I want to lose weight so bad

Fitness is a journey not a destination, even though you may reach your desired body/health goal, you cannot pitch your tent, you have to constantly work towards even maintaining that body.

Truth is we all have different bodies and they work differently and respond differently, that been said... the rules remain the same it’s all about the calories, in and out.

I read an article that said something about work outs being almost useless if you were looking to drop counts on the scale.

Working out will keep you looking and healthy and young, its equally good for weight maintenance, however if your goal is to lose a substantial amount of weight, say you want to drop sizes especially on your waist line then it’s all about what goes into your mouth.

The idea of counting calories usually seems ambiguous to many but you have to at least take note of what you eat and how it affects your weight.

To reduce the complication, here is a simple scenario:

- All my life I’ve eaten about 2500 calories per day, my typical menu looks like this;

Breakfast- 4 slices of white bread, 3 fried eggs and a big cup of chocolate beverage

Lunch- Jollof rice with fried plantain and fried chicken

Dinner- Semolina meal (swallow) with egusi and 2 beef.

Snacks- Biscuit and a fizzy soda.

I’m certain this menu may exceed 2500 Calories, say this is my typical meal day in day out for years and years. My body would have added all this weight and adjusted to a weight maintenance of whatever size I am, if I increase the calorie intake, say I add another snack like pizza, best believe over a few weeks I will see the effect on the scale.

To lose this weight I must first of all cut down on my daily 2500 intake to about 1500 if I want to see results quickly. I need at least 3 month of eating 1500 daily to see good progress.

This is what my new menu will look like;

Breakfast- A green smoothie, a cup of black coffee or tea (I have to have coffee every morning) and 1 slice of wheat bread toasted with one boiled egg.

Lunch- Steamed cabbage carrot and green beans (veggies) with grilled chicken

Dinner- Fish pepper soup

Snack- fresh carrot or apple (a fruit)

I am doing a minimum of 450 calories per meal and 150 for snacks. Doing this consistently for 3 months, you will lose nothing less than 5kg, most likely more.
I have found that the key is discipline and consistency, and when you add working out, you'll see even better results as your body starts to shape up.

Here are 5 tips to that help me eat healthy and maintain consistency.

Determination- Sincerely I don’t know what else will keep you going if you are not determined... part of what fuels my determination is following a lot of fitness pages on social media, so I'm constantly bombarded with pictures, articles of everything fitness and healthy meal ideas, for me that’s a reminder of where I want to be and it keeps me going.

Cut down on carbs and refined sugar- Stop wasting calories, carbs and refined sugars assist in wasting calories. Think about this, a slice of red velvet cake with cheese frosting is about 350 calories, that’s already almost all the calories in one of the day’s meal and trust me that slice will not satisfy the hunger, you will only crave more of it and feel bad after.

Meal prep- Oh how much can I emphasize meal prepping to myself and others like me, sincerely I sing this to myself all the time. With my ridiculous 9-5 more like 8-8 like I say... lol, it’s almost impossible to get it done, but I do. I plan my breakfast, lunch, dinner snack etc. and the days I don't best believe I go off on a different tangent.

Go to bed early- Not getting enough sleep impacts on your weight lose or gain, a lot of people add weight when they are stressed, I think I might be in that category or more like my body just freezes and doesn’t respond plus when you are tired during the day from not enough sleep, there is a high tendency to grab a snack here or drink a soda there. I try to get a least 6hours of sleep.

Drink water- This point has been flogged and flogged and over flogged, I drink minimum of 3 liters every day, it helps us with everything, I know you know what I'm talking about, from clearing out my acne, keeping me full when I’m puckish but not hungry, aiding with bowel movement. Etc. Khloe Kardashian said she drinks water until she gets that feeling that feels like your organs are drowning. I'm sure you know the feeling. DRINK WATER

Be accountable- This one is just my own personal addition to the list, its helps me out to have someone looking out for me and me doing the same, we share pictures of our meals if were not in the same location, we share weekly menus etc. This helps me a lot.

OK, I'll leave it right here for now, but I’ll be back with more fitness stories, failures and success as we proceed.

Peace!