Meet Patience Ankunda, The Computer Science Student Who Started A Fitness Brand During Lockdown

Navigating physical fitness this year was a bit of a hit or miss for many. While New Year’s resolutions had been long abandoned with the lockdown, some people chose to get their glow-up on during the downtime. While admittedly it’s tricky to stay on track with your fitness goals all on your own, some people are available to be this form of motivation that is needed. We spoke with one of them, a 23 year old Computer Science student at UCU who started motivating other people to work out during the lockdown. Patience Ankunda took her frustrations with the weight loss process and used the knowledge that came with her achievement to help others achieve their goals too, and it’s proved to be a worthwhile cause!

When I came across a random social media post about resistance bands for sale, I initially thought nothing of it, someone is on their hustle, I’ll keep it scrolling. However, I found myself staring at it much longer than normal. The branding of the bands bore the same name as the owner of the post, I was expecting something like a retail sale, not an entire brand. On further investigation, I found a website that would make any aesthete squeal in glee, and anyone with a fitness challenge feel at home.  

There are workout challenges for those who needed motivation, as well as resistance bands for those who are tryna squat their way to a bomb body. I reached out to Patience, whose Instagram showed that she had been on a personal journey that had produced results; she was gracious enough to indulge us with the details of how she made it happen, and when she decided to bring about her brain child, Afrocanfit.

Tell us about your fitness journey:

My fitness journey started in October last year – well, it started before then, but you know those moments when you make New Year’s resolutions that you’re going to lose weight, then you start and stop, and again and again – that had been me for as long as I can remember. When I finally decided to be committed to the journey, that commitment was made last year in October, and ever since then I have really done my best to be consistent, disciplined and everything has paid off. I have also been a sportsperson for as long as I can remember, but it’s one thing to play sports and it’s another to be intentional with your goals. Sports basically prevented me from becoming obese, but I was still uncomfortable with where I was. I had to be more intentional with losing weight and so I started the journey. 

What kept you motivated this time round? The start-stop cycle is all too common…       

Basically the reason why I used to stop before was because I wasn’t seeing any results. I didn’t have a proper structure that I was following, I used to do things from apps that were not really focused on my goal. Yes, they say weight loss, but they aren’t really targeting your weight loss. There’s so much you aren’t able to learn from just those apps alone and even those apps would just give you exercises to do randomly without them being programmed for weight loss. Because of that, I wasn’t seeing the results I was looking for, yet when I go on the internet people are saying they are losing weight. How come it wasn’t working for me? 

I decided to join a program by an influencer I found on Instagram because she had shown us her journey that she had been on for 2 years, and she decided to also help other people out. She made some program that I took part in and it had a prize to win. The prize motivated me to push harder. Of course at first that was what I wanted but even when I didn’t win it, I did learn a lot. I was really determined to finish the 28 days and somehow the determination got me to a point where I wanted to continue doing it. I signed up again for another 28 days, and I was seeing these changes.

Along the way there’d be tips that she’d share such as nutrition, which I also began to implement. I discovered that the biggest challenge that I had before was as much as I was making changes in my physical activity, I wasn’t making changes in what I was eating. What I ate would directly impact my progress. That’s why I wasn’t seeing any results.

Later on when I signed up for another coaching program (by another lady) I got to understand about body types. There are 3 different body types which could also be divided into 6, and each body is affected by different types of food in different ways. When I got to learn about my body type, I learnt how food was affecting my progress. Because of that information I got, I managed to make even more necessary adjustments to what I was eating and continued to see the changes that I was looking for.

0None of what she suggested required me to do extreme things such as wearing waist trainers or starvation. I got to learn about patience along the way, having patience with myself, all I needed to do was be consistent with what I was doing, be disciplined with what I was eating and be patient. So all those motivated me not to give up. When I followed those, I was seeing the results, that got addictive.

Is this where the idea for Afrocanfit comes in?

When I started, it was a personal journey and I would try and find ways to keep myself accountable so I used to record myself whenever I was doing my last set and then post it on my fitness Instagram page, which is now Afrocanfit. It used to be accountable in the way that people would inquire and come knocking in my inbox if I hadn’t posted anything. But also that whole idea of posting did motivate a number of individuals, who would ask me what exercises I do, what I ate and how to go about their journey. So I decided to help people out, because I had been in their shoes wondering what I should have done to lose weight.

I decided to begin with just 8 people, I created a workout program for them to do while at home during lockdown, and I’d also give tips that worked for me and shared with them. Then eventually I decided to get more knowledge on what I was sharing. I didn’t want to mislead anyone based on my experience only, I wanted to backup that experience with certified knowledge.

During lockdown I did an online course which was health and nutrition life coaching, where I learnt the basics of nutrition, how to live a healthy lifestyle and how to make those small changes, because it is the changes that we struggle with – changing from what we used to do, to living a healthy lifestyle. 

After the trial run with these 8 ladies, I then increased the number to about 35 individuals who signed up. This was all still trial, I wanted to see if what I was providing was helping people, if it was actually working out for people and if it was worth pursuing. After that, I registered a 70% success, so I decided to take it a step further and make it a business. That’s when I got Afrocanfit registered, I’m now making workout programs that people can do from home since we have been under lockdown.

I’m also trying to eliminate these excuses of I have no time, these are workout programs that you can do from home with no equipment needed. That’s when I came up with my programs, 28 day challenge, and now we are on a 10 week challenge till the end of the year.

How did the lockdown work with the creation of the fitness brand? Did it also affect your workout schedule?

Lockdown gave me a different perspective of working out. I used to believe that the only place I could be able to lose weight from was the gym because I had previously tried out so many at home things, so my mind got convinced that the only place I could lose weight from was the gym.

When lockdown came, I had to readjust my mentality and everything that I used to do before, and do them from home. Luckily before I had gotten some equipment that could be used from home that would definitely help me do alternatives of the gym much better.

So having that equipment I went home and encouraged my whole family to start exercising as well. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we would do exercises together, I’d put YouTube videos on the TV and then we follow along. In a way that helped me continue with my fitness journey, but now at this point I was on more of a maintenance mode. It was really helpful, having to work out from home. I got to see results as well as the impact of exercising on my family members, who I had never seen exercising before. I began to appreciate home workouts. It was also around that time that I decided to make workout programmes for those who couldn’t go to the gym either. It allowed us to be creative and have them use items like jerrycans, brooms, bags, anything that they could find in the house to exercise with. 

Who is your fitness inspiration?

I’ve had so many over the past months, most of whom are not Ugandan. I know them from what they call themselves on Insta. The first, who even inspired me to do this business, is @kiaratheleader, great coach she is a great motivator and makes me feel uncomfortable with what I know, which makes me go hunting for more information so I can be knowledgeable. Next person is Cissy Gibson, she is such an incredible athlete, I love her work ethic and she keeps driving herself to be a healthy version of herself.

Here in Uganda, honestly the person who motivates me every time I see her sharing her journey, is Suzan Businge. She is fighting obesity and has come a long way, her journey is so inspiring. I love that she is sharing her journey and helping other women in Uganda to get into fitness. Klaudia Kaliisa is another, she is more inclined towards nutrition, but she does give quite an amount of knowledge on nutrition that has personally helped me. Carol Kagezi is also such a motivator, she is such an inspiration and her journey is so amazing. I love everything about her and her journey.

You can find Patience on Instagram or grab a resistance band from the Afrocanfit shop, better yet, sign up for a challenge on Afrocanfit Challenges

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