Sunday, 20 July 2014

Why I was overweight while barely eating a thing

Picture gotten from TheDietAndFitnessBlog

So, some of you find it hard to believe that I was barely eating a thing and yet, I was overweight for most of my life. I even got to the point of being a size 22 at the age of 12!
I wasn't eating just little as a diet, I hated most foods and I just got full pretty quickly so I couldn't eat more that just a little bit.
I was at my heaviest weight (and biggest size) about a year or two after I went vegetarian (not to lose weight). Some people go vegan, vegetarian or even RAW vegan and still add weight and I am sure my reasons for adding weight could be the same as the reasons for others adding weight when not eating much or eating "really healthy." Here's my reason:

So, as a kid I loved running like I was entered for competitions and I won and those were my skinny days. As I got older, I ran less often and I once had issues with my knees which stopped me from running, also, I got hit by a car and that affected my legs and I also got diagnosed with anaemia and I couldn't do much before being totally out of breath and dizzy. This gives you an idea of my reason, doesn't it?

Okay! So, eating little means that on a daily basis I get way below the recommended amount of calories I'm to have in a day so why wasn't I a stick figure or something like that? Well, the answer is, I wasn't active! Yes, I had issues with my legs at some points of my life, but honestly, as much as I love running, I know that even if I never had issues with my legs, back then, I wouldn't have been running very often. You see, there were many times my legs were fine, but I just preferred to sit down or lie down, read books or be on my laptop 22/7 with those 2hrs left out of each day being used to eat, shower and sleep (hyperbole here). I was a pretty inactive child. Due to this, I never burnt my calories or, the few calories I burnt were from walking down the stairs during meals, walking back up the stairs after meals, getting out of bed, going to the bathroom or to my parents' room. I seldom ate sugary things. However, some times, I drank a fizzy drink, had a sweet or something and never burnt off the calories.

Another reason is, if you are African or just part African, I'm sure you'll know that the African diet is full of carbs and fats. In Nigeria, the staple food is rice. Like, if you cut a Nigerian open, I'm sure rice will pour out! (hyperbole again) Some people might take this as a tad bit racist, but please, don't be offended, I do not intend to be racist with this statement. So, if you go to a restaurant owned or run by a white person, the size of a portion of rice you get is pretty small. However, at an African restaurant or in an African home, the portion of rice you get is enough to feed 4 adults and their possible pets (hyperbole). Seriously! The portion difference is HUGE! Also, the rice dishes contain quite a lot of oil and the sauces/stews eaten with the rice aren't the healthiest. They are usually oily and contain loads of fried things and to add to that, rice is usually eaten with FRIED plantains. So, basically, it's LOADS OF CARBS, LOADS OF OILS (not olive oil or any of the "healthy oils") and just a little bit of vegetables (the lil herbs, tomatoes and onions in the sauce). Although I ate little, most of what I ate were carbohydrates and fried foods and that was most definitely not healthy.

So, I put on more and more weight not burning off the things I ate and eating mainly foods that were converted to fat and took forever to fully digest in my body. Also, I ate quite a lot of processed foods.

This is why I gained SO MUCH weight.

You might wonder, how does someone add weight on a raw vegan diet if they don't eat all these "unhealthy" things. Well, when people go raw vegan, sometimes, they have the idea that they are eating SO HEALTHY so they can't possibly add weight. Although they are eating loads of fruits and vegetables (delicious fruits and vegetables....yum!) they tend to eat the fruits that have the most sugars and they tend to eat above their recommended calorie intake! Aah! They eat more than they're supposed to without knowing! Fruits and vegetables have calories too! They are healthier sources of your daily calories, but they are calories all the same. So, if a raw vegan can't burn off enough of those calories in a day, he/she will add weight and it will show on their body.

Okay! So, I hope this helps someone!
Stay active people!! :)


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