IT STARTS WITH A FEW STEPS

Have you ever wanted something so bad that you just wished you could get it immediately? Well, that’s how fitness goes for most people, they want the easy to look good, they don’t want to sweat to get what they want, I am going to give you a shortcut and that is hard work! You have to work hard to achieve anything you want and if you are still looking for a shortcut, well I guess this post is not meant for you, because for a few minutes out of your precious time, I am going to be sharing my fitness journey, of which I didn’t take the easy road.

From my previous posts, some of you might have figured that I was overweight and unhappy teenager, and so on, well that’s how it usually starts for most people, they are always unhappy or being called ‘too fat’, or they just want to fit into some nice clothes and impress their boyfriends and oppress their girlfriends. No matter how it starts with you, one thing that is sure is the right mind. Also, a lot of things might be obstructing, work, family, stress, financial issues, self esteem, no matter that road block, you must always have it at the back of your mind that you are going somewhere and you cannot let all the negativity around you sink you. But first you must love yourself, the more you love yourself the more you want to progress. Self love kind of a big deal with me, ‘cause back then, I would write on my social media accounts on how I hated my body and how I looked, I was happy when I would hear ‘deola you are not fat, you are just chubby’ and other bullshits, I was killing me slowly unknown to me. Another important fact I want to pull out is that we should always deal with our problems first by ourselves before we invite relevant people to help you with them. We cannot do anything in this life successfully without first dealing with the issues in our minds, before one gets married, you have to deal with all your emotions, find out if you love the person and want to spend the rest of your life with the person, deal with the fact that it’s no longer going to be about you but the two of you. That's exactly how everything else goes, the mind and the body work in accordance. I failed to deal with my mind before I began my weight loss journey. Don’t say its just weight loss, it’s not just weight loss, its a psychological journey that requires the joint effort of the mind and the body. You need to know if its something you need to do, or something you just want to do because people are saying bs.

On this very bright Sunday, I had posted on my social media account as usual about how no boy wants to date a fat girl, and one of my friends, whom I was not even close to sent me a message and said ‘deola , why complain too much about you hate yourself, when you can change it’. I didn’t get what he was saying at first, but later he explained to me that I could work out and go on a diet and all. Prior to that time, I didn’t believe anyone could lose so much weight, I thought all the weight loss stories I read were just lies and people use drugs and starve themselves, as I have tried to go on a diet myself and it lasted for about 3 hours, I would even try to go jogging, but I don’t make it past the gate, I would run back in the house. After so many talks, I decided to give in and we started jogging together, he was a footballer so he gave me the footballer style.  We would jog and do other workout, he also told me to change the way I eat so I cut down soft drinks, crabs, junks, and most especially noodles which I ate in large portions. Before you go on weight loss journey and you want to change the way you eat, try and find out what you eat most that makes you look the way you look, for some people their body shape is a family thing (another topic for another day).

The motivation was present, but the drive wasn’t there, which the most important thing, a car is there to be moved, but it can’t move if you don’t push it to move. I had my friend to motivate me to work out, my weight itself was a motivation, I read success stories which also stood as motivation, for a normal person, all these should be a start to want something good, but being ‘abnormal’, I needed something more, I needed a drive, I wanted something that would just accelerate me, and like most of you I wanted that fast lane, but sometimes, its always good to be abnormal, because you are definitely not thinking the way others are thinking, therefore you will not do what ‘others’ are doing. This very day, I was having lunch with my sister and we were gossiping as usual and we talked about my childhood friend who happens to be her in law, she told me this girl was then a size 10, I didn’t believe it because this was someone who wore a size 16 or thereabout and never in anyway complained about her weight, how come she lost so much, I didn’t believe it, so I went on facebook, searched for her and voila! It was true, she lost weight, not just little weight but a lot of weight, at the moment part of me felt sad for me, part of me was jealous of that achievement and part of me wanted to compete and be better. That was my last heavy meal, that day marked my last soft drink, still i was confused on how to start, so I looked at my hand and like Moses in the bible, the powerful tool that looked ordinary I had to use to cross my red sea was my blackberry torch 1. Most times in life we have that powerful tool that could change our lives, it might look funny to us but it might actually change our lives, I had the chance to download workout videos, check out success stories, instead I was using it to body shame myself and show the world my vulnerability. I made realistic goals and I decided right there in my heart I was going to lose weight before December.

I had some people to join me, we went out to jog in the morning and I did home workouts in the evening. I changed the way I ate, added veggies to my every meal, I ate protein and fruits a lot, green tea. It was hard at first, I mean for a very large and portion-less eater, I starred at every food and wanted to devour them at sight, but I had to remind myself of the goal I have set and how dedicated I have to be to my goal. I still ate most of food I craved but I did control my portion, I did eat noodles, but instead of 2 packs, I ate one small pack with lots of veggies and egg white, I ate white rice, but it was like twice in a week with lots of veggies. I usually advice people to stop going on ‘diet’ and be realistic to themselves, if you stay away from certain foods it can only last for a while and when you eventually see the food, you might not be able to control yourself, just take it easy on yourself and know that Rome wasn’t built in a day, the Eiffel tower wasn’t made in one week, therefore, that beach body will take a while to evolve.

Also, I had to deal with criticisms from people, my parents and some friends. My dad and mum didn’t make it easy on me, when they realized that I was losing so much weight, they began to complain, saying different things. That’s on major thing we have to conquer as humans, the opinion of others will always come up at every stage in our lives, positive or negatives, you just have to be stubborn about whatever you want for yourself. I believe in pushing oneself to the point where you cannot push again, as humans we are capable of doing anything we want, we can achieve anything we want because God Himself has put that possibility in us, we just have to find a drive.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a few steps. i took mine 2 years ago, and i may not where i want to be but im better, more confident and fairer than where i was. Take that step today and trust me the only decision you will regret is the one you did not take. 

Email me on krenadesanya@gmail.com for further questions or comments or follow me on instagram @kingkren