“It’s about your lifestyle, not just a single moment.”

I never thought the word Weight Gain and I would ever be associated let alone be used in the same sentence with me. But this is my new-found reality. Growing up, I have always been fit, not a paid-athlete-kinda-fit who does cross-country but as fit as the word could go. I have always been an active individual growing up. From playing basketball, swimming, dancing my butt out and ever so often work-out and maintained my 6 sexy packs. (RIP for now)

However, with everything that kept coming my way, long working hours, I shared some light on this in my 90 days social media detox post. Having to work back to back and the long journeys to and from home left minimal to no time at all for me to jump into a working work out routine. For the most part, I got home tired AF and would either get Chips Mayai (a combination of French fries and Spanish omelet or something.) If you are born and raised in East Africa then you know this food is the plug dot-com. On other days I just drown my sorrows in junk food and a great movie.

It came to a point where I traveled long for work, and knowing me, my ass is picky with foods. So clearly, at this point, we have already established chips mayai being my it local food. I could actually have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Yes, I never played around… Of course, my stupid lifestyle started creeping up on me. Little by little my belly grew but I would dismiss the thought and tell myself it was bloating and I would jump back into my workout routine whenever I wanted… I did not! My once ever loved and cherished Sexy 6 packs was swallowed into a baby fat only in my case there was no baby Ha! I laugh as I write this down.

The realization kept growing in little places, my jeans got tighter and I would reassure myself that my ass was popping. it was and that was not the only thing sadly. Slowly my once fully rehashed jeans routine; jump, squat, jump leg twist and a final bow seemed not to do the trick anymore. At this point I did lunges, somersaults, leg splits and a few curses in between to fit into my jeans. I could have exaggerated a bit but you get the point. Even with this long extension of my jean choreography, I kept my denial glasses on and PROUD!

“Don’t worry Kymmiee, I told myself. it’s your butt growing bigger.” I consoled myself. Except at this point, my tummy, my checks, my arms, thigh, head probably and the weight on the scale where both growing out of proportion and at an alarming speed. Last I remember was being a proud 49/50 kg which was me in my crop top era all through varsity.

So one unfortunate Monday morning at work during a mandatory health check-up, where the doctor repeated (Screamed, if am being honest) 56 Kg for the other lady to note it down on my report. I felt my jaw drop. I was like, “no it can’t be.” Giving myself all these excuses like I was wearing heavy denim, had drunk a lot of water and had not taken a dump. Yup, that to anything to convince me. So this should have been where all the 5 kg were right?  Well, WRONG!

I tried to get back into working out schedule but to my dismay that lasted a total of 5 days Ha! I got pretty occupied with house-hunting at the time as I was on process of moving my butt out of my brother’s couch where I had been crushing. So all the time that I wasn’t busy with work was dedicated to house hunting. Which in turn left me hungry, and yup you guessed it, Chips Mayai to the rescue. This hustle went on for about 2 months. Where I got a house finally. However, this empty house came bearing an extra 7 kg at this point I was weighing about 62. 6 freaking 2!

There was a point where my friends came to town and we decided to hit the beach. This is when everything came crumbling down. I was uncomfortable and ashamed of my body. This has never been a case for me EVER! The feeling was next to none. If you know me then you clearly know I love to dress less and go out more exactly like in Drake’s song. The roles had turned as reality slapped me on the face. I thrived in the art of showing off my sexy abs (RIP) except now I had a baby fat to account for and I wasn’t even preggo!

[tweetthis]If you know me then you clearly know I love to dress less and go out more exactly like in Drake’s song. The roles had turned as reality slapped me on the face. I thrived in the art of showing off my sexy abs (RIP) except now I had a baby fat to account for and I wasn’t even preggo![/tweetthis]

This and the realization of meeting people from the inter-webs giving this comment, you look fat in person. *eye roll emoji* had been the wake-up call I needed. Fat had never been a word associated with me PERIOD, but here it was, fitting like a glove. Some of my friends where polite enough to say you look better this way. But it’s my body and I have been with it for 20 years plus, so I know how and when it looks good. It wasn’t what I saw in the mirror regardless of the many reassuring, “you aren’t even fat.” comments I got. I was a lot of things; crazy, talkative,*insert some here* but never in my wildest dream FAT! at this point I drew the line.

Clothes shopping Ban after Weight Gain

I decided I was going on a clothes shopping ban. Leave it to me to come up with quick fixes. Because here is my analysis. New clothes after a weight gain simply meant going a size up and getting even more comfortable. So a clothes shopping ban seemed like using plaster on a bullet wound. And I was damned if I didn’t try. I was committed to fit into my old jeans. Even if I had to come up with a whole new jeans dress-up cardio routine.

Internet to the rescue.

I took a deeper look in the mirror and I hated the girl-with-a-pot-belly where my abs had been, staring back. She has uncomfortable written all over

her skin and no amount of belly sucking would do the trick this time. I still wasn’t motivated to work out. I needed a quick fix. A magic portion, a wish maybe? The internet to the rescue was where I discovered the glorified Apple cider vinegar (ACV) as a weight loss agent. Boy! did I chug the shit out of that disgusting ACV. The bottle ended but the advertised results weren’t taking actions on me. I kept searching as to why it didn’t work on me. Only to soon realize, I was chugging a salad ACV (without the mother) Ha! Man! THE STRUGGLE WAS REAL!

I went out and got another ACV, the vegan one with the mother and I drunk it religiously for a week and boy, I ended up dropping 2 kgs. Okay maybe it was 1.8Kgs but I wanted it to be 2 kgs so bad. At this point am not sure which was the correct weight.

Weight Gain, The Awakening.

This took me by surprise one mid-June Thursday, where I had just got home after work. Stared at me in the mirror and I found myself changing and reaching for my sports attire. Enough was enough! I tied my laces and went to the football field near my apartment and ran 10 laps on the pitch and went back home a proud human being (still fat but happy) This self-satisfaction and sweat (Actual fat escaping my body as I would love to think) gave me a weird rush, and I never wanted to let it go. 10 laps built into 3km, 3.5km, 4.5km, 5km, 6.6km and my current record are 7.5Kms in 50 minutes. As I aim for 10 km

Weight Gain a Blessing in disguise:

My weight gain was a blessing in disguise. I am not happy I gained weight, God NO!  however, I am happy with the choices I finally ended up taking after accepting that I was growing and it had to stop. All of it! this lazy lifestyle had to go! I still get a rush after every ran and am excited enough to get back into running as I leave my 8-5 job. That’s a new feeling in my opinion. In the past 2 weeks, I have run so much than in all my 20 something years combined. All this was possible with the Nike running App. These folks revolutionized my running experience.

Intermittent Fasting

Alongside running I decided to mix it up by adding intermittent fasting. Which in simpler terms meant, alternating between eating and fasting. I opted for the breakfast and lunch combo then fasting the rest of the time. So my eating window would be from 0700 am to 0200 Pm and then fast between 16-18 hours. The saddest part was that this effort didn’t give me the results I wanted. I, later on, I found out the reason I wasn’t losing weight was that I ended up eating the most ridiculously junky filled calorie dripping breakfast, which made the whole intermittent fast worthless and a mockery to myself.

Clean Healthy Eating:

On the last Friday of June, I decided to jump into healthy and clean eating. This would help me avoid the mistakes accompanied in my previous intermittent fast. I decided to dive in, headfirst into it. I came up with my own clean and healthy eating routine, the only way I knew how. So I decided to go on a ketosis diet (Low carbs intake), avoiding gluten and I’d count my calorie intake with the Lifesum app. My aim is to have a low intake in calories and a high calorie burnt count. As I continue with my intermittent fast and daily 5km runs on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday on as a Christmas bow or a cherry on top.

High-Intensity interval training (HIIT)

Saying I was determined to deal with my Weight Gain was an understatement. I was fully committed to the program. I was building my dream body. So I decided to add HIIT because, why the hell not. I decided to jump on a follow YouTube Tutorial by one of my favorite fitness YouTubers Emy Wong. This High-intensity training takes 30 mins but am still figuring my way around it and in most cases, I use 45 minutes to an Hour. I will share with you the routine in the upcoming posts. It focuses on an intensity warm-up, Abs, arms, back, legs, and general body work out. I do this every Wednesday and Friday.

Detox and 3 Liters of Water

This was my last piece of the puzzle. My definition of a Weight Gain detox consisted of Bragg’s Apple cider vinegar (2 tsps), 1 tbsp of powdered ginger and half a lemon squeezed into 200 ml glass and chucked every morning and before bedtime. This gave me the right amount of boost I needed. ACV is disgusting but combined with lemon and ginger it gets more bearable, with a peculiar taste but you get over it at the end of the day. I complete my day with 10 250 ml glasses of water that equals to 3 liters a day. I manage to stay on top of my game with my lifesum app.

July is my IT Month.

July is a mark for my healthy turnaround. I hope not to get back on the Weight Gain wagon. Am so excited and happy with my new and improved lifestyle. I weighed myself on July 2nd and I weighed 60 Kgs but this time is more reassured that this is a combination of both body fat and body mass rather than the body fats I used to weigh. I will update you on come to the end of July with all the progress but if you want to keep up with me daily. Check out Fitness Instagram stories. I update all my workouts and my Lifestyle stories has all that I eat in a day.

Hopefully, I motivate an individual or my Weight Gain story and experience resonate with one of you. I have been there and there is clearly light at the end of the tunnel. I know this was a long read but if you read this far, you are the real MVP and a speak fitness into your lifestyle. Stay safe and drink lots of water.

Ta~