Get in Shape with Diaa Ouda

After my dad died last year, my health and self-care went into a tailspin. I quickly gained weight, and tried to fix it by taking intermittent fasting to the extreme, drinking black coffee until the middle of the afternoon and then binging on every temptation I could get my hands on. I used to exercise every day with my mom as part of my caregiving duties, but when she was no longer well enough to exercise with me, I gave that up too. I gained tons of weight, wanted to sleep all the time, and started doing my work from bed.

I was talking to my dear friend Diaa (a former star football player in Gaza) about it—he can relate since those closest to him died, and his mom has cancer—and he told me “I can help you.” He came up with a meal plan for me, scheduled walks and light exercise to start, and almost immediately I felt a change. My energy came back. My cravings lightened. And he messaged me everyday to check in on how I’ve been eating, keeping me honest and encouraged.

“You should be offering this as a service,” I told him. And now he is! He doesn’t want hand-outs, he wants to earn his money.

“I can’t wait for my first customer,” he said. And I hope he gets many. He’s a truly lovely human.

Link goes to a video I made for him which I hope gets seen and shared.