Dr. Oluchi Immanuel is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician, consultant, best selling author, and entrepreneur with a special focus on preventive health and obesity medicine. She attended Iowa State University where she completed her degree in Biology with a minor in Sociology. She then attended medical school at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston (McGovern Medical School). After medical school, Dr. Oluchi stayed at McGovern Medical School to complete her residency program in Internal Medicine. Upon graduating, she began working at an Executive Health & Wellness Clinic. During Dr. Oluchi’s time at the clinic, she saw and coached more than a thousand patients in preventive health and wellness practices. Dr. Oluchi is the founder of Fidem Wellness, LLC, a faith-based wellness company that provides innovative ways, including one-on-one health coaching, to inspire wellness in women of all stages of life. Dr. Oluchi believes that women who begin implementing small lifestyle changes will experience an overall better quality of life, and prevent diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Dr. Oluchi can be found on social media, under the handle DrOluchiMD, where she shares health tips and inspiring messages. Although work keeps her busy, her most important and fulfilling jobs are being a wife and a mother to her amazing husband and wonderful children (4-year-old and 2-year-old).

I have always loved fitness! I have two brothers, so we spent our younger years chasing each other around. I actually set a District standing long jump record in Elementary school and then began running track and playing basketball in middle school. In high school, as a freshman, I became one of the starting five on the Varsity basketball team. I also earned my position in track as the anchor leg on the 4×1, 4×2 and 4×4 relay teams.

My favorite type of exercise would be dance classes. However, since those are difficult to fit into my schedule, I also enjoy jogging.

Throughout my pregnancies, my goal has always been to remain as physically active as possible. In the first trimester, and through part of the second, I could run easily. As the pregnancy progressed, it became more difficult to run so I focused more on strength training and power walking.

Being physically active helped me tremendously through my pregnancies. I felt more energized, did not gain an excessive amount of weight and the recovery after the delivery was much easier. Also, exercising releases chemical called endorphins which make you feel happy. So staying physically fit can also improve your mood.

I always tell my clients that pregnancy is an endurance test and delivery is the final challenge. The more you push yourself to get fit prior to getting pregnant, and to stay fit while you are pregnant, the better you will do on the final challenge. Pregnancy puts a significant amount of stress on your body. Unless your doctor has specifically told you not to exercise, everyone should be exercising daily!

Q: Tell us about yourself.
A: I was born in Ilorin, Nigeria, but moved to Canada when I was 9 months old. I was raised in Kingston, ON Canada. I now live in in Toronto, ON where I have been for the past 10 years, and this is where I completed my medical school and residency training. I currently work as an Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgeon. The three most important things in my life are (1) Family (2) Fitness and (3) Faith.

Q: How and when did you get into fitness?
A: Being physically active has been apart of my life for as long as I can I remember. My career in sports started at an early age, thanks to being the youngest of 4 siblings who were all extremely active! I started playing competitive basketball and volleyball at age 8, as well as participated in track and field. I played all of these sports throughout high school. During my 4 years of undergraduate studies at Queen’s University, I was a member of the Varsity Track and Field Team and was the 2nd ranked Canadian university female sprinter in 2007. Once I  moved to Toronto to start my medical degrees, I could no longer play varsity sports, but keeping fit and active has always been important to me. I continued my fitness love by joining a gym, as well as training for half marathons. In 2016 I became a personal fitness trainer at an amazing Toronto bootcamp called, Resilience Fitness.

Q: What is your favorite type of exercise?
A: My favorite type of exercise is weight lifting/strength training. I know many women are scared of “looking like a man” if they lift heavy weights, but boy are they wrong! Weight lifting has so many benefits including, keeping you toned, boosting your metabolism, strengthening your bones, and SO MUCH MORE!

A: During the FIRST TRIMESTER I was very tired and nauseous. So although the TYPE of exercise did not change (i.e I continued my weight lifting, running, and high intensity interval training (HIIT) hit classes, the frequency in which I exercised went from 6 days per week to about 3-4 per week. I also had to give up hot yoga + Pilates to keep baby safe.

During the 2ND TRIMESTER, I felt great and pretty much went back to my original exercise regimen of HIIT and weight lifting. I added a belly support band to help keep my core engaged and to (hopefully) limit a significant diastasis recti.  I avoided all exercises that required me to lie on my stomach OR on my back for long periods of time. I continued to run, but reduced my heavy weight lifting + increased the # of reps per set to compensate. During the end of the 2nd trimester I stopped any jumping activities, such as jump squats, burpees, and box jumps — more out of precaution versus necessity. I also added prenatal yoga sessions to help with flexibility + hip opening, as well as starting doing monthly prenatal massages.

Now as I am 1/3 of the way into my the THIRD TRIMESTER, I have stopped running as of 30 weeks, and now do incline walks as an alternative. I continue to go to HIIT classes 3 times per week – but avoid ALL high impact activities & core exercises that requires a crunching motion or an excessive increase in intra-abdominal pressure. I have continued my weight training sessions to 2-3 times per week, and continue to do prenatal yoga.

A: Fitness and exercise have been apart of my entire life. So being physically active has helped me in many ways including: (1) Mentally – my fitness community is amazing and continuing to see them and socialize with them while we all exercise has been wonderful (2) Physically – My energy levels have been great, I have limited back soreness, and this has made pregnancy be a great experience

A: I would advise those who PLAN to get pregnant to start being physically active prior to getting pregnant. Pregnancy is not the best time to start a new fitness regimen, as it can cause added stress to your body. I would advised someone who is pregnant to be active in some way! Whether its is daily 30 minute walks, or continuing your past exercise regimen with appropriate modifications, DO IT. Being active will help ensure you stay FIT both physically, mentally, and emotionally. Lastly I would tell everyone that before they do any sort of activity, they MUST be cleared by the obstetrician to ensure that what you plan to do is safe for you and baby!

1. Put your health first: I discovered fitness during maternity leave after I had my second child. On going back to, I had no clue on how I was to cope with taking care of 2 kids, work, house chores, cook and getting out of the house in time to gt to work, much less a workout. It looked daunting. I broke out in spots within a week. But it made me realise that I needed to get creative.  I needed to practice what I preached to my clients. My daily 1.5 hour workouts were a thing of the past (and that’s OK), but being active was still a part of who I was and the family life I wanted to create.  I began hitting the pavement early in the morning, when that didn’t work as I was getting late to work; I packed my gym bag and hit the park at lunch time. When that didn’t work, I broke my workout into 2 sections in the day. Morning and evening. That made things worse :).  I mean I tried every trick in the book till I found what suited me and my lifestyle. As the kids are now older, the challenges have changed and I adapted accordingly, but being fit remained a priority and a measure of my creativity. In all this time, I realised being fit was way beyond losing the baby weight. It is about my health, my sanity and purpose in life. And for this reason, fitness will always be a priority for me. This does not mean I exercise everyday I just don’t make excuses when I have to.

2. Include the kids in your Exercise time:
   • Create family fitness time (Challenge your kids), go to the park for some games, get bikes for the kids and yourself. Have fun with them and get fit at the same time.
   • Home exercise: Fitness DVDs are a good way to stay in shape. You may get bored in the end, but it is a good place to start.
   • Plan your exercise /fitness around your daily activities: When I take my kids for any activity and I have to wait for them, I don’t sit around playing with my phone. I go for a quick sprint, walk or jog. I have been known to take to the streets with my Jump rope.
   • Fitness play dates: invite you friends over for some exercise with their kids. The kids can play together and you and your friends can get your fit on.

3. Include your family in your new lifestyle: Learn how to cook healthy meals for your family so that it becomes part of your life and you don’t have to eat separate meals. Agreed there will be foods you can’t share with them. But ultimately life will be so much easier for you if your family is included. Especially if we are talking sustainability.
4. Eat as close to the farm as possible: Whilst exercise is important for energy and fat loss, Eating balanced meals rich in all macronutrients is the key to having lots of energy for your daily activities, clear skin, and melting away the fat that hides your gorgeous curves. Don’t go on a diet. You will only find yourself back to square one. Instead device a plan you can live with for the rest of your life. Avoid cheap shelf-life fat-enhancing chemicals foods that are full addictive’s. Instead, invest in whole quality foods — vegetables, fruits, lean organic meat, nuts, legumes, and whole grains. Drink lots of water. Cut out refined sugars and flours, sweetened beverages sugar laden drinks including diet drinks.  So when I say eat as close to the farm as possible, I mean stay away from foods you will not typically find on a farm.

• Learn how to read labels. Reading labels is much more than checking the calorie content of the pack. It also involves, serving sizes and macronutrients such as fats, carbohydrate and protein. Also as a rule, if I cannot pronounce an ingredient name on a label , I wouldn’t buy it.
• Keep healthy snacks at home
• Make your snacks
• Don’t eat your kids left over or snacks
• Pack your lunch.

5. Plan: Planning and consistency can take you wherever you want to be a.) Meal prep: This is where most moms fail. Having a simple guide on what foods you want to eat for the week/ day goes a long way. Take a step further and prepare your meals for the week. It will save you a lot of time during the week and a lot of calories. Every Sunday I get back from church, and I cook my meals for Monday – Saturday. This helps me stay away from fast food. This way, I can control what goes in my mouth and my waistline. b.) Exercise: Every weekend sit down and set times to workout throughout the week. Pre-planning gives you time to make adjustments and make it work. Know what you want to achieve each week, making sure you have a balanced workout. For me, I change my routine every month. So I know what I am doing every day of the week. If anything changes. I go with the flow or I improvise. I find that it you don’t plan for your time, some else or something else will plan it for you.

6. Support System: No one survives without support from one person or the other. Surrounding yourself with people who encourage and support your fitness goals is crucial to your adherence. The road can be long and lonely if you attempt to do it alone. Find a buddy to jog together. Find a buddy who likes to talk about fitness as well or who is aspiring to have the same body you want to have. Motivate each other. If you don’t find anyone, invest in people. Some people do not know they what they want until they see someone else do the same. Draw them closer because the more they learn from you, the more advanced you become.

7. Sleep, Sleep and Sleep. I am one of those that if sleep deprived, you will not get anything out of.  As mums, it’s easy to cut back on sleep to get things sorted for everyone else but us. But Lack of sleep or lack of enough sleep induces stress, which in turn makes us lethargic, causes us to binge, and reduces our metabolic which all point back to weight gain. And of course, if you don’t sleep early, I don’t think waking up early enough to exercise is an option. Even though the time of exercise does not matter, I like to get it over with in the mornings. One of the best decisions I have made lately was to start sleeping early. Everyone in my house is aware that at 8.30pm I am on my bed preparing to snooze no matter what it takes. Because the quality of sleep I get also impacts on the quality of the care they get from me.