Steven Oundo’s fitness journey started four months ago. He has lost 28kgs.
Just like many Kenyans, his previous attempts to lose and sustain an ideal body weight had ended with disappointing relapses.
In the initial stages, apart from the muscle pains which have since eased, sleep used to creep in the first hour upon arrival at the office.
In just four months, Steven Oundo, an architect, has lost 28 kilogrammes. But his journey from weighing 121 kgs has not been a walk in the park.
It has taken him days of swimming, weightlifting, jogging and playing golf or squash or basketball to trim the excess weight.
Just like many Kenyans, his previous attempts to lose and sustain an ideal body weight had ended with disappointing relapses.
“In June, I decided I was going to do it progressively and tactically,” says Mr Oundo, who runs an architectural company. But rarely do overweight people sizzle their way to toned bodies by just exercising.
First, Mr Oundo took a break from his favourite beer Tusker Lite and any other alcoholic drink. A week later, he started a strict exercise regime and cut out some foods from his diet.
Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning, from 6.30am to 8am, he plays golf. After golf, he does cardio exercises such as running on a trendmill for 45 minutes and then an additional 30 minutes of lifting weights.
On Tuesday evenings between 6pm to 8pm, he plays golf, football or squash with sports legend JJ Masiga who doubles up as his mentor.
On Thursdays and Fridays between 6am and 7.30am, he swims, covering a distance of about two kilometers. On Friday evenings, he hits the basketball pitch.
On Saturday morning, he swims and on Sunday, which he considers his free day, he either swims or plays golf with his son.
“These varying exercises are meant to confuse the body so it doesn’t get bored due to routine,” says the father-of-five.
Mr Oundo also avoids eating a heavy supper during the week and mostly sticks to vegetables or fruit salad.
Before leaving the house each morning, he grabs a bottle of water, an orange fruit or tangerine and these will take him through the gym session.
“I avoid chapatis, Irish potatoes, bread and rice. But if I have to eat them, then I reduce the portions and I opt for brown wheat products,” he says.
He has also reduced his intake of red meat to once a week, avoids fried foods and dropped confectionery from his diet.
The 47-year-old who has always been active in sports playing rugby and basketball but has never been small-bodied, says that the more he exercises now, the less he desires food.
In the initial stages, apart from the muscle pains which have since eased, sleep used to creep in the first hour upon arrival at the office.
“But the pain is a process and is an indication that the body is moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Even a child cries when it enters this world,” says the former chair at the National Construction Authority.
While he agrees it has not been easy dropping the excess weight to 93 kgs currently, it has been worth the while.
“When I started exercising and watching my diet, I had hoped to reduce to 95kgs in one year. Even I was shocked at this achievement. I have promised myself that I will have my first drink next year in June subject to my daughter graduating from university,” says Mr Oundo whose children are aged between 24 and 10 years.
He has gotten rid of all the ill-fitting clothes to kill the flicker of thought or hope that one day they may fit.
“I disposed off the clothes to stamp it in my mind that I am not willing to relapse,” he says.
Getting out of your comfort zone is the first step to achieving an ideal body. He notes that as cliché as it may sound, if one does not make time for exercise then they should be ready to make time to be sick.
When he lost his wife to a sudden heart attack in 2010, Mr Oundo, who weighed 128 kgs at the time, decided to get a full body medical checkup.
“The doctor said I was okay but could do better. Soon, I started exercising and within six months, I was weighing 101 kgs,” he says.
He went into celebration mode, essentially undoing the gains and clocked 126 kgs. In November 2014, he resumed the workout regime for another six months, within which he reduced 21 kgs.
But being a single parent with many responsibilities, working in a fast-paced city and attending MBA classes meant that he hardly found time to keep fit. So he relapsed again, with most of the weight piling around the abdomen.
“Friends teased me, asking ‘what is this you are carrying around’ or ‘when is the EDD (expected date of delivery)’. This concerned me and this year, I made a bold step to shed the weight tactfully,” says the architect who checks his weight daily.
So profound is his transformation that he marvels at his looks when he stands infront of a mirror or when he skims through old photos.
Also, since Mr Oundo travels a lot, the one thing he does upon checking in at a hotel is enquiring if it has a gym.
“If there is no gym, then I psychologically prepare to jog either in the morning or evening,’’ he says.
