somy

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Could this be...

Wow, this feels like being locked up for a very long time and finally getting released. All of a sudden, in my office, we were restricted to viewing and accessing certain sites and the next was having a quota time to which you can go on the internet....aaarrrrggggghhh...how frustrating. This meant that I could not access my baby..my blog. It felt like a part of me had been ripped and taken away from me. The good news is that i am back and bad!

Hope you guys have been doing good and I cannot wait to hear all the success stories! or....arent there? Hmm. I am sooooo excited. I think I should call this a rebirth. I have successfully been abale to maintain my new body without depriving myself. I have stumbled across more topics, health related...ofcourse... that I know that should concern us all. The first one I will like to talk about and bring more light to is CANCER!!!!

Hmm...can't to share and blog aware. Watch out for this space. Love you guys and always saty healthy...xoxo

Friday, July 16, 2010

THE REVEAL!

LIKE THEY SAY, A PICTURE SAYS A THOUSANDS WORDS.....(I THINK). SO, SIT BACK, RELAX AND SEE WHERE I AM COMING FROM AND WHERE I AM TODAY. CURRENTLY, I AM 67.5KG BUT THE LATEST PICTURE I HAVE WAS WHEN I WAS 72.3KG, I HAVE NOT TAKEN ANY RECENT ONE. WILL DEFINITELY DO THAT. HOPE THIS WILL ENCOURAGE Y'ALL.

CLEARLY, THIS WAS ME BEFORE I STARTED MY WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY (STARTED AT 85.5KG)



THIS WAS ME WEIGHING 72.3KG.






I will definitely post more pictures. Just wanted to let you guys see what I have been talking about, and know that it is no joke at all. Now, I am a 67.5kg and am so happy cos I am not only slim but fit and healthy. ciao

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Yet Again!

Friday the 9th day of July, 2010, precisely 7.30pm...it was me face to face with 10 boxes of pizza at the bowling rink at the palms. We were there for the continuation of Juliet's birthday party. At the beginning I promised myself that I was not going to eat so, before I left the office I stuffed up on a lot of veggies but little did I know that my friend Juliet had massive pastry plans for me. She knows how much I loooooooove pizza (and dont forget chocolates too)...so ordered over 5 boxes. There I was staring at these boxes and fighting myself on the inside. There are times I would get up and walk away from the boxes and still, like some type of evil force and magnetism, I find myself being drawn towards the boxes. So, I gave up! Yes I gave up. Immediately I took the first bite, I remembered what my mum used to say when praying to God for forgiveness of sins "Lord, you know that the heart is willing but the flesh is weak"...that was me! So, you would think that this girl would just have a slice or two and be done...yeah right...more like 6 slices or even 7...in short, I felt bloated like a big fool and ofcourse, I topped the eating with massive alcohol drinking. What can I say, I was in a celebration mood.

As the alcohol started kicking in, I got in a dancing mood and so I danced the night away. When I say dance, I worked up 5 to 6 buckets of sweat (I know...eewww...but you get the picture). By the time I got home, I collapsed on my bed and floated to the beyond.

I woke up, expecting to hate myself for all I gubbled down last night, but on the contrary, my body was feeling otherwise. I went to the loo (wee wee), brushed my teeth, took off my clothes and mounted the scale and to my honest and sincere astonishment....I had lost 0.8kg. WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!! The day before, I woke up weighing 70.5kg and now I am 69.7kg. I felt on top of the world, that I immediately geared up and did my morning aerobics. Ate breakfast ( 3 thin slices of pancakes, no syrup, water and freshly squeezed orange juice) and now am in front of my laptop typing this.

It feels good...I tell you. I cannot believe that this is me. At the beginning I would just say that I want to just weigh 70 something. When I got into that 70 something, at a point it felt like I would never leave 70 something, so, I pushed myself and am here today weighing 69.7kg. I am also excited because the only condition, I told myself, that would make me release my before and after pictures is, if I have left 70 something, so people...brace yourselves. My next blogging would be the big reveal.

Have a beautiful and healthy weekend. Remember my motto(well...sort of)....; "never deprive yourself but dont forget to burn after chopping"

Ciao. xoxo

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Temptation...

Hi all, I have a sin to confess. This weekend was a trying one and one of the most difficult weekends I have ever encountered during my journey. There were temptations left, right, centre...in short, everywhere...I had no other option (no excuse as well) but to fall. But it was worth it. On Saturday, 4th of July, 2010, my siblings and I came together (ofcourse including my parents) and threw a 13th birthday party for my kid sister, so you can imagine food and drinks everywhere and best of all, CAKE!!! One good thing came out of this, my opinion as to not depriving oneself was fortified. Yes! I had a taste of everything that was edible and drinkable, so as not to feel left out, but the key was to the portion of each. I knew that I was going to eat rice, chicken, ice cream, cake and so on, so I had to do a lil' calculation in my head. The rice was definitely a miniature size with the chicken (I made sure that it was barbecued chicken, but not the Nigerian version with oil), then my cake was also miniature and no icing (very unnecessary), I had my ice cream)chocolate flavour). How did I burn it? I was on the move. I volunteered to do everything and when it was time, I hit the dance floor. I wanted to burn off the calories if not everything but a lot of it so that when I wake the next day I would not feel the weight guilt. When I woke the next day, i eagerly zapped to the scale to get my judgement and guess what? I didn't do badly...I managed to add only 0.3KG. The long and short of this story is that I still had fun, ate all that was served at the party and used the same party to burn off, by dancing and didn't do badly at the end of the day. so, if you find yourself in situations like this, my advice is to look at the positive side of the situation and make good out of it.

Now, yesterday, the 5th day of July, 2010 was not at all like my weekend...I fell hard into the welcoming hands of temptation. It was my friend, Juliet's birthday, we had three cakes, one being pure chocolate cake (did I mention that I AM IN LOVE WITH ANYTHING CHOCOLATE??!!). Yes! I am an addict. But so far so good, I have been able to curtail my intake its so minimal that I cannot believe that it is me doing it and even if I go overboard, my body rebels....u get the picture?(toilet...lol). Anyway,  I was in charge of cutting the cake and sharing, I found myself, cutting one slice and eating one slice...and when am not cutting, am licking off the icing. It felt good!. Immediately I got home...OH BOY, it was like a war was going on inside of me. I dashed off into the toilet but just in time to grab a magazine cos I knew I was going in for a long long time. Oh yes, did I get it! After that, I felt better and lighter and I promised myself that that would never happen again (yeah right...I will try though). I did my aerobics and went to bed. Woke up this morning feeling better. I resolved, on my way to work, to conclude my journey by the end of this week. It is very possible, its just that have been subconsciously stalling cos its a big and final jump for me.

Wishing you all a lovely day...please and please...let my experience be a lesson to you....do not indulge the way I did. Ciao.



                                                           Cake #1: The chocolate cake


                                                                      Cake #2


                                                                       Cake #3


                                                                     Juliet nd I

Monday, June 28, 2010

Just tips!

Hi dieticians...I know that I have not been blogging for a while now, please forgive me. I hope those of you who want to shed some pounds have successfully taken flight, thanks to c'est moi. If you have woooohooo. Today I want to give you quick tips that were helpful to me and I thought I should share.

Tip #1
Take lots and lots and lots of water. I know I know, you hear this every time and some of you even wonder what it is that water does. Well listen up...IT DOES A LOT!!! It keeps the body hydrated. In fact, 2/3 of our body weight is water. The very composition of our body are; blood is 83% water, muscles are 75% water, brain is 74% water and bone is 22% water. Water is necessary for the very survival of human beings, as it ensures the smooth functioning of body systems. Water acts as a natural remedy to head your way towards achieving beautiful rich glowing skin. Drinking water skin benefits can be attributed to the fact that water acts as a body purifier, by removing toxins and waste from your body. People who are fed up with their overweight problem, for them hot lemon water works wonders in fastening their weight loss program. It also keeps your heart healthy. So, drink lots of water throughout the day, to promote your mind body fitness. one other thing, warm water serves as the perfect good morning drink, as it aids the digestive system and makes the process of eliminating the waste products from the body easier. 

Tip #2
Every tiny chance you get, work out! I am not saying do a 30 mins aerobics...lol. Did you know that the little exercises you do at intervals go a long way? For example, if you find yourself sitting for long on a chair, lets say, you are at the office, you can get up and walk around, come back to your chair and do some squats (e.g. 50 squats). Another you can do are arms exercises. Pretend you are holding dumb bells and do curls (e.g 50 curls).

Tip #3
Use the staircase! I can never stop emphasizing and advocating for this form of exercise. It helped me sooooooooooooo much. On its own, its a well-rounded exercise. You are working your thighs, hips, buttocks, abs and arms. Your heart gets pumped thereby getting its own form of exercise.

Tip #4
Vegetables. One of the secret I learnt during my diet was how I can, with eating my veggies eat the meals I would want to eat. What do I mean? Take spaghetti for example, its one of my best meals, but when you are dieting you are adviced to cut down on the intake of carbohydrates right? or even stop eating carbs for a period of time. To me, that is depriving oneself thereby leading to craving and finally falling and falling real bad. So what do I do? I take my pasta but in small quantity (just to satisfy myself that I am eating pasta) and load the rest of my plate with veggies. Veggies here can be our fresh vegetables (ugu) or cabbage, carrot, lettuce, corn, garden egg, etc; all steamed and spiced ( little ooooo). Did you know that you can make vegetable (ugu) spaghetti? It is unbelievably delicious. I will post the recipe later. So, remember, take the carbs you want but in very little quantity and load up with the veggies, this way you do not deprice yourself of ur favorite carbs.

More tips to come your way...later guys. Am about to go for my walk. ciao. xoxo

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

HEALTHY INDULGENCE...

Here are some of the foods (with their recipes) that were with me and still with me during my unforgettable journey into the world of the fit and healthy. Enjoy.

BOLI (roasted plantain) + Veggies
This is one of my favorites because it's quick to make and very delicious. This food is soooooo balanced that it makes me want to shout...wooohooo. It contains, iron, vitamins, mineral, protein, carbohydrate, fats and oil, etc. It is a meal that can carry you through out the day.

 Here is how I make it:


Ingredients:
1. one ripe plantain
2. cabbage
3. carrots
4. chicken
5. onions
6. spring onions
7. cobia (or another type of fish)
8. lettuce
9. cucumber
10. seasoning

Cooking
1. Take your ripe plantain and peel
2. Put your plantain in the oven and set to roast/bake
3. boil your chicken and fish (Separately) and (Ofcourse, season it)
4. When the chicken and fish are done, de-bone it and dice or shred
5. Cut/shred/dice the carrots, onions, spring onions, cucumber, lettuce and cabbage
6. Get a frying pan spray on it cooking olive oil (if you do not have that, you can use the regular cooking oil and put a dash of it in the frying pan)
7. when the oil gets slightly hot, put in the chicken, fish, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, cucumber, onions, spring onions, and season.
8. And fry lightly and quick. You just want to get it soft a bit and tasty. You can sprinkle a little water for it to cook a little. Remember this cooking it quick because your vegetables are not supposed to cook or fry for long or else you loose the vitamins (the essence).

when the veggies and your roasted/baked plantain/boli are ready, dish them unto a plate ... presto...ready to eat. Bon appetite (i hope i got the spelling...lol)




RICE AND GREEN VEGGIES

This is for if you must eat rice! The green vegetable substitutes the regular stew, sauce, soup, or whatever one takes with rice.








CHINESE NOODLES, MIXED VEGGIES, FISH AND SNAIL










PLANTAIN, GREEN (UGU aka PUMPKIN LEAF) AND FISH
Yep! am sure some of you would look at this and say whaaaaaat! Trust me its delicious and best of all healthy. If i were at home eating this, I would have substituted the fried plantain (dodo) with roasted plantain...but heey...had to do with what I had.



NOTE: For me, I eat "heavy meals" (the foods am posting up) during lunch, never for breakfast or dinner. For dinner and breakfast, I always have something light. Most times, I have fruits, quaker oat for breakfast or dinner. I do this because I know that when am done I would burn it. If I eat a heavy meal in the night, the next thing is to go to bed and ....extra pounds. Another thing to remember is never eat past 7.00PM!!!!!!!! If you are hungry afterwards, drink water or take fruits or go to sleep!

WEIGHT LOSS PART?......FOOD FOOD FOOD!!!

Hi guys, missed you all. Was not able to upload and update till now cos of the bad weather over the weekend. It was crazy but it did not bring me down. So, its food time. During my weight loss journey, I ATE!!! YES, I ATE!. Do not listen to anyone who tells you not to eat. The secret to this is what to eat and how to combine it for it to work for you. Before I go any further, let me at this juncture, reveal to you the best diet and it is............................ "THE BALANCED DIET!!" Why a lot of people fail in this area is because they do not understand the concept of balanced diet. A balanced diet means getting the right types and amounts of foods and drinks to supply nutrition and energy for maintaining body cells, tissues, and organs, and for supporting normal growth and development. What this means is that every type of food is important...do not do away with some...the key is just in the quantity and portion. For example, I can have chocolate muffin in the morning, but what matters is what I eat next as lunch...so I can have fish and steamed Veggies and for dinner I might have oat. But remember, everything is in the quantity. I never for once deprived myself of anything type of food that I am craving for...but...but...I am not saying that you can use "craving" as an excuse, one has to be very disciplined. Back to balanced diet...it is like mix and match and this makes eating more interesting. For you to succeed in this journey, you have to keep an open mind, be creative and explore different recipes (healthy choices). People limit themselves when it comes to food... I always encourage people to explore foods from other tribes and countries...it is very interesting experimenting.


My eating habits changed and changed for the better. My system went on an automatic detox and as I went deeper into my new eating habit, I even started feeling better and healthier. From time to time, for a period of two weeks I would be posting up recipes I have tried and yet to try. I will also put up recipes and pictures of food that I enjoy taking. Give you exercise tips that I do and even exercises I would love to try. We will go through this together and I know it would be fun especially with your comments and mails. Remember, I would love for you to also share your stories of yours journey into this known-world of weight loss.


Ciao Ciao.  xoxo

Friday, June 18, 2010

M.I.A!

Yes, I agree, I have been missing in action for....three days? but I am back and ready to dish out more. Over the period I was MIA a lot of my friends, especially one, Ada O. wanted to kill me because of the "suspense" I am keeping you guys in...getting to the part of how I actually lost the weight and posting up pictures of my before and after...so, because of her, I have decided to cut the long story short and move things up. Today, I am going to reveal what I did to go from 85.5kg to 69.2kg. WOW!!!!!! that is a huuuuuuuuge difference even if I say so myself. So peepus....brace yourselves cos here i go!

P.s.....the before and after pictures would be posted later...hope you dont mind Ada O.


I started this fantastc and fabulous journey December 2009, but half way into it, because of an unfortunate event, I had to stop. So, I can safely say that I started this weight loss program February, 2010! As you begin to read this, you will find out that some of the things I did are probably things you have heard before but just dont want to...anyway...

I have, over the years, tried alot of "quick" weight loss diets...thereby having a yoyo diet. Some I had been "successful" with but after I reached my goal, within a shorter time, I bounced back to what I was. So this time, I decided to do things right. In order to embark on such a journey, you must first of all go through a self-therapy. You need to sit down and talk to yourself and tell your self the truth about things. I did not set a fictitious date as to when I want to achieve my goal weight. I made up my mind that, since I have been through series of weight loss programs, if at the end of this, I have not achieved my desired weight, I would not embark on another immediately, I would give myself a break...because to be honest, it is a very emotional journey. So, once I was able to psch myself, the next move was to plan the types of activities(exercises) that I would do that not only will I not tire out of but would enjoy and have a long term effect and at the same time, become part of my lifestyle. This is so because I found out that you can go to the gym 24/7 and everyday, but once it is not a part of you, your efforts woul be fruitless. Imagine you cannot go to the gym for a month because of the nature of your job, so, for one month you will just pack on the pounds? So, in my search for good exercises, I had to look for activities that I can involve myself in, that are everyday things that use the muscles but in actual fact, are indirect exercises. For me, work starts 7.30am, I do not have a car, so I use public transport aka, danfoo and okada (ok....sometimes, cab), my office is a 12 floor building and my office is on the 4th floor, we close by 4. 30pm. My office is on the island and I live in surulere, so, these are the activities I came up with:

1. In the morning, I power walk to the bus stop....lol...yes...power walk, swinging my hands and all...thank God is still dark, so no one really sees me...but really, at the end of the day no one actually cares, as early as that, you will see people jogging and all.

2. When I get to my office, I do not use the elevator, I climb the staircase all the way to the last floor; 10th floor and then I come down to my floor, the 4th floor. Every time I have to go up to a floor, I do not use the elevator.

3. (The Lagosians would understand this more) After work, I usually get a free ride up to costain, then I get on a bus and stop at Shitta and walk from there to my house, which is a 20 to 30 minutes walk. there are times that I go home with our staff bus, so, then, I stop at the National Stadium and walk home from there which is like 40 minutes. I enjoy walking cos its refreshing and invigorating and at especially at that time of the day, when the sun is down. Note, here I do not power walk cos I am soooooo exhausted fromj work, so I more like stroll/walk...there are times when am not tired after work, I then do power walk, therefore the time of the walk is shorter.

Now, there are days ofcourse, I cannot do all these, especially the weekends, what I then do is alternte, some weekends I go for a 2 hour power walk and some weekends I do aerobics in my house. I have this aerobics video from back in the days of "Jane Fonda". So, now, walking is a part of me and it has made me not to be a lazy person. Those times that I need to go somewhere that was just 10-20 minutes away from my house, I would just hop in a car and off I went, now, I just walk! Walking is a great exercise and its and an all round exercise too. It works every part of your body: arms, legs, hips, abs, and its exceptionally good for the heart.

The next phase of my weight loss plan was the food...

Monday, June 14, 2010

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Weight loss...part 2!

Here we go.

 One of the pros of healthy side of weight loss is simply that a lot of risks are reduced to its minimal if not to non-existence. Risks associated with over-weight/obesity are:
Coronary heart disease

  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)
  • Hypertension (high blood pressure)
  • Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
  • Stroke
  • Liver and Gallbladder disease
  • Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
  • Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
  • Gynecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility)
  • and the list is endless.
The long and short of it is that being over weight is a no no for anybody. Apart from the medical point of view, the religious side of it, easpecially Christianity (that I know of), gluttony is a sin and the consequences of gluttony is being over weight. We should also remember that the Holy Bible refers to the body as the temple of God and so we should take good care of it and you have stretched the beyond beyond....well, you get the picture, then just know that you have committed a sin and if you are still stretching it, then you are still sinning.

I can go on and on about the cons of being over weight, it can never be over-flogged, but, i guess people already know that. What we should focus on now, after identifying that being over weight is a problem, is the source of this problem. If we can successfully identify the source or sources of this problem, then we have passed the second phase of solving the problem (The first phase is admitting that being over weight is a problem). Some of these are the sources or contributory sources:




  • Excessive eating
  • Lack of Energy Balance
  • An Inactive Lifestyle
  • Environment


  • Genes and Family History

  • Health Conditions

  • Medicines

  • Emotional Factors

  • Smoking

  • Age

  • Pregnancy

  • Lack of Sleep
  • This list is equally endless but for more details please visit: www.nhlbi.nih.gov
It is getting more interesting, even for me, cos I cannot wait to get to the good part, which is how to shed the g*d damned weight. But we are taking baby steps so that the whole processes would be understaood and that is the only way success can be yours and I mean long-term success.

Where were we...oh yes...so, we have seen some of the reasons why we should get up and get rid of those unwanted/extra kgs/pounds and the sources, now, there are sooooo many ways to achieving this goal of weight loss but the question is the best out of all these choices. Before i tell you the best way (and long term) and how to go about it, I want to share with you some of the dieting/weight loss techniques I stumbled across during the course of my researches (see if you are familiar with some of them).



  • Blood diet -- Advocated by Peter D'Adamo
  • Atkins diet
  • Zone diet
  • South Beach diet
  • Vegetarian diet
  • personality Type diet -- Advocated by Dr. Robert Kushner
  • Hoodia diet
  • and soooooooo many others. You can visit www.healthyweightforum.org


Guys, am sorry but I need to take a break here...when I come back, we have the part 3 of this, which means I will finally tell you the solution and how I achieved my own success. I hope you are enjoying the write up. Remember, your comments & questions are highly appreciated. Thanks...see ya

Saturday, June 12, 2010

weight loss...the healthy side

Wikipedia defines weight loss as "a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue".  The society on the other hand, defines weight loss as the act of slimming down and looking "sexy". This is a very sensitive topic but one that cannot be avoided. When you walk down the roads of Lagos, out of 10 people walking, 7 are fat and fat here means being unhealthyly overweight...what am i saying, being over weight isnt even healthy. People give sugar coat being overweight by calling it names like; "a sign of good living" "it's the handwork of God" and so on. Well, my people, it is time to wake up and smell the coffee.; it is damn right unhealthy. 


Like i said, this is a very sensitive topic cos some overweight people dont get to that state on purpose, some might be out of a disorder but, for the purpose of this topic, i am referring to those people that just chow down on everything that passes their way...those people with the slogan "eat to eat another day".


There is good news though, it is looking like Nigerians...well...Lagosians, are taking healthy living as priority now, even the "alayes" and "touts" on the street. Good to hear...i will post pictures of this as a proof. But the question now is, how and what is the right way in going about this? i will, to the best of my knowledge and knowledge of the doctors, provide practical answers and would love it if, as you are reading this and going through this same challenge, send your comments, questions and whatever it is you are facing, lets all face it together and you will come out of this challenge successfully.


There would be lots of things to talk about under this topic and i shall go through them one by one and the best of all, I will tell you towards the wrap up of this topic, a story, my story... my success story. When i started out my own weight loss challenge, i was weighing 85.5kg and as i write this blog, i am 71kg (i have lost a whoooping 14.5kg) and i am to end this challenge by the end of this month, June....woooohooooo.......cant wait to debut my before and after pictures....so excited!


I want you, if you are overweight, to take up this challenge and realise your own success story as I have done mine. We can do this together, you can do this!


Here we go.......................

Friday, June 11, 2010

welcome health peeps





Hi all welcome to my blog dedicated to health. Initially I wanted this blog to be solely for the females but as I immersed myself in countless researches, I realized that there are a lot of things and info I would love to share with the male folks as well.


I am goin to kick off this blog with its first topic being the world famous "weight loss". i am so paasionate about this topic cos i just recently concluded my weight loss program and it was soooooo successful and i want to share my journey with you all. motivate those who are planning on embarking and those who are already in the journey.


 Here I would also be sharing recipes of healthy food choices ranging from continental to traditional and even mixed. Apart from recipes being shared here, exercise tips as well as growing up issues for younger ones. Let me just put it this way, everything about health will be tackled here. Including beauty and hair....did u know that those also come under health? Well...now you know.


I really hope you will enjoy my blog. Contributions, stories, comments are highly welcome. Let's join hands and give our individual health a better face... You can do this!