Feeling
imprisoned by her own body, Charity Moyo lights a fire within and takes back
her life and liberty. Taqa reached out to her to get some insight into the
highs, lows and awe-inspiring trials of her journey back to fitness.
Thank you so much for your time Charity. Please give our readers an introduction to who you are.
My full name is Charity Moyo. I am a 40-year-old married mother of 3
beautiful children. I describe myself as a warm, loving, self-motivated and
driven individual.
Tell us a bit about how you occupy yourself professionally.
Apart from being a wife and a mother, I am employed in the Gold sector,
primarily in the Development Finance sector wherein I work with small-scale
miners in particular women. My husband and I also have a mining operation
specialising in base metals such as manganese, chrome, tin and copper.
We have followed your journey in fitness and your transformation is nothing less than phenomenal. Can you give us some insight on how the journey was? What were some of the highs and lows?
My journey started on the 3rd of February 2021 with my fitness trainer. At that time, I lacked self-motivation and zeal, but I had to lose weight not only for myself but for my family as well. I was 104 kgs then. I could barely walk 500 metres without feeling aches and pains in my joints, ankles and so on. I then realised that for my journey to be a success, I needed help. Often as women, we think that asking for help is a show of weakness. I got in touch with a trainer on the 31st of January 2021 and he told me he was available to start training me on the 3rd of February 2021. My sessions would start at 5 in the morning and it was very hard, especially the first week. Every part of my body was painful and most times
I would cry because of it. A very close friend of mine called me and said “Charity you were made in the image of God meaning there are 3 of you in 1 i.e. Mind, Soul & Body. The body was crying in pain. The mind was telling me to give up because this pain was unnecessary and besides I hadn’t even lost any weight in the 7 days that had passed. The Soul was yelling, ‘You can do it Charity, this pain won’t last forever, this is hard for your body because you last exercised back when you were in school over 2 decades ago.’ So she was telling me to listen to the ‘Inner Man’ and to ignore what the body and the mind were saying’. My trainer had told me that if I continued training until the 10th of February 2021 I would have passed the test. I woke up in the morning on the 10th and the pain had disappeared.
We continued training and I was advised to stay
away from the scale. The trainer would come Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
only. Meanwhile Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays I would walk for
5km. We continued in that fashion until the 22nd of June when he decided to
wean me off. At that time, I was now 85kg and it appeared I had stopped losing
weight. I stopped training for almost 2 months and then resumed in August when
I started buying small equipment at home like dumbbells, step run, barbells,
weights, and skipping rope. On my own, I managed to slim down further to 75kg
and have successfully maintained it.
How has your walk with the Lord impacted this journey?
I learnt to listen to God’s still subtle voice. During my early morning walks, I would pray, listen & tell Him my fears. As I lost all the weight surprisingly my prayer life improved. I learnt early that there is power in the name of Jesus. I asked for His help in my weakest moment and indeed on the 10th of February, I woke up with no physical pain. I knew then that the battle had been won.
Proverbs 11 vs 25 basically talks about the concept of Paying it Forward.” So, after your enriching experience, is there anyone you are training at the moment?
Well I am not training anyone at the moment as am
not certified, but I am a mentor. I encourage fellow women who are battling
weight challenges that it can be done. With a great deal of commitment, anyone
can shed excess weight and lead a healthy life. .
The fashionable phrase these days in business and personal circles is “Achieving a work/life balance”. How do you juggle your personal life, work and fitness routine?
I take my fitness routine as a normal chore like
making your bed, washing dishes and so on. The minute you consider it as
something else it becomes difficult. At work I run up the stairs, I try to be
as active as possible when I am at work. Now I can play fetch with my dogs. In
terms of the actual exercise, it’s three times a week. I allow my family, dogs
included, to sit and watch. And trust me they enjoy doing it, even taking
videos and complimenting me and so on.
Tell us how
do you detox, relax & unwind?
Taking a walk early Sunday morning is a breath of fresh air. I get to
relax, I get to listen.
