It is midday and Farida Lubanga is yet to have her first meal.
Despite the festivities and having travelled upcountry to celebrate the holidays, Farida insists on keeping her discipline of when to eat.
“I don’t want to drop the ball just because it is the holidays, I have to stick to the plan. It's what has gotten me here, to this physique. Because I have taken a break from exercising to celebrate the holidays, I only eat when hungry. I'm also mindful of what I eat. I avoid deep-fried and fast foods,” she says.
Since she got serious with her wellness regime, her first meal of the day is between 12:30 pm and 1 pm. The next meal will be 4 pm and dinner, a light one, will be around 8 pm. Most of the meals have organic vegetables, arrowroots, and kienyeji [indegenous] chicken. However, on days she is going to the gym, the timings change.
“Definitely, my body cannot hold until noon because it demands replenishment after a workout which in most cases is weight lifting,” she says.
Farida Lubanga ready for the tricep cable pushdown exercise.
Photo credit: Sinda Matiko | Nation Media Group
Anxiety, anger, and stress
So what led Farida to start going to the gym?
Until October 2023, the mother of two (a 10-year-old and a five-year-old) had never been involved in any physical activities to keep fit.
At the time, she was going through a rough patch, which left her anxious and angry.
“I was losing myself in 2023. I struggled to find sleep because of stress and anxiety. I struggled to manage my anger. I was irritable, to the extent that it affected those around me including clients. It was a difficult moment,” says the business development manager at Omega Optician.
One of the remedies Farida thought would fix her situation was to go out as often as she could to socialise.
“I needed a distraction, so going out was ideal. I would go out with friends and end up having a bender. But what that did was worsen my anxiety attacks. Every time I had a couple of drinks, I would struggle more to find sleep. Alcohol was like an anxiety trigger. I'd sleep at most for two hours. This affected my health, productivity at work and parenting,” says the 34-year-old.
A friend advised her to try another form of distraction.
“She was tired of hearing me complain daily about my mental struggles. One day she joked, ‘Why not try the gym and see if it will be a good distraction and if not, you find something else. The gym is a social space too',” Farida says.
She decided to give it a try.
“I bought myself gym wear and signed up in the gym. At first, I wasn't consistent because I was struggling to juggle work, motherhood, and my mental struggles,” she says.
Hour-glass physique
Farida says when she first walked into the gym in October 2023, she was skinny, and had lost five kilos as she barely ate. Not surprisingly, her clothes were ill-fitting.
“I would be lying if I said I started going to the gym to look good. I honestly didn’t care that I was skinny. I wasn't curvy when I began exercising. All I wanted was not to lose my mind,” Farida says.
However, over time she began falling in love with the gym drawn to the community she met there. The good thing about the gym, she says, is that people are always out to motivate each other.
Farida Lubanga smiles after completing a set of seated cable row workouts.
Photo credit: Sinda Matiko | Nation Media Group
“They say nice things that anyone would love to hear and that kept me going. For a moment I forgot my problems. The gym made me feel safe, so I would show up every day just to be encouraged and motivated. The more I showed up, the more I got addicted to the gym and then I began enjoying the punishing exercises,” she explains.
The surprise byproduct
What she did not realise was that exercising was fixing her without realising. Her now hourglass physique became a byproduct.
“I started having deep sleep because naturally exercising fatigues you and so you will end up sleeping well as it recharges. I no longer had anxiety attacks, my moods changed for the better. My body felt lighter. These are things I initially didn’t realise because my focus was all glued to the good vibes I was getting. The distraction. Little did I know, I was getting fixed,” she says.
As she kept going her body began to change.
“This year I have been consistent with my exercises, going to the gym at least three times a week. Initially, I began with cardio exercises but realised I was losing weight. Then one of the trainers advised me to switch to weights. I started building muscle, getting toned, my hips grew and my curves popped,” she says.
When she started, she would do deadlifts with 20 kilos but has graduated to 60 kg-weights, doing 10 repetitions per set. Deadlifts help improve muscle mass, and shape the hips and back area.
For squats which strengthen the lower body, she started with 40 kg-weights, but now the heaviest she can do is using 60kg-weights and does 10 repetitions per set. For bench presses which tone the upper body, she does using 40 kg-weights, having started with 10kg-weights a year ago.
Farida Lubanga performs a cable lat pulldown exercise.
Photo credit: Sinda Matiko | Nation Media Group
The three key factors
Farida attributes her body metamorphosis to three factors.
“When I tell people I was skinny most tend not to believe me. But I put in the work. First, I have been consistent with lifting weights this year {2024], week in and week out. Secondly, I had to be in control of my eating habits.”
“I have a sweet tooth, so I had to deliberately stop the cakes. I now only struggle with sweet food cravings during menses. And lastly, I realised I am an easy gainer. My body is easy to gain muscle mass and easy to lose muscle and so I have taken advantage of that because my body responds so fast to muscle trigger stimulus which is lifting heavyweights,” she says.
