Next year, an improvement on 2012, and other resolutions

When I look back at 2012 it will probably be the year that held the greatest, most positive change in my life.

I know, all of you know I am a mother by now. I have been talking about my baby (I am so in love with her) on here and everywhere. I also became a wife to a man who inspired me to become a better version of myself and who continues to inspire me everyday to discover more about who I am and who I can be. Showing me that life has limitless possibilities, the limits being only those that we impose upon ourselves. 

How can I then surpass all this next year? Now that it is a time of reflection on what happened in the past year and set new goals for the next? 

I believe that setting a goal not to backtrack on progress already made is a good goal in itself. A mistake a lot of us make is to relax once we achieve our target weight, look, fitness...after all, we don't have to work so hard anymore. Finding balance to maintain it is difficult. I intend to work everyday at finding balance.

Speaking balance, I will continue working on finding balance between family, my business, and my personal life. Being mothers and wives we tend to lose our personal identity. We become, Mrs So & So, Mama so & so. We shrink into that quiet accompaniment to our husbands and children. I am fighting to keep my identity, personal growth will make me a better wife and mother. I am proud to be Mama Njoki, and be known as the wife of so & so, but before I became all these, I was known as me. The juggling act gets tiring, but I enjoy most of it.

I promise myself not to let life affect me I have noticed that I have become more distrusting, giving my personality up to influence by the lying, thieving, hypocritical, ruthless and unforgiving society we have become. I have become more cynical,  I have become afraid of everything and nothing in particular. I have hardened my heart and found reason not to care about what injustice I see right outside my doorstep. I promise to keep my heart open and not become what society is shaping us to be everyday.

That's it for now! I hope you have an active 2013!

The fear of bulking up, why women keep away from weights...

The inspiration for this post lies in a comment I received recently when I stated I was looking for heavier weights to use at home.

There is a common but misguided belief that women will bulk up and begin looking like men if they decide to do some serious weight training. This is why a lot of women will only turn up at the gym for the zumba, or aerobics class and for the more adventurous ones, yoga. Rarely will you see women lifting weights.

The reality is, women cannot (naturally) bulk up like men. It is physiologically impossible. We do not have enough testosterone to do so. Men have more than twice the amount of this hormone, it is responsible for their masculine features (facial hair, physical strength/muscles...). What about female body builders? They use steroids and exogenous testosterone for them to bulk up like they do. As a woman, you would have to use these in order to look like that.

So why do resistance/weight training? To gain muscle...not like a man, but to become toned and shapely...who doesn't want that? And not those sissy weights the media has made us believe are made for women...they are even manufactured in pink for goodness sake (I'm guilty for starting on those as well! ) Lift the heavy stuff! Another plus is that at rest, you burn more calories than another woman who weighs the same but with more fat than muscle. You also burn more while performing an activity.

While cardio does burn fat, losing weight through cardio alone means that you will have to work harder to keep it off (that is, always performing cardio) than a person who chose to build muscle as well as do cardio.

I have also tried to encourage my mother to start doing resistance as well. It is good at any age but especially for older women as it helps maintain or build bone mass which we lose naturally with age.

One of my new years resolutions is to protect the muscle I've built, knowing how beneficial it is to my overall health. This means, yes, I will have to get those heavier weights I'm looking for.

Have happy, active holidays!

Staying motivated, what keeps me going?

It may sound like bad news to you, but you already knew it didn't you? The total lifestyle change is here to stay. There is no crash diet, it has to become a habit. It is more than just fitting into that bikini in summer, it is about being able to change your own clothes when you are a great grandma, it's about playing hide and go seek with your grandchildren, it's about keeping up...ok that might be difficult but I'll write it anyway, keeping up with your teenagers.

So what keeps me going?

1. I never had any "in between clothes". I had my maternity wear, and then I had my other clothes. About four sizes in between...I did not get comfortable, I couldn't, I looked really bad in my maternity clothes for a while, everyone complained, but I chose not to get comfortable. It was either get back to my old wardrobe or look pregnant.
And now it is to maintain this wardrobe. I want to fit into my skinny jeans, have a choice of swim suits, and slinky little black dresses. I want that, and I know it takes work. It sounds vain, but it isn't. You live in a house in which you pay for the view, you pay for the security, for the gardens surrounding it, for the suburbia lifestyle, you have to work for it. It's the same thing.

2. Force of habit
If you do something long enough, it becomes a habit. Your body gets used to it. You get a high off exercise that you miss when you don't exercise. I actually get a pinch of catholic guilt when I eat a high calorie meal or snack, then I repent this sin by working my tooshie off. I get sluggish if I don't exercise for more than two days. Do it long enough...you won't have a second thought, it'll just be you.

3. I want to inspire others
You oxymoron you!
Yes, I can hear you think it....I'm an oxymoron. You know what? I don't mind it at all. There have been people in my life that have inspired positive change starting with my little one. Without them, I would be a very different person. Without inspiration, artists would never create the master pieces that they do. I want to show you that it is possible. We have a litany of excuses here....it's my genes, I have children, I can't exercise, africans have curves....I know them, I have used them, and I decided not to use them anymore. If I slack, I expect you to tell me so, because I have made this journey public.

4. I love a healthier me

Knowing that I can possibly prevent a lot of sickness just by living healthier, and having such knowledge, why not practice it? No one likes to be sick, or suffer the physical, mental, not to mention economic effects of being sick. Being healthy should actually be number one on this list but it is not in order of importance.

Ok, that's it for now. What are your reasons?

Oh no. . .the holidays are here!

And I have already indulged my cake craving.....and more wine than I should have, it's going to be a difficult holiday season.

Parties, lots of nyama choma (barbecue meat), sweets and decadent desserts, it is a time when the gains of the past year can quickly be eroded. How do I intend to keep myself focused?

1. Keeping to my portions rule even when out and about.

    I attended a function recently where the plate served was mostly fish and lean pork....I breathed a sigh of relief I did not have to be that worried.
   Keeping off carbohydrates and most sauces as well. Not knowing what goes into your food is to blame for a lot of weight gain. A lot of accompanying sauces have butter as a base, dressing your salad in mayonnaise rich thousand island sauce takes away the whole point of the salad. I intend to be very conscious about what I put into my mouth.

2. Nursing that one glass of wine....

   Gone are the days where nights out were accompanied with drinking that would be the calorie equivalent of a small loaf of bread. I intend to nurse one glass of wine, finishing off my glass of water several times during the meal. Beer is out of the question, I have worked too hard on my belly to watch it grow again without a valid (little baby) reason.

3. Making time to work out....

   I was at my mother's over the weekend, and yes, I carried my workout mat, ankle/wrist weights and some exercise MP4 that I could play on almost any device. I worked out early in the morning on the day of travel, I woke up extra early to do so because I knew that finding time to do the same in the next few days would be difficult. I did tae bo in her parking space, and made it difficult by using the wrist weights. I did miss one day but considering I was travelling and busy, I think I did pretty well. I intend to continue doing this, remain motivated and find the time to work on my body.

4. Not being a couch potato

   This means waking up early, keeping busy. We have come to define rest as not doing much, just lazing around. It doesn't have to be that. I am redefining my holiday period as an active rest period. Taking walks with my little one, and playing with her. She is 10 kilos now, and quite a handful, she is also learning to walk, holding on to her for long periods of time is a work out in itself. My television remains off, and I don't miss it. Active rest, that's the key.

5. Water water water!

  It's time for a lot of sugared carbonated drinks, the African way of celebrating christmas...I will keep away from these, even the diet kind. It will be water or tea. No extra calories sneaking up from behind!

6. Brown brown brown!

   Brown rice, brown ugali (stiff porridge), brown bread (home made rye mostly),....I will try to keep to food that has not been processed too much. All in moderation of course. These are all carbs, when I chose to eat them, I will eat those that have additional nutrition.

7. Cheat days!

  Without cheat days or cheat meals, any lifestyle change for health can become a daunting task almost doomed to fail. I know I will have cheat meals, but I will make up for it. I will not starve myself, but I will push my body to realise its full potential. I will utilise those fat calories in that piece of black forest that melted in my mouth in a 45 minute run, or a High Intensity Interval Work out, I will lift more, push further, and I will smile while doing it.

Have an active holiday won't you?

Breast feeding Kenyan style, and the expanding hips that came with it

I did a lot of research when I was pregnant. My husband used to joke that I was taking a degree in pregnancy. One of the things that was constantly repeated was how breast feeding helps mothers lose weight. I was planning to breastfeed so I was happy that I had nature's given tool to help me get back into shape.
I welcomed my little angel into the world, and yes, begun breast feeding after not so few hiccups (not the forum to discuss cracked nipples, latching problems, supply issues, sleepless nights....) but the weight did not fall off. In fact, after the initial first two weeks weight loss, it seemed that my hips and everything else seemed to be getting bigger, how is this possible? My little one is deriving nutrition from my body, taking away from what stores I had accumulated when I was carrying her for this very purpose.
The problem was, I was breast feeding Kenyan style.
Soon after giving birth, Kenyan mothers are drowned in food. Porridge is the food of choice, I drank it so much in the first two weeks, that it was pouring out of my ears. It is supposed to increase food supply. They are told that they have to gain weight in order to 'take care of the little one'.
It is all well intended but such practices do more harm than good. The extra calories required to make milk are much fewer than the mountain loads of food lactating mothers consume. Fluids are what makes a major difference in supply. This is from experience. That and a lack of stress, and being rested.
If I have another child, I fully intend to breastfeed. However, I will not bow to pressure to drown myself in food for this purpose. I know better.

I don't know what I weigh and honestly, sometimes I don't care

I am often asked how much weight such and such an exercise 'cuts' and how much weight I have lost, or how much I weigh. . .there is an obsession with weight for very understandable reasons. My answer usually is....I don't know how much I weigh. And it's true. I don't.
I am concerned with my overall weight, it is one of the reasons I embarked on this journey. But it is not the only reason. I know how constant weigh ins can serve to discourage me so I generally avoid them and focus on other indicators of progress. Today, my indicator was the 'mirror test'. . .I looked at myself in the mirror and saw a definite change in muscle definition.
I also define progress in terms of cardiovascular fitness. How I control my workouts, am I constantly out of breath, how far can I go and for how long. Progress can also be seen in my resistance training by how many push ups i can do, how much weight I bench, etcetera.
The good thing about it is, there are so many small things that I can celebrate without being obsessed about my weight. I haven't weighed myself since my daughter was born. I wouldn't be surprised if I weigh more than my pre pregnancy weight, I have been working on building muscle, for the same volume, muscle weighs more than fat. I will however have my body fat percentage checked soon, that, I am very curious about.
I fit into my tiniest dress yesterday. It fit different, my body has definitely changed having had a baby, but it fit. . .

Have an active day!

What goes in....

My husband is currently on a HFLC (High Fat Low Carb) diet, he's always on it, I have friends on low carb diets, with no carbs after lunch, I am not on any diet, I have never been on one, I love my food too much....doesn't make sense...or does it?

Perhaps I delude myself, and that I am always on a diet. This is because I watch what I eat, and try to balance this out with how much I burn. I do not count every calorie, but you will not find me eating fries and burgers everyday.

Why don't I believe in dieting?

Michael Phelps eats 12000...yes that's right, twelve THOUSAND calories a day. (Article link at the end of this blog) He doesn't look it, in fact, he looks like the weight loss models we are used to, those whose images are to used to sell to us supplements and what nots to reduce our calorie intake.

I do not know how many calories I consume a day. I know that last night, I ate a steak, with potatoes that were fried in butter, and a sauce that had butter in it, with cauliflower covered in cheese...oh the horror!

But I paid for it today, and will probably continue paying for it for a few more days. My weight training remains the same (though I am currently working on increasing my threshold) but I do more intense cardio or add High Interval Intensity Training (HIIT) to help burn off that indulgence. I work it till I feel like I am going to collapse...I say this because we have a tendency to 'baby' ourselves, measuring how much we take in exercise-wise, saying, I will run 3 miles today and that will be enough....perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't, perhaps your body can surprise you and push harder, go further. I learnt not to place limits on myself...and try, try harder, and my body constantly surprises me.

With that said, you have to be careful. Beginners have to start slow. Over exerting yourself can lead to injury, not learning correct form can also lead to painful injury. The initial pain with beginning activity after a long period of inactivity can be a de-motivator  it only lasts a short while. After that, you'll get addicted to the high you get while exercising. That and the feeling of satisfaction over taking control of your body.

My mantra remains...what goes in, must come out....well, not that way, but through sweat and hard work.

Have an active day!



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2177613/Michael-Phelps-12-000-calories-day-dont-doing-harm.html

"I am doing sit ups everyday but it's not working...."

The next comment usually is

"It's in my genes"...

RUBBISH!

I don't mean to be rude or mean. I am not a medical doctor. I do know that there are people with conditions that make them susceptible to weight gain and that with some, it's almost inevitable. But that is a minority. For the most of us, what we carry around has all gone through our mouths, yes, think of it that way, that small opening is responsible for all that we carry around, how much damage that little organ can do.

Back to my sit ups, or rather, yours...and most Kenyan women.

We have deluded ourselves into thinking that sit ups are the answer to our potbelly problem, the magic pill, if I do twenty a day, surely this muffin top will go. Oh, and let me add some crunches and some of those butterfly ones I saw on that exercise DVD...that's all well and good, you're firming up those ab muscles alright, your core is getting strong, but it's all going to remain hidden under a layer of fat.

I do not have perfect abs, I work on them five times a week incorporating at least one ab set when working on other parts of the body. In other words, it is a work in progress.

I have more bad news, it is more difficult for us women to get ab definition. I have a dear friend who started working out with her husband, her husband's abs started getting definition before the third week...she was a bit incensed, but she's a doctor, she understands, it's biology, its unfair, we have to work harder. But then think about it, as career women, sisters, mothers, wives, aunts, and so much more, don't we (usually) work harder than men anyway?

So, instead of developing a six pack or something close to it that is hidden underneath a layer of fat, why not burn the fat as you develop those abs?  The best way to do this is to get your heart pumping. Some good cardio work will get that done. When I do not have enough time to run, or do a tae bo, or kickboxing work out, I usually incorporate 5 minutes of skipping in between weight training sets, this gets my heart pumping and I can be sure I burn fat as well as build muscle (which is the fastest way to get fit, lose weight and keep it off). Jumping jacks also work, and for the more advanced, push up burpees really get that heart pumping.

Think about it today as you do your sit ups or crunches at home...are you burning enough to show off all that hard work?

I can't go to the gym....I diet...

I am addressing something I have heard a lot of women say over the years when I say I exercise. I wonder if it is: -

i - The fear of pain or
ii - Sweat...it's unlady like to sweat? or
iii - Fear of hard work? or
iv - Fear of failure having made the commitment or?
v. - The cost?

Maybe I am being overly optimistic, I think it is the last two that bother people more than the first three.

You see, dieting is a private affair, the whole world does not have to know you are dieting, and if it fails, it is also a private affair. However, exercise is difficult to keep a secret, unless you live alone and exercise only in your abode. If one fails, they think they will be subject to ridicule, and comments like..."all that exercise and you're still ...," we are good at that, shame on us.

Every serious thing we do in life requires a commitment. When we are employed, we make a commitment to work in order to get remuneration, when we marry, we make a commitment to be faithful and live - in good and bad times - with our partner, when we go to college we make a commitment to graduate, when we buy a house on mortgage we make a commitment to pay the monthly installments so that the house can be truly ours...we make commitments everyday yet the most important commitment, which is to take care of ourselves in order to ably complete all other commitments, we refuse to make.

I read a comment on an article in an AAR (insurance) newsletter recently, and paraphrased, it went like, we spend our lives making money and then spend all that money in old age on illness. Mostly preventable illness.

That first step I made especially after the birth of my daughter is an investment, that I will be able to skip with her and play hide and seek. That first walk I did, that I ended up crying after, was the first step towards gaining back my fitness, not having shortness of breath as I climb up stairs, avoiding medication for my asthma, and so much more.

Therefore, commitment towards living a fit, and healthier lifestyle is the most important thing you will do today.

Cost?

I admit, gyms can be costly. But you do not need a gym to get fit. Get moving! That's all it takes!
Taking a walk, that is exercise, with time, it becomes less challenging and you have to increase your pace to a jog, or a run, or increase the distance, all that matters is that you're moving.

Heard that it takes weight training as well to lose and keep the weight off? Do you realise your own body can be used in weight training for both push and pull exercises that will help build and maintain muscle? Try and do a push up, unless you're already fit, this simple exercise will show you just how challenging using your own body as a weight can be. The more fit you get, the more challenging you can make it...moving on to walking push ups, or one hand push ups....

So you see? The barrier is only in our mind.

Dieting alone won't tone your body, it won't sculpt it. You need to move to get to where you're going...literally :-)

Have an active day!

My wake up call.

It wasn't after the birth of my baby that my fitness journey begun. It begun much earlier than this, as my teenage years were coming to an end.

I remember him so well, he who slapped me in the face and made me realise that something needed to be done....I remember the exact words.

Dr. Mureithi....I don't think he even realises the impact he had on my life. He was my chest doctor for years, I was asthmatic as a child. During my teenage years, I gained a lot of weight. I loved (and still do) foods high in fat, and indulged when I could. After completing high school and before joining university, during a visit, I had my usual weigh in. My mother was in the room with me....yes, African Mums are over protective, I think I could have handled a doctor's visit on my own by this point.

I remember I was 75 kilos heavy. He looked at me and asked...."Don't you think you are a bit overweight?" My mother cut in and said "She is healthy, she is not overweight." I was quiet, but that was when I made the decision to start doing something about my weight. My father was only 5 kilos heavier than me, and he was taller and he is a man.

My first attempts were met with pithy comments. I stopped having sugar in my tea, I gave up processed foods, no ice cream, no chocolate, no chocolate chip cookies.

When I joined the university, I was in a campus located out of the city and I was a boarder. This worked for me, I would wake up at 5 am and jog. I also joined the basket ball team and finally the athletics team....yes, I became that good.

None of this would have happened if I did not get that initial shock of having my doctor tell me I am overweight, it is all I needed.

Sadly, our society has come to accept a rounded figure as "healthy". I still have a problem defining slightly overweight, overweight, obese and morbidly obese. In my eyes, a slightly overweight person is healthy, an overweight person is chubby, an obese person is just a little overweight....it is how we are brought up, and we should realise it is not good enough before it kills us.

Sometimes, a slap in the face is all we need to get us started...Mine came when I was 18. When did yours come?

No excuses - an introduction of self

My baby is asleep, my eyes half open, my husband is typing away in another room, it is late and I need to get up early, but I have to do this.

I had promised myself to become accountable on my fitness journey, to myself, and to begin this blog, after having started my face book page and not updating it for a while.

I realise that by letting you in on this journey, I have persons to encourage me, as I hopefully encourage them. That if I let myself down I let you down as well.

No excuses....

My darling little girl was born almost nine months ago. During my pregnancy:

1. I did not watch what I ate though I did not and still do not believe in "eating for two"

2. I gave in to my favourite comfort food, chocolate chip cookies, at least once a day. I remember a few times finishing a whole pack, downing it with whole milk....

3. I tried to remain active but gained a lot of weight due to my feeding habits. Towards the end, I had a high risk pregnancy which meant bed rest, and more weight gain

I gained total 20 kilos - this was my first pregnancy. I also added a shoe size, several bra sizes...and clothes sizes. Because of the high risk nature of the pregnancy, and a few complications, after eight hours of labour, my daughter was born via caesarian section. I had wanted a vaginal birth because I knew that getting back on my feet would be easier. But it wasn't to be so.

No excuses.....

Recovery was difficult, there are days I would cry while holding my baby. This forum is not about first time mothers getting into motherhood, it is about getting control of my life, yes, fitness has a lot to do with getting control of your life. A great sense of achievement comes with taking back your body, and once that is done, comes both inner and outer strength to achieve what you want to achieve.

No excuses.....

Yes, my biggest motivator (and de-motivator) came from one very close to me. My husband is very image conscious and would make comments about how big my ass was....for the record, it WAS BIIIGGG....it was pouring out of my trousers, bursting the seams, and those were maternity trousers! My mother laughed at me when this happened. This at a time when you're at your weakest can really get you down.

No excuses....

As soon as my scar could let me, I decided to take my body back. I didn't have help at home, I was a full time Mom with a colicky baby and a husband to take care of. No, there were no washing machines, everything is done manually. I had to re-learn how to organise myself, push through pain thresholds, push past fatigue and most of all remain motivated where most would have given up.

No excuses....

I had neighbours laugh at my attempts while my belly jiggled around as I tried to jog that first week, but I knew exercise works, and I kept on. There were jeers that I wouldn't make it. I couldn't attend a gym, no one to watch my little one for one hour as I go to town to work out. All you need is floor space the length of your body and a little determination

No excuses....

Being overweight is more than just fitting into clothes. It's about self confidence, feeling sexy, agility, speed and even mental concentration and control. Needless to say, all of these were on an all time low...something had to be done....

No excuses.....

When my journey begun, my weight was approaching 80 kilograms, I was a small UK size 18 and felt unattractive. I was recovering from a CS birth, was not agile at all and lacked the support and 'free time' to devote to taking care of myself.....

No excuses...

I am now a size 8, full of energy with a bit of muscle definition to boot. I am back to all my pre pregnancy clothes and then some. I was beach ready by the time my daughter hit 8 months.

This blog is about that journey and the continuing journey to remain fit and healthy. In sharing, I hope to inspire you to share with me and perhaps realise that others face the same obstacles, mental and real, in the journey to achieve their goals. It is a chronicle of accountability to self, and to faceless others who hopefully will become like family.