Why I decided to lose weight —Joselyn Dumas

Beautiful and voluptuous Ghanaian actress, Joselyn Dumas who has always been on the heavy side, recently embarked on a weight loss programme, revealing that ‘I wanted to enjoy my life and enjoy it being healthy.’ Joselyn Dumas made this revelation in an interview with a lifestyle magazine, SCHICK. She said “I felt healthier after losing weight, and I loved it. I was in tune with my body and learnt to be disciplined. My lifestyle and eating habits changed.” “My health! Your life is meant to be lived, loved and enjoyed, and we most certainly owe that to ourselves.

Asked if she faced any challenges being overweight? Dumas replied: “I struggled with my confidence and body image, as people would stare which affected my self-esteem for a moment. I would see my love handles hanging out of my favourite pair of jeans, and I didn’t like it. I had to take ten selfies for that one perfect shot because my double chin was being a nuisance. I couldn’t control my racing heart beat and short breaths after taking only a few steps. Those for me, are some of the challenges I faced that made me re-evaluate my life choices.” Dumas, who is also a TV host talked about her brand of feminism, discussing how she intends to help women love their bodies. According to her, “Self-love is the key component of this campaign. Women need to appreciate and love themselves more. A woman that loves herself knows that, regardless of her skin colour, weight or height, she is beautiful with greatness dwelling from within. A woman that loves herself will live passionately and refuse to be held back by things that she can control. I need to reiterate that women are already empowered; we do not need to launch a campaign for that. What we need to do is teach ourselves to love ourselves more, and to work together as a unit.” “Our empowerment doesn’t need approval, and especially not from a man. I loved myself enough to realise that even though I’m not meant to be judged by my weight, obesity wasn’t allowing me to perform optimally; I was dying slowly. This realisation and the love I found for myself is what I want other women to discover in themselves.