How one woman battled to reduce her size and save her life, by Omonike Odi
In
January 2013, Liz Taylor was at her heaviest, tipping the scales at 155
kg on a 5' 8" frame and with a Body Mass Index (BMI) that put her in
the danger zone. She was pre-diabetic and hypertensive and her feet had
swollen from a size 7 to a size 10. She constantly experienced body
aches, migraines and fatigue and occasionally suffered bouts of
depression over her weight.
But by June of the same year, Liz had lost a significant amount of weight and was in a healthier, happier place.
Things
came to a head when Liz had a premonition that she wouldn’t live long
if she didn’t do something drastic to reduce her size. She considered
surgery and finally settled for a Sleeve Gastrectomy, a surgical weight-loss procedure in which the stomach is reduced to about 25% of its original size, giving it the appearance of a sleeve or tube-like structure.
But
surgery was just the beginning. Liz also had to make difficult changes
to her lifestyle as she had been warned by the doctors that surgery
alone would not guarantee weight loss, but the right combination of
consistent exercise and a disciplined diet will give her the results she
wanted.
Liz
learnt to use kettle bells and enrolled for swimming lessons, learning
to swim several laps in six weeks. The scales soon started to agree with
Liz’s new mindset.
She
altered her diet; removing bread completely, swapping sweet drinks for
tea and experimenting with healthy recipes. She soon developed her own
nutritional dishes full of healthy Nigerian foods.
She
was definitely far from the days when she couldn’t find her size in
clothes stores, days when the automated voice in the anti-intrusion
security doors of banks announced “One person at a time please” when she
stepped in, days when people gave her telling looks, and days when her
inner voice screamed “Fat and ugly!” when she looked in the mirror.
Eager to share her progress with others who have also struggled with losing weight, she started a blog called www.dropit4life.blogspot.com where she shares diet plans, recipes for the average Nigerian foodie, exercise and dressing tips.
To those women and men still struggling, she says “it is possible.”
These
days Liz is able to affirm her strength, and when the inner voice of
condemnation rears its ugly head, she returns in equal measure with
affirmative thoughts like; "everyday in every way, I am getting better
and better by the grace of God."
Losing
weight is no easy feat and for Liz it has taken everything she’s got to
accomplish this life-changing goal. She knows from experience that it
is one thing to lose weight and another to keep it off, but she is
positive that with deliberate lifestyle changes it can be done.
More pictures below:
Liz Taylor before her Surgery
Liz Taylor after her Surgery
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