diet, I decided to incorporate an exercise routine that will be fun and keep me motivated. I went to a CD and DVD shop in Agbani Road, Enugu and got this aerobics CD titled “Health and Fitness Pro: Total body burn”. I said to myself,  “This should be fun” lol!!

3.       I set a reasonable achievable goal: One of the things that my dietician friend told me was that, I should not think that I will lose weight in ten days. This was accumulated weight from, like “baby fat” days. So don’t expect to lose all of it in a week. It will take time. For some weeks, you may not even notice any difference, but the truth is that as long as you are doing what you need to do, you will get there. My dietician also gave me advice on how to set a reasonable goal. If I remember correctly, she advised that I should try to lose about ten kilos in four months. Eventually I lost about 15kg in four months!! This does not have to be your goal, you can meet your dietician to give you a reasonable goal based on the lifestyle you want to embrace.

4.       Psyche up yourself: This may sound crazy but as much as going on a weight loss journey is a physical thing, it is also a psychological process. Many a times, we do not make it in our weight loss journey because we do not prepare ourselves psychologically. You need to take at least two weeks to tell yourself, your mind and body, what you are about to do. If possible tell a family member or a friend, let them know that you need their support. In my time, I told my dietician who is also a very close friend of mine, and she was very supportive.

5.       I prayed about it: Some people may say, “Nigerians, must we spiritualize everything!!?” Well my answer is, Yes!! Lol!! If you have had a battle with weight loss, you must have realized that it is a REAL BATTLE! You just can’t stop going to the fridge to see what’s in there, you just can’t stop eating junk food, you just can’t stop eating even when your tummy is hurting, you just can’t stop waking up in the middle of the night for a midnight snack, you just can’t STOP!!! Pheww! So what do you do when you realize that something is beyond your control? You pray about it and ask God for help. Get inspiring scriptures like, Philippians 4: 13 that says “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me” , 1 Corinthians 9: 27 “….but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection” Oh yes and so many others!!

As you may know, there are a lot of other things to know about weight loss but I am sure that this is a good start. If you have a question, a tip or even "a before and after" weight loss story, feel free to share it with us here by putting it in the comment box below.

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