She eats her raw meal (current diet) with that kind of pleasure that makes you want to ditch your French fries and pick from her plate. This mother of four wasn’t this shapely or this food conscious until a few years ago when she lost half her body weight.
For more than ten years, Hadasa struggled with weight loss and always came out on the losing end until that fateful day at her son’s fourth birthday party when she crashed the chair she was seating on to pieces. She recounted the journey of her shrinking figure to SheSpell.com.
‘As I lay there helplessly waiting for people to come pick me up, I turned my eyes and looked at my son. The utter mortification I saw in his eyes made me realize that my life as an overweight woman wasn’t only sucking life out of me but was hurting those around me. I decided there and then to lose the weight at all costs. I had developed high blood pressure and always carried packets of medicines for my constant headaches, knee and back pains.’
The Journey
My husband had tried talking me into losing weight and I had also tried but after fruitless attempts I would give up. After every baby I would go on diets, do some exercises, and lose some weight only to pile it back on in a few weeks. I had my first son in 1999 and my last born in 2004 and never took the time to lose any of the baby weight so it crept up on me, and by the time I realized what was happening I was too far gone.
I have always been a sharp dresser so I tried to hide my weight with clothes that would flatter me. But this was just a band aid solution.
In May 2013, I went to Avan on Accacia Avenue to see Dr. Kotecha to consult about the possibility of a stomach reduction. After the consultation I decided to start small by cutting out the things I knew were wrong like the sugars and fats. By the time I left for Israel in August I had lost 5kgs and when I came back I was 135Kgs and I was excited.
At Avan, I went through a series of tests and I went on a program of a protein and fruit diet and started eating at the right time. I was eating 220 Mg of food daily supplementing that with protein shakes. I cut out oil, sugar and carbs. For one whole year I didn’t eat any carbs. I started running marathons, exercises, and drinking plenty of water.
I am now very conscious of what goes in my mouth because I know it is a slippery slope back to obesity town. I am studying on line to get my certification to help other people going through what I went through.
Hadasa’s top five tips
- Learn how to cook. Healthy food can be boring but you can spice it up different ways if you learn how to make a variety of dishes using the same ingredients.
- Do different kinds of exercises. I run, I do kick boxing; I do dance aerobics and swimming. This way I don’t get bored with the fitness regimen.
- Eat at the right time. Stick to the time your doctor advises you to. You might eat the right portion or the right diet but if you eat at the wrong times, you are wasting your effort.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Don’t put yourself on unnecessary pressure. If you are doing the right things, the weight will definitely go away with time. So make it a fun filled journey for yourself and those around you.
