WITH this concluding part of my piece, I will attempt to answer some questions raised by some readers. Similarly, I will share some re­actions from some of the readers.

Well, since I wrote two parts of ‘My Per­sonal Journey to Weight Loss,’ I have re­ceived numerous reactions, as well as some questions from a swath of readers.

First of all, I am 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 will be safe to say that I utilized mosaic of ideas to achieve weight loss and physical fitness.

Barrister Emmanuel Iko Ojotu from Lon­don wrote, “I consider your trimmed and fit figure a consequence of diet and exercise.” He asked the following questions: “But couldn’t help wondering if doing either alone couldn’t have been sufficient for your present shape of health and fitness?” “Could your exercise re­gime on its own not have delivered your present shape and health?” “Could your diet of beans, vegetables and fruits on its own not have deliv­ered it?”

I could not have reached my goal, weight loss and physical fitness, without a combination of eating healthy 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.

Prof. Vic Agbasi commented, “Congratula­tions, Dr. Orabuchi, and thanks for sharing your story. It is inspirational and the achievement is not only commendable but worth celebrating. You have demonstrated, unequivocally, that tar­geted and healthy weight loss – though daunting – is practically doable. Persistence is the key and motivation is the driver. Again, congratulations!”

Chief Ken Jerry Ike reacted, “Dr. Acho, it’s good that you took time to explain how you got to where you are in your weight loss pro­gram. There have been rumors and specula­tions that you may have undergone a weight loss surgery like gastric bypass, adjustable gastric banding and sleeve gastrectomy to be able to achieve such enormous weight loss. A guy at one point said that he will dare you to show your stomach before he could be convinced that you did not do anything other than physical activities and dieting to achieve your result.

Though you do not owe anyone any expla­nations, educating us would help some us to focus on our health. Sharing with us how to be healthy is commendable.”

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Philip commenting from Allen, Texas said, “I was reading an article “My personal jour­ney to weight loss” written by my friend Dr. Acho Orabuchi which was published by The Sun Newsonline dated June 2nd, 2016. It was an interesting article considering the fact that Acho and I, for several months had very intensive and exhausting walking competi­tion in an effort to shed some weight.

While it had been fun competing and en­joying every aspect of the competition, the question is; has the completion helped to­wards achieving our individual goals?

The answer is in the affirmative. Anybody who knew Dr. Orabuchi, prior to his journey to weight loss will notice a significant change in his present weight. As for me, the competi­tion has helped to some extent, however, the difference between Dr. Orabuchi’s amazing weight loss and my own not-very-significant weight loss was dependent upon the level of determination to achieve. Dr. Orabuchi kept his appetite and craving in check and I did not.”

Philip continued, “Back to the competi­tion, Dr. Orabuchi introduced me to the Nike + App. This is an App that maps your route while tracking your walking, jogging, or run­ning distance. It also tracks your pace, time and burnt calories. Between me and Dr. Ora­buchi, the App was a motivator.

It encouraged fierce competition between both of us. I remember some months when we challenged each other to see who will be the first to walk 200 miles. Some months I won, some other months Dr. Orabuchi won. Notwithstanding who won or who lost, one thing that the App did to my fitness plan was to help me realize that the best way to stick to my workout plan was to track my activities and stick to them.”

“Dr. Orabuchi has been my friend for a long time, however, I quickly found out that this App enhanced our relationship; Acho showed me how a friend can affect one’s life­style changes by just introducing one to sim­ple social media Apps, such as Nike + App, which turned out to be powerful in changing my habits, as well as a lot of fun competing with one’s pal.”

Odoemena concluded, “indeed, fitness competition against Dr. Orabuchi was fun. During the months that we competed, I had under my belt 725 total miles of walking and averaged about 15 minutes per a mile. One other thing that motivated me to exercise and to compete with Dr. Orabuchi (walking) was some type of bragging rights that went along with the competition, especially, the times that I won.”