Apr 10, 2018
Read Only if You Want to Lose Some Weight..
When I was about 7 or 8 years old, one of my dear aunts bought me and all my other cousins' books for Christmas. I unwrapped mine and saw the book title “Don’t Call Me Fatso”, I honestly don’t remember how I felt but I know she gave me the book because I was constantly being teased about my weight.
The battle of the fats was one I fought (or tried to fight) all through primary school till luckily I went off to experience the hard life called boarding school and lost most of the weight. I yoyo’d a bit all through then till university and thereafter, and eventually settled into a very “chubby” position.
I don’t remember ever being sad about my weight though but I, however, remember that even though I was teased mercilessly about it, I was never really bothered (pass me some more cake and chinchin please).
Losing weight has always been a goal I carried over year after year but never really did anything about till 7 years ago when I decided to actually do something. Now, I have never been a “gym rat”, in fact, I am almost certain I haven’t been in a gym more than 10 times, so I knew it would be easier for me to start from what I could immediately influence: a change in diet. I found a weight loss consultant and signed up for a 5-month programme, lost about 12 kg (without any real exercise) which I slowly gained back after the 5 month period. I guess I lost motivation.
Fast forward to February 2017 and I decided enough was enough, I can do this, so I decided to follow a ketogenic diet (basically a low carb, high fat, and moderate protein diet) which I modified to my taste. From then till now, I have lost a total of about 22kg largely with little exercise.
I decided to share a bit of what I have done and maybe encourage a few people who may want to win this battle. There are 3 main things I have done/ tried to do within the last 15 months;
1. Refocus what I eat by reducing intake of carbs
2. Overdose on water
3. Try and move around a bit more
Reducing carbs was easier than I thought, as long as I could eat meats, fruits, and vegetables, I was fine. Overdosing on water was also easy as I have always had a love- love relationship with drinking water. Moving around was and still is the hardest as I can become very comfortable sitting in one spot for hours as long as I have either a book or internet access, so I try to walk around when I can and take stairs instead of lifts. If I hit the gym, in one month, all the 6 packs will show! hahaha!!!
Last month, I saw the #FastingWithAkins challenge on Instagram and decided to participate. To be honest, I never knew I could complete the challenge but I decided not to overthink it and just do it. Now, 40 days after, I made it!!! I am not at my all-time goal weight but I am much closer than I was when I started last year.
The #FastingWithAkins challenge
5 days (120 hours) on a water fast and then “OMAD”: One Meal A Day, for the rest of the month. You fast for 23 hours of the day and have a window of 1 hour to eat (not feast) your meal. The standard of a meal is clean: no white flour or similar mucus-forming foods, healthy fats, greens, and fruits. Living electric food. No snacking. Just water and herbal teas.
Why Did I Do It?
I realised that one of the fastest and healthiest ways of losing weight is to detox: basically fast as this cleanses one's digestive system. Only then could I lose a bit more weight again.
What I Did
1. Water fast for the first 10 days (March 1- 10) because I wasn’t completely faithful on the “no eating during the 5-day water fast”.
2. One meal a day every day for 30 days (March 11- April 9) because I just felt I could do 40 days instead of 30 days.
What I Ate and Drank After the Water Fast
1. Chicken
2. Fish
3. Eggs
4. Beans (inc. moinmoin)
5. Vegetable soups (greens, okro, etc)
6. Leafy salads (cabbage, lettuce, etc)
7. Fruits and its relatives (red grapes, banana, watermelon, carrots, cucumber)
8. Tomatoes and peppers
9. Pepper soup (fish or chicken)
10. Water
11. Green tea
What I Didn’t Eat and Drink
1. Red meat (inc. entrails)
2. Bread (white or brown or whatever)
3. Sugar (white, brown, honey, or substitutes)
4. Carbs (rice, yam, potato, garri, etc)
5. Processed food (canned, tinned, or boxed)
6. Pastries & biscuits (cakes, pies, chips, etc)
7. Chocolates (brown, white, or dark)
8. Pasta or noodles
9. Milk (inc. skimmed, semi-skimmed, and natural)
10. Fizzy drinks (sodas, etc)
11. Wine (alcoholic or non- alcoholic)
What I Cheated With
1. Groundnuts
2. Lemonade
3. Salad dressing
What I Experienced
I was fine by the end of Day 1 of the water fast but by Day 2, I was already having dizzy spells so I had a little watermelon and groundnuts at night and some more on the morning of Day 3. I also ate some grapes and vegetables on a couple of nights.
By Day 3, I was fully woozy but I could manage to walk around and drive as long as I had good rest in between. By Day 5, I started having these horrible headaches and slight fever, it was hard to focus much so I just made sure I rested well but I still had to work and drive around. Dizziness, headaches, and fever are some of the side effects of the water fast, this proves that “cellular cleansing” is taking place.
I had forgotten what hunger felt like by Day 5 and by Day 10 when I decided to end it, I had to force myself to finish a cup of yoghurt. I gradually eased back into eating with vegetables, salads, and eventually chicken. The headaches eventually subsided by Day 13 or so.
What I Noticed
1. I lost a total of approx. 8 kg (visible reductions in stomach, waist, and thighs)
2. My face is noticeably slimmer and slightly smoother
3. My eyesight improved slightly
4. Blood pressure reduced slightly
Is this eating plan sustainable in the long run? Maybe, maybe not but I am not about to find out. I honestly miss my carbs so I will definitely be eating them albeit in a more controlled manner. I will, however, adopt an intermittent fasting lifestyle going forward.
Why Did I Write This?
I follow quite a number of weight loss/ diet promoters on social media and I realised most of the weight loss stories were from women. It seems all the guys are successfully maintaining 6 packs in the gym and we all know that isn’t true. So this is for anyone who wants to lose weight (man or woman) for whatever reason. If you want to lose it, then you can, just take each day as it comes, find someone to be accountable to if you need that, and just get along with it!
*I have included a few links for information purposes only. Please do your own research before attempting to do this and like they say “consult your doctor first”. I was my own doctor, lol.
