Jhakie Cano-Reeves, winner of the latest War on Weight contest, has a secret weapon for weight loss – ditch the television.
Ms Cano-Reeves won the annual War on Weight last month, with a weight loss of just under 35 pounds. Since then, despite the Christmas holidays with its tempting feasts and parties to test her will power, she has lost a further 3 pounds and said she plans to keep on losing weight.
One step she took to ensure she stays active was get rid of the TV in her bedroom and to try to stop watching Cable TV.
“I used to be on my couch all day watching TV. I could watch Lifetime movies from 8am until 5pm, just getting off the couch to go to the kitchen to get some food,” she said.
For a woman who admits that she was ready to pack it in and quit the War on Weight programme after the first three days, her perseverance has paid off.
“Those first few days! My God, it was really tough,” she recalled, as she sat wearing a flattering trousers and top, which a tailor had recently taken in several inches.
“Being a WOW contestant changed my life completely,” said the 29-year-old accountant.
Originally from Honduras and brought up on a typically Spanish diet heavy in carbohydrates and protein, she had to alter the way she ate and prepared her food once she joined the WOW challenge, along with nine other competitors.
For the 16 weeks of the contest, which ended in early December, she exercised nearly every day, completely revamped her diet and weaned herself off her TV addiction.
A meeting with nutritionist Chad Collins in the early days of the contest helped her figure out what foods to eat, which to avoid, how to cook healthily and how to make wise decisions when shopping for food.
No starving
“The key is not to stop eating, not to skip breakfast or lunch so you can have a big dinner. That doesn’t help you lose weight. I used to think that if I starve myself, I will drop the pounds fast.
“Some people want to see results fast, within the first or second month, but the longer you take to lose weight, the better because it is harder to put back on,” she said.
One of the tips she picked up for other contestants was to eat every two hours.
“That helped a lot,” she said.
Ms Cano-Reeves wasn’t always heavy, but her enjoyment of local food like curry goat, oxtail, lots of rice and beans and cassava cake, having a sedentary job in an office and the fact that, unlike in Honduras where she walked much more, she drove everywhere in Cayman meant she piled on the pounds. She also put on weight after the birth of her son.
With the War on Weight committee, her fellow contestants, the many local companies and individuals who sponsored the competition and the Cayman Heart Fund which runs the contest, she found plenty of support to help her lose weight and she lost 34.8 pounds and 17 inches, as well as 2.9 per cent of her body fat.
Energy
By week three of the competition, she was already seeing results, she said. “I had so much more energy, it was amazing,” she said.
Christmas did not pose too difficult a challenge for staying on her diet. “I didn’t find it hard this Christmas. Everywhere we went, everybody had turkey. It’s healthy. I added salad or vegetables. If wanted some cassava cake, I had a small piece,” she said.
She plans to continue eating healthily and going to the gym, which is made easier by her prizes – six months’ membership at BodySculptor and three months’ membership to Kings Sport’s squash courts.
She has become a fan of sports and activities that she never thought larger people could take part in, like squash and yoga.
“I always thought yoga was for small, fit people. I realise now that anyone can do yoga and it’s good relaxation doing it,” she said.
The contestants’ minds also got a workout during the competition, as they attended counselling sessions with Rayle Roberts and learned they had control over their own bodies and had the power to change their lives.
Motivation
One of the biggest motivations for Ms Cano-Reeves to lose weight was her 5-year-old son, Nicolai Christian.
“He’s very energetic. Sometimes, he would ask me to ride bikes with him and within half an hour, I was dying. I’d say ‘Let’s go home’ and he’d cry because he wanted to stay out longer. I felt so sorry for him. He’d want me to play football with him but after 15 or 20 minutes, I was done,” she said.
Now she has the energy to play with her son a lot longer and said he is proud of his mamma, even encouraging her when he went with her when she did her early morning boot camp workouts. “Imagine, a 5-year-old telling me, ‘Mamma, you can do it’. That gave me the courage and power to continue,” she said.
The War on Weight became a family affair and the whole family is eating healthier now, she said. When dining out, her son now asks for fruit for dessert and wants broccoli and carrots with his meals.
She had a special thanks for Cheyenna Stewart, a former War on Weight contestant and chairwoman of the WOW committee, who has dedicated many hours to helping the competitors. “She was always there. She was so supportive and caring,” Ms Cano-Reeves said.
Advice
She has some practical advice for those who have made weight loss their new year’s resolution, such as hitting the gym before work, at lunchtime or immediately after work.
“Don’t go home first. Once you go home, you’ll find other things to do,” she said.
She advised anyone considering starting a new exercise regime to consult a doctor first, and then to get a professional personal trainer at the gym to show them how to use the equipment and to show them all the different kinds of exercises available. She also advises them to go to a nutritionist to learn about eating healthily. Having a support network is also essential to weight loss, she said, whether it’s from family, friends, co-workers or other gym goers.
“Losing weight is not something simple. You won’t see results just around the corner. It takes time and power and courage and support,” she said.
She has donated some of the clothes that are now too big for her and has had others clothing taken in by a tailor. She advises people who are losing weight to get rid of or alter their bigger size clothes to resist the temptation to put them on if they regain weight.
“If your trousers is getting tight, instead of buying a new one, lose weight until you fit in them again,” she said.
She hopes to help pass on the message of healthy eating and the importance of exercise to children in Cayman and plans to approach schools to see if she can talk to students about her journey.
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