Get Trimmer... Naija Style (Week One)

GOAL: Leaner, Trimmer, Slimmer YOU

 






Participants:

• Ade
  Chest - 37" Waist - 35" Hips - 44" Weight - 80kg Height  - 5'4.5"
• Amina
  Chest - 41" Waist - 38" Hips - 48" Arm - 14" Thigh " 30.5" Weight - 95kg/210pds Height - 5'6"
• Ayo
  Chest - 51" Waist -42" Hips - 41" Arm - 15.5" Thigh - 25.5" Current weight - 235 pounds
• Bolanle*
  Tummy 38" Waist 36" Hips 48" Neck 10"
• Damie
  Chest - 38.5" waist - 32" hips - 44 arm L - 11" R - 10.5" Thigh L - 24.5" R - 24" Weight - 168lbs
• Emem
• Funmbi*
  Chest - 42" Waist 38" Hips 48" Arm 13" Thighs 28" Weight  90kg/198pds Height - 5' 7"
• Kemi*
• Ibitoru*
• MakeItDeep
• Ms Zee
  chest -39.5" waist-37" hips - 42" Arm (L & RA) -13" Thigh (L &RT)-25" Current weight - 82.9kg
• Ngozi
  Weight - 80kg, Height - 1.65m
  
• Omolara
• Omobolanle*
• Preye
• Tomi A
  Chest: 34 Waist: 29 Hips: 40 Thighs: 23 Arm: 11 Current weight: 62kg Height: 5"4
  
• Toyin*
• Vickii
  I'm 10 Stone 7 or 147 pounds
  
• Yemisi
  chest - 48in waist - 47in hips - 52in thighs - 32in current weight - 270lbs
• Yvonne
  Bust 39, waist 39, hips 40, weight 67kg
• 1511th*
  73.4kg ( 11st 7lb)

*new additions

GUIDELINES/TIPS

1. You MUST eat Breakfast
No exceptions. I know most of you have to get to work really early so the solution to this is to have a box of your cereal at your desk and have breakfast when you have 10 minutes to spare. Easiest thing to have for breakfast is cereal e.g. Weetabix, Quaker Oats, Bran Flakes (I'll add more to this list this week)

2. Stew (Chicken, Fish, Meat, etc) - Try what my friends named my "Weight Watcher's Stew"
Chicken stock definitely contains oil so you don't have to use vegetable, sunflower, etc oil.
Like I've said before, oil doesn't make food taste better. If you season your chicken nicely = yummy chicken stock and you season your stew properly.

3. Bulk Up Your Meals with Vegetables
E.g. Fried rice. Usually the ratio of rice to mixed veg is 2:1, and at the very best, 1:1.
Increase the portion of mixed veg to result in a ratio of  1:3(or 4) for rice to vegetables. Trust me, there's enough rice in there, it actually makes fried rice look more appetizing (all those beautiful colours - red, green, yellow, orange...) and honestly, it tasted good, and it's was more nutritious. (I know most of us do this already but for those who don't know, cooking rice in chicken stock just makes it taste soooo good).
Do the same for noodles - instead of 2 packs of noodles (nothing unusual there, everyone does it). Cook noodles with mixed vegetables and chicken, you'll end  with a plateful of a lot of food <-- I usually was unable to finish a whole pack of noodles.

4. Eat even More Protein
Chicken, Meat, Fish aren't bad in very generous portions.  Aside from bulking meals with vegetables, you can increase your portion of protein -  reduce your portion of rice, replace with vegetables and a lot of chicken, meat, fish, shrimp, etc.

5. For other Nigerian staples e.g. yam and plantain. Reduce your portions. We rarely cut thin slices of yam, if you're having 3 slices of regular sliced yam, reduce to 2 or 1.5. Remember the other tips on vegetables and protein. Boil Yam, Boil, Roast or Bake Plantain.

6. Healthy Monday To Friday (#healthymondaytofriday) - Make sure you treat yourself at least one day a week but try not to go overboard. On your treat day you can have e.g. pounded yam (smaller portion than usual) and efo, egusi, okra... maybe even a meatpie. I'd advise you to have different treats every week.
Please do not deprive yourselves completely. If you eat very healthy for weeks without treating yourself, you will most likely have a setback which will involve you bingeing... we don't want that.

7. Eat Often During The Day
Try not to wait until you're almost starving to eat something. I've found that the hungrier I am, the more I eat and I eat really quickly and don't realise I'm full until I'm far gone.
An example day is:
Cereal for Breakfast, An apple and a handful of nuts as a snack, Lunch - Chicken cooked with chopped tomatoes and mixed vegetables with 1.5 serving spoon portion of rice, some more fruit and/or nuts as another snack, Dinner - A whole fish and a generous portion of efo - spinach (little to no oil) cooked with tomatoes, pepper, well seasoned (egusi/melon seeds can be added).

8. Don't forget Water
We are made up of between 60-75% of water so it is important to stay hydrated. Also, we sometimes feel hungry when we might be thirsty. If you feel hungry shortly after eating a meal or snack, drink a glass of water and your hunger pangs will most likely have been thirst <== works for me!

Other Requirements

1. Starting Picture - in a pair of jeans (or another item of clothing) that you want to be able to fit in by the end of the challenge. If you send in a picture, I will blur your face (promise!).
   and/or Stats
   - your measurements incl. waist, hips, chest, thighs, etc
   or
   - weight.
   
2. Check in often, at least once a week. Share how you modified preparations of your meals, how you deal with everyday obstacles. Please share when you have setbacks because those are the most important times when you'll need encouragement from everyone else.
3. Share your progress, there will be an official check in day every 2 weeks.

GOOD LUCK!!!


All participants: Please comment now with your starting stats. Those who want to send pictures, please email me: email @ adura-odesanya.co.uk
There'll probably be some silent participants, please comment or email me with your progress or questions.

Meal Suggestions
It's best to work with things that are easily accessible. Some of you are in the UK or US so you have access to heathier versions of food e.g. brown rice. But we want to make this work for everyone wherever you are.

Breakfast - 1. Cereal (Quaker Oats, Bran Flakes, All Bran, Weetabix) with milk - Avoid using condensed milk, it's full of sugar. If you have access to semi skimmed milk, that's great. If not, have the equivalent of a glass of milk - if you have to dilute the milk to be of a thinner consistency than milkshake (lol), ok seriously you will know when your milk is too thick (and rich).
Example of Cereals to avoid: Frosties, Coco Pops, Rice Krispies, Golden Morn
2. 1 slice of Wholewheat bread with 2 boiled eggs and tomatoes (I love this!) (you can have ham instead of the eggs)

Lunch - Potatoes (including sweet potatoes)/Rice (basmati or brown if you can)/Noodles, of course with chicken, meat, fish or any other source of protein and bulk up with vegetables.
Potatoes would be a great choice over white rice (do you have a microwave at work?) Are you at a job where you can use a microwave and eat in a designated area? Or do you have to go to a cafetaria? White Rice is ok (not great) but ok. Jollof/Fried Rice, - if you cook it yourself, use oil sparingly or not at all. Broth/Stock usually has enough oil. If you're buying it from the cafetaria at work, it's bound to be very oily. Your portions of rice, potatoes should be the equivalent of a 1.5 serving spoon size.
E.g. Rice, Chicken and vegetables (mixed vegetables - peas, carrots, corn, peppers; spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, etc). You can be very generous with your serving of vegetables e.g. up to 3 serving spoons.
Noodles (half a pack of Indomie, trust me this is not too little) cooked with mixed vegetables and chicken (cook chicken, season nicely. Cut into small pieces and add to your half cooked noodles. steam veggies in chicken stock and add to the noodles and chicken. Stir and leave to simmer for a few minutes. <-- This is yummy.
TIP: Cook your rice, noodles, pasta, potatoes, etc in stock, adds a lot of flavour to your meals.


Dinner - You should have your smallest portion of carbohydrates at this time of the day. Dinner can be similar to what you eat for lunch but a smaller portion of potatoes, rice, etc or just cut them out completely. Examples of dinner include: Efo (healthy style i.e. little to no palm oil) with more meat or fish than usual. Also what I'm cooking right now - turkey with mixed vegetables and chopped tomatoes (I'll share the recipe and take pictures soon, I promise.. The secret to this is the seasoning, as always. I season and cook the turkey. Later, add the mixed vegetables and the tomatoes). You can eat this with a small portion of sweet potato (half of a medium one).

Snacks - Fruit - in Nigeria, you have  lot of access to organic fruit, use that to your advantage. Yes there are some fruits that are higher in sugar and starch than others BUT their sugar/starch content is nothing in comparison to having e.g. a meatpie as a snack. So please do not worry yourself about this... for now. I'll come back to this when you're weeks into the challenge.
An apple, an orange, tangerine, banana, grapes (up to 15), 2 pineapple slices, paw paw (I miss this), watermelon and more.
Nuts - I am aware some people breakout when they eat nuts so you don't have to eat them. They're a good source of protein so eat them if you have no negative reaction to them.
A handful of boiled or roasted groundnut (called monkey nuts in the UK) - avoid the salted packaged ones (too much salt), handful of cashew nuts, etc
Tomi mentioned that she has Ryvita as a snack. I don't really like Ryvita, mainly because it tastes like sand (lol) but if you must have it, please don't force it down your throat and wash it down with water for snacking sake. *Try to make sure you enjoy everything you eat*. You can have Ryvita with ham, chicken (yes, chicken!) *Protein makes you feel full quickly and it's not bad for you as long as you don't overdo it and have 2 whole chickens in a day ;)* ). While we're here, you can have a piece of chicken as a snack (not fried, of course), meat, fish, etc.

Important Notes/Tips

We will focus on healthy eating during this first week. In my opinion, it's more important than exercise (which ofcourse is very important). All the weight I lost in 2002 was 100% from eating healthy so believe me if you had to give up one, I'd say exercise. Not saying you should, lol... next week's post will be full of exercise tips.


- Basmati/Brown Rice, Potatoes, wholewheat pasta, whole wheat bread, porrige oats (eg Quaker Oats) are Unrefined Carbohydrates and they keep you full for longer as they're higher in fibre.
- A lot of vegetables contain carbohydrates so please discard the misconception that the only source of carbs are rice, bread, pasta, etc. Veggies contain much less carbohdrates than "carbs".
- A tip on controlling your portions (thanks for the reminder Tomi): Use a smaller plate or tupperware (container) for your meals. If you use a large plate, your food will look so small in comparison but when you use a smaller plate, your meal takes up more space on it and it doesn't look like you're eating "rabbit" food ;-) This worked for me when I was on WW years ago, my Aunt still reminds me about it (they were her plates that I took to Uni) 

PS - This post will be much longer - I will share a couple of meal ideas (how to prepare them) plus more meal suggestions for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. If there's anything else you'd like me to include, email me and I'll work on it tomorrow.