10kgs down: How I danced my way to weightloss

Priscilla Muhiu is rocking her best body size. After years of trying out different workouts, she has finally found one that has helped her cut weight.

“I never used to look like this- (points at her curves),” she says during a session at a dance studio in Nairobi's Westlands.

She is swirling to moves choreographed by her trainer. Sometimes missing the steps, sometimes in sync.

“It’s cathartic and enjoyable,” Ms Muhiu says after several vigorous moves.

Within a year of joining the dance class in 2021, she had lost 10 kilogrammes. Back then she weighed 90kg. Pride is written all over her face as she happily announces that she is currently at 75kg.

“The target is to lose five more kilos to get to my ideal body mass index,” she says.

Eager to build on her fitness gains, she had to have a change of mindset to guard against tendencies that saw her start-stop approach she had with her previous workout regimes.

“Consistency is everything. Dancing is no longer a fitness regime for me; it’s become my lifestyle, it's something I enjoy, it helps me decompress and gives me control of myself,” she says.

To ensure consistency, the CEO of online pharmacy, MyDawa, has one unwritten rule; nothing should stop her from attending her dance classes. As such, the 41-year-old carries her laptop to the studio, just in case something comes up and she needs to call an impromptu virtual meeting with her various departmental teams.

It also helps that she has a flexible work schedule.

“I don’t have to be in the office at 8 am, 9 am, or 10 am. I am a big believer in flexible hours that enable me to figure out my work and personal life. I don’t believe in work-balance, but in life-work-harmony,” says Priscilla.

And the dance classes, she says, offer her that harmony.

“My days are never the same because the challenges in the tech startup world are unique. You have to keep figuring things out as you go, no one has really cracked it. We don’t think on our feet we think while running,” she notes.

She adds, “Work is non-stop strategising, coming up with test plans, problem-solving and all that.”

Priscilla speaks of four years she describes as “the darkest moments of my life”. This was the period she gained excess weight and lost her groove.

“It was a combination of many things. I had my second baby and started adding weight. At the time, I was also going through a lot in my personal life and I wasn’t sure whether I would make it to the next day. I found myself stress eating,” the honcho narrates.

So bad was the depression that she did not want to meet people and preferred staying indoors, with junk food becoming the remedy for her emotional pain.

A personal trainer

As she gained weight as months went by, she realised had to do something fast.

“I paid a three-month gym subscription, showed up twice and never went back. I got a personal trainer, and became a bit consistent with the workouts because she was really good at encouraging and pushing you. But I didn’t enjoy it because of the pain that comes with strength training. So I gave up,” she accounts.

In May 2021, one of Priscilla's friends invited her to a dance class that proved to be the game-changer route in her quest to not only lose weight but also get in shape.

“The good thing about dancing is that you don’t even realise that you are working out. When I first joined the class, I blocked my calendar with dance sessions, so even if you tried booking a meeting with me, I was mostly unavailable. I would come to class every day without fail except Sundays. I loved the feeling it gives me and so I found myself attending the classes every day,” she says.

Ever since she discovered dance and witnessed her body transformation, her mindset on fitness has changed.

“I have realised that when it comes to fitness programmes, you need to do something that you love for you to be able to be consistent. That consistency is what yields results. At some point I tried a combination of dancing and boxing, but in the end, I did not like it, so I reverted to dance,” she says.

Though the workout consistency mentality has changed to a strict schedule, she is not very cautious about what she eats.

“I eat the normal food, in fact, most of the time I eat from the kibandas (street eateries). Kibanda food has become my thing, especially ugali mayai, that’s my favourite. I try as much to avoid junk or any other fatty foods, but I have cheat days. Once in two weeks, I get to spoil myself,” she says.

Quit alcohol

Another thing, she quit alcohol. Before, she would indulge a lot during that dark moment she went through, and she says, "It didn’t do me any good.“

"It's three years now since I last had alcohol,” she says.

The near addiction she had to alcohol has been replaced by dance.

“When I come for the dance classes, for a moment I forget I am a CEO. I am just like anybody else. The fact that nobody here calls me boss, makes me feel very normal, free from work or personal drama, from my children and everybody else and it allows me to express myself. That has created a very harmonious environment for me,” she says.

Priscilla now plans to set up a dance tribe of female CEOs like herself.

“Because of what this dance has done to me I would like more women CEOs to experience it as well. Whether we like it or not, I can tell you it gets lonely up here at the top. So if we come together, dance, and talk about our issues I think that would do us good. We are coming up with a couple of names, the plan is to launch the club this May which will be senior women above 40 years,” she says.

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