“This post is in response to the promise I made about sharing my weight loss and tummy flattening techniques. A good number of ladies here asked and so I’m sharing this.

Before I go on, I want to remind you that our bodies and situations differ. I work with what suits my body and my schedule. This is not a definitive formula but a simple guide that has worked for me and something to inspire you. I have never been thin. I was born chubby. Through my years I stayed on the slim side of chubby but recently, I began to gain weight and I’ll tell you why.

In the first picture, you can see a snapshot of me almost two weeks ago and another I took just this morning. You can see the huge difference. I’ll tell you how I attained that but first…

When I had my son, as I shared in a comment on another post, I lost a lot of weight. The weight loss was so scary and drastic that people began to worry for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to add up on fat as I resumed work two months after. Work meant walking certain distances climbing a flyover almost every day that had lots of steps and not eating the way I wanted to because I just didn’t have time. I was skinny at that point. At the same time, I was breastfeeding, so this contributed to my ‘fitness’.

But my son turned 7 and I quiton breastfeeding, plus I reduced my working days because I didn’t have a nanny for my kids. And from nowhere, the pounds began to add like mad. I became worried and my husband told me to join him every morning to exercise. So, we’d wake up by 5am, sometimes 4am and workout. I’d do 500 jumps with Yoga asanas for my belly. The results were crazy. In a month, all my flabby mommy tummy was gone and I was nursing a 4-pack.

This went on for more than a year until I quit my job completely and started spending more time at home. I got another job but I was not obligated to go to the office at all, which worked well for me because I was having nanny issues again. I stopped working out and the fat returned slowly. I’d look at myself in the mirror and say ‘don’t worry, you’ll exercise tomorrow’. I kept procrastinating on and on until the fat did not only return, it disfigured my tummy and thighs. To worsen things, I began having issues with my bones (I suffer from arthritis). First it was my knees, and then my right hand and in November last year, I suffered a slip disc. I was told to stay away from exercise for two months.

So, there I was, sitting around, unable to do anything because of intense pain and getting incredibly fat.

So, what did I do? I began with dieting. I tried slimming tea. It did not work. I then drastically changed the way I ate and what I ate. I reduced my meals in half and cut off dinner entirely. I increased fruits and veggies. In my house, every evening, you will find oranges, papaya, water melon, pineapple, carrots, cucumber and bananas.

In two weeks, I had dropped some pounds. When I saw awesome results, I went down to breakfast alone and ate fruits like a horse through the day. Before then, it could take four to five days for me topoo but since I started, I’d have bowel movements every day. Sometimes twice a day. I avoided bread and noodles. I did rice but with salads and beans. Please note that I did not go into a keto diet.

It got to a point where pastries irritated me. I couldn’t stand sugary stuff. I literally craved for fruits. The results have been awesome.

So, below is my daily routine.

1. First thing in the morning, I take a tummy cleanser. This includes warm water with one lemon and some ginger. Boil the water and ginger and leave to cool, then squeeze in a lemon. Sometimes, just water and lemon. This helps bowel movement. Some call it tummy blasting. I don’t know about that.

(Side note: I use what is left of the squeezed lemon on my face to remove acne, and on my armpits to lighten them – great results!)

2. Yoga asana. (Please see pics). I begin with the Cobra pose and then the bow and then the boat and lastly, the plank. I do five sets each and at each set I count to twenty – roughly twenty or thirty seconds. I hold my breath as much as I can and breathe out at intervals.
Following that, I do 500 jumps using a skipping rope. The jumps are basically to burn outside fat and the yoga works on your inner tummy muscles. Please, do not make the mistake of doing stomach exercises alone. It is a huge waste of time. Work on the inside and outside of your tummy for efficient results.

3. A healthy, full, indulgent breakfast that includes veggies and fruits and carbohydrate for energy. Please, do not eliminate carbs from your diet. It’s very important. You need it for energy to exercise.

Sometimes, I get too busy with writing to work out in the morning, so I shift the exercise until the evening when I’ve done all my work.

4. If I workout in the morning, I’ll then add 500 jumps in the evening. But you don’t have to be me. I’m an extremist when I do stuff. Sometimes I hurt myself. Please,do what suits you.

5. I stay disciplined. Sometimes I indulge in a meal here and there but I always realign myself. When I become peckish, I reach for a carrot or apple and eat. I always have a fruit on standby for longathroat.

6. I make smoothies. Sometimes, I go to the market and buy really soft bananas. They are way cheaper than the hard ones. I blend them with just one sachet of peak milk and some ice and have an awesome smoothie. I can’t wait for ripe mangoes (not boiled ones) to come. Mango smoothies are bae.

So, those were my tips. I know they may sound too much but remember that I didn’t start all at a go. I began with dieting and then when my body allowed, I added exercise. With the exercise, please start small before you end up in the emergency room and you blame Sally. Pace yourself. The food as well. Don’t just cut off your present routine; diffuse, do it slowly and with time, you’ll get used to veggies and fruits.

It’s not easy but please don’t say ‘I’m too busy’, ‘my mother too is fat’, ‘It’s in my family’. It won’t help you, my dear. Create time or someday you will be forced to drop everything else to attend to your health. A healthy lifestyle makes you younger, happier, more confident and sexier. Make your body better than it is today. Even if you are slim, stay healthy. Don’t be eating like a horse. I can count up to five people I know who used to be stick thin but are all chubbier than me today. The silly thing a lot of slim ladies do is eat anyhow. Please, stop. We women are fat hoarders. When you overeat, you are slowing down your body metabolism. One day, it will just spark and stop working as it used to and you won’t know what to do with the accumulating fat.

In conclusion, if there’s anything you’ll learn from me here today is that you should love your body the way it is. If I hated my body, I won’t achieve this much in a short time. I’d have given up and concluded it was a waste of time. I’d have gone back to an unhealthy way of life.

Love your body and work on making it better.

by Sally Kenneth Dadzie

Feature Image – Lilith (The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth fan art) by AliceBlueFeather