Weightloss9ja Food Timetable: How to Lose Weight with Nigerian Food

When i tell people this is fattening or that is, it is usually followed by "Ahn ahn, so what should we then eat".
plus alot of people give regular "cant food healthy food at work" excuse so i have decided to tell you what i eat, perhaps you can pick from it. I'm one of those that believe you can eat anything so long as its in the right proportion.
 Should you eat a slice of chocolate cream cake everyday? no...Should you starve yourself? no- I'm saying there is a balance between these two extremes and you have to find it. I Wont lie to you and say i dont do occassional Sharwama's, I do, but the key word here is OCCASSIONAL.
 While I wont give you a "cast in stone" food table, given the inequality in each of our situations, i will tell you what i ate last week and i'll try to keep it as realistic as possible so its easily available and CHEAP to follow. Keep in mind that this is a work-week food table, I eat breakfast and lunch at work(i Buy my lunch most times) and Dinner when i get home.

	Breakfast	Lunch -	Dinner
Monday	- Two slices of Wheat Bread and jam  -a cup of ginger Tea(2 cubes of sugar) = 280 calories	Vegetable and boiled egg =280 calories	- Sweet potato and 1 fried egg = 320 calories
Note			The sweet potato can fill you up without the eggs, save calories

I'm fortunate to work where there is always Slice bread around the corner, you can buys yours small size and keep for perhaps 2-3 days. Regular tea would also suffice for Breakfast. also note that without the jam/butter you'll be saving 100 calories, making the breakfast only 180.

you are probably wondering WTH the lunch combo is, I wanted protein and vegetable minus the carbs. Alternatively, you can have this with Turkey or fish (not fried o), the Vegetable fills me up and i found out i dont need rice or swallow to support. But if you have to, you can support this with just 1/2 cup of rice or a FIST size of "swallow" if you like

Fry just one egg, put in all the "putables" mixed veg(N500only for a full pack), onion, pepper, etc and your 1 egg will look like 2

	Breakfast	Lunch -	Dinner
Tuesday	-Oat -2 cubes of Sugar -A Glass of milk = 345 calories	Lunch - Moi Moi and Fried Fish = 400 calories	- Sauced Spagetti and boiled turkey = 400 calories

if you are fortunate to get hot water, then oat is always an option plus its CHEAP. Note that i count everything, including sugar cause they all matter
Lunch - I know! i cant find sensible boiled fish everywhere here jor. there are both wonderful source of protein
Dinner- a serving of spagetti is 1/4 of the bag

	Breakfast	Lunch -	Dinner
Wednesday	- Two slices of Wheat Bread and jam  -a cup of ginger Tea(2 cubes of sugar) = 280 calories	Beans and egg = 400 calories	1 pack of noodles and mixed Veg = 400 calories
		*no oil

just a pack of noodles,with carrot, tiny chopped garlic, sometimes greenpea, sweet corn etc, they are all in a N500 mix veg pack. my Noodles ends up looking like 2 packs

	Breakfast	Lunch -	Dinner
Thursday	-Breakfast - Milo flakes, milk and Sugar = 400 calories	Vegetable and boiled egg =280 calories	Fish Peppersoup = 200 calories

i recently grew an addiction for milo flakes #coversface....its a whole grain cereal tho, so it qualifies for healthy right?. Anyways, you can substitute with a healthier cereal. Remember, the serving size is one cup

	Breakfast	Lunch -	Dinner
Friday	-Oat -2 cubes of Sugar -A Glass of milk = 345 calories	Vegetable and beans = 300 calories	Boiled Plaintain and stew = 300 calories

on the Average, A woman should consume 1500 calories daily to maintain your current weight, a man 2500. The diet above is about 1200 give or take which is about -300 from daily requirement and still healtyhy
. look at it this way to lose 1 pound, you have to drop 3500 calories, either from exercising or meals. foll0wing this meal plan you will lose about 2pounds in 3weeks without even realising you are on a diet.

if on the otherhand, this is too slow for you, look through the diet and hand pick the ones with the lowest calories for your weekly diet and also try this
no jam/butter with your bread,
replace full milk with skimmed milk
reduce or take out completely sugar
replace rice or spagetti with the wheat version
no fried food
At this rate your would lose atleast 1 pound a week ( which is unhealthy o! I don talk my own).

my next post will be dedicated to what to do on weekends

Till then,
Try not to eat until your belly shows the map of the food,

Leave a comment ,Tell me what you think, you can also suggest healthy meals as well ;)

Just a laugh!

lol.............................................I laughed so hard, i almost pissed my pants!



Sorry to digress :)

My top 5 Favorite Exercises

Hi guys, sorry ive been Mia recently, got a lot of things coming in at the same time.  This week we will talk about exercises.

I recently made up my mind to include more exercises in my daily routine as opposed to just sneaking it in, which includes

running up the stairs when I go to the office (5^th floor),

walking as fast as possible everytime I use my Legs

sitting up straight all the time, Pulling in my belly and Holding for 8-10 seconds, I do this so often, it has become a habit

Read more on how to sneak in exercise into ourbusy Nigeria Lifes,

These little exercises, though has helped a lot, it is suddenly not enough, I need more results!. Now im nt talking about dumbells, or running shoes, infact Driving to the gym for me sometimes can be a lot more work than working out itself, the cost sef fit make person jump off bridge.

Im talking about Bodyweight exercises! Still with the lack of motivation to go to the gym, I searched for gym alternatives and found it. These bodyweight exercises typically do not require the use of outside machines and equipment, meaning that they can be performed at home or in an area without a gym, virtually anywhere and at any time, I even do them at work. Your body becomes the tool, and the best part, you only need 15-30mins to get the same result you would for 2hours in the gym.. Who needs a gym when there’s the living room floor ehn? These gym people sef ?! Now I wake up in the mornings and workout for 15mins or evenings when I get back from work

Check out My Fav exercises

Wall sits

Who needs a chair when there’s a wall? Slowly slide your back down a wall until the thighs are parallel to the ground. Make sure the knees are directly above the ankles and keep the back straight. Go for 60 seconds per set (or however long it takes to turn those legs to jelly). Either this or Just good old Squat. I love this cause I can watch TV while doing it.

 Lunge: Stand with the hands on the hips and feet hip-width apart. Step the right leg forward and slowly lower your body until the right knee is close to or touching the floor and bent at least 90 degrees. Return to the starting position and repeat with the left leg. Try stepping back into the lunge for a different variation. Another front of TV exercise.

Inchworm: Stand up tall with the legs straight,. Keeping the legs straight (but not locked!), slowly lower the torso toward the floor, and then walk the hands forward. Once in a push-up position, start taking tiny steps so the feet meet the hands. Continue bugging out for 4-6 reps.

Bicycle: Lie down with knees bent and hands behind the head. With the knees in toward the chest, straighten the right leg first (just little above the floor, but not resting on it) with the left knee still bent to your chest. Then retract the right leg just as the left leg straightens. Its just like readying a bike horizontally

Sit ups: there is a strong debate for and against sit ups but it remains one of my favs. Lie flat, knee bent, belly in, arms across the chest and pull yourself up to your knee using your stomach muscles, hold for about 2 seconds, then lean back until you are almost touching the ground, hold for 2 seconds, and pull back up, Exhale when coming up into the sit-up position and breathe in on the way back down. If you still haven’t mastered doing it by yourselves, you can find something to hold your legs.

Honestly, these exercises aren’t the easiest, but you can do it. Start small and build up, I started doing just 5-10 of each, now ive got it whipped ;)


dont forget to tell me your thoughts! 

The right way to climb Stairs!

 You probably didn’t know there was a right way and a wrong way to climb stairs

  

Most of us go out of our way to avoid stairs, so first, I will give you reasons why you should go out of your way to look for stairs, then I will tell you how to climb.

·        It is totally free and just about all of us can get access to a set of stairs.

·        It leverages gravity and the heavier we are, the harder we're forced to work and the more calories we burn.

·        It is a relatively intense exercise that quickly increases our heart rate and in doing so can greatly improve our cardiovascular fitness.

·        It helps strengthen and shape our most common problem areas like calves, thighs, buttocks and tummy.

·        It actually flattens your Belly

·        It is a very efficient way of burning maximum calories and is great for those of us with limited time to exercise.

·        It can easily be mixed with other exercises, like walking, skipping and weight training, to maximize results and stair climbing workouts are easy to build progression into.

·        It can be done by almost anyone, regardless of fitness level.

·        Because it is weight bearing, it helps build bone strength.

·        It is low impact and safe for the knees (providing correct technique is used and a preexisting condition doesn't exist)..

How to Climb

You probably didn’t know there was a right way and a wrong way to climb stairs, did you?  Typically you just put one foot on the step in front of you, lean forward on your toes, and lift the other foot off the ground to advance to the next step.  WRONG!  You will probably have knee problems if you continue climbing stairs this way.  Instead, stand up straight and push off of your instep – NOT your toes – using the larger hip and thigh muscles to lift you to the next level.  As these muscles become more accustomed to being used, they will become stronger and more supportive, and it will be much easier for you to climb stairs.  Then, skip the elevator, and climb the stairs whenever you can..  You don’t need a stairclimbing machine to get a workout if you learn to climb properly! So get to climbing peeps!

lose weight at a buffet

Cook: How many pieces of roasted chicken do you want?
Me: How many do you give per person?

It was almost like a party every afternoon, a big hall, world continental buffet, appetizer and desert, how a company would feed its staffs this much and still make profit eludes me.  It was a 2weeks temporary job I took and every lunch hour was a feast, I would see food had only eaten in my dreams, lovely meals with names that the alphabet can’t spell, a dream come true. My first day at lunch hall went like this…

“Let me have the Spanish casserole, with the minced meat sauce and Chinese rice...ok no! Please replace it with that red thing, duck chili sauce? Yes and errmm…is that afang soup? You know what, just give me a little of everything…Thank you"

All these things spell “CALORIES!!!” but mehn, I had lost all the power and will to resist, na once is a life time o and the menu changes every day. No wonder when I first stepped in, I thought I had fallen into Giant Island, everyone looked so big! Except I wanted to change my week wardrobe within a week I either had to stay away from this hall or find a way around it.  I can’t tell you hold your breath every time you go for lunch, but I can give couple of “been there, done that” that works if you are fortunate/unfortunate to work with companies that feeding is their primary objective

Eat Breakfast: people that skip breakfast are often more vulnerable when faced with a mountain of food. Eating breakfast may reduce your hunger later in the day, which may make it easier to avoid swallowing the buffet table. Also choose a healthy breakfast.

Eat desert first: like the company I worked for, fruits or yogurts are usually in the mix, try eating your apples, yogurts first, it would fill up this space in your stomach and make you feel less hungry

Avoid fried: anything that has fried as a preface is a “no no”

Target the vegetable: if there is a vegetable option, go for it, it will help you fill up easily

Portion/plate size: a smaller plate will make you think you are eating more, a larger plate will make your plate look empty, so if you have an option use a smaller plate, remember it’s not about what you eat, it about the size of what you eat. Eat just a little, remember, there is always a tomorrow

Water Water Water! Try to take loads of water, the less inclined you’ll feel to eat more

Indulge once in a while: pick a day that you’ll allow yourself to eat without the guilt; it will give you a day to look forward to

Make healthy choices: do you have roasted potato and bread roll on the menu?, pick potato, fried or roasted fish, roasted is better, subtle changes can go a long way

Avoid a buffet if you can, but instance when you have no choice the least we can do is be smart about it. So go forth and eat and remember, all you can eat does not translate to all you SHOULD eat.

Tell me what you think, leave a comment...

Skimmed Milk or Full Cream?

“@weightloss9ja, skimmed milk doesn’t work, I have been taking it since last year and I have still not lost any weight, why?……Whao! back up! Who said skimmed milk will help you lose weight?

Theres is a lot of debate as to which milk is better “skimmed” or “whole”, some researchers have argued that whole milk is better than the skimmed version based on some scientific “abracadabra”. But I do know that skimmed milk helped a lot in the initial stage of my weightloss.  In all honesty, Skimmed milk doesn’t have any ingredient that directly contributes to weight loss but il take it over whole milk when it comes to dieting.  I swapped all my full cream powdered milk for marvel skimmed milk and my cornflakes for kspecial and weetabix, and I watched the number on my weight scale go down.

 Skimmed milk has less calories and almost no fat as compared to full cream milk and it contains more protein which makes sense when you are trying to cut down calories. if you consume less calories than you should, you will lose weight, Cutting your calories intake gradually will lead to weightloss and subtle changes like this will go way and you won’t even know you are on a diet.

The only problem I had with it was its taste, but there are different brands with different taste, even dano now has its skimmed powered version or you could go for the liquid fresh skimmed milk. my new favourite is the "Emborg"

fresh skimmed milk in the picture, you could try out different brand and find one you are comfortable with

More importantly is what you take with it, you can’t pour a cup of skimmed milk into a bowl of double coated frosties and expect to lose weight, and you also have to make subtle cereal changes. Im a kspecial fan, you could go for whole wheat cereal if you like, just eat healthy

Did make sense? Tell me what you think

Lose Weight by Eating your Meat First!

Remember how we used to get flogged for eating the meat before finish our food, I got alot of lashes for that one, but Guess what?! I just discovered how that habit can help with weightloss, its another trick for the weightloss trick book, and I thought I will tell you guys about it. Have you noticed how your meat or fish or whatever garnishing you put on your plate determines the extent to which you eat and what quantity. Most times it’s the anticipation of the turkey and the fact that we want to save the best for the last that keeps you eating long after we passed our filled up point. It has to become a culture for us Nigerians to eat our meat or chicken last , we drag the “dodo” or egg and make sure we finish it with rice and then congratulate stomach and mouth for the effort it put into eating by eating the meat last.

Since most times, in our subconscious, the end of the garnishing means end of food, it means we can cheat our brains into believing we have finished eating by ensuring the meat goes early and the dodo disappears before the rice finishes. so try this for a while and see if it works, eat your meat as soon as you start to eat your food and try not to stretch it out, the idea is to ensure all the garnishing is gone before the food itself. It makes it boring.

Trust me guys, this trick works!

Try it and tell me what you think!