I get it now.

I wrote about how I wanted to get my….“Plump posterior”- to quote the words of a childhood friend- back. For a few months since last year, gaining some weight healthily was my goal, then it hit me that I may be getting it wrong. What if my body is perfectly fine where it is right now. Slight belly, booty a little less voluptuous than it was 4 years ago, boobies not as big as I’d like and all that jazz. My point is, this is my body, it is healthy and it looks pretty damn good if I may say so myself.

If you need to gain or lose some weight for health reasons, please go right ahead doing it the healthy way, preferably while consulting with a physician but as for where I am, while I would prefer to not lose any more weight, I have come to realize that being healthy and happy in your own skin is far more important than what people outside may think or feel or say. My not weighing the same as I did when I was 21 is not due to some emotional crisis, actually, most of it is because I actively worked at it to flatten my belly which tends to be the first place that shows when I gain weight.

I try to eat healthy balanced meals, I try to include fruits and vegetables to my meals though I do not manage this daily, and since the hot African summer began, I have been having no problem gulping down probably more than 2 liters of ice cold water a day. My room is on the second floor, no elevator, so there is regular exercise aside from my Pilates and yoga sessions 3-4 times a week and I am certainly not starving myself, when I’m hungry I will run to the fridge or stove like my life depends on it.

Just yesterday after we had no power till after 15:30 and then had yet another power cut before the nshima- Zambian staple meal- was ready, my friend Chishiba and I went with a pot of hot porridge, cooking stick, two-plate cooker and 2.5 kg bag of mealie meal to the generator powered lecture hall buildings looking for a place to finish cooking our meal, the looks we got from other students and lecturers made no impression on us whatsoever.

Unfortunately, we found all 3 kitchens in the two buildings- which also happen to be some distance apart- locked. They lock them at 16:00, we learnt from our Digital Marketing lecturer who advised us to make zigolo- sugar and water solution- and eat bread. Not finding this an acceptable solution, we scoured the school until the kindly maintenance supervisor took pity and unlocked one of the kitchens for us. I don’t play when it comes to food, or music.

The fact is that I am at a very healthy weight for my height, I am happy, I deal with negative or difficult situations and people when whatever issues I have with them can’t be talked out in a healthy way- by making fun of them and turning that negativity to laughter, behind those people’s backs of course, I have not been in a fight since I was 7 years old in the 2^nd grade, I am severely out of practice, it’s very likely I’d get clobbered, besides, I’m a more butterflies and rainbows kinda person than a fists of fury one.

All in all, what I’m saying is, love yourself enough to take care of your body, eat and eat well, be active, drink water, train your brain, don’t hold on to any negative feelings or people that drag your spirit down, set realistic goals for your fitness and enjoy every step of the journey that we call life.