Unlock Optimal Fitness: Real-Life Strategies for Energized Living

Paula: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of chatting with the experts tv show hosted by me Paula Okonneh where i bring to you women from Africa women from the Caribbean women from the Diaspora who are professionals and business owners and our mission together is to empower, to inspire and educate women globally i sometimes have men And they do exactly the same thing. At the end of the show, what I do know is that you will, you would have learned something new or you would have been empowered or motivated by what you have heard and seen. Our topic today is Living your Best Life with Tips for Energized and Fabulously Fit Living. Ooh, I love it. And my guest will be talking about how to… [00:01:00] she’s going to be giving us practical tips and advice and inspiration for achieving optimal health and fitness.
She’s drawing from personal and professional experiences and her expertise on this, and I’ll tell you a bit about her. Dr. Ukpong Nwankwo is MD, FACP. She’s board certified in internal medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians. She received her Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Medicine degree from the University of Ibadan in 1987. And, now what she does is she helps busy professional women feel energized and live fabulously fit. One reason she does this is because she herself left lost 55 pounds and she’s kept it off and in her spare time, [00:02:00] she serves her local community by providing education and awareness on healthy lifestyle. Wow, and that’s why I have her here. And with that I want to welcome Dr. Nwankwo to the show. Hello, hello, hello. Thanks for saying yes and being a guest on this show and I can’t wait to hear about all the amazing things that you have done and are continuing to do.
Ukpong: Wow. Well, thank you very much, Miss Paula. Like you said, busy professional women hire me to help them feel re-energized, release excess weight and live fabulously fit lives. You know, having been a physician for 37 years, I loved and cared for people. But over time, the demands of my work, I started piling weights and was fatigued. And then [00:03:00] a mammogram revealed. that I had an invasive aggressive breast cancer.
Paula: Oh no. Hmm.
Ukpong: That forced me to prioritize my health and stop. And, after treatment and losing 55 pounds and keeping it off, I regained my energy, my wellbeing, and my why has been to be here long enough to support my husband and my two daughters. Who are 25 and two years old. So that is my great why. And thank you so much, all the beautiful women for joining us here. And thank you once again, Miss Paula, for inspiring women, educating women, motivating women globally to be their best who. Thank you.
Paula: You’re welcome. But you know, I couldn’t do it without you. You are just one of the many who have come on to the show and done what I say I’m doing. But actually it’s you all that are doing it because [00:04:00] I’ve had such amazing guests and everybody brings something to the table that I need to hear and others need to hear. So thank you too.
Ukpong: You’re welcome.
Paula: All right. So let’s talk about that. So how do we get, well, before we even go there, I want to really say I’m really blessed and happy to see how well you are doing after that you know, episode. That scary time of being diagnosed with breast cancer. I know that every day is a gift for you.
Ukpong: Yes, it is a gift for me. This is 10 years this year. I just returned from Mayo Clinic because I have an appointment there once a year and my oncologist was very happy and I was so happy that a year ago when I went I gave her a gift and I told her, I want you to have this. I know doctors don’t like receiving gifts, but here is my gift. The book that I wrote, [00:05:00] the last weight loss program you’ll ever need. And she was so happy and she received it. So I’m so happy for every day that I live. It’s a gift and I’m very blessed and I’m very thankful for that. So, and the reason I’m doing this is that I don’t want any other woman to be in this position because all I was doing was working, taking care of people.
And the one person that I forgot to take care of or didn’t take good care of was me. And when you’re in the airplane, they say, put on your mask first. So busy woman, you’re out there, you’re wife, you’re mom, you’re entrepreneur, you’re business owner, but are you taking care of yourself? Are you taking time for yourself so that you can feel that energy that you need so that you can be your best self for, you know, the people that you serve? So that’s why I’m very passionate. I don’t want you to end up in the doctor’s office being told that you have diabetes [00:06:00] or that you have cancer or any of the weight-related illnesses that people, especially women experience.
Paula: And that’s the truth. That’s the truth. We take care of ourselves last thinking that we are being the best wife or mom or daughter or sister. And you know, the airline industry understood it better than we did, but we’re learning. When they say put on your seat belts first and then take care of others, they knew why they were saying that. Because if you are not okay, those who are dependent upon you cannot be okay. So yeah. All right. So, let’s talk about the pathway to having healthier and energized women. How do you go about that?
Ukpong: Well, I developed a system which I call the CAS system which we first of all talk about a clear pathway. And Joan [00:07:00] Rivers said that diet like clothes have to be tailored to you. A lot of times. We try keto, oh, keto is reigning, I’m going to do keto, or I’m going to do the carnivore diet, and then we try and then we get frustrated and we fail. I had tried so many diets. I had tried the keto diet and I was like, oh, I can’t do this. Even my husband went to Nigeria and saw someone who had lost weight and said what did you do? Tell me what you did and then he told my husband and he went and bought it cambridge diet and I did the cambridge diet. And this thing about kill me with constipation and so you know, seeing all this diet this really put me on a journey to gain information, gain knowledge because I was like this shouldn’t be this hard and so I registered in an integrative nutrition school for a year And the one thing that really resonated with me was that everyone [00:08:00] has a unique eating style.
You have to find your unique eating style because what works for A might not work for B and then when people struggle, and then they have one failure after another, the mindset now becomes repeated that you can’t make it. You’ve tried all these things. It’s not going to work. So my pathway is that we sit down one on one and then develop a clear pathway for you. One that will resonate with you knowing your unique likes and dislikes. Some person might like avocado. I personally don’t like avocado. Avocado is one of the best foods, very healthy, but I’ve tried to like it when I couldn’t like it. So everyone has unique things that they like and how their body functions.
You know, God created us unique. It didn’t make everyone the same, and then we try to fit everyone in a certain mode. So, we have to get people to where they can find what works for them. Because I [00:09:00] tell you, you know, and I used to do that, I would tell the patient, don’t eat this, don’t eat that, and then they would come back the next week. They did exactly that. Because that is the way they are wired. So you got to work with people the way they are wired and make it easy, build it around them so that they can sustain it. They can do it. And then when people start to have victory, it makes them more motivated. But when you have failure, failure is demotivating.
So we, break in a pathway that it motivates you so that you get small victories, we celebrate it and then you get bigger and better and then it’s one pound after the other it starts to peel off. And then, you know, we start looking at the symptoms you’re having, you know, being a medical doctor is also an advantage. It’s not everything but it’s also an advantage because it helps me see things in the perspective of how the body actually works, how it functions, and then knowing how the foods work, and then I [00:10:00] can advise you, and then you can tailor it to what works, and then we can build a meal plan that will help you. So that clear pathway really helps you to know yourself. So you are getting to know yourself, getting to know what works for you, what doesn’t work for you. And then you begin to tailor that even stress. We begin, we also talk about stress how, you know, you can distress, how you can, you know, maintain and even you know, because stress prevents people from losing weight.
And a lot of us, how stressful work we are going, going, going, and then we look at how you can maintain some consistent exercises and exercises that are age appropriate. Like me when I was 50, I was doing half marathons and guess what I had done. I was actually working on my fifth half marathon when I got diagnosed. And then I was heavier even though I was, you know, running. So it’s not based [00:11:00] on doing so many miles a day, which is good if you can but sometimes especially at a certain age It becomes more of a stressor to your system and it prevents you from losing weight. So we have to do age appropriate exercises. There are some people who are 60 who can do that, but there are some that cannot do that.
So we tailor it to you. Prioritizing rest, prioritizing things that are fun, you know, I went for a networking event on Sunday and I introduced myself and I asked the panel. They had a panel of speakers. I said, dear ladies, you all are fabulous. Tell me what do you all do for fun? And it was interesting what I heard them say. One of the ladies, the first one that she was eager to take the microphone, this is what she does for fun. She goes on TikTok. And pretends like she’s a influencer and start to do stuff. You know, those are things that you know are fun. Make you loosen up, make you refresh, reset, rejuvenate.
Paula: Mm-Hmm.
Ukpong: Another one, she likes [00:12:00] dancing now with her daughter. So many things that we do that helps you find that clear pathway for you. And then there is the aspect of accountability. Accountability is very important. Check ins, regular check in. When you know that someone is going to check in with you, you’re going to… and I still have a coach. Because I don’t want to be, after I have done all these I go back to my other ways I used to be. I still have a coach. I don’t want to be presumptive that oh I have kept off 55 pounds for 10 years. I still want to do more. I still want to stay accountable. I still want to learn new things and then I also introduced you to ways of tracking, tracking your success, you know, setting SMART goals, making sure that the goals are, you know, of course we know what the SMART are, you know, that they’re specific, measurable, you know, achievable, relevant, time bound, you know, and then also I want you to involve your [00:13:00] community so that it really helps you in terms of the fact that your friends are tracking with you.
So you want to put up, you know, and it also motivates and then motivation, you know, in terms of support I give that support because motivation waxes and wanes. It’s just like when you first get married. Everything is rosy. You go on honeymoon. Everybody is so happy. And then you come back the kind of life. Hey how come that socks is on the floor, you know? So everything, and then you go, you hear marriage seminar is coming to town. You go and then your motivation, love, everything goes up again. And then after one, two children come. Oga, please go and fix your breakfast. So it happens that way, the same thing. This is truth you are talking. We need to stay encouraged. Yes. And then I’m constantly looking for [00:14:00] ways to get better. So I’ve also got some and neuro linguistic training, NLP training.
Paula: Mm-Hmm.
Ukpong: And it helps you to understand the subconscious mind, to be able to know how to shift your mindset, how to do visualization. So there are so many things. When it comes to losing weight and keeping it up, it’s not just what you eat. Is it’s not just how you eat this the food on your plate, the food that’s not on your plate. It’s all about mindset. So many things come to play is also, you know, you hear a bad news. How do you process it? Some people process it by you know comforting themselves with some nice cake or some nice cookies. So we go through all that to be able to recognize yourself, see the triggers that you experienced. And then you know that this thing is coming up. What can I do? What plan can I put in place to mitigate those things?
Paula: I love everything you have said. Oh my word. And we can see it in you, your body [00:15:00] language, your eyes, your mannerism tells you this. You’re not just talking justice, you know, tell people to share this. This is from your own experience too. And. It’s been a positive journey for you, right?
Ukpong: Yes, ma’am. Absolutely. It has been a positive journey.
Paula: All right. So sorry, I cut you short. You’re about to say something else, but I was like, man, I need to just put in that word because I’m looking at you and I’m even getting motivated to do more, to better my lifestyle, to better my eating, to even get an accountability coach. Yeah, that’s something I want you to talk about, this accountability coach.
Ukpong: Accountability is very, very important in the sense that, you know, when you stay accountable to someone either with a body system .You hear what the other person is experiencing. First of all, you can see that people are experiencing the same thing that you are. So you know that it’s not only you. So that you encourage yourself and then you get [00:16:00] ideas, you bounce ideas. Okay. This has worked for this person in this situation. It might work for me too. Let me try that. And then, you know, positive feedback, positive encouragement. Okay. You’ve done this well. This is, you know, and then I asked a lot of questions that help you look intuitively. Okay. What else can I do? What else can I do in this situation? All right. I want to eat more vegetables. How can you put more vegetables? Which ones do you like? You know, how can you make your food more healthy?
How can you eliminate or reduce processed foods in your meals? So, a lot of questioning, a lot of looking for how do you celebrate your victories? Because celebration actually helps. It actually helps the part of your brain that makes you feel good. And also I’m a person of faith. It also tells God that you’re ready for more. Oh Lord, I thank you that, you know, and I really…
Paula: So true.
Ukpong: Gratitude is a very important thing that [00:17:00] when you’re grateful for the little wins. And that, you know, attracts more wins to you. So gratitude is something that is a reward system that I encourage people to practice a lot and also look back from where you’ve started to where you are, you know, a lot of times people compare themselves, they go to social media and look at people who have curated their content. You know, so you don’t compare yourself because you don’t know where they started their journey and where they are. They might be in chapter 100 and you are in chapter 2. So that will be an unfair comparison to compare yourself with someone who you feel And then it’s a personal journey. It’s not a competition So compare yourself, compare that… Okay. I’ve lost one pound. This is where I was. This is where I am now. Wow. Wonderful. And don’t celebrate with food. Celebrate with something else. Maybe reading a book or maybe going for a spa treatment, a massage, manicure, you know,
Paula: Tell us. [00:18:00] Yes. A spa treatment. Very good. Not food.
Ukpong: Go get you a nice exercise outfit or a beautiful outfit. Oh, I just went to Nigeria and I came back. One of the best tailors in the world are in Nigeria. I’m sorry to say that.
Paula: I agree. And they’re so creative.
Ukpong: Oh yes, very creative. I put on this garment and I was dancing. I said, please, can you all video me? When you’re losing those one, two pounds, you find out that you’re now able to wear that dress you put away that, Oh, I can’t wear it again. Actually that happened to me. I had a bunch of clothes. I put them away that, Oh, I’m taking them to goodwill. This is not going to work and this and that. And one day I picked it up and it fit. And then months down the line, I had to go and speak. And I put one of them on and it was like you hanging a dress on a hanger. It was too big. So I went from fitting into my clothes and then the clothes became too big. Now I have to really give them away. So [00:19:00] that’s where you’re gonna go with all this.
Paula: But, but that was a good, that’s a good feeling. It’s healthy. I mean, you weren’t just losing weight because you had a disease or some stressful incident in your life. This was a planned journey. You were on a healthy journey for yourself, so that when you put on the dress and you said it was like a hanger, it was like, woo, something else to celebrate. Correct?
Ukpong: Yes, absolutely. It was such a great feeling, you know, these days I, you know, before I didn’t like to go to shop because every time I go to shop, I’m a size big. I’m a size big. It’s like, oh, I don’t even want to, and then you leave from mid size to plus size. So this time, you know, when I go to shop, you know, I really celebrate myself. I do a dance. I put on the dress. I feel good. I twirl like a little fairy.
Paula: All right. So talk to us about some of the, I mean, [00:20:00] motivational steps that you put in place for your clients, your patients.
Ukpong: Well, the thing that I do to motivate them is you know, I actually have, I even forgot I should have given you this. I have like, some affirmations, some great affirmations.
Paula: Okay.
Ukpong: And you are affirming yourself and the way I like to do my affirmations, I stand in the mirror and I smile. I put on my favorite perfume so that I can smell. I want to see myself. I want to smell you know, have that good feeling. And, you know, I start to tell myself that I’m wonderfully and fearfully made. You know, and then I do two types of affirmations. One that I see right now. I’m wonderfully and fearfully made. I’m the best image of myself. I am, you know, I eat healthy. I’m proactive in taking care of myself. And then the things that I want to be. I also affirm them. So for instance, you’re now maybe 200 pounds. You want to [00:21:00] be 180 pounds. Oh, I am my fabulous and fit 180 pounds. You know, you affirm. So I will find that my affirmation that I made, you know, and I put it in a little nice pink with, you know, I had somebody actually make it for me with a pink .If I can find it on time, I’ll drop it for you. Flowery background. So, you can actually do that. And it will really help to motivate you. What you’re saying to yourself. Because a lot of times as women. What people are saying to us, they put us down. And we also put ourselves down myself included.
Paula: Yes.
Ukpong: You know, so, but we have to speak kindly to ourselves, speak peaceably to ourselves, speak lovingly to ourselves. It’s very, very important, even when you are not what you want to be right now. Yes, you will be that. So you want to speak kindly to yourself. Yes. So…
Paula: We need [00:22:00] to know to do that for ourselves, not wait for other people to do it for us, but start doing it yourself.
Ukpong: You might not have people around you who are not affirming you who are very critical, you know, but you have to do it for you. Yes.
Paula: Yes. That’s lovely. So what about the time? So that’s when it’s waxing. What about the time when the motivation wanes? Because we are human, we may say all of that to ourselves and we step out and reality hits us and we’re like, Oh my gosh, do you.
Ukpong: And that’s where you need a coach. You need a coach. Yes, and your coach will ask you where you are, you know will pick up from there will, you know, encourage, we will support. And, you know, weight loss journey is not a smooth slope. It might go, it might come you know, might gain again, and then you might play. So it’s up and down, but overall, you know, you’re going to have, you know, some degree of loss, but it’s not [00:23:00] like a straight line graph that everything is great every day. If it was, then everyone would have what they want, but it’s unfortunately not so.
Paula: So we need to know it’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon.
Ukpong: It’s a marathon. Absolutely.
Paula: Okay. Literally one step at a time, knowing that there’s a destination, you’re going to get there, but it may not be overnight. It may not be two weeks. It may not even be five weeks. It may be a year, but that’s okay. The thing is that you’re not where you used to be, but you’re going towards the goal that you have set where you want to be.
Ukpong: Yes. Yes, ma’am. Yes.
Paula: I love that. Well, I mean, if we had thought about this, we should have had a before and after picture for people to see on you because you are fabulously fit. I can see that. Your whole persona radiates that. I wish we had that, but we don’t.
Ukpong: No, we don’t.
Paula: But we do have [00:24:00] you, and you’ve given us such great tips. Wow, I can’t believe the time is going. So, if I wanted to, you said we should get a coach for the time when our motivation wanes. What should I look for in a coach? Is there a specific type of coach I should look for? Do I look for a weight loss coach or should I look for someone who is going along the same journey as me but happens to be a coach in another field? How do I find a coach?
Ukpong: I think you can find a coach by what you want. If you want to do lose weight, then a weight loss coach if you want a wellness, you know, who would incorporate weight loss and other stuff. Yes. So it all depends on what type of coach that you’re looking for. I, for instance, have a coach for my you know, wellbeing, my food, my business, you know, so it depends on what you want and, yes. And have a conversation with the person and see what they have to offer. Does it match what you [00:25:00] need? So have a conversation first of all, with that coach.
Paula: I love that. That’s a great answer. So have a conversation and then you’ll find out. And from what you’re saying, you should get a coach to suit your needs. Like you have a business coach that helps you with your business. You have a wellness coach that helps you along that path. You have a weight loss coach that has kept you where you are.
Ukpong: Yes. Alright.
Paula: Loving that. So because you mentioned that you have a business coach, if someone is looking to, you know, get in touch with you, how can they find you offline and online?
Ukpong: Well, they can find me on online on Facebook. I go by my name, Ukpong Nwankwo. The same thing with my Instagram. You know, it was funny because when I first got into what do you call it, Instagram, I didn’t know what to expect and I was kind of hiding. I didn’t want anyone [00:26:00] to see that it was me. So I put onecorej. So that’s me on Instagram. So, and then, you know, on, I’m also on LinkedIn as my name. And then of course my email is ukpongnwankwo@internalmedassociates.com.
Paula: I love that. But before we do the final wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share? Something special that you are giving away? Something special that you want people to have access to?
Ukpong: Well, I want to thank you again, Miss Paula, for doing this for women and all the women around the world that have joined us on this program. And I do love to make an impact in the lives of women. And so I want to offer each woman, a free snacking guide, which is my free snacking guide. And Miss Paula will be dropping a link for those who would like, and those who have actually downloaded this guide, , it’s about some snacks, you know, 10, you know, different ideas on [00:27:00] snacks. They felt like it helped them feel full longer, feel energized. And so this helped them, you know, stay on track so that it didn’t sabotage their weight loss by eating constantly because it helped them feel fuller longer. So that’s what I have to offer. And I’m hoping that that will be a blessing to you. And also with that you will be enrolled in my email list where I offer value and offer more tips and ideas. And thank you again, once again, for inviting me to this beautiful program.
Paula: Thank you, Dr. Nwankwo. I couldn’t do any of this without any of you. So I say that over and over and over again. And for those of you who have joined us today, will have listened to this because it’s going to be a podcast as well. If you would like to be a guest on my show, just like Dr. Nwankwo has been, please reach out to me on my website, which is chattingwiththeexperts. com. I’m also on [00:28:00] LinkedIn. I love LinkedIn. Just look for Paula Okonneh there. I’m on Instagram and my handle there is at chat_experts_podcast. I’m also on Facebook and I need to get better at being at on Facebook because my platform of choice tends to be LinkedIn, but I am on Facebook. Let’s look for Paul Okonneh there. Thank you. Thank you all. I promised you that you will learn. You will be inspired. You will be motivated. You will be educated. And this is what Dr. Nwankwo has done for us. Thank you again. You’re welcome. I appreciate you.
Ukpong: Yes, ma’am. Thank you.