This Diet thing and other weight loss stories

The other day on twitter, someone tweeted "I love my body" and then I "retweeted" it (this means to quote the person). After I did I wondered if seemed hypocritical? After all, I was on a diet... I had this sudden urge to explain myself but I decided against it. 140 characters is never quite enough,so I'll explain myself here. I love my body. I love it, and this is precisely why I'm on a diet, because I want my body to be healthier and stronger and leaner (lower fat percentage). So this dieting (and exercising) comes from a place of love, to better myself and this body that has served me for over 20 years. I've mentioned that it's part of a lifestyle change, although it's pretty strict right now, I will be carrying a lot of this information into my life forever.

It's always so funny when I tell my friend i'm on a diet and they give me the lecture "Oh I don't believe in diets, just eat right and workout yada yada" I usually explain the top paragraph to them and then add that for the most part I was already doing those things, and that's what you do to maintain weight. If I had been binge-eating fast-food prior to this then that would make a difference but I wasn't so yeah.

OK does the above qualify as a rant? I'm sorry if it did, just needed to get that out. As far as progress I'm doing great! It's weird to see my body changing slowly. eg
1) I no longer have a triple chin. No i'm serious I had one -when I pressed my face into my neck, does that count?- When I do it now I only have two and when my face is normal, just one pointy chin. I'm being silly. I have just one chin and a leaner face
2) Boobs. No. Change. At. All. In fact, they grew bigger, notice I didn't say "appear" bigger. I am sure that they grew because I need new bras. Sigh. woe is me. I kid, I love le boobies!
3) I no longer have a butt. I knew this day would come but it's so hard, I shall be dropping squats everyday to build my gluteus maximus. I'm exaggerating, I still have a medium small butt. *drops 25 squats*  (do they work?)
4)Everything else looks good, the love handles are going, they shall be missed! Yhe stomach shall not be missed! hello abs!

Do you have a weightloss story? are you trying to get in shape?
Tell me about your healthy(or not) lifestyle! I want to know!

Love,
Sabirah

I checked...

 my weight on Monday...
1) Being tall is a blessing and a curse
2) WO_OW
3) This New Nigerian Lifestyle is not for me...

If you've been reading my blog for a while you probably know my take on body image and issues relating to it, I'm of the opinion that as long as you stay fit and healthy, what size you are doesn't matter (being fit and healthy meaning exercising regularly, eating nutritious food and being able to exert yourself physically without feeling completely breathless or fatigued) of course there are scales such as BMI which help but they aren't exhaustive.

Anyways, my being tall and small boned allows for weight to be distributed quite evenly around my body, as a result when I weighed myself on Monday, I was shocked to my small bones! I had gained a whooping 15pounds between September when moved to Lagos and now, February. Alarmed is an understatement.

So while I was all shocked to my bones, the next day my co-worker (the curviest white woman I know) started to tell me about this diet she was on. I was skeptical because diets are like a curse word to me, I hate the way the word is used, I hate that everyone seems to be on one... I just hate it. But I'm also a courteous person, so I heard her out, and it sounded crazier by the minute. She sashayed away from my desk and I began to google. I was curious.

After reading testimonials etc, turned out this "diet" wasn't free :( bummer. I kept reading though, and from my co-worker's information and random bits and bobs on the internet I was beginning to piece together a picture, albeit holey.Meanwhile, I had been talking about loosing weight to the partner and we were trying to fit in time to start working out together. I sent him a brief message about my co-worker and I's conversation. Being the absolutely best boyfriend in the world, he casually sent me an email with the complete e-book!!! I was now excited, notice how I was warming up?

I like science, I like facts, I like things based on science-y facts, I also like results and not gimmicks, I like steps, I love steps. Meet the Dukan diet by French Doctor, Pierre Dukan. More like a lifestyle over haul. I'm on page 177 of the 316 page book. but I'm feeling ready. I really didn't want to write this post because I wanted to do this quietly and just come back with results, because I'm afraid of failure. but what the hell. If I slip up, i'll start over and what better way to hold myself accountable than on here?

I'm going food shopping this weekend, I'm feeling good about this

Love and encouragement
Sabirah! xoxo

Opinion: Challenging your own beauty standards

Hey everyone,

One of those topics that just keeps coming up nowadays is beauty standards. The negative effects of unattainable beauty standard on the self-esteem, psychological and physical health are undeniable and many efforts to change these standards have not been successful. Even in non-western countries such as Nigeria, beauty standards are changing but not for the better. I could list all the one million reasons why this is a problem, but that is not the topic today.

 I believe change begins with the individual, I'm pretty comfortable with the person I am but I have my own insecurities too, while most days I'm satisfied with the way my body looks, other days I don't feel so good. It is important that while we are trying to make changes to the status quo, we start from within.

Its hard to stay unaffected by the various images around us and unless you live in a blank white room and never come out, you will be affected one way or the other. I don't watch TV but I go out, at the grocery store check out line I see the glossy magazines etc, its hard to escape all these reminders that we are "sub par".

I remember when I first cut of all my hair when I went natural, even though I had been thinking about it for a long time, when I finally cut my hair I was excited but I didn't feel beautiful. The first few days I wore a wig, and then when I left the wig go, I wore lots of make-up. When I look at the pictures now it's funny. For some people though thats everyday reality.


So here is how I started to work on challenging notions of beauty bearing down on me

1) Knowledge : I began to read about the history of different beauty practices, about the evolution of body images, models and whatever I could lay my hands on to understand the processes behind them.

2) Discussion: I began to discuss with friends, family and myself. Challenging all of us on the things we find attractive and why and what could be problematic.

3) Affirmations: I have some things about myself posted in different places in my apartment, telling me i'm beautiful and smart and worthy, it may seem silly, but on those down days they really help.

4) Inspiration: In addition to the above, I needed something more, a place where I could go to see people who looked like me, beautiful images of women with darker skin tones and natural hair, with different body types, who were fashionable, smart and more. So I created a tumblr sabirah.tumblr.com  as a place to store all of this. It is working very well.

All of this may seem like a lot of work, but i'm heavily invested in it, it is a women's issue and women's issues are everybody's issues! If you didn't know already my life's purpose is to empower young women, starting with myself. As a young feminist, I continue to gain knowledge, encourage discussion and fight the good fight!

Any thoughts?

Till next time,
Sabirah.