Staying Lean

A while back, I watched some parts of The Passion of the Christ, a Mel Gibson movie. The movie portrayed how Christ was flogged by a hyped-up crowd and eventually crucified on a cross for our sake. And I noted all the actors in the movie were lean, not fat.

Mel Gibson must have chosen only lean actors to feature in the movie because he understood that people in the times of Christ didn't suffer from obesity. They walked everywhere they went since they didn't have cars, trains and motorbikes. They also didn't have processed foods rich in fat and sugar. Such a lifestyle kept them lean.

I, too, have wanted to be lean for as long as I can remember. Yet when I was admitted at JKUAT hospital in October 2008, I grew unbelievably plump, for all I did in the hospital was eat and sleep. (I was admitted at the hospital following my odd behavior at JKUAT, a local university where I had enrolled to pursue an engineering degree.)

Since getting discharged from JKUAT Hospital in November 2008, I have battled my weight - sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully. And I came to realize that I have looked more handsome and charming when lean than when fat.

I remember one night in 2011 when I was at the University of Nairobi (I dropped out of JKUAT in 2009), I showed some female classmates an old photo of mine taken during my JKUAT days and asked them to contrast it with how I looked that night in 2011. They all seemed to agree that I was more good-looking in the photo. That made me hate the weight I had gained.

Because I was displeased with how massive I had grown, I ended up putting on my social media accounts photos of myself taken years back. One lass I met for the first time in 2014 complained to me that she had expected to meet a young man who looked like what I had on my Facebook profile pic.

Even when I was running for a political seat in the 2013 general elections of Kenya, I was so uncomfortable with how I appeared that I put on my campaign posters a photo of myself taken two years before. I am sure strangers who viewed my posters couldn't recognize me on the streets given how flabby I had grown. How I wished I could be the handsome young man I was in the photo!

It's not only me who has looked more handsome when lean than when plump. I have also noted that in others. There is, for instance, a classmate of mine who grew plump a few years after we finished high school. When I went through his Facebook pictures on an afternoon in 2011, I marvelled at how handsome he appeared while he was lean.

Then there is this firstborn son of my neighbour Mama Kuria. The son looked strikingly handsome in a framed picture that was in the living room of Mama Kuria's mansion. When I met him during a get-together party for Mama Kuria's family in 2014, I was taken aback to see how big he had become. Later on, I suggested to Mama Kuria that she cajoles him to cut weight, citing that he was more good-looking in the framed picture in her living room.

That observation I have made of people appearing more pretty when lean than when fat is what has motivated me to lose weight by eating moderately and exercising vigorously. I have also kept away from foods rich in fat and sugar. As a result of my efforts, I have regained my youthful swagger. I plan to stay lean for the rest of my life on this grand and beautiful planet.

My beloved reader, I urge you to also strive to be lean like people in the times of Christ. Eat moderately and exercise vigorously. Not only will you be more attractive when lean, you will also live longer and happier since being lean will reduce your risk of contracting such lifestyle diseases as stroke, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. That's all I am saying.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on staying lean, you might also enjoy another one on "How to Lose Weight Safely & Quickly" that I wrote more than two years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.