(Google pix)Ever since I embarked on my weight loss journey in June, several things and people have tried to put me down. Its something that I have never been able to understand to this date. Losing weight in Ghana takes a lot of hard work and determination due to the following reasons:
- There are lots of carbs in our staples- rice, cassava, yam, potato. etc.
- Vegetables are very expensive here and one can't always eat kontonmire and light soup.
- Our lifestyles usually leave us eating very late at night and going to bed afterwards.
Other reasons why it is difficult is because of the people we find around us. Its like some people just want you to fail. I mean, its not my fault is I have set a goal for myself and they haven't. Here are some of the annoying things that people do.
- They tell you to lose weight and later tell you there is nothing with drinking soda drinks which are high in empty calories. Where is that contradiction coming from?
- They buy pastries as presents for you instead of healthier options like fruits.
- They laugh in disbelief when you try to share your progress and achievements with them.
- Some even go to the extent of gossiping about you and cooking up reasons for your decision to lose weight such as, the love of your life left you for a slimmer babe or that you have personality issues. Imagine that!
I remember one incident where I refused to eat the creamed salad that was added to my rice. A colleague of mine just started giving me looks and calling me a self conceited person for that. Is it by force to eat something I don't like? Eh?
Now I'm saying all these from personal experience. After losing 10kgs and hitting a plateau ( which i'm gonna break soon), I found a way to prevent the enemies of my progress from getting to me.
- I distanced myself from all those who only said negative things about my goals.
- I worked harder to prove to them that I could accomplish anything once I set my mind to do so.
- I talked to people who supported my decision to lose weight.
- I accepted the fact that people are always gonna try to pull you down no matter what.
Now, these can apply to you in other scenarios and not necessarily the one spelt out here. I'm sure that with these pointers, you can do absolutely anything.....
Today is Friday so, have a drink with friends after work to relax and enjoy the start of a wonderful weekend.
Cheers
Nice job losing 10kg!
ReplyDeleteYou've done the right thing distancing yourself from the negative ones. Good luck over that hump.
lol!! been trying to loose some weight myself but its really hard coz i come home after 7pm.
ReplyDeleteand so i eat like around 9pm.
Also been working out to build my abs and generally to buff up but my gym partner is not as motivated as I am so i a week we end up going to the gym like 3 times in a week.
I seriously need to change my working out schedule and partner.
@ Mike: Thanks for the motivation and encouragement. I will do my best.
ReplyDelete@ Bonti: Maybe you can try a light dinner or eat a late lunch. I know what it feels like to have an execise partner who is not as motivated as you are. I have one in my house.LOL!! Maybe we can help each other through our fitness goals.. :-)
Separate the wheat from the chaff. Good job in cutting out negative people from your life. I often don't even tell people certain things in order to avoid their incessant negativity. Surround yourself with people who truly have your best interests at heart. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSpot on! Congratulations on losing 10KGs. I always thought it would be easier to lose weight in Ghana compared to the US since there were fewer junk food temptations. How wrong I was. As you said, in Ghana vegetables are more expensive, high carb diet, lack of calorie information on like most dishes and of course discouragement from many people. I'm currently trying to eat less and do a walking work-out. However, when I walk in the morning, the people I meet just creep me out! So it has been a real battle and the kilos are just piling on. *Sigh*
ReplyDeletetrue thing...i'm not a small person myself and i have the ability to lose weight from time to time due to the fact that my mum studied nutrition in uni and has been able to socialize me into literally knowing the difference. however,i have this bad habit of letting myself go just when i start getting comfortable in my new skin(after i lose some) and consequently,i end up gaining more weight than was previously lost.then there are those people who see you when you put on a little and would say(with a rather disgusted look on their faces) "hhhm,you've gained weight papa!" or more rudely and much more common "Eii,you've become FAAAT oh".these same ol' people would meet you again when you've shed some kilos and would once again say(with the afore mentioned 'disgusted look')"AH!,you've lost weight oh!why,are you sick?"...no encouragement whatsoever!!!...why do ghanaian people make obesity seem like a mark of opulence...*shaking my head*.but as for the fellow girlfriends,they'd rather have some of us fat and overflowing...men are hard to come by these days and the less competition,the better!lol....
ReplyDeletelol that i'm now reading this article AD 2012! i love your postings though Enyo. As someone who's lost 20 kg in ghana before and 10 kg since i came to the US 6 months ago, i think that it's tough losing weight everywhere! the trick is not to try to use a method for weight loss that's more suitable to another environment, i think. so for example, when i wanted to lose weight in ghana, i didnt attempt to use going to the gym, eating salads, counting cups and calories etc because that was relatively harder to do in ghana (but easier for me to do now that i'm in the states). i concentrated on eating more whole foods, fruits, grilled fish like salmon, herrings, grilled chiken and ghanaian veges because these are in abundance in ghana (believe me we eat a lot of veges traditionally in ghana like kontomire, garden eggs, okro, light soup, beans- the trick is to keep the oil extremely low and boil things rather than fry). also, i realized that our ghanaian dishes are carbohydrate intensive so instead of eating a plateful of jollof rice 3 times daily, i chose to do the following: a small bowl of porridge/ oats/ ekwegbemi in the morning with a little sugar and sunrise soymilk (nothing in addition no bread or koose or donuts, i realized that i needed to eat a lot of bread to get full so i opted out of the bread, margarine, milo breakfast); a good lunch (i took lunch to work so that i wouldn't have to buy oily ones outside) and fruits for supper (bananas, oranges and groundnuts- making sure not to overdo the groundnuts and bananas). i walked for 30 mins every morning and voila after 6 months (the weight came off slowly) i lost 20 kg! well done for the good job,E.
ReplyDelete