From fat to fit

It is amazing to me coming across so many people’s life stories as I surf through the world wide web. Different people with the same goal, getting and staying fit and healthy for the long haul.

Seems like yesterday when I was an overweight kid who was constantly reminded that she would be an obese adult. As a kid, there is only so much to worry about; what present to ask for the next birthday, if the best friend would like to play or even if mom would let toe nails be painted a certain colour.

For me, it was that I was the biggest girl in my class. I was not only fat, my genes gave me a body type that made it difficult to fit into regular sized clothes for kids my age. I was tall and heavy boned and awkward about it all

As I became a teenager, I was told that if I wanted to be skinny, I would have to stop eating. Eating three times a day? No that was taboo. The road to skinny involved eating perhaps one or two scrap meals and exercising the crap out of my body. I did this. For many years. Well into my twenties. I was worried about gaining weight from having children.

I had my first baby 9 months after I got married and the weight came right off. My eat-less-exercise-more principle seemed to be the only way to regain my body confidence. After my second baby, the real struggle began. My weight yo-yoed for a whole year till I was very close to giving up.

In 2012, I discovered a whole new way to fitness. I discovered that I didn’t have to starve to get back into shape. I discovered that contrary to what I was told years earlier, I could actually get back my teen body and keep the weight off for good.

Seemed like a no brainer. It is the universal principle that any health and fitness expert would tell you. Eat for your goals. It is not ok to exercise till the cows come home. Food is the actual substance that fuels physical activity.

The less one eats the less the body is able to burn fat and lose weight properly and sustainably regardless of exercise. The less you eat the less adequately you are able to function…literally. The point? EAT! Now people take this literally and go all out.

All foods are not made equal and some are definitely greater than others. Don’t believe me? You can choose to get a regular size pack of French fries or the equivalent quantity of sweet potato mash. Both are high in carbs, but your body will gain more nourishment from one instead of the other. So going all out is not an option. Remember some simple rules:

Eat according to your activity or goals i.e. for weight loss (calorie input is less than caloric energy expended), weight gain (caloric input is more than energy expended) and weight maintenance (calorie input equals energy expenditure)
Pick whole foods for a majority of your food intake
Cheat meals are not a taboo as long as they don’t become excessive
Get and remain active as much as you can
Get checkups from time to time.
Read up on current fitness and nutrition data from reliable sources. People are very easily carried away by nonfactual data that sound interesting especially those offering quick fixes

The last point brings me to my next point. Remember there are no quick fixes. It’s alright to take good quality supplements as long as they don’t become the main sources of nutrition.

The journey to health and fitness never ends. It only gets better and better. I started mine with FitnessPlus. Maybe it’s time you started yours after reading this article. Join me on http://www.fitnessplusng.com/

This is a feature by Fitnessplusng.