The random 'Selfie' at the top of post is my attempt at keeping fit this 2015 by walking to work every morning rather than taking the car (Yes, I am aware that my mates run marathons!)
The colour of my trainers is obviously co-ordinated with my lipstick.
Kindly excuse fashion faux pas of combining trainers with tights as this matter has been resolved with an extra pair of office shoes in handbag. You may thank me for this useful piece of information at a later date!
We're into the 9th week of the year, things may have started to slide.
All those new year resolutions;
I'm going to live a healthy lifestyle this year, I'm going on a diet, I'm going to join a gym, I will exercise more, I'm signing up for Bootcamp.
I'm going to live a healthy lifestyle this year, I'm going on a diet, I'm going to join a gym, I will exercise more, I'm signing up for Bootcamp.
Old habits creeping back, deferment, procrastination, defiance, rebellion.
It's even more embarrassing when we have let those around us know about these our intended resolutions, and find the "lets-wait-and-see" brigade on our tails to point out where one may have tripped up. And it gets even more awkward when we have agreed these resolutions as part of a duo, team or group. As now you may have the added pressure of watching others sprinting to the finish line while one is struggling to take-off from the start point.
Maybe I should speak for myself as I've been there, done that and worn the t-shirt!
Healthy Eating and Fitness!!! I really feel I could write a book on "How NOT to do it" I know ALL the theory, it's the practical that fails me.
When to eat the carbs, how to eat the carbs, non-saturated fats, satiety levels, filling up on fibre to keep fuller for longer, starvation mode when body reserves fat, staying hydrated, under-utilised gym membership fees, gym overdo like; working out every single day no break, running, spinning classes, body pump etc etc. and oh yes, those slimming clubs with the weekly weigh-in!
A friend of mine joined one such club and decided to drag her teenage son along with her for moral support, however after attending 3 meetings he told her that she was 'on her own' and he'd not be tagging along anymore 'Mum I'm not sitting with those bunch of weirdos, all they do is sit and down and 'romance' food with talk of how 'good' or 'naughty' they'd been during the week, what they've eaten and what they've not eaten' and furthermore he was the only male attending the group as ratio of female to male attendees tends to be about 10 to 1.
And you know what? I kind of agree with him. You jump on the scales and close your eyes and pray that you have lost some weight. While one 'aunty' sitting at the desk records your latest weight loss or gain. You need to see the extreme measures people take to ensure that they clock a weight-loss loss, eg removing wristwatch and jewellery they feel may add to their weight. My people, come and see the queue for the loo before the weigh-in!! Just to ensure they empty every last drop of "peace" from their bladder! Meanwhile after the weigh-in all the bottles of water come out, everyone sipping, having been dehydrated themselves all day in the run up to this 'event'.
Don't get me wrong these clubs do have their pros as well, like with me on the occasions that I have signed up, it's been all about accountability which ensures I make sensible food choices in the run up to the weekly weigh-in because I know I'm going to jump on those dreaded scales and I find over a set number of weeks I tend to lose weight.
The other parts though, like the chat after the weigh-in when you have the group sharing details of what they've eaten during the week really bored me silly and as a Naija home girl I don't think they apply to me or my lifestyle. I find this part unfit for purpose because of the kind of food we eat, when one is asked what useful tips does one have for the class about how one achieved weight loss for that week, and I stand up and have to explain I simply lost weight by eating efo riro (vegetable stew) without pounded yam and feeling miserable about it! Or how I had swapped cow-leg for panla! And this brings me back to my friend's son, she even offered him cash incentive to get him to accompany her, he refused point blank and told her what he found even more embarrassing was when she was attending the class, and it was her turn to feedback what she had eaten during the week, she'd stand up, change from her 'Naija' voice to 'Oyinbo' voice and start making up stories about all these foods healthy foods she had purportedly eaten, things that he had personally never seen in the house and that she had never fed him on (yes these kids can be so mean yet brutally honest!)
And I'll never forget an occasion when I clocked a 5lb weight gain in one week! Lady weighing me said 'oh not too worry such gains can be expected when one has been on a holiday!!' I just kept quiet, too embarrassed to explain to her I had not gone on any holiday o, but simply clocked that weight gain by attending a wedding engagement and a naming ceremony over the same weekend and thrown caution to the wind. While my fellow peers share tips of how they make a calorie-free cake of ryvita biscuits and broccoli! yuck whats the point of that? It just does not cut it for me.
So folk let's not set our time using somebody else's clock! But rather apply common sense to this health and fitness thingy, aim to make sensible choices and move more!
And remember its not the rice/eba/ fried stew we eat that makes us gain weight, but rather it's the 'how much' rice/eba/fried stew we eat!
And in other matters arising we all know that debating is 'healthy', so I'd like to hear your views on a comment made by Anonymous 2nd Feb @ 10:39am on my post My people don reach here!
They assessed the average readers of this blog as, and I quote: "dated" "past their time" or "no romance going for them".
It's always a good idea to revisit blog after posting a comment, "should in case" you need to defend your corner!! The floor is open, no claws out please, just your honest views.
On that note, Thank God it's Friday, have a great weekend and thanks for your 'patronage'
Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted ~ Jules Renard
13 comments:
Wetin we go do my sister.
I'm a bit confused sometimes.
"Lepa Shandey" used to be the beginning of hunger and starvation.
Now it is desirable.
By who though?
Men say they like "junk in the trunk"
media projects all this images of emaciated women, who look like POW's
I think there is a global conspiracy by clothes shops to ensure they use as little fabric as possible and make maximum profit.
Off my soapbox now.
I have to confess to being one of,those women killing myself for a goal which is attainable but not sustainable. (you may need some water now, the oyinbo is gaju)
FAT PRAYER
Lord deliver me from the curse of FAT.
Nullify every calorie in cheesecake, confound everyone with a plate of jollof, moin-moin, dodo and eran din din, frustrate the efforts of anything in the way of my Iyan and efo egusi in Jesus Name, Amen
Never been one to make those New year resolutions, never believed in it.
As for the anonymous comment, I actually went back to to read it. Couldn't really make sense of the point being made. "As niger (guess that means naija) we go to those posh places for the setting and music and not the food" or words to that effect. Seriously, what do you say to that.
As for the average age of commentators on this blog, my reaction is this. If I post a comment on Linda Ikeji's blog that her blog is predominantly read by the younger generation, would my comment get any acknowledgement or reaction?
My humble take on that comment is that it should be left where it belongs and not be accorded any serious consideration.
Get thee to some exercise..... move that body, wherever and whenever.
I agree with the comment about getting some exercise. Staying healthy and fit is rather more important than being 'Lepa shandy' at all cost. The extremes that people go to in the name of staying slim.
Meanwhile, the true conspiracy about the clothing shops is that the garment sizes are actually more generous than reality to flatter women. So if you are a size 16, you are actually a 20 in the original sizing chart!
But I guess not to worry as Curvy is the new 'thing'.
As for me, my prayer is Lord just continue to make me slim (as you have tried to over the years) and my friends VERY fat or fatter!!! Judge me if you like!
I remember with nostalgia the morning and the evening drills I had back in high school. I had gone to a military school that celebrated scholastic and athletic ability above aesthetics and sophistication. So I had naturally thought athletic activity was in my then acquired DNA. Fast-forward 20 years, I have had to make a mental note to hit the gym as the zeal did not come as naturally as I had imagined. No thanks to a desk bound job and a growingly sedentary lifestyle. Given that I am also vertically challenged I didn’t need an oracle to tell me to hit the gym.
Truth be told, it isn't easy to exercise o. While I have a high pain-threshold, it wasn’t long before I ended up with all sorts of complaints such as delayed onset muscle soreness, medial tibial stress and saddle sore from spinning classes which felt like I had an injection site abscess. From time to time I kept asking myself "who send me message" or “what kind of self inflicted trouble is this” but then again the cost of my gym membership and the anticipated mockery of the "lets-wait-and-see" brigade was an incentive for me to go on. Every bead of my sweat that dropped to the ground encouraged me to go on.
I think why most exercise beginners quit altogether is when they try to go too far just too soon or set their time using somebody else's clock. You will hear comments like “Lagbaja lost 10 kg in a month; Tamedu lost 15 kg in 6 weeks” and stuff like that but I was quick to remind myself that I am not Lagbaja nor Tamedu, and that everyone has a starting point. If I desire a sustainable fitness regimen, then slow and steady is surely the way to go and should in fact be my slogan. In no time I got 'exercise high' and actually did lose some weight. Then came the unusual show-off, exaggerated confidence and what I personally call the “medication rejection syndrome”. You see when a patient is taking a medication that helps them, once they are feeling better, they abandon the medication and in a short time they fall ill again because they are defaulting on their medication. And that is exactly my story but like a phoenix I shall rise again.
This exercise story nor bi for me as I know I don't have a weight issue( I don't have a problem with my weight as I need am to tie wrapper ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaa) na belle belle issue I get but I don come accept am say na my potion bi that and believe me since I accept am I come fine well well ask my friends
I have never been one to like exercise but I am trying I love to swim and ride my bike in the Summer and when it is warm.. So for people who take exercise serious what can I say MAY THE SUN Shine on your FAT so that e go melt and when the FAT melt RESULTS.
As for the post of 2nd Feb. The only thing I go say is speak for yourself
Na me (Minister of Enjoyment)
Oyinade , loving your comments. And definitely loving your phoenix analogy. I bet you are as colourful as one. Hope you are not a myth though....
I must admit I revel with amusement by the FAT PRAYER..from Foluke Ogunsekan. .lol. I come against every force of exercise that will allow my consumption of IYAN and EFO RIRO with PANLA/IGBIN come to a halt this evening. Lol. I can also write a diet programme book as I have been there, worn the badge. I soon realised and come to my own conclusion that if I am happy; feel healthy within me, compounded with the right food for me; then am good to go. I equip myself /attire well and don't look like someone who stockpiles. Lol. There is a lot of hype through media forums especially for us to look skinny rather than healthy. Our young ones succumb to this exaggerated and often misleading promotion. My daughter is forever watching herself and comparing what she looked like the day before to the present day and you dare wonder. It's scary to say the least. Yemi (Esther ).
"I don't have a problem with weight after all it is in the genes". "As a black person, my bones are bigger and heavier"."I be rabbit? Why should I be eating saladi?" These are the excuses we fool ourselves with as we sit down and clear one plate full of jollof rice, with dodo, assorted meat and salad that is more fattening than a tub of ice cream. Swiftly followed by 2 maltinas.
It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Go gym, exercise, eat a healthy meal cut down on the carbs (which is practically all our meals). We will get there soon. So please stop inviting me to those parties where the food sweet well well and then force me to takeaway food.
Yes, I am guilty. I have been meaning to post my comments but for some strange reasons I have not been able to until now.
Procrastination, there are a million and one things I would love to do but just can't be bothered to get up and initiate and get on with them. Shopping, cinema, site seeing, are a few of my favourite things.
I am good at not verbalising my plans, if they are not fulfilled, then I am safe, no one will be aware of my failure.
I am watching my diet, eating sensibly, I exercise, though that is a real struggle but it has to be done, love the element of surprise when I am told 'you are looking well, you have lost weight'. That makes me feel good. That is, I promised, fulfilled and succeeded. I have achieved what I set out to achieve, without making it known to anyone. That gives me a buzzzzzzzzz. Nothing beats a healthy lifestyle, it is a lot of discipline and a lot of hard-work, we can all do it. If we can control our diet or what we consume, that is, a bar of chocolate not two, a packet of crisp not three, a slice of cake not three, one or two toffees not a packet, we will live a healthy life style and control our diet to an extent if we are disciplined. Trust me it works
I do the gym but loath the idea, I dislike being told what to eat and what not to eat. Slimming classes don't do it for me. I cannot survive on their idea of healthy diet. I make up my diet as I go along and it works for me. I eat everything but in small quantity. I am sorry I cannot be deprived of what I love to eat, however
I eat them all in moderation.
Eat what makes you feel happy, good and healthy but in moderation, you will achieve results.
East well and live well.
We go party on Saturday and when leaving the celebrant pack jollof, fried rice, moi moi and meat for us as takeway. my head just dey calculate no cooking for husband tomorrow. First thing on Sunday before church thats what I ate & refused give hubby and pikin chop. How am I ever going lose weight.
All future takeaway party packs I cast you out and bind you. IJN
I do not make New Year resolutions but my hope/desire at the beginning of every year is that my life will progress than it was the previous year. This is because I believe that no matter what level one is in life, there is usually a higher/better level at the top to move to.
On the issue of health and fitness, I agree with you that we should not set our time on another's person's clock. Staying healthy and fit is important but going to the extreme to achieve the desired result may be detrimental to health. Scientists/researchers are confused on the issue of what to eat and not eat. What's true today may be discredited tomorrow. Everything (exercise & what we eat) should be done in moderation.
On the comment made by Anonymous 2nd Feb @ 10.39a.m., my view is that we should be free to criticize and commend others' comments but there should be no room for 'name calling'. I quite agree with Oyinade that if we all agreed on everything, conversation would get boring. We all view issues from different perspective and we should be free to make our comments without fear of derogatory remarks. FTA
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