Spotlight on Lydia Oladokun


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Before meets after

I was actually a slim but not too slim lady and my husband, fit and trim carried me on our wedding day about a decade ago. I used to think I was just big until I realized I was just eating the wrong things.

One day I went to the hospital for a medical check up and my doctors announced to me that my health was in trouble. This was a wake up call for me. Fatigue, allergies and pains were draining my entire life. It was at this moment I decided I was going to make a change, not just for me but also for my family; we were going healthy. Even before being alerted about my obesity, I was always feeling tired, yawning, experiencing extreme exhaustion and fatigue, ankle and knee issues, recurrent asthma-like conditions, serious sneezing, cramps, intense menstrual pains, short breathe, weak immunity and susceptibility to any infectious condition nearby to name a few, were all things I experienced on a regular basis.


I added so much weight after 2 childbirths and thought it was normal until I reached 103kg in August of 2011. My children, ages 5 and 8, at this time were also having monthly and bimonthly stuffed noses that would result into fever and at times throwing up through the night. They were being stuffed with Augumentin, Zinnat, Ceporex almost on a bimonthly basis, our fridge was like an antibiotics specialty store!
I decided in August last year to change my lifestyle and in 7 months without any drugs, drinks, shakes, laxatives or anything processed I became a 75kg woman again. I dropped 28kg and had to give out all my dresses from size 18 to 20. I gracious wear a size 10 and 12 now with much pride and pleasure.
I started by throwing out all the junk foods and canned meals I had in the storage, including a bag of polished rice! I focused on exercising, increasing my vegetable intake and taking in a lot of water. The Major changes I made and are easy to start with are:
  1. Drinking a gallon (4 liters) of clean water everyday day - It should actually be your weight in kg divided by 17, this equals to the amount of liters to drink daily. I used to drink 6 liters last year but now I drink 4.4 liters
  2. Exercising daily – even brisk walking for 30 minutes daily will do. When I started I couldn’t even run on the thread mill, I could only walk, but now I can say with all confidence that bodily exercise profits.
  3. Going to bed earlier – I had a personal bad habit of always being busy till midnight or 1am or even later, that changed.
  4. Eliminating frying from my cooking - Not even my stew is fried anymore. Pastries and anything made of flour went off the menu too as. I replaced common salt with sea salt.
  5. Eliminating Sugar from our home
  6. Taking a teaspoon of Moringa daily in warm water – I usually dissolve it in a quarter of a mug of hot water and left it until its warm to drink. Can you believe that since my kids stopped taking packed juice and now take Moringa with me every morning, they never had those medical conditions again; and even mosquito bites have not resulted in malaria because they now have a strong immune system (which sugar generally destroys).
  7. Daily food intake – 75% raw vegetables, 25% cooked healthy food (rice not included here, especially the common imported white/polished rice). Imported brown rice is healthy or local ofada rice which may not be healthy but is not harmful to the body unlike the ‘normal’/common rice which we see everywhere. Permissible animal products, which should only be taken sparingly, are Snail, local live chicken and rarely scaly fish. All things are lawful, but not all things are necessary to consume.

Your life is important to you and if your weight is cutting it short, you need to take healthy steps, change you life style and get back on track. Please don’t be deceived by seemingly healthy looks without the foundation of a healthy lifestyle.
Now I am 75Kg, healthier, fit, agile and my immune system have gone up a whole new level. All I did was change my life style. I am available to share my experiences on Lydolad@hotmail.com.


Written by Lydia Oladokun

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Comments

  1. Lydia and I used to work together at my old job and to be honest when I saw her recently my jaws dropped. I couldn't even recognize her because the change was so drastic. Her had lost a lot of weight and looked absolutely gorgeous. Kudos girl, job well done! So now I have no more excuses, it's time to lose those baby rolls.

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  2. Catherine Abagun16 August 2012 at 07:04

    I know many will read this and dismiss as one of those stuff on the internet. This is for real people. I will never forget the first time I saw her after the weight loss, she stood there and smiled at me and I just smiled back out of courtesy. I didn't recognise her. She looked so stunning! Healthy eating is the way to go.

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  3. Awesome Lydia!
    way to go girl!

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  4. hello, pls how can i get the Moringa leaves?

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  5. Tolutoms send an email to Lydolad@hotmail.com but I believe they have some at Ebeano in Lagos.

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