Idala Ogufere: I’m determined to enlighten many women
[bctt tweet=”Idala says ‘Don’t work out for the wrong reasons. Do it for your active 90 year old self.’” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Idala Ogufere is the go-to fat-burning, body-transforming FlexiMum Coach, she left her career as Chartered Accountant to serve and add value to young mums, grooming them spirit, soul, and body to live and maintain a sustainable healthy lifestyle. This dream was birthed after a near-death experience with eclampsia. Doctors say she’s a walking miracle, but it was for a greater call to help young mums see the importance of healthy living. Idala gives tips on her FlexiMums Facebook Community and Instagram page @IdalaOgufere showing how she shed her 30kg baby fat and stays toned after two boys. Have you always been a fitness enthusiast? Not exactly. Although I used to do lots of yoga stretches with my dad (I didn’t know it was yoga then, I just loved exploring my flexibility), my dad has always been the fitness enthusiast. I started taking fitness seriously after I gave birth to my first son (who’ll be 5 years old in June), but I would just workout and not eat right or I would starve myself, now I know better. When did you start taking fitness seriously? It was after the birth of my second son. His birth was very seamless even though he weighed 3.73kg. I was discharged two days later but when I got home, settling in was tough because I’d developed severe headaches and swollen feet. I thought it was just the normal postpartum stress but the headache became intense. My mum pleaded that I should see the doctor and so I went to the hospital to find that my blood pressure (BP) was outrageous! Here I was with BP reading 180/100, I’ve never had high BP before, so this was strange and ridiculous to me. I was tensed and had to be monitored for a while with ice packs in my head but there was no improvement. Eventually, they had to rush me to the ICU to stabilize my BP and I had seizures during the process. Honestly, how I survived that saga, is still a miracle. God kept me for this purpose, to preach the gospel of healthy living to all young mums I come across. It’s much more than work for me, it’s my ministry! So I take it your experience is why your ‘ministry’ is targeted at young mums? Yes, because obviously as a young mum I know and feel the pain of other mums. This feeling inspired my first business @MyBabyStoreNG which helps young busy moms to shop for their kids. I’ve always been endeared to the challenges young mums face. After my second son and a near-death experience with eclampsia, which was majorly due to my obesity, I felt the calling to enlighten more mums about it. There have been maternal deaths caused by eclampsia although it’s a small percentage, many women and even young ladies need to be aware of this deadly eclampsia. Choosing young mums/ladies was very deliberate as many in this category, haven’t “hung their boots” yet with regards to child-bearing. It’s thus important for them to embrace fitness and good nutrition so that they live healthy lives. [bctt tweet=”I’m impacting more people and that deserves all my time -Idala Ogufere” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Now I’m interested in this business, MybabystoreNG. Is it still up and running? Before I answer this let me give a brief story about how I started MyBabyStoreNG. About a year after I had my first son, I had no clue what to do. I loved shopping for my son and I kept putting up pictures of cute baby outfits I saw in the market, people liked it and boom! I saw a business opportunity. MyBabyStoreNG was birthed yet it still didn’t fulfill my desire to help young mums so I decided to help them work on their bodies through Wholly Groomed Academy. These mums that I had sold baby items to wanted to know how l lost so much weight in less than a year. I got more attention as a Fitness Coach and I began to impact them positively. I thought I could handle both businesses together, but it was impressed in my heart to hold off activities in MyBabyStoreNG. This was because it was becoming burdensome for only me to handle both as a sole proprietor. I still have great dreams for MyBabyStoreNG, she’s my first baby, but now Wholly Groomed Academy has taken the lead. I’m impacting more people and that for me is very fulfilling and deserves all my time. My target was busy mums because it was a relief for someone they trusted to help with shopping for their kids. They just gave me a list of what they wanted and I shopped it. More like a Personalised BabyShopper. My dream is to create a Made In Nigeria Showroom where all items are locally sourced and produced here in Nigeria for Nigerians with our cartoon-inspired stories! How easy/difficult was it to actually get MybabystoreNG properly functioning according to its purpose? It was easy when I started at first because I just loved helping mums shop for their kids’ outfits. It became very challenging at a point because I didn’t have enough stock to meet up customer’s demands. I was acting as a middleman and I couldn’t control their stock. As we began to grow, it became increasingly challenging. Then my dream to create my own line of Made In Nigeria Kiddies Line was birthed, it’s still in my dream box. I haven’t given up on it. When the time is right, it’ll manifest. Ok, let’s get back to workouts. Other #MotherlandMoguls might want to know the importance of a fit body, why is it important? I always say, man is a spirit, has a soul and lives in a body. These three elements need to be taken care of effectively to achieve wholeness. Most of us went to school to feed our mind (the soul, seat of our
Congratulations!! Here is your degree and 15 extra pounds
[bctt tweet=”We were warned about the Freshman 15. It was the Senior 15 that no one told us about.” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Am I the only one who wants a special refund from my alma mater for the additional pounds it added to my body? I can’t be the only one…please tell me you guys understand the struggle! That special struggle where you wish you could rewind time and not eat a whole tub of ice cream at 3am to compensate for failing that exam. Or the countless celebratory late-night dinners with friends for making it through the semester. Or if you were like me, you treated yourself for even the slightest victories! (I woke up for my 8am class today and actually went to class! I deserve a cupcake #TreatYoself) In the defence of all our alma maters, we were heavily warned about the Freshman 15. It was the Senior 15 that no one told us about. The stress eating mixed with having no time to work out, left most of us walking across the stage on graduation day with our brains full of knowledge, our hearts full of hope for the future, our pockets weighed down by student loans…and our hips a little more rounder with 15 extra pounds. So now here you are, a year or two out of college and wondering how to get your college body back. Or you are a mother of two or more adorable children and even though you love those precious kids, you low key give them the side eye for stealing your pre-motherhood body. All hope is not lost ladies, we shall overcome. Here are 5 unconventional tips to help you us get your our body back. 1. Accept that your body is changing as you grow I know! That’s a hard pill to swallow, but we don’t have the same metabolism as we used to when we were 16. The sooner we accept that and move on, the better. You know how we try to stay up late till 2am to prove to these youngins that we are not grandma’s? A lot of us treat our metabolisms like that, we live in denial, refusing to accept that our body is taking five hours to burn the puff puff we ate earlier. Embrace the fact that your bedtime is now 9:30pm and embrace your new metabolism. Accept the body you have now, love it, own it and werk at it. 2. Unfollow the Instagram fitness models Well not all of them, but some of them have to go. These Instagram fitness models are supposed to motivate you, not duplicate you. [bctt tweet=”These Instagram fitness models are supposed to motivate you, not duplicate you. ” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Stop comparing yourself to the model who doesn’t have a regular 9-5 and can afford to devote three hours a day to staying fit. Or the girl who has a personal chef who cooks healthy meals for her. Instead, find people who actually mirror the life you live. Follow the mom of five who incorporates working out into her busy mommy schedule. Or if you are a recent graduate juggling two jobs and you want to be fit, find some motivation that looks like you. 3. Find ways to UNINTENTIONALLY burn fat If you wait to love exercising in order to reach your fitness goals, you will be waiting forever. The reason most of us hate exercise is because of the effort and the brain fuel that it takes. First you gotta find a gym, find some cute work out clothes (because the calories don’t count unless you are wearing Beyonce’s athletic line). And then you now have to find a gym buddy who wont flake on you at the last minute. Oh and don’t forget finding the perfect playlist and then actually remembering to bring your headphones along with you to the gym. Did that tire anyone else out?? The loop hole is to trick your brain into burning fat without it thinking you are exerting effort. Take the stairs instead of the elevator Park further to your job and walk to work. Do 20 squats before bed. Buy a jump rope and actually use it. 4. Food is not your enemy I know its easy to blame food as your jeans fit tighter and tighter, but food is not your enemy. Its actually your greatest ally in your quest to get your body back. [bctt tweet=”Food is actually your greatest ally in your quest to get your body back” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Understanding your metabolism is the first step. Not only does our metabolisms slow down as we grow older but if you are a #MotherlandMogul, then your days have also gotten busier. AND making matters worse, majority of us spend our work day sitting behind a desk, we are rarely in motion in our 9-5. This highlights the importance of eating well. Its the one thing we can do consistently, so do it well. 5. You are the only one keeping you from your #BodyGoals I know I started this off by blaming my alma mater, but the truth is ladies, we are the only ones who could get our bodies back. [bctt tweet=”The main thing to remember is that you are your own body goals” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] You hold the key (DJ Khaled voice). And the main thing to remember is that you are your own body goals. You should love your body so much that you only want YOUR body back. Not Teyana Taylor’s body, even though she is all kind of goals right now.