Avril

Helloooooo!!!

Where exactly do I start? I don’t know. But all I can say is that I have thoroughly missed blogging. I miss getting inspiration as I pray, sip on my coffee or just live and breathe and observe goings on around me.

God has been very good to me and mine. Law School is as hectic as they say but I find that taking it in in daily doses does help a whole lot. A little every day instead of weekly wholesale reading or God forbid, one month before exams crash reading!!! A friend did it last year and came out with a 2.1 but even she will not recommend her strategy.

So much has happened while I have been away. Sometime last month, a course mate just slumped and died- just like that. It was quite the shocker, despite the fact that I never met him. It makes you realize how fortunate you are to be alive and well. You also know to be grateful for your family and friends whose phone calls you receive each day to gist or even fight but not to share tales of woe. Thank you Jesus for your faithfulness!

My diet plan is coming up well. Lost a bit of weight and now trying to be healthier instead of dieting. I’m also a fan of Green Tea now. Instead of those Chinese ones, I think I’m going to switch to Lipton or any other straight brand. I hear it does wonders for one’s system if taken every night. Those who have followed this blog know of my age long addiction to Coke. I’ve been on and off Coke all through this year. One week, I’m like ‘never again will I drink Coke’, the next, I’m on a bottle a day p. It’s not been easy at all. I guess I know how the druggie feels. I have not had Coke in 3 days but that is not an achievement as I know I am not entirely off it. I can’t wait to be like one of those who say ‘this is my 6^th month of not tasting Coke or any fizzy drink’. Wow! I shall dance in glee and give a testimony!

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You all know I love to ask JAMB questions on MCLA as I ask you to muse with me. But today’s own is a very serious matter. I have watched loads of Naija movies with all these ‘omoge campus’ doing Aristo and all and we are all like what manner of iranu is this? The one I came across recently is of a different variant. I read the story of a girl who explained how she and this man met and fell head over heels in love, then like an exclusion clause in fine print, she mentions he has a wife. Like I was already so in love with her love tale. It was so beautiful. He was attentive to her, he would pray with her, he was there for her etc. But he is married.

Now, my friends have declared me to be too black and white in my approach and that I should learn to understand where people are coming from. So I said, ‘toh, lemme not judge this sister’. But really, is there any justification in this world for liking then loving a married man up to the point he promises to leave his wife for you and you get upset every time you call him and he is with his family and you cry and update your BB status that ‘I can’t share anymore!’? I’m not prone to violence but I do understand why some girls get beaten blue and black by some wives and their friends. Call me anything but I can never understand how you fall in love with another person’s property. It reeks of lack of self worth and only God can seat me down to make me sympathise with any lady who is in possession of any woman’s man. As TD Jakes will say, ‘lose him and let him go’! Lol. It also reminds me of Olivia Pope’s trifling ways on Scandal. I love her professionally but when I think of her and the President, I get hardened. To think the President cannot even stand his own wife anymore because he spends his moments fantasising about Olivia Pope! We need Christ!

But seriously, ladies, get praying o. Like serious praying and fasting as often as you can that God protects you from the heartbreak of another woman chasing you from your own home or even from the pain of your husband cheating or liking another woman. Inasmuch as many have argued with me, yes it is possible to have an infidelity-free home through the Grace of God so it is that grace we need because gehs are not smiling. I mean the person in question went as far as researching on all the things the wife wasn’t doing and turned those areas to her core competence! Lord help your children o!

Anyways, lemme go back my Election Petition notes. I will not claim to plan to blog each day henceforth but at least, I will come here more often and let you all know how things are going and give you more of my musings as they come, hehe!

Thank God for everything and I sincerely do miss you all. Thank you to all those who have given me gentle nudges to write something and to those who literally have jabbed me and threatened to dump my website if I do not update, thank you too. Hehe!!!

I wish you all a lovely month of April.

God bless you!

Temiville.xoxo

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Avril is French for April 😀

Diet/Lifestyle Change

Hi people,

Howdy? A few people such as IBK have asked about my lifestyle change and I want to share it with you all in this post. The key each day is that I must use more than what I take in. This means I must use up more calories than I eat. That was the cause of this whole weight gain in Bwari. I mean, from crazy Lagos driving, working in a busy Law firm, going up and down, I found myself in a place where it was from my room to class to mammy to eat and back to my room. And yet, I ate the same portions I would eat during my days of having a tight and busy schedule in Lagos. My body, for the reduced work it was doing, certainly didn’t need so much food anymore. In order to maintain my weight, I should have cut my food by a quarter and in order to lose weight, by a half. Anyways, all that is neither here nor there. The issue is what am I doing  NOW to deal with the situation.

Well, I start my day with 2 cups of water. I’ve read that drinking ice cold water first thing in the morning is an easy way to speed up your metabolism. Right when you wake up, drink a glass or two of cold water. Your body will have to warm up the water entering your system, which means increasing your metabolism in the process. It’s a simple step to add into your daily routine that, while not a miracle cure, can certainly contribute to your other weight loss efforts (http://www.fitday.com)

I LOVE coffee!

At about 8 am, I have my cup of coffee with less sugar and milk than I would normally use (don’t bother advising me against coffee- the name of my blog should be instructive in this regard :p). That carries me till about 11am when I have king size portion of fruits- I love pawpaws because the sugar content in them is low and they are so filling and have great effects on the skin.

So I have what will equate to 2 N50 slices of hard pawpaws. By 4:00/4:30, I am ready for what will end up being my only meal of the day. I still eat rice, yam but very reduced portions. So my plate has less whites and more colors. I have vegetables with my meal and drink loads of water. I have little portions of nuts during the day as my snack. At 8/9, I have more fruits and that’s it!

This is different from when I’d starve myself or skip meals. Now I always feel filled but I’m now filled with the right stuff that is good for me. My portions are small but not so small that I’d be craving another meal in a few hours.

I believe this kinda diet is sustainable. I also do a lot of housework that gets me sweating. I was sweeping and mopping yesterday and sweating like no man’s business. I’m not so great with the gym and always waste my membership so I have to figure out how to make diet work . I also pray to God for strength. I have reduced my Coke intake and have more water instead.

I have also stopped checking the scales every time or expecting tight clothes to automatically be free. I’m okay with the change taking two months to start being apparent remembering that my weight gain took a whole 3 months to build up. I have 4 inches to lose all over. So my waist needs to go back to 27 etc. Right now, clothes are fitting better and I feel better within. The changes are small but I celebrate them. If I can get back to my pre-Bwari size by the end of December 2012, I shall be a happy bunny. I also watch loads of weight loss videos on YouTube for inspiration. Check this one out:

Do you guys have any additional tips to share?

Temiville.xoxo