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credit: webmd.com
credit: webmd.com
An interesting article on weight gain in women has inspired this piece. Many women have found it hard to lose weight in recent times, and from the arguments of women raised in reaction to the article, it appears that the weight challenge seems to be tied to at least one of three factors: 1.  Poor eating habits: Not paying attention to a well-balanced diet is a major cause of weight gain. Too many foods in Nigeria are carbohydrate based, or worse, filled with empty calories. Many times people go to the nearby buka and order three large serving spoons of rice and one tablespoon of beans, and they rush it down and erroneously believe that they have had a balanced meal. Others can finish a large pack of biscuits in one sitting, for example the largest size of McVities digestives. Then they wash it down with a 50cl Coke. All these are examples of unbalanced or empty meals; they add not much of anything good to your system, but pack on calories to strain your system. Solution: Start now to add fruits to your mealtimes, and increase your beans/protein intake. Fry less and boil/steam more. And if you can get vegetables in their natural state (salads) with as little canned stuff as possible (canned corn, canned baked beans, canned mince meat, canned orishirishi) you are on your way to a healthier eating pattern. It might take a bit of time, but little by little, your healthy choices will show in your appearance. 2. A more sedentary lifestyle: The study showed that more women were adding weight from sitting in front of the television. Apart from its effect on your body, just think about this- you are watching a recorded soap opera, the scene has already been plotted out and acted years ago. If Marichui was going to die in the next episode, your “Hey! Ewo! Look behind you!” will not change anything. It took three Mexican soap operas beginning from Paloma’s ‘When you are mine’ to Salvadore Sorenza’s ‘Second Chance’, for me to put my foot down and stop watching soaps. As much as I enjoyed Second Chance, I decided my 1hr in the evening was not being well utilized when I could use it for sleeping after a hard day’s work. To make matters worse, the soaps were moved down to 10pm. Now, many people don’t go out to work, and soaps run almost 24 hours on the local channels, if you know how to time them. A friend of mine on maternity leave told me ‘All day, there are soaps, the thing with DSTV is that they keep repeating the same old things.’ Add to that a cleaning lady, a washer man, a yam pounder, a microwave, a washing machine, a dryer, and you see that housework, which has helped us stay fit, is just not there anymore! Solution: Turn off the TV a few hours every day. Housewife, say to yourself; ‘From 8am to an hour or two before my children come home are my creative hours, what can I do or read before they come back?’ If you have a full workforce on ground, then do some exercises, try your hand at something new, then reward yourself with the TV an hour before you pick the kids.  Start with the work first, end with the TV. Try, try, try to DO SOMETHING with the first 3 hours of the day (sneak in exercising somewhere). Go on YouTube and get exercises for beginners, start from there, or register with a local gym and get some kgs off. If you must watch your soap, make it one at a time; don’t watch two soaps a day, whether back to back or hours apart. If you want more excitement, follow a reality competition, also one at a time. Don’t get caught up in the dream world of television. There’s a real world that needs your unique talent and abilities. Get involved in finding and developing it. 3. Plain old eating too much It is funny, but this might be the hardest one of all. Especially for women, every hawker that passes, the average person wants to see and taste the edible wares. This is the reason why people who sell on the expressway at the spots where vehicles on long distance journeys slow down (with dust, uncertain hygiene and unchecked expiry dates) still make enough to get by. Cooked eggs, boiled and roasted corn, you can add to the list. Solution Deliberately reducing the things you put in your mouth will help you greatly. Apart from keeping you out of typhoid’s way, watching what you buy to eat will help you save money. When you dish up your food, note the number of spoons you are taking. When you start feeling full, stop eating. When someone serves you a meal, ask the person to please reduce it before you start eating, and if it is pre-packed, just take what you need.   Some women argue about body metabolism being the cause of weight gain in most people. The thing is, if your body is prone to weight retention, you just have to be more careful with applying the solutions above. Even people born unattractive do something about it as soon as possible with makeup. If you get lemons, make lemonades, or buy some lime and oranges and make a citrus drink of the entire matter. If you’ve heard it all before, hear it one more time; there’s only one you, with one life, and you are important to your world. Make the right decisions that will keep you healthier and more effective in your generation.
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This article was first published on 6th March 2013

pagboga

Chojare Pamela Agboga is a Legal Practitioner, Writer, Editor, Chartered Secretary and Administrator. She is currently working on her first novel 'Weekends are for Loving' as well as a devotional for women.

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