Jasmine Baroudi is one of Ghana’s finest screen actresses having featured in several award-winning movies and drama series such as Adam’s Apples, Potomanto, Sinking Sands etc. Aside her acting prowess, Jasmine likes to keep fit; hence explaining why she always looks amazing on screen.
Glitz Africa caught up with Jasmine at the Evolve Gym where she loves to exercise to get her take on fitness and achieving the body one wants.
Why is fitness important to you?
Jasmine: Funnily enough, I started working out some years back because my lifestyle then wasn’t ideal or healthy. I was losing weight, I looked dull and sick. That’s when I contacted Flash the trainer and told him I wanted to put on weight. The misconception a lot of people have about working out is that only plus-sized people need to go to the gym which is absolutely false. I’ve stuck to working out all these years because I’ve seen results.
When you work out, you’re building your muscles and the muscles need to be fed. As a result, I began gaining appetite and eating well. Thus, working out and eating well produced the results I wanted so I love it.
Concerning workouts, trust me, any body shape you desire, you can get it at the gym (aside plastic surgery). Also getting your desired body shape is 30% workout and 70% dieting. If you work out but don’t eat right, you won’t see the desired results. People who experience this then blame the personal trainer which is misplaced. You have to watch what you eat as you work out.
Conception about body returning to former shape after giving up on workout
Jasmine: In my opinion, that’s not entirely true. Your lifestyle has to change. I stopped working out for a while after I had my daughter and, in a way, I could see my body going back to the way it was prior to working out because I wasn’t taking good care of myself. At the end of the day, it’s your body. Take care of it and it will take care of you and vice versa.
Working out is fun though it requires discipline, self-motivation and determination.
Daily workout routine
Jasmine: I try to work out at least three or four times a week. Personally, I’m not trying to lose weight; I’m trying to gain weight. I do cardio which basically means any exercise that pumps blood to your heart and makes you sweat a bit. I just do a ten-minute cardio; sometimes I work on the treadmill, I run or skip.
On Mondays, I work on my upper body i.e. my chest, back, arms and biceps. Most women forget to work out their upper bodies. They only concentrate on the flat tummy and the buttocks. But it’s unbalanced if you only have a nice-looking lower body. Women only need to tone their arms; they need not fear of becoming muscular if they don’t work out with heavy weights. I do pushups but I’m not building any muscles.
I do my abs on Tuesdays and do my legs on Thursdays or Fridays. You should have a plan when you go to the gym. There is the full body workout which is self-explanatory and you can do that once a week. You also need to exercise patience; you can’t rush the process. You can’t have a flat tummy on your first day of working out. You also need to eat and sleep well. The body needs to rest because it’s during rest that the muscles work. If you don’t eat or rest well, you only strain the muscles.
Importance of dieting to fitness
Jasmine: Dieting makes up 70% of the fitness agenda. You won’t achieve much if you work out but don’t watch what you eat. The diet for people who want to lose weight differs from the diet for people who want to gain weight.
I’m Ga so I love my kenkey. For the past two months, I’ve been taking mashed kenkey in the morning. I don’t eat banku as I’m not a big fan of it. Some dieticians require to know your blood group to determine which meals to eat to attain the goal you want.
I’m all for natural foods. Of course, I have my cheat days once in a while. When I do cheat, I keep in mind that I have work it out because I don’t plan to waste all the efforts I’ve put in to achieve my goal so far.
Breakfast: I normally eat porridge because of the fibre. You can also go with anything with fibre like Weetabix and tom brown porridge. I don’t eat cereals. Boiled eggs are also good for breakfast. It is important to have heavy breakfast so it can sustain you throughout the day. Mind you though, don’t eat banku and sit behind a desk all day.
Lunch: I usually stay away from fried foods. I eat kenkey with tuna. You can have grilled chicken breast with salad. Chicken breast is very good because it is lean (has no fat).
Supper: You can have something light. It all depends on if your aim is to lose or put on weight. Don’t forget your fruits. Vitamin C is very important. I like to drink a lot of green tea. It burns tummy fat. You can have a cup of green tea after meals. It also does wonders for bowel movement.
Also, you need some supplements when working out like the protein shake/weight protein. These are not steroids.
Before signing off, Jasmine offered this last advice, “If your body isn’t in good shape, it can affect your mood, sex life, etc. If you treat your body the right way, everything else will fall in place. Everyone should try and work out. It takes discipline and motivation to do so; and please be patient with yourself. As I said, any kind of body shape you dream of, you can get it at the gym. Fitness has to be part of your lifestyle for you to see results. You can work out anywhere. You can use items in your home as weight depending on what you want to achieve.”
Source: Glitz Africa Magazine Issue 23
