Hi everyone, sorry about the mishap on this post yesterday, the pictures weren't resized. My bad. I was in a hurry and didn't realize my mistake. Abeg, make una forgive me oooo. So please now enjoy Motun's inspirational story.......

That me in my 2nd trimester, still trying to look good forget the large nose.

My last trimester *coverface* not one of my best looks….. with the nose again.

Working out: This was so much fun for me, no matter how little, try using the stairs when you can and when your extremely tired, do not push it, use the elevator. Taking aerobic classes in my living room via Tracy Anderson work out DVD “The Pregancy Project” probably had the biggest impact on my weight loss journey; I try to work out there about three times a week. For all those TTC and those expecting, I recommend Tracy Anderson “Pregnancy Project “ DVD. You can never go wrong doing this. You can also purchase Tracy Andersons post pregnancy work out DVD as well.

Child birth: Pheeeewwww…… To God be the glory, after nine months on the inside, I gave birth to the most adorable creature on earth, a healthy 4kg baby by natural birth. God is indeed faithful is all I would say, I had loved him unconditionally right from the first time I felt him kick. That brought tears to my eyes. The amazing journey of mother hood began. Sleeplessnights, adjusting to the lil ones sleeping pattern, circumcision, immunization (especially the most dreaded rotavirus vaccine). But in all, nothing compares to that indescribable feeling, “The joy of motherhood”. Sometimes I find myself lost in thoughts stiring at him for more than an hour, isn’t that just amazing? :-) .

Post pregnancy: Now its time to examine yourself and see how much you have gained and how much you lost, that’s the toughest part, but if you had a healthy life style during pregnancy, that will not be much of a problem, the only trouble area I had was abdominal fat (visceral fat). I would not say my tummy is back to its pre-pregnancy size, but I can say with all confidence that it is almost near perfect. Abdominal fat is one of the toughest to lose post-pregnancy. Drink lots of water and pepper soup, get yourself a girdle, I wore mine even to sleep because I was determined by all means ready to get my tummy back to pre-pregnancy size. Most importantly strength exercises would help a great deal, sit ups and push ups. Eat healthy, eat less, work out more = weight loss.

My first post pregnancy picture @ 8 week with bobo, a more defined body, toned arms and a more defined waist line.

Bobo's dedication. Ignore the gele jooor, i'm still a learner. Lol

 This is the latest picture of me and the LBD that changed my life……

Now at 81kg, That’s me pouting….. still a work in progress I don’t think I got it right.

Someone had too much powder on *runsaway*

Dearest Motun, thanks a lot for your story, i really wish i knew this before i took in, maybe it would have been easier dropping the baby weight. Kudos girl, you have already touched  many lives with this trust me. I pray that God almighty continues to give you the strength to care for your little one and the grace to keep looking good and inspiring others to live healthy *wink*. God bless you. 
Chelizruby.

Basically, every food contains calories except for water. The idea behind calorie counting is to know the calorie contents of most raw and packed foods (most raw natural foods) off the top of your head so that when you are faced with a challenge of figuring out what to eat in a strange place, it won't be difficult to conquer. Because I know I wont want to spoil my workout with an unwanted 500 calorie meal or thing that I have never tasted before or that I didnt know how many calories it contained. That would be just sad.


Not to worry though, nutritionists have done most of the work for us already. Just go online and jot down as many foods as you can into your journal, write down their calorie contents beside each of them. Remember that it's always based on the food portion or size or weight. This makes it easy for you to refer to it when you want to calculate your daily consumption. Yes you can use www.myfitnesspal.com (they have Nigerian meals too) also try www.fatsecret.com but start by knowing what to do on your own before going to the site for further help. Here are some basic food items and their calorie contents:
. Apples- small 101g = 53cals.
. Eggs- 1 large 50g = 78cals
. Wheat bread- 1 slice of 28g = 69cals
. Oranges- 1 small 96g = 45cals
. Banana- 1 small 81g = 72cals.
. Cucumbers- 100g = 16cals

                 This is exactly the kind of scale i have, just that mine is red. Don't laugh o.

Some foods might not be straight forward, for instance a bowl of soup or eba.What I normally do when I want to calculate such is that I calculate the items in the soup separately. E.g:  fish/chicken, spoon of oil, vegetables, okro, etc. most time I round them up so that I can assume a worse case scenario. Then if it's eba, I weigh the dry meal on my scale before I cook it. This might look like too much work, but after a while, you won't need to weigh everything because mentally, you can figure out how many calories there are. You see why I mentioned to buy a scale yesterday.
See, if you want to lose weight, you have to put in much dedication and drive into it. No half measures. Brace up and do it, watch and see how people will marvel at your new physique later.

I have been avoiding this topic for ever, but lately it has become difficult to do because i get different questions concerning this always. It's an extensive topic that needs time to fully explain it well so one can understand. There are apps online that can do it for you (www.myfitnesspal.com)but, it's best to know the koko of it so that you can always do a mental calculation when you are on the go. For example: if you are on a training and you guys are on a buffet queue for lunch, how will you know what and what to eat without popping out your phone or iPad or laptop? Abi you no go chop? Lol. You see what I mean now? If you want to lose weight fast and keep it off, this is your best weapon. For beginners, here are the basic tools you need to count calories: a kitchen scale, a small note book or journal, a small calculator.

When I first started, I kept a big journal of everything I ate for the day, you might be saying in your mind "hmmm na wa o".  yes na wa, that's how I lost the weight so fast and it has stayed off since then. Hahahaha! I still keep journals, I have about 3 now and I enjoy doing it, even on days when I don't write them down, I still got it in my head Gbam! No shakin.

This here is one of the best kept secrets of losing weight. No matter how many diets you have tried, if you still don't know how to count calories, you are in the wrong bus Sweety. This which is calorie counting or calorie monitoring, takes a bit of time to get used to it, but when you do, it becomes a part of you for life. This is the best way to lose weight and keep it off. This is why most people that have lost weight the right way hardly go back to their former sizes.

First of all, don't even get it twisted, you have to understand what a calorie is. Simply put, Calories are the energy in food. Our body needs this energy to function. If you are trying to lose weight, it's advised to feed on low calorie but high nutrition foods and avoid high calorie, low- nutrition foods plus also reduce your portion sizes.

Based on your activity levels and your body weight, you are required to consume a certain amount of calories per day to enable you lose weight. The website i gave above will help you sort this out, just register and fill out your details. Now from experience, if you don't eat up to this amount of calories, the weight won't drop. If you eat more than that, and don't burn it off during the week, the weight won't drop. If you eat the right amount and dont exercise enough, the weight wont drop. You have to create a deficit to activate fat loss. So starving yourself never works. Someone was telling me the other day of how she doesn't eat breakfast everyday and still hasn't lost any weight.  Lol.

Many packed foods have the calorie content of the food at the back of the pack, which looks like the picture below. So basically, what you are aiming for is: (Let me just highlight 2)
1. The serving size: this will tell you what one person should eat. E.g some will say '4 crackers' per serving, please don't exceed that if you don't want extra calories and slow weight loss. But if you do eat the extra, be sure to add it to your daily total calories eaten.

2. Calories: this tells you the calorie content of what '4 crackers' is. E.g lets say its 300 calories per serving for 4 crackers.mif you eat 6 crackers, that's 300cals plus 150 calls from the extra 2 crackers making it a total of 450 calories.

Another important thing to note when trying to lose weight is that you must aim for low carbohydrate foods that have high fibre and protein content. Although its not advised to always eat packed or processed foods, but let's be real it's very difficult to do in today's world, so the best thing is to be very careful what kind of processed food your are eating and the calorie contents. Let me leave you to download this part. Remember that portion control is key. Take care and God bless.
Chelizruby.

Even as I watch what I eat and try as much as I can to lose weight monthly, I don't deprive myself of some "sugar" ( I don't mean white sugar o) before some people will go and start gorging themselves of st.Louis sugar hahahaha! What I mean is that I still satisfy my sweet cravings one way or the other. The trick is to keep in mind the quantity of what I consume and it's calorie content. The more natural the substance the better, and the more benefits there are for me. So here are some of my favorite sweets.

Hey my sweets. Sorry I've been MIA for the past 4 days, I've had my hands and head so full that it got to me. Whew! Thank God it's over now. I have not been able to exercise for the past one week, so it got me thinking.....in the days when I feel sad and don't have anyone to hold my hand, when I have too much work and no time to exercise, when I have indulged in too much junk food, when I'm feeling down, when people call me fat,when I feel aches and pains all over and can't move, when I don't have food to eat, when I am sick in the hospital what do I do?  I told myself; Stay strong! Yes it sounds like a cliche but coming from where I am coming from, those two words kept me going. Thats why I always tell people to surround themselves with good friends, even if it's only one person you trust, good books, good movies(positive ones) that won't leave bad images in your mind.

And then, because you know what to do to get yourself back up and going, once you get your energy or spirit back, you jump right into it. E.g I wasn't able to exercise or eat well this past week because I was down. Once I gather myself back together and get well, I will zoom into action the coming week. Nothing and no one can stop me because I have a target. It's ok to feel bad when you have derailed or had too much to eat, nobody will crucify you, just stay strong and get back into "the zone".
I wish you all the best of luck and please forgive my disappearance, it wasn't intentional. God bless you. Don't forget to holla for your sports bras and workout DVDs.
Chelizruby.
Email: tocheli@yahoo.com
Phone: 08025806183

After i had my refreshing tangerine drink which i spoke about in the other post, i went on to make myself a nice bowl of oats and bananas. Here's how i made it;

Good morning sweets, how has the day been so far? So i had some tangerines at home and wanted to play around with them. I decided to make a drink out of it. It came out very nice. A mild refreshing taste,which i enjoyed after my morning workout. Here is how i made it;
Ingredients:

                                                   1. A sachet of green tea....2 cals.
                                                    2. A sachet of Noni tea.....7 cals


                                                     3. 2 medium tangerines....100cals


                                                       4. A tea spoon of honey...20cals


How to:
Brew the 2 tea bags in hot water for about 5mins to infuse well. Then peel the two Tangerines and remove the seeds. Remove the white pith in the tangerine because they give a bitter taste. Pour the warm tea into the blender then add the tangerine and honey, just blitz it up, pour in a glass and chill in the fridge. please note that i didn't add water to it. Its a very light and refreshing healthy drink and its just 129calories.

 If thats too much for you based on your daily calorie need, then try lemons instead. Please try it and let me know what you think. Take care and God bless.
Chelizruby.

I used to love Grapefruit back then when I started my weight loss journey, it helped me shed loads of weight, later I lost interest. Maybe because I ate it quite a lot then. I recently went to market and they caught my eye again. I have had it with pawpaw smoothie, with pineapples and just fresh like that, I love the tangy taste a lot. I missed that taste. You know it's great for weight loss too because it's high in antioxidants, its high in fat burning enzymes and has a high water content(any fruit with high water content is good for weight loss) and high in vitaminC. It has other great benefits too.


There are 2 main varieties, the white and the red. I personally prefer the red one, it's sweeter. The red one contains about 42 calories per 100g while the white one contains about 32 calories per 100g. That's not bad for me o. I want to do all sorts with it this time around, I want to mix it with different fruits and even ginger and cinnamon, in smoothie form, let me see what it would taste like. You are invited to try this out with me. If you have kindly share some tips. Maybe I will show you pics later, that is if I remember to snap them. Lol.

Kindly holla me for your home workout DVDs, sports bras, trainer shoes and socks. Here are my details:
Email: tocheli@yahoo.com
Phone: 08025806183
Take care and God bless.
Chelizruby.

Hi sweets, you know I said I will be doing a lot of strength training to see if my weight will drop faster and also to build lean muscles. Remember? So, I  just have to talk about this 'Jackie Warner workout' i so love it because in just 2 weeks of using it ( though i have been doing loads of resistance training) I see a lot of difference. On the scale yes, but most especially body wise. My thigh and butt area are firmer (Quadriceps and Glutes muscles)my thighs are  more defined with muscles. (some people get scared at the mention of muscles) its not the macho type I mean o, what I mean is that, I have more defined legs in general, even when I raise a leg, I see the definition. My arms are rock solid and i see my abs coming thru the more, if not for my bread addiction, it cud have been better than this. *sigh*Maybe those that have tried this workout (or any other kind of strength training) can explain better.

In the past, I heard loads of good reviews about her style of training but never tried it. She focuses a lot on strenght training, her workouts will tone and define your body like magic. I am a living proof. All I can say now is that mehn!! She ain't playing around! This workout gets the best of you and leaves you #beat by the next day. When I woke up in the morning after I did it for the first time, I couldn't raise my arms, Kai! My whole body was on fire. I felt like I just hit a keke lol. I knew it was working. I was happy even though I couldn't do much that morning, I just did a mild workout.

Anybody can do this workout really because she has modified some moves there but, for beginners, I recommend you do it once or twice a week, then cardio on the other days. For experienced peeps, I recommend 3 or 4 times a week to help you tone up fast. She has like 4 very good workouts, but I have only tried 2 out of those.

 I am very happy with my decision (strength training). I mean, this is just week 2 and I see this much difference, what will happen by the time I complete a month? Woohoo! If you are on strength training: 
1. Please, always make sure you drink a lot of water .
2. Eat loads of protein rich foods like eggs, beans, unsweetened yoghurt, fish, lean chicken, so that you can build those muscles nicely. Don't skip meals.
3. Don't skip the next days workout, so that your body doesn't tense up too much. Try a stretch session or just do crunches.
4. Always start your workouts with some cardio and mix it up during the week. Don't do just strength training all week long.
5. Take a day or two off from working out during the week, so that your body can repair. Don't confuse this with what I said earlier. When you wake up with pains, try and stretch out ur body, or do a mild workout or even a massage session to ease out the tension instead of just sitting it out all day long.
6. Don't take Panadol for those pains, try massage instead.

This is my own point of view really, I only speak from experience. Like I always say, I am not a doctor. I research a lot and I always use myself as an example when I have tried something. Good luck on getting the kind of body you dream of, but remember its not magic, its only a matter of time. Don't forget to call, text or mail me to order your workout DVDs, sports bras, trainers and trainer socks. they are almost out of stock, so hurry. Take care and God bless.
Email: tocheli@yahoo.com
Phone: 08025806183
God bless you and take care.
Chelizruby.

Yes please somebody save me from this sin food biko! The sin food is bread oooo! White bread for that matter! I don't know where this temptation came from Biko nuuuu! (i blame it on food network) because since i learnt how to bake bread a couple of months ago, its not been funny at all. I have been struggling to get out of this mess. Ok let me confess.....for the past 2 weeks, i have been indulging on this thing, daily o although I made sure I never ate more than 2 slices a day sha. Lol. That's how last Thursday, I peacefully went to shop rite to buy some clothing and home (not food) needs, *sobs* then as I didn't see queue for bread, I rushed and grabbed one "hot" loaf of bread for my self. In my mind I was saying, "it's for the kids to eat as breakfast, not me". To make matters worse, I still bought that wicked silver bird popcorn o *crying*.  Immediately I got into my car, I took a small pinch of the "hot" bread and imagined it with butter as I chewed and smiled. Chai!

You know one thing? I thank God for this lifestyle change because I knew what to do next. On my way home, I entered my fruits market and got me some pawpaw, watermelon, pineapples, grapefruits and apples. This, I was going to use to drive away the bread settled deep in my bowel. So I got home and made a nice cup of coffee, cut me a small slice of the bread and ate it. Hahahahaha! You think say I go buy hot bread, I no go wack am!? Lol! So on Friday, I started dealing with it, first I had 2 huge cups of my smoothie (yes, I made a smoothie with part of the fruits) for breakfast and some more for dinner. I made some more for breakfast on saturday, then had raw pawpaw, 2 grapefruits, an apple for dinner. I had meals in between though. I feel better now, but I have made up my mind that I won't have bread next week, I don't want my tummy to start bulging out, it won't be funny at all. Even though I didn't gain weight from the bread, I feel a little gassy and I see my abs looking different, I just know its the bread.

I feel better now that I have confessed, (I have purged) I can't tell you I won't buy bread again because, my kids eat it A lot. so, maybe I should go back to my good old wheat bread if I get the cravings again. Please I need words of encouragement...plsssss *sniff sniff* This coming week though, is a no-bread-week, please Wish me luck sweets. Lol. Please share your cravings too na, no be only me. Lets hear your confessions too, i think its fun. Finally, Please don't forget to contact me for your workout DVDs, sports bras and trainers see my details below.Take care and God bless.
Chelizruby.
Email: tocheli@yahoo.com
Phone: 08025806183

Hi sweets, I really feel the need to make a quick note on the basics of weight loss. Recently I've been getting loads of mails and questions from friends abut how to lose weight and how to start. So here's something I compiled.

First things first, before you start a weight loss journey, you have totalk at is after speaking to a doctor) lol
1. Weigh yourself: determine your weight, and what your BMI is and where it should be for a healthy body. (there are so many BMI calculators online and on this blog) When you determine that.....
2. Set a goal for yourself and the amount of time it will take you to achieve it.( make it realistic)
3. Cut off junk food and Eat fruits and vegetables: here are some examples of fat burning foods I love.

* Apples: high in soluble fibre, filling and it reduces sugar cravings. I love apples!
* Avocados: high in monounsaturated fats, which are good for the body, keeps you going all day.
* Pepper: curbs appetite, raises the body temperature, and boosts metabolism.
* Vinegar: slows down the absorbtion of carbohydrates and keeps you full for long.
* Green tea: keeps you full and increases metabolism, Ideal for weight loss.
* Warermelon: this super food is one of my best, I eat them almost every 2 or 3 days. It's a water rich food and contains the "mother of antioxidants"
* Pawpaw: I love this one too, very filling, refreshing and cleansing.
* Carrots
* Cucumber
* Nuts
* Eggs
* Brown rice
* Beans

4. Drink plenty of water.
5. Exercise or keep busy.
6. Don't eat too fast and always watch your portions.(use a small plate to measure your food)
7. Don't skip meals or starve yourself: eat often, you should eat 5-6 small meals a day rather than 3 big meals. When you eat, 200-300 calories every 3-4 hours, your body stays in a higher metabolism digesting mode, it allows for more calorie burn.
8. Keep a food journal and count calories: look up www.myfitnesspal.com for help on that.

For weight loss to occur, you need to create a deficit. What I mean is e.g: if you burn 500 more calories than you eat everyday(this is why you need to count calories) for a week, you should lose about 0.5-1kg. If you want to lose weight faster, you'll need to eat less and exercise more. If you take 1050-1200 calories a day and exercise for one hour per day,you should lose 1-2kg in the first week or more if you weigh about 250kg.( the heavier you are, the more you'll lose in the beginning). This also depends on body type. Please note that cutting too many calories at once isn't healthy, that is why you need a guide as to how many you need to eat for a healthy weight loss. If you want to lose water weight which can be a lot (8kg in my case), you need to reduce salt and starchy food intake greatly. Salt makes you retain water, which makes you look bigger and weigh more.

I am not sure if I captured it all, please feel free to add to this and if you are doing this already and it's working, kindly share some inspiration. Find my simple meal plan for detox on this blog, then follow it up with the fat loss meal plan. They should give you an idea of what to eat subsequently, then add a bit of exercise to your plan. Take care and God bless. I need to sleep now. *yawn*
Chelizruby.

Happy holidays sweets and Barka da Sallah to all my Muslim friends. May God bless us all abundantly in Jesus name.  I recently sent out a broadcaste to all my contacts about the importance of exercise and not to forget to spend a bit of time to exercise and sweat it out this holiday, especially when we will be indulging in a lot of goodies in the likes of meat, rice, drinks and co. Not that you shouldn't eat o, but after eating remember to burn it off, sweat it out.

The importance of sweating in exercise can't be over emphasised. For you to be sure you are really working hard and burning calories, sweat must be produced. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Someone has told me before that I don't have to sweat. Na lie o, I must sweat!  So what is sweat? According the Oxford dictionary lol, Sweat is: "Moisture exuded through the pores of the skin, typically in profuse quantities as a reaction to heat, physical exertion, fever or fear." it can't even be defined without adding "physical" to it.

Whenever I exercise at home, I switch off the fan and air conditioner, I open up the windows though. I do this a lot because it allows me to sweat a lot and I love the feeling I get afterwards. You know what they say, "if you still look good after your workout, you didn't work hard enough". Here are some of the reasons why we should sweat it out;

1. Sweating is healthy, it cleanses the body and eliminates toxins from the skin. When you sweat, your skin pores open up and you release all impurities, dirt on the surface of the skin.
2. If you sweat regularly, your body rewards you with softer and smoother skin.
3. You lose a lot of water weight as you sweat, it's great for weight loss and the major way to achieve this is by physical exercises.
4. Sweating relaxes the mind and body. It helps to release the stress and fatigue brought on by muscle tension.

5. When you sweat, you breathe faster, your heart works functions better,your circulation improves, and your metabolism accelerates and 'ginger' sets in lol, and then your normal body temperature returns after, hmmmmmm. I love that feeling.

After my workout I don't like wiping off my sweat, I love to stretch, then relax and drink a nice chilled bottle of water. And then allow the sweat dry off completely on my skin before I take a shower. I feel fresher that way after a bath. Try it. Take care sweets and pls don't forget to drop a comment, let's know what you think about sweating, better still share some other thought s you have . God bless.
Chelizruby.