Hi everyone! Sorry, I have been away for so long. A lot has happened in the past 4 weeks since I was last here and publishing, but never mind about the details – let’s just say  everything happens for a reason. In the end, the dots will connect, right? Shout out to my colleague and now de facto, encourager, Jamila Yakubu, for always making me stay on course with the blogging thingy! Thanks Jamila! The last two posts have come just because you read my old posts and asked “What’s up? You’re not writing?”  Appreciate it!

So as promised, I am going to share on a topic I have had in mind since the last time, but was just too distracted (and maybe demotivated) to write. It actually feels good to be here typing away again. If you remember, my last post was sort of some ‘It’s all about me and how I feel’ outpouring of my innermost feelings about my weightloss journey this year. If you missed it, please do check it out here. OK. So as much as you want to power on with the whole weight loss drive and you are the great over-achiever or wanna be that you are, there will be down times during the journey. Take this from a super, ‘I can do it all by-myself’, fitness diva that knows what it feels like to be down!

I would be lying if I said, I had the mental strength to look away from some of the enticing, delicious, crazy, beautiful foods out there or just some of the niceties that you want to indulge in every once in a while. I would also be lying if I said, I woke up every morning, feeling great and just wanted to go for a run or sweat for 1 hour post-work every day! I wish! There have been moments when I just wanted to indulge, then I remember where I started from and that really helps with either turning away from the temptation or indulging but just a little, not go on a binge spree!

So, a couple of things to note, based on my experience, there will be days when you let yourself enjoy some of the nicer things in life. After all, life is really short! Sometimes, some ice-cream, or great steak won’t kill you.

Of course, it should be more times when it could possibly kill you (in your mind) than when it doesn’t though. What I have learnt to do when it comes to food, is to balance things out for some weeks where I have been extremely active, and my mileage has accrued to give me some cheating capital. Hehehe….I however make a mental note of what I have indulged in and plan to make up for it with additional activity subsequently. I guess, it is easier to do this when you are at the desired weight and only in maintenance mode.

As for running, working out and all that intense physical activity, I had to remind myself that I was not actually training for any upcoming competition and I guess my workload at the office also helped me remember that I am not a professional athlete and not training for the Olympics. In addition to that, I have been beset with so many injuries from running, I literally walk with an almost permanent limp, no thanks to the Plantar Fascitis that I developed in probably the second month of this year. It is basically heel pain, and it is almost incurable. I also learnt that working out back to back leads to fatigue and reduces muscle recovery, which might end up being counterproductive to all the weight loss as you are able to do less each day. Although, it took me almost 6 months to realize these things, I have learnt that I get to do more when I intersperse my training with rest days. I found that if I run every other day, I am actually stronger and more rested to run each time I hit the road. Initially, there is a guilt feeling that creeps up as you feel the rest days are bad for you and will slow down your momentum, but those days are actually good for you. However, you have to be really careful as it is only a thin line between rest days and getting lazy (again!). So you would still need a schedule to ensure that you follow your routine and keep the tempo up. One thing I have recently done to spice things up is to interchange my work out activity. I have started attending a local gym close to work, thanks to the rainy season! What that allows me to do is, for the days when I don’t plan to do any distance running, I can focus on weight training for the arms and other muscles not heavily used for running. That way, I am getting a more rounded work out for my body. And it has worked for me.

True confession though, these past few weeks, I have been extremely lazy. I have been under the weather, traveled quite a bit, and I have not been really excited about walking, running, working out or whatever. My mileage has suffered some huge setbacks and I think my endurance has probably suffered same. I have also eaten a lot more than I normally would (aaarrrrgggghhhh!), but I am not worried because I know that I have my limits. The fear of going back to being overweight is far stronger than any sadness, depression or moodiness! Maybe it’s just the Nigerian economic recession that slapped me…lol! Who knows? So get thee behind me, Demon of Overweightness!  So, once again, thanks to Jamila and all those who check up on me and my blog. Y’all should stay tuned. FashFunk is back!