I wrote about my rollercoaster weight loss journey a few years ago and would like to update my readers the status of my weight and health. Reflecting and agreeing with Valerie Bertinelli when she said, “After a lifetime of losing and gaining weight, I get it. No matter how you slice it, weight loss comes down to the simple formula of calories in, calories out,” I have been able to maintain my weight for a few years now. It has not been easy, but my mindset is congruent with Jean Nidetch who said, “Weight loss can change your whole character. That always amazed me: Shedding pounds does change your personality. It changes your philosophy of life because you recognize that you are capable of using your mind to change your body.”
In any case, my journey started in the sizzling summer of 2008 when my brother-in-law, Hon. Kingsley Ugwu was on his way back to Nigeria after his brief summer stay with us. I drove him to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) for outbound flight. At the DFW airport terminal, he began to weigh and reshuffle his luggage to meet the weight requirement of the airliner. As he was transferring some items from one luggage to another, I seized the moment to step on the giant scale to weigh myself.
Sadly, the reading was so alarming to cause me to pulse and wonder if it was accurate. I repeated the process more than three times to ensure that I was not reading the scale incorrectly, but I was still getting the same value, about 260 pounds. I never knew I was carrying as much pounds in a 5 feet 10.5 inches frame as the scale indicated. There and then I became very conscious of my weight the first time in my life. That was the first step in a stunning admittance that something must be done to urgently remedy the situation. But how to go about dealing with the issue was more troubling and confusing to say the least.
Prior to this time, I had been getting thinly veiled admonition from my family members who had wished I could prevent my weight from exploding. They were afraid to make it an issue for fear of hurting my feelings. At that time, I didn’t want to hear anything about my weight. In fact, it was making me uncomfortable to discuss it which made me to resort to defensive mode. I was avoiding every situation that could bring up the issue of heavy-set body. Apparently, my mind was not fertile to accept the reality of my obese body. “To most people, the term “obesity” means to be very overweight. Health professionals define “overweight” as an excess amount of body weight that includes muscle, bone, fat, and water. “Obesity” specifically refers to an excess amount of body fat.”
But the airport scale revealed to me what people could not persuade me to acknowledge about my weight all along. Also, in an attentive look in a full-length mirror in my bathroom unveiled a staggeringly less than a sculptured body that was there all along staring at me, but I refused to see it. Without describing the details of what the mirror revealed, one could imagine that the image had little to be desired and its admiration was totally absent. In fact, that scale was a rude awakening and a catalyst that sparked my journey to losing a whopping 70 pounds over several years. And I have since kept the weight off
Similarly, reading up weight-related diseases, I realized there are multiple diseases associated with obesity and physical inactivity that are now bringing about mortality all over the world thereby reducing people’s lifespan. According to the US National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, “Research studies have shown that obesity increases the risk of developing a number of health conditions including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke, colon cancer, post-menopausal breast cancer, endometrial cancer, gall bladder-disease, osteoarthritis, and obstructive sleep apnea. Overweight and obesity and their associated health problems have a significant economic impact on the U.S. Health care system (USDHHS, 2001).”
So, conscious of my weight situation, I took some significant steps to reduce my size to avoid any of those diseases. I did not want to be desperate; I wanted to be deliberate and thoughtful in my actions to avoid any wafting plan. I tried to cut down on the portion size of the foods I eat, but with minimal results. Later, I incorporated some physical activities—walking for 20 minutes five times a week and reached a sudden and discouraging plateau. The snag was enough to stop me, but I did not quit. The fleeting lifestyles in the second half of 2008 and first part of 2009 laid the foundation for today’s sustainable success. But what did I do to achieve success in my weight loss and physical fitness? For educational purposes, I detail later the steps I took, the intermittent failures, and tweaking of activities in the throes of achieving a lifestyle transformation.
First of all, I am not neither a weight loss expert nor a dietician. Also, I am neither a physical fitness expert nor a trainer. I only found my niche and worked within my comfort zone in my journey. What worked for me may not work for someone else. I simply researched and gleaned ideas from the information I gathered and I applied them to my situation. So, it would be safe to say that I utilized mosaic of ideas to achieve weight loss and physical fitness.
I could not have reached my goal, weight loss and physical fitness, without a combination of eating heaty and engaging in both cardio and strength activities. I wouldn’t have a toned body in the absence those variables. If I had focused on diet alone, I would have stalled at a certain point forcing me to resort to near starvation, which would be detrimental to my health. Additionally, losing weight hurriedly and without intense physical activities would result in a sagging body that would require an expensive surgery to remove the excess skin.
The unintended consequence of my journey was the inculcation of healthy habits. Exercise alone could not have done the magic. I had to remove some harmful foods from my diet to achieve success. I tend to believe now that 95% of my health depends on what I eat. As a result, I eat healthy.