Shifting Pounds

I have been working on losing some weight on and off for about the last 4-5 years with very limited success. Over those years I have done a few things that have helped me: start tracking my steps, trying to walk every day, trying to identify my trigger points for when I eat the wrong foods (4pm after work usually) and mitigate them (keep a date or nuts in my bag to stave off the chocolate cravings).

But overall, the love of chocolate and all things carb has been too strong and sitting all day at a desk does not help. Running home to see to the family and home also leaves me with very little time to take better care of myself.

In the run up to this Ramadan, I was walking just under two miles every evening, this meant that once Ramadan started, I found the taraweeh prayer much easier than previous years. In the past I had found myself with sore legs and flagging energy levels. I can’t continue to walk outdoors for so long but have instead resorted to running on my machine at home after taraweeh. Sometimes this means I am on my machine at 12:30 at night, but I am happy to have squeezed it into my routine.

Between running and fasting, I am not losing much weight, but I feel good and energised. I have stopped eating sugar, now I just have to work on the beloved carbs.

There are two more things I have done. Firstly, over the years I have stopped judging myself and getting angry or feeling guilty. I have moved towards honouring and loving myself and my body and being grateful for it, regardless of size. I have moved my focus from being thin, to being healthy, strong and full of energy.

The second is to have a positive goal to visualise and move towards: a future where I am healthy and strong insh’Allah and not in pain with sore knees or other weight-related health conditions, but also a positive vision of being slim and enjoying wearing beautiful clothes insh’Allah.

What are your tips for losing weight and getting healthy?