This year, with regards to my eating habits, I put a “life after 50” system in place. I tried not to focus too much on looking good for my 50th birthday so as not to fall into the “put it all back on after the birthday” group. I wanted to reduce my body fat percentage by a bit and increase my muscle percentage by a bit. I worked out a plan to get my energy consumption balanced, not eliminate any food group but still make allowance for the treats I like. I was doing great till I had my accident read blog ⬅️.
After which, I fell off the wagon and was having chocolates and biscuits every night and doing very little movement. I was like, “my gosh, I’m so happy to be alive, life’s too short, get me some Cartwright & Butler butter oat cookies and Cartwright and Butler sea salted butter cookies and chocolates.” Night after night, I would have biscuits and chocolates, I broke my 2 piece rule (not more than 2 biscuits or 2 pieces of chocolate) and was eating up to 4 pieces of both. Needless to say, I put on weight which is evident especially on my face in the images in this blog.
So I guess you could say I did fall into the “put it all back on after the birthday” group. I lost my muscle gains and put the body fat I’d reduced back on.
The cue I needed to get out of that biscuit and chocolate eating cycle was my favourite jeans not fitting. When I tried to wear those jeans to church one day and they didn’t fit, all of a sudden, the chocolates and the biscuits didn’t look so nice anymore. Hahahahahaha!
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I put together a plan, told my husband not to offer me any chocolates or biscuits and the rest as they say is history.
Wake up: 1 cup tea with milk and honey, 1 or 2 cups warm water with lemon slice.
Pre Workout: 1 Banana
Post workout: Oatmeal and fruit or Greek Yoghurt and fruit or protein smoothie.
Lunch: 3 eggs (scrambled or omelette) with half a slice of cheddar and 1 cup coffee
Snack: Mixed nuts or 1 fruit or packet of posh popped corn.
Dinner: Bowl of salad with 1 cup rice ( white, fried, jollof) with chicken and beef or swallow.
Snack: Every other night – 2 Lotus Biscoff biscuits 74cals in total.
Fluids: Water
What I cut out from the above daily plan that I would normally have had is a couple of snacks and the 2 slices of bread and butter or marmalade I had formed a habit of having with my eggs. Which roughly adds up to about 400-600 calories. Needless to say, at the time of typing this post, my favourite jeans now fit.
2 Things to bear in mind if you want to lose weight.
- As we grow older, we are not as energetic as we were in our younger years which means our energy expenditure reduces. We experience age related Sarcopenia (a gradual muscle mass decline) which means we start to become weaker, less energetic and tire easily. Age related muscle mass decline puts us at risk of weight gain, obesity, diabetes and a host of other chronic illnesses. To avoid this, maintaining muscle mass and strength by doing weight or resistance exercises is a MUST for our health.
- Our lifestyle significantly improves in our older years, we are able to afford to eat and drink more. However, if our energy expenditure has decreased, to balance things out and not gain and store fat, we should be eating less. So it seems, the risk of being overweight increases the better we are doing in life.
The law of energy balance
To maintain your weight, your energy expenditure must match your energy consumption.
So, to lose weight, your energy expenditure must be more than your consumption. You have to use up the energy you have stored up as fat. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it? But, we all know that it’s not that easy. Take for example these Lindt chocolates that I like, one red ball is roughly about 70 calories – that’s a 2 km walk per ball. Sugar is like a drug, put one chocolate ball in your mouth, keep the box beside you and it’s soon empty. If there are 15 balls in the box, I’ve consumed 1050 calories in minutes and that would just be a snack. If I walk 2km to burn off 70 calories then I’d need to walk 30km to burn off the box.
Ankara Top: Tae 🔶 Jeans: J Brand 🔶 Sandals: Kat Maconie
Photos by Edidiong Ukpe
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