This is Esther Adeniyi, also known as Palace daughter. I cannot boast of having spent numerous decades on earth but I make bold to say that I have seen so many people struggle with weight issues. I hope that this new thread will expose us all to ways in which a Nigerian can lose weight. So many weight loss articles online are foreign based and relating to even their food items and calorie content may be a little bit difficult. So, welcome on board as we together discover easier ways of embarking on the weight loss journey.

One thing I want us all to realize is that not all of us can be skinny. We cannot all be the 'tiny tiny no butt size 8'. The gist is this: access yourself and create an achievable goal. We have to strike a balance between our diet and exercise in the most healthy way we can. I also want to give kudos to anyone who has dared to embark on the weight loss journey. You are brave! It's not an easy one I must confess but it's achievable . I am presently trying to maintain the weight goal I have currently achieved.

spill it on.

Any advice as to how to lose weight,op.Being fat has been my greatest disease.It has indeed lowered my self esteem...Am gradually becoming a geek and a loner..Help me if you can..I need to chk some weight off..I wl be goin to see pple i hvnt seen in yrs nxt 2 weeks and am sure they will laf the hell out of me wen they see me...I always hurt each time i am reminded of my size..

whizbrain: Any advice as to how to lose weight,op.Being fat has been my greatest disease.It has indeed lowered my self esteem...Am gradually becoming a geek and a loner..Help me if you can..I need to chk some weight off..I wl be goin to see pple i hvnt seen in yrs nxt 2 weeks and am sure they will laf the hell out of me wen they see me...I always hurt each time i am reminded of my size..

Hi whizbrain. I understand how much it can hurt when you are being reminded of your former perfect/almost perfect size. One thing I want you to get with clarity is that you won't be able to lose weight in that much of a hurry(2 weeks!). I can only assure that you can embark on a successful weight loss journey within that period. In as much as I don't like presenting weight loss as an uphill task, I still tell people it is not an overnight venture. Working it out is about changing your lifestyle, eating habits and getting a healthy exercise plan. I am in the dilemma of knowing where to start from but I bet we will have a wonderful experience as we start off gradually. I will be as realistic as possible considering the fact that we are Nigerians and we need valid information. One more thing whizbrain: never, I mean never allow people influence your esteem. Please! They've got other things they are fighting. They won't tell ya. It's becos the thing you are battling with is obvious that is why you can be victimized(anyway with your permission; nobody can belittle you unless you allow it). Boost up your self esteem consciously. Life is not dependent on your body make up girl.

Let's look at how you ingest(*winks*), I mean eat. Food intake in totality has a lot to do with calories. The gist is this: the more calories we take in, the greater the tendency we have to be fat. 3,500 cal extra equals 1lb of fat! In Nigeria, we do not have an accurate calorie content list of food. In some other countries, for food items bought, you have the calories written on the food label stickers. I will try to collate the list of some basic Nigerian foods and their calorie content to give us just a brief run down. But even if you do not have accurate data, there are some basic principles. Example is starchy foods (like eba, yam, spag, rice) contain more calories than other classes of food.

Thanks dear...I appreciate ur help...I am willing to undergo the process with you...So lets go dear.

Okay. Let's start tomorrow morning with a glass of water, preferably warm water. I say a glass because I do not assume too many of us have started the water therapy thing. Sincerely speaking, starting water therapy especially the early morning part of it can be very uncomfortable. When I started, I used to have this kind of annoying stomach discomfort. I later got used to it as I never missed it.
Another weight looser then suggested I add flavour. So I decided on lime ( I guess we shld know that). It helped me gulp the water faster and easier. Yeah, I bet you know that I wouldn't be doing the water thing for fun. This is what it does for your body. It jump starts your body metabolism and prepares it for the next round of ingestion, which is ur breakfast. Also, when you take in lots of water during the day it satiates your hunger pang system, you find out that you do not overeat. Moreover we cannot underestimate the cleansing action of water. Those piled up wastes are made to move and your bowels loosen up to release such wastes. Your going to visit the toilet is the positive result.
Now the lime thing. Lime has Vitamin C which helps to retain calcium from the body cells which in turn reduces fat in the long run. Citrus fruits are known to contain vit C, so the more u take the better. (but pls moderacy is the key, don't overdo). Question: If I keep taking lime and warm water, won't I have ulcer? Answer: no, since u r still gonna eat breakfast.
I hope to discuss next the issue of drinking water during meals, whether it is advisable or not and the pros and cons.

Palace daughter nice thread u ve got..keep it up

Good day beautiful people. So, how many did drink at least a glass of water this morn?

I drank,so what nxt?

whizbrain: I drank,so what nxt?

ahahahahahahahah....'what next'... I admire that determination. I wish results of all these show so fast but nah... It doesn't. It is as gradual as frustrating. We gotta still have to do a lot on the water thing. The next thing is drinking water 'next' morning too and the next and the next till it becomes part of you. We will alongside treat other issues as we become accustomed to water.

Nice thread. Also trying to lose a lot of weight after I had regained. So,I'm in.

Vera2cc: Nice thread. Also trying to lose a lot of weight after I had regained. So,I'm in.

you are welcome Vera2cc. Let's also post questions and we will surely have answers as we together deliberate on how to make this journey an easier one.

@palacedaughter I just started lipton nd green tea therapy will it work too ? I boil nd take it like water ?

We could all join forces and ask nbc to bring the biggest loser reality show down to Nigeria, I know that would do a lot of folks some good.

greenoak: @palacedaughter I just started lipton nd green tea therapy will it work too ? I boil nd take it like water ?

that's great. But I will like to know how you take that. How do you practice the therapy? Details pls... I am asking because so many people overdo things you know and care has to be taken. Nevertheless, green tea has very little (and for some brands no) calories. It also keeps you from feeling hungry everytime and overeatiing when you get hungry. So, green tea therapy(would not like to go into the lip tea stuff yet) is a very good one. Plus it has got antioxidants that help you fight oxidants(that can result into cancer, tumours and other illnesses as a result of some normal day to day activities) asides from the weight loss. So u are on track but I will still very much appreciate it if you can state how u practice it.

*Dancing* I wanna lose weight too! I need to lose 12kg frm nw till December..Can u give me like foods to eat nd nt to eat?

I also want to shed some weigh too. Presently I weigh 70kg, is it possible for me to loose like 10kg in 2-3wks?

@Olaitan1 and Voucher. It is very possible depending on how u work at it. Food to eat and not to...hmmm... Eat more of vegetables and fruits. Combine PROPERLY with protein. Eat carbohydrates moderately. Drink lots of water and so on and so forth.., those are general weight loss tips. Soon we will discover how to develop a healthy eating plan that will carry us through the weight loss journey and permanently become our lifestyle. I keep saying that incorporating these tips into our lifestyle is the best. It is better than looking for how to temporarily lose some weight within a time frame because in no time, you will find yourself regaining the lost weight and gradually gaining more.

Don't drink water while eating! Why?... I have made this my habit: asking questions. Answers will help me understand why I should and why I should not. Water as we know is very very important in losing weight but science has it that when we take water during our meals, we tend to gain more weight. How? When we eat, our body system releases digestive enzymes. These speed up the rate of food metabolism. In order words they act as catalysts. So let's put is this way: the digestive enzymes are the catalysts, the food to be digested is the substrate. As a chemist, I know from Michelis Mentel's explanation that the more the substrate, the lesser the effect of the catalyst(in this case, food is the substrate) and vice versa. Now when we drink water while eating, it dilutes the enzymes such that their potency is quickly reduced. The power is so reduced that they are not able to properly digest the food. Of course, the undigested food will have to be stored in fatty tissues (This process I just described is a very complex one. I decided to break it down in the simplest way I can). In conclusion, we can adopt a very good means of drinking water( since we should not do without it) by taking it 1hr before or after our meals. That helps to keep our enzyme potency high. That in turn facilitates the food metabolism and no excess food is stored as fat.
I might have missed some things while explaining as I want to be very simple and clear, so if you have questions (because you might have gotten confused somewhere along the line), please do ask. I will appreciate comments and treat questions also. Thanks. Do have a great week and lose some weight.

Nice 1 here

NEVER SKIP A MEAL
There we go again. You see, when we want to lose weight, some things sound/look logical. A myth is that when you eat less by skipping meal(s), you have less food that will eventually turn into that dreaded fat. Fact is that when you skip meals, you tend to eat more when you are eventually ready to eat. Some weight loss experts suggest six meals a day but in smaller proportions of course. The aim is to keep you from getting hungry. So I would suggest that we break it down this way:

Breakfast: this should be fairly larger than the smaller proportions because your body needs some calories to start the day right. Never miss this meal. We will talk more later on good day starters like white oats for example. Also try to include protein as it gives makes you full for a long time. I will also treat the protein thing as we progress.

Brunch: this is just to suppress any kind of feeling of hunger. This is the meal taken in-between your breakfast and lunch. It should be light. This is where fruits fit in most.

Lunch: the afternoon meal too should be very very light. Carbohydrates are okay here. Small proportions of course. By this time even, you might not even feel hungry so go very light.

Snack: okay, we have the indulging time. There are very healthy snacks you know. Popcorn (not the extremely sugary ones like we see around) is okay. There are some popcorn vendors that put a healty proportion of sugar. Fruits too can serve as snack. Apples, pineapples, oranges are best.

Dinner: the lightest ever. Should not be the 'eba' thing. Most people say without the solids they have not completed the day. You can go easy with that. Wheat is very okay. And if u want 'eba' let it be small with a lot of vegetables. I wonder why in restaurants they fetch plenty 'eba' with small efo. It's so not okay even for anyone. It should be the opposite.

After Dinner: soon, those who love to eat will do well so scrap this out. I put it there to take care of the late night snacking. Yes, you can eat after dinner but wisdom has to be applied. Nuts will be best. Some people sleep very late (10-12pm) because of the nature of their jobs. So, I suggest that after dinner by 8pm or thereabout, when you still wanna indulge, go on nuts like groundnuts. Just a handful please. I strongly suggest that weight loosers should wean off this. A good way is to brush teeth after dinner. You won't feel like indulging afterwards. Late night snacking is not too good because the food may not digest properly. Try to stop eating an hr before going to bed.
Palacedaughter wants to hear from you.

NEVER SKIP A MEAL
There we go again. You see, when we want to lose weight, some things sound/look logical. A myth is that when you eat less by skipping meal(s), you have less food that will eventually turn into that dreaded fat. Fact is that when you skip meals, you tend to eat more when you are eventually ready to eat. Some weight loss experts suggest six meals a day but in smaller proportions of course. The aim is to keep you from getting hungry. So I would suggest that we break it down this way:

Breakfast: this should be fairly larger than the smaller proportions because your body needs some calories to start the day right. Never miss this meal. We will talk more later on good day starters like white oats for example. Also try to include protein as it gives makes you full for a long time. I will also treat the protein thing as we progress.

Brunch: this is just to suppress any kind of feeling of hunger. This is the meal taken in-between your breakfast and lunch. It should be light. This is where fruits fit in most.

Lunch: the afternoon meal too should be very very light. Carbohydrates are okay here. Small proportions of course. By this time even, you might not even feel hungry so go very light.

Snack: okay, we have the indulging time. There are very healthy snacks you know. Popcorn (not the extremely sugary ones like we see around) is okay. There are some popcorn vendors that put a healty proportion of sugar. Fruits too can serve as snack. Apples, pineapples, oranges are best.

Dinner: the lightest ever. Should not be the 'eba' thing. Most people say without the solids they have not completed the day. You can go easy with that. Wheat is very okay. And if u want 'eba' let it be small with a lot of vegetables. I wonder why in restaurants they fetch plenty 'eba' with small efo. It's so not okay even for anyone. It should be the opposite.

After Dinner: soon, those who love to eat will do well so scrap this out. I put it there to take care of the late night snacking. Yes, you can eat after dinner but wisdom has to be applied. Nuts will be best. Some people sleep very late (10-12pm) because of the nature of their jobs. So, I suggest that after dinner by 8pm or thereabout, when you still wanna indulge, go on nuts like groundnuts. Just a handful please. I strongly suggest that weight loosers should wean off this. A good way is to brush teeth after dinner. You won't feel like indulging afterwards. Late night snacking is not too good because the food may not digest properly. Try to stop eating an hr before going to bed.
Palacedaughter wants to hear from you.

greenoak:
@palacedaughter I just started lipton nd green tea therapy will it work too ? I boil nd take it like water ?

did the green tea work for u