One day Evans Tobby was going up the stairs to his apartment when he suddenly ran out of breath and was really exhausted.
“My heart was pounding; I was sweating like crazy. I had to stop and take a rest before scaling the stairs again. That’s when I realised something was wrong. It was a scare,” he says as he takes off his exercise gloves.
“I knew right away that I had to see a cardiologist,” says Evans, who is a detective.
A series of blood tests showed that Evans’ blood pressure was high, and so were his cholesterol levels.“My sugar levels were also rising,” he says.
He was to be put on immediate medication.
“The doctor gave me two options. One was to put me on medication, which would mean that I would have to take them for the rest of my life. The second was a recommendation that I start exercising immediately because at 41 I still had time to reverse the ill health.”
Evans says the only exercises he did were manual work at home or when he tended to his sugarcane farm upcountry in Muhoroni. But even then, the chores were not a daily routine.
“I grew up in the village, so manual work was part of my daily life until I got a job in the city. One day at the farm, I realised I couldn’t keep up with the young workers. This worried me because for years this had been an easy chore,” he says.
Losing 17 kilos
Evans stepped on a weighing scale, and it read 91 kilos.
“I used to be a bad eater. I ate anything that came my way. I got into a habit of having fast food takeouts every day after work. I’d finish a plate of French fries easily, food that I cannot stand nowadays,” Evans says.
On the doctor’s advice, the first step was to tweak his diet.
“At that point, all I cared about was losing weight. For one month I ate vegetables and any type of nuts. I would make the greens and garnish them with all kinds of nuts: walnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashew nuts—you name it. I started jogging too. I’d do 10- kilometre runs every morning and another 10 kilometres every evening. All I cared about was losing weight at all costs. In one month, I lost 17 kg.”
After shedding weight, he dropped the vegetables and nuts diet plan too and joined the gym.
“Nowadays I eat salads and nuts moderately because at that time I was focused on losing weight; now I’m focused on muscle building,” he says.
Building muscle
After losing so much weight, the doctor advised he start building muscle.
“I had shed so much weight to the point that I was now within my normal BMI range. But I was lean, and the doctor advised that I now needed to strength-train and build muscle, as it is the most important component of the body, especially as you age,” says the 44-year-old.
Evans joined the gym, and it has been three years of strength training combined with light cardiovascular exercises.
“Because I do more weight training, I also had to increase protein intake, but not meats. I eat mostly plant proteins; red meat is once in two weeks, and it has to be boiled meat, not fried.”
Alcohol intake
His job involves a lot of travelling, and Evans has made a conscious effort to ensure he never forgets to pack his gym clothes.
“I work with the transnational organised crime units, which involves a lot of travel, and my first clothes to pack is gym gear. I also ensure my hotel has a gym. Even while in the village, I exercise every day. It’s a matter of life and death; that's how I see it,” he says.
The detective says he also reduced his intake of alcohol.
“Back then I would drink seven to eight bottles of Guinness beer. Now even on cheat days, I struggle to finish one bottle of Guinness,” he says.
