My weight loss journey: Life Lessons, Failures. Successes & Everything in Between
Weight loss is not fun or glamorous. I am a testimony to this. My journey to weight loss or getting on the bandwagon of weight loss began in 2008. It was right before my wedding. Under the pressure of parents, the society to look a certain way on your BIG day casted this scarce feeling of not looking pretty enough. I started finding shortcuts to weight loss. I jumped on an expensive gym membership, tried multiple yoga studios, got into heat therapy to melt my fat, starved myself and ate a plate full of cucumbers and carrots for dinner for weeks. You name it, and I had tried all in just a couple of months to my wedding.
It was like an obsession which now makes absolutely no-sense to me. But decades have gone by, and I am not the same person anymore. My new evolved self knows better. Anyway, to cut the story short, once I got married I never bothered about weight loss. I was happy with my body and never felt it negatively affected my being or self worth. Yet, I did envy the fit women who aced their way with short skinny jeans and fitted tops.
As I got busy living an expat life, raising my two beautiful kids, and other things just sort of took higher priority in my life. Only when my youngest son turned 1 years old, that my focus started shifting to my own wellbeing. Unlike the past, this time my focus was on my HOLISTIC WELLBEING (not weight loss). Yes, I still wanted to lose weight & feel good in my body. But, my WHY SHIFTED. I no longer wanted to be fit to look a certain way, I wanted to be fit for my kids, and for my future self who would feel energetic all day, could keep up with my active boys. Hence, I started focusing on two aspects of health, mainly fitness and food. Mind you, at that time fitness still for me was my go to for all the bad eating, late night binging, indulging on more desserts than I should and more. In short, I became a fitness buff. I’d use most of my free time working out in a gym or running by the river. I’d come out of the gym which was in one of the hotels (at the time I was living in Kazakhstan) and would meet my girlfriend and splurge on a piece of cake from a cafe based in the Renaissance hotel. (this memory is so vivid, I’d treat myself for doing the extra 2k run in the gym). There isn’t anything wrong with working out but spending 1.5 hours in the gym was to me a punishment and hence I over indulged later.
This journey continued for years. I worked hard, starved for days and then over indulged. There were days I’d eat only salads and soups for that special day where I would try every dessert on the restaurant menu. I used to feel wonderful about my efforts which at the time was in reality 100% futile. I was in this vicious cycle of a yo yo dieting lifestyle. I’d try to hop on a seasonal diet (right before summer holidays, new years, anniversary, etc). I used to believe the only way to lose weight is to restrict the foods I love or enjoy eating. Gosh, it was an insanely torturous mindset. At the time, it felt normal and even true because everyone around me validated my beliefs. They were all sailing in the same boat- an hour of gym; six times a week, staying up hungry only to end up binge eating later, or dissecting nutrition into macros and micros and feeling shame and guilt for not adhering to the plan of eating right.
Although I was trying hard to lose weight and get fitter, I was still missing the BIG PICTURE. I wasn’t focusing on my long term health. I was seeking diet miracles to happen. This led to short term gains and led to backfiring all my efforts. It slowed my metabolism and messed up my hormones.
About 5 years ago, when I experienced a serious health challenge, I was forced to change the lens. I no longer cared what my weight was, how I looked. Although I continued my health journey, my goal was specific and crystal clear to me this time. I wanted to stay fit and live a long , disease free life. Sadly, I started realizing that everyone around me was suffering from some chronic condition or living with unexplained symptoms like muscular pain, period pains, hair loss, allergies, etc. Literally a whole spectrum of symptoms you can think of. The more I observed & listened to my friends & family, read and learnt through various education media, my curiosity kept growing. I was determined to know why we are getting sicker and why even young children are developing diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, asthma, ADHD, skin allergies, poor eyesight, etc. It still worries me to see the amount of packaged and highly processed items our kids are exposed to through various media channels which frankly I don’t even consider food .
I’d say that is when my REAL HEALTH JOURNEY BEGAN. I poured myself into books, got certified as a Health Coach, took my training in Holistic Nutrition and became a certified nutritionist. My hunger for knowledge didn’t end there, as I started feeling better, self combated my health challenges without the use of any medications, I started believing in the miracle of food for the very first time in my life. Truly, until then I don’t think I had made this connection deep enough. It was an AHA moment!! Yes, a WHOLE FOOD PLANT-BASED LIFESTYLE really healed me.
My empowered self stayed on course with this new lifestyle. Although, I faced many challenges which were to name a few like:
- Not knowing how to replace my dairy needs?
- Where to get my protein needs balanced daily?
- How to substitute ingredients to bake homemade goodies which I love doing for my kids?
- How to manage social gatherings and host dinner at home?
- How to manage my family’s food choices while catering to my own needs at the same time?
- Travel was another concern, how and where to get Vegan meals and how to prepare myself for long travels.
- Another challenge was to find Vegan ingredients which weren’t available on the Island I lived at the time in Nigeria.
- Finding ways to still be able to eat delicious Indian and Western meals without compromising on flavors and taste.
Despite all these challenges and more, I stayed true to my purpose. I knew in my heart that I have the power to heal and support my body. Although it took me years to figure out, I made many mistakes and learnt from it. Now all the pieces of the puzzle make sense to me. As a side effect I lost 50 pounds in approx 2 years. My hair grew longer than ever, my energy went through the roofs and my mood and anxiety settled for good. A secret which I’d not like to keep from you is when my health started getting better, I realized that the daily subtle aches in my body, monthly period pains, occasional acne, mood swings, snapping at small discomforts, my hair loss and my restless sleep were all connected. It was all the damaged pieces of the same big puzzle- my Holistic Health. I then realized that for so many years I was living a reductionist life. My paradigm towards true well being shifted almost 360 degrees.
I am only grateful for the awakening I experienced through a rough patch in my life when I was diagnosed with PCOS, mild depression and to say the least a life where I felt I needed to gasp air to feel alive everyday. This has been my journey with bits that I wanted to share with you. I know people who have been in touch with me or know me enough can feel and understand this to an extent. For the rest of you, here is what and how my journey unfolded. A complete shift as I say that brought health, happiness and freedom to live life without restriction.
This transformation didn’t stop there, as I embraced this lifestyle by simply staying true to my journey while restoring my health, soon my family started following my lead. It felt almost like a river taking its own course but at the end merging together at its final destination which is long term health and happiness. We as a family follow a plant dominant lifestyle with focus on disease free health, vitality and sustainable future for our innocent counterparts (animals) and our planet.
And this message is for you, it doesn’t have to be perfect, because perfection is just a false delusion of mind and in my perspective hinders growth.