Christmas is here again, and that means food, amongst other things. As usual, we can expect strict eating habits that have been adhered to all year, to be discarded. There’s so much rice, chicken, goat meat, fish, moin-moin, dodo, salad, cake, apple pie, ice cream, and of course, drinks of all kinds on offer that even the most faithful fitfam loyalists are taking time off to gorge themselves. That’s right, we can hear them chanting,
we are not doing again.
Guess what? Your eyes will be very red when January greets you with all that extra weight and tummy that cannot be sucked in. It happens year in, year out, and 2018 will be no different. Even those saying they’re not going to bother with weight loss in the coming year, will still find themselves doing one thing or the other in that regard.
In the spirit of Christmas, here are some weight loss moves that have actually helped many Nigerians after the holidays. Do save this. You may want to try one, or a combination when you’re desperate to shed some weight after
chopping the life of your head.
- Cutting out rice, completely or almost.
- Giving up bread.
- No dinner after 5pm/6pm, as in eating nothing at all after that time.
- No “swallow” — eba, pounded yam, semo, amala, etc., just the soup.
- Water as beverage of choice — no other drinks whatsoever, “healthy” or not.
- Zero carbs— protein, fruit and vegetables only.
- Low carbs — still eat carbohydrates but have less of those and more of other food classes
- Fruit juice or smoothie cleanse which involves sipping only these, all day (short term)
- Skipping breakfast
- Skipping lunch
- Reducing food portions
- Intermittent fasting — sticking to a feasting window and a fasting window
- Eating only breakfast.
- Eating only dinner (church fasting programmes are great for this!)
- Having coffee for breakfast (bulletproof or regular)
- Eating chicken salads only, all day every day (short term)
- Adopting the “beans diet”, which involves eating only beans in its various forms (short term)
- Using a jumping/skipping rope daily
- Jogging daily
- Running daily
- Stair-climbing
- Power-walking
- Swimming
- Zumba
- Buy meal replacement shakes
- Chugging lots and lots of green tea (with or without lemon/lime)
- Gym registration
- Buy pedometer and count steps
- Say no to processed and tinned foods.
- Ban added sugars and other sweeteners completely.
Have you ever tried any of these? Which ones have worked for you? Do share in the comments.
