Stephen Ogweno spent his childhood carrying a weight no one around him fully understood, not even himself. While his peers ran and played freely, he struggled with obesity, a condition that quietly shaped every part of his early life.
Relatives who picked the young Stephen up always had something to say about his size.
‘I was heavier than my peers. Around Class Seven was when I first realised my weight was a concern,’ says Stephen.
At the time, he weighed about 50 kilograms, while most boys his age averaged closer to 30 kilograms. As his classmates entered adolescence, proudly showing off broader shoulders and muscles, Stephen felt left behind.
‘My agemates were undergoing adolescence, and their shoulders were broadening. They would showcase their muscles when all I had was a mass of fat. I was not developing masculine features yet al my peers were,’ he recalls.
‘The stigma and discrimination from my peers really affected my self-perception, but I found solace in beating them at schoolwork.’
As early as Class Four, his body began showing signs of distress. He developed gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and severe tooth decay, both conditions linked to obesity.
‘That was when I knew that beyond appearance, my weight was beginning to affect my health,’ says the 30-year-old.
At his heaviest, Stephen weighed around 120 kilograms. At his lightest as an adult, he dropped to 74 kilograms, yet even then, his Body Mass Index still fell within the overweight or Obesity Class One range. Altogether, he has shed over 50 kilograms, a journey he describes as anything but linear.
‘Obesity is influenced by many factors, including lifestyle, environment, stress, biology, and access to healthcare.’
His turning point came in university, where he embraced a more structured lifestyle and a consistent exercise routine. He took up several sports, handball and rugby among them, but resistance training made the most significant difference.
‘While I sometimes gained weight during training, my body composition changed significantly with more muscle and less fat,’ he explains.
‘My family hardly regarded obesity as a sickness. Rather, they considered me healthy. They didn’t accept that I had GERD. They thought the constant regurgitation of food was a distasteful act I pulled for fun. I could get continuously nauseated and would not even sleep in certain positions.’
Those experiences eventually shaped his career in population health. In 2016, he moved into public health, championing awareness of non-communicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes through community health programmes across Africa through his organisation, Stowelink Foundation. He also serves as a board member of the World Obesity Federation, which focuses on representing scientific, medical and research on obesity.
Over the years, Stephen experimented with various eating approaches, including vegan diets, though some left him feeling bloated. One of the most effective was a long-term carnivore-style diet centred on high protein intake.
‘Combining high protein intake with resistance training helped improve my body composition significantly,’ he says.
In time, he evolved towards what he calls a modified carnivore approach, reintroducing vegetables and broadening his dietary variety. That balance, he says, helped him reduce body fat, improve satiety, and better manage his overall health.
Still, he cautions against reducing weight loss to a single nutrient.
‘Weight loss is a metabolic symphony involving calories, hormones, and lifestyle,’ he says.
For him, the most effective routine combined high protein intake with intense resistance training and regular physical activity.
‘I focused heavily on strength and weight-based exercises,’ he explains. ‘Building muscle helped improve my metabolism, fitness, and overall body composition.’
He also notes that while men may consume larger absolute amounts of protein due to greater muscle mass, the most reliable guide remains protein intake per kilogram of body weight.
One of the biggest misconceptions around high-protein diets, he says, is the assumption that they revolve around extreme ‘bodybuilder meals’.
‘I focused on balance and sustainability rather than extremes,’ he says.
Over time, he paired protein with vegetables, paid closer attention to portion sizes, and widened his dietary variety. He recommends prioritising lean, minimally processed protein sources. Plant-based options such as lentils, chickpeas, and beans offer added fibre that supports weight loss, while fish, poultry, and eggs are preferable to processed meats like sausages and deli cuts, which tend to be high in sodium and saturated fat.
‘The goal was not just weight loss, but building a healthier long-term lifestyle that I could realistically maintain,’ he says.
Even so, he reminds people that protein is not exempt from basic nutritional rules.
‘At the end of the day, protein still has four calories per gram. If you eat protein in excess of your daily energy needs, your body will store that excess energy as fat,’ he says, adding that there is no specific amount on a plate that can be equated, as people use different sizes of plates depending on the specific type of protein. For example, the concentration of protein in beef is higher than that of beans, though both are proteins.
He also warns that excessive protein without adequate fibre can trigger constipation, bloating, and sluggishness. Other signs of overconsumption may include dehydration; foamy urine linked to kidney stress; chronic constipation; fatigue; and hair loss, the result of neglecting fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats.
Protein’s role in appetite regulation is another reason many find it useful during weight loss.
‘Protein suppresses ghrelin, the hormone responsible for hunger, while boosting the fullness hormone,’ he explains. ‘Your body also uses more energy to digest protein than fats or carbohydrates, a process known as the thermic effect of food.’
Dr Nicola Okech, a physician, endocrinologist and obesity medicine specialist at Uzwena Health, agrees that protein plays a crucial role in both weight loss and long-term weight maintenance, primarily because it helps preserve muscle mass.
‘Muscle burns fat even when not active,’ she says. ‘The more muscle one builds, the more weight is lost.’
She cautions, however, that protein intake should always be individualised and guided by a doctor and a dietitian, as conditions like kidney disease may prohibit large ingestion. An average adult’s daily need for protein is 0.8 to 1.2 grams per kilogram of ideal body weight. For weight loss, this increases up to 1.8 grams per kilogram of ideal body weight.’
She also stresses that muscle health goes beyond aesthetics.
‘Muscle is important for strength and bone health. These reduce frailty and the likelihood of falls and injuries.’
Dr Okech advises people to pay close attention to the type of protein they consume. Plant proteins carry carbohydrates alongside protein, making them especially relevant for people managing diabetes. Animal proteins, particularly red meat, may raise cholesterol levels depending on an individual’s baseline health.
While low-carbohydrate diets remain popular, she warns against cutting them out entirely.
‘Cutting carbohydrates is not sustainable in the long run. The body still needs carbs as a source of immediate fuel. What is important is the quality and quantity of the carbohydrate.’
She encourages people to focus more on complex carbohydrates and limit highly processed sources.
Dr Okech also cautions that those who lose weight without sufficient protein risk losing muscle mass in the process, an outcome she considers dangerous.
‘Even patients undergoing bariatric surgery must pay close attention to protein intake.’
She points to sarcopenic obesity, a condition in which a person may appear to be at a normal weight while carrying very little muscle relative to fat.
‘This must be monitored during weight management to prevent muscle loss, which inevitably occurs during weight loss but can be counteracted by increasing protein intake and focusing on strength and resistance training,’ she says.
For Stephen, the change has gone beyond what the scale shows. His mood, mental well-being, and confidence have all improved alongside his health.
‘I feel healthier, lighter, and physically fitter than before,’ he adds.