Author: chinonsoamandaugwu

It was in 2015, I was in my third year at the university and had earlier gained some weight. I calculated my BMI (Body Mass Index) and it was about 27. The ideal BMI is between 18–24 kg/m². So, I had to lose about 6–8kg and I knew it wouldn’t be an easy task.

I was unsuccessful in my weight loss journey from 2015 to 2017 despite the various exercises I was engaged in during that period. I did lose 2kg at one point, which I later gained back and lost again within that timeline.

It was in 2018 that I realised that by not paying attention to my diet, I would be unable to achieve much result. I made a resolve there and then to work on my diet and I decided to try out three things:

1. To eat with a small plate.

2. To drink more water while eating.

3. To reduce my carbohydrates and eat more proteins.

I was a student then and didn’t have much money to buy lean meat like chicken (not to be fried) and fish,  I resorted to increasing my beans intake. 🙂

Initially, using the small plate to eat (in order to reduce the food quantity) wasn’t easy. For the first 2–3 weeks, I would usually eat one serving spoon extra. After a while, I got used to the small quantity of food and I no longer needed to “fill” my stomach with water while eating.

At a point in time, I took my mind off losing weight to eating healthy by maintaining the small quantity of food and  increasing my vegetables and protein intake.

It was sometime in 2021 that I remembered how large my belly fat used to be and the very significant change that had taken place.

Sometimes, weight loss shouldn’t be the ultimate goal. It could take months or a few years to achieve some goals. Rather, healthy eating and exercising should be maintained as a lifestyle in order to prevent a lot of diseases that can make one’s old age miserable. While doing this, weight loss is usually achieved effortlessly.

 

Do you remember the 3 key areas for weight loss we mentioned in the previous article? Diet, physical activity level and exercise? I knew you would😊!

Today we will be learning about physical activity and exercise.

Physical activity involves the movements we make while carrying out our daily activities. For example, the movements we make while going to work/school/ the market, during recreation, while we are within our work place, like walking, swimming, strolling, dancing and so on.

Movements that involve large muscles in our bodies, like those in our legs, break down more calories (e.g walking, jogging). So for some individuals whose occupations involve sitting in a spot for long hours, (e.g bankers), have higher tendencies of being overweight. This is because of their low physical activity level.

These individuals consume a lot of high calorie foods or snacks but cannot burn most of the calories due to their sedentary lifestyle. This leads to weight-gain, and in some cases – Obesity.

There are recommended levels of physical activity (according to WHO) for different age groups. It is recommended that one looks up these recommendations and put them to practice.

On the other hand, one may wonder the difference between physical activity and exercise. Exercise is planned, it is intentional and specific. This means that the exercise plan is designed to achieve the specific aim that the client wants.

For instance, if the client wants to lose belly fat, the plan would be to engage the individual in abdominal exercises and aerobics. The aerobics would burn the underlying fat why the abdominals would help tone-up the muscle.

Clients who would like to build their muscles e.g biceps 💪 , chest muscles, the muscles in their legs or even their butt, would engage in more of resistance or weight-lifting exercises.

Hence, while most exercises target certain areas of the body, physical activities work on the general body most times.

In all, increase your physical activity level today ( if it is low) and you may consider registering at a gym to kick-start your exercises. Most important, your diet should be balanced with proteins and vegetables. Your calorie intake (especially the carbohydrates) should also be low.