Jabu lost 192 pounds

Transformation of the Day: Jabu lost 192 pounds. At 401 pounds, our South African sista suffered back pain, gastric reflux and had a minor heart attack… which served as a major turning point. After years of yo-yo dieting and bad eating habits, she sought out the help she needed to change her habits and transform her health. Check out her success story.

My name is Jabu Kweyama. I’m 32 years old and from Durban, South Africa. I have always been overweight, ever since I was a baby. In my teens, I battled with trying to lose weight. I have been on A LOT of diets in my life and none of them worked. I also tried all sorts of weight loss drugs, both prescription and over the counter drugs. At 16 years old, I already weighed a heavy 75kg (165 pounds). My weight continued to go up as an adult.

In February 2014, I was rushed to the Emergency room because I was having severe chest pains. The doctor told me that I had suffered a minor heart attack. When I got on the scale the doctor was shocked to see that I weighed a whooping 182kg (401 pounds). I was told to lose weight or else I would send myself to an early grave. My height is 154cm (5 feet, 1/2 inch tall) and 182kg was my heaviest weight. At that point, I was struggling to even walk from the bedroom to the garage. I suffered from severe backache and gastric reflux as well. I was always sweating and always felt very tired. I felt like I was watching my life pass me by.

When I was discharged from the hospital, I made a vow to myself that I was going to try my best to lose weight. I was motivated by strangers that I would meet on social networks who had also lost a lot of weight naturally. I was immediately inspired to live a healthy life style. I realised that I needed to lose weight not just to look good but for me to be healthy and alive. I didn’t want to die in my 30’s due to obesity related illnesses.

I started by joining Weigh-less South, Africa, which is a healthy eating program. At Weigh-less, I was introduced to good nutrition and healthy eating plans. I did not cut out any foods from my diet, but I ate everything in moderation. After following a well balanced diet, I lost 35kg in 3 months (77 pounds). This was amazing for me because no other diet had ever helped me achieve those kind of results. After 4 months of being on the Weigh-less plan, my weight loss plateaued. No matter how hard I tried, I was not losing anymore weight.

In July 2014. I was then introduced to a local diet clinic called ‘The diet that everyone talks about’. This is basically a high protein, low carb diet. I immediately signed up for the programme and they designed a meal plan for me. I followed that meal plan religiously and WOW, to my excitement, I started to lose weight again. I noticed that I was developing excess skin, so I joined the gym and hired a professional personal trainer. Initially, I was only working out 3 times a week, then after a few weeks I started intensifying my workout regime. I later started working out 5 days a week. I would swim or do aqua aerobics for 1 hour and then have a 1 hour session with my trainer. I started having dramatic weight loss from working out and also being on the LCHP diet. With this diet, I lost 41kg (90 pounds).

I am now weigh 95kg (209 pounds) and I’m loving every minute of it. My goal weight is 75-80 kg and I still have about 15-20kg to lose. I’m not working out anymore due to a major surgery I had done on my leg in December 2015, but I’m still on the high protein diet. I’m hoping to reach my goal weight by December 2016, if possible. I’m out of the danger zone in terms of my health, so I’m happy to lose just a kg or 2, just as long as I don’t gain any weight.

My eating patterns have really changed drastically. Prior to my weight loss, I was eating junk food the whole day. I would have 6 muffins and a chocolate milkshake for breakfast. Then I’d have tried chicken, potatoes wedges and a liter of coke for lunch, followed by 2 T-bone steaks, sausages, rice and gravy for supper. OOOH, and I’d have a milk tart and caramel ice cream for dessert. This happened every day and I would always have big packets of chips and peanuts in between meals. There was no time in my day when I wouldn’t be eating something.

Today, I cannot stand sugar. It is the one thing I really hate with all my heart. I eat 70% protein and 30% carbs each day, but I always choose vegetable for carbs instead of the easily available refined carbs, like bread, rice, pasta etc. On average, I have 2 eggs, bacon and sausage for breakfast, 2 pieces of chicken drumsticks and vegetables for lunch, and then fish and vegetables for dinner. My between meals snacks now include biltong/jerky, cheese, ham, sugar free cold rinks/juices, etc.

My advice to any person out there is: Make sure that you start this journey for the right reasons. Don’t just try to lose weight just so you can look good in summer. Lose the weight because you want to be healthy and you want to make a lifestyle change. Try not to focus on other people’s journeys, focus on your own. When you try to keep up with other people, you will get easily demotivated and then quit.

My co-worker used to laugh at me when I started working out because we used to be at the same gym. She weighed 125kg (275 pounds) and I was 140kg (308 pounds) by then. She felt that I would never lose the weight or even weigh the same as her. Right now, I’m 95kg (209 pounds) and she is 133kg (295 pounds). She comes begging for advice and help from me now. That’s why I say, don’t stress yourself about what others are losing. Just stay focused on your own journey. Also, I say pray a lot, because God hears our prayer requests and he does fulfill them in his own time.

I’m available for anybody that needs to ask anything related to weight loss, I’m not an expert but I can share what has or has not worked for me.

Instagram: @heaven_on_this_earth

My size 40 jeans have become big on me!!! 6 pack loading…….😎 #healthyliving #healthychoices #dramaticweightloss #weightlossjourney #howtotransform #transformationtuesday #fittnessaddict #fitfam #fitspo #gymlife #gymflow #lifestylechange #happiness #picoftheday #joysoflife #paelofriendly #bantingfriendly

A post shared by living my dream (@heaven_on_this_earth) on Sep 23, 2016 at 12:25pm PDT