Adefolake: Weightless

My weightless journey: How I lost over 12kg and still losing more!

It seems funny to me even writing this article because I was never considered fat. I was always referred to as “THICK”.

I was a UK size 12/US size 10 in most International brands and a UK size 14 in a few other brands. I was weighing about 88 kg, but everything was in the right place, so no one really bothered me about my weight; especially my family and prospective suitors.

But there was one person that was adamant about me losing weight. Stop guessing, you probably won’t get it because that is the last person you would think of. It was my doctor.

When I came back into the country after my second degree, I had gained so much weight and my doctor complained. Initially I thought it was the normal advice a doctor gives to a patient for healthy living, so I paid no attention to his advice.

During one of my visits to the doctor’s office, I stretched my neck to see his report on the desktop screen and I saw what my profile said “Obese young girl…” at this point I had stopped reading. My head was spiraling with thoughts, how dare he refer me to as obese?

I was a size 12 with a curvy body and a nice height to go with it. I was furious, offended, insulted and most of all confused, thinking that if I was referred to as obese, then size 18s are what exactly?

Apparently, the doctor referred to me as obese because of my BMI. According to Centre Disease Control and Prevention, “Body Mass Index (BMI) is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. A high BMI can be an indicator of high body fatness.

BMI can be used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems, but it is not diagnostic of the body fatness or health of an individual.”

So according to my BMI, I was too fat and needed to shed weight. It was not about the size I was wearing or about the fact that my body was set with everything in the right amount and proportion to be termed a thick curvy chick.

Months passed, years passed, and I lost one or two kg here and there but always gained it back during the Christmas holidays. You need to read my article on how I spend my Christmas holiday in Nigeria to understand how much food I eat during this period.

Earlier this year I had my regular checkup at the doctor’s office, and he said the same thing again! Two years later, nothing has changed. As he went through my profile on the system and looked up, he said, “I will advise you shed weight as this will help you more than you think”  

At this point I broke down in tears, not because of what he said but because all my effort did not show on the weight scale. I even argued with him that it is not possible, and I had been careful. I stopped eating late and told him everything I had done to try and lose weight.

He calmly said, “why not get a dietician, he/she can advice you on what to do and eat”. Grudgingly I walked out of his office, cleaning my eyes and making up my mind that I will not return to his office if I had not lost up to 10kg.

As I left his office I went on Instagram (Optimumfoodie) and there was this dietician I had been following for a while, so I sent her a dm. I told her what my doctor said and what I wanted to achieve, which was a sustainable way of losing weight and maintaining the weight lost. 

May 1^st, 2019, I started my diet and believe me it has been a wonderful journey. The first thing I did was to read all the notes attached she sent along with the food diet timetable and the measuring cups. The Do’s, the Don’ts and the NEVER.

The next thing was to buy all the food items listed on the timetable and get started. The secret to why this particular diet worked for me is PORTION CONTROL. It takes a lot of discipline to see so much food and eat only a small portion.

The first thing my dietician said that seemed strange was that we can eat everything, but in small portions. Initially I thought it was not achievable, how would you eat pizza, chocolate, ice cream and claim you are on a diet.

She usually advices you start with the diet timetable to get you acclimatized to one’s new lifestyle and with time you can allow room for other food items.

She finds a way for you to incorporate fruits and vegetables into your food all within the maximum calorie intake for the day. There is even the option for snacks….Fantastic.

The first month, my colleagues at work laughed because they thought it was one of the other diets that there is nothing to show. Within the second month the impact of the diet began to show but now eight months later, my colleagues are begging me to stop because my collar bone is popping.

I was not going to write about this because I did not want it to seem like I was trying to advertise my dietician. I do not even know her, never spoken to her on the phone and I did not even join the WhatsApp group.

The reason I am finally writing about this is because of the tremendous changes I have seen in my life, not just talking about the weight loss but much more. I walk faster, I am looking younger, I don’t breathe heavy when climbing the staircase, I do not have leg and back pain like before; the list is unending.

My biggest fear was sustainability; I was so concern about gaining the weight back and gaining more. I wanted to be able to sustain my weight loss and maintain it.

This fear went out the window when I travelled out of the country for a three-week vacation and even lost more weight.

Different foods I did not eat when I started, I eat now but I am still losing weight because I have gotten used to eating in small portions.

I measure everything I eat with my eyes now and I calculate the calories. They call me CALORIE QUEEN in my office because I measure everything asides water because that is the only thing without calories…lol.

So, there you have it, my journey. I hope someone understands how happy I am, not just because of how much weight I have lost but importantly because of the discipline it has taught me.

This journey has taught me perseverance, contentment, healthy living and so much more. I will advice you measure your BMI to see if you are overweight for your age and height and make the necessary adjustments.