It's all about the journey, not the destination.

 

As many of you saw how I have transformed in such a way, so I thought to share my journey with you guys.

First things first I am a big foodie and have a sweet tooth. I was never a thin kid, since the day I was born I was a chubby kid. You can say neither I was skinny nor I was fat. Till the 7 th grade, I had been like this but after getting into secondary I had started eating like anything. In the morning my mother never used to send me to school without having breakfast and in that, as we are a Gujarati family I used to eat whole Bhakri( a thick, crispy chapati made up of wheat flour) and a cup of tea. Then in school, while having a morning break me and my friends always used to go to the canteen and have Puffs and samosa and after that anything to chew. Then again at home lunch in which I used to have 4-5 chapatis and a bowl of sabzi. This was until 10 th and I started gaining weight like anything. I still remember in the & th grade I was 49 kgs and after 10 I became 85-86 kgs. We were a group of 4-5 people and we all were chubby kids so there was no one to compare like how do you look and how do you appear in front of others and top of that we were from a science background so every science student can understand getting time to think about anything else than the study feels like a crime and TBH we didn’t have time to think about all these pieces of stuff. Whole day school and then tuitions till 9 at night and between those breaks we used to get we used to eat packets from Balaji's and then we used to go to the fast-food shop for having pani puri and Frankie and how would we leave dessert after having this much spice inside our mouth. So to give taste to our tongue and soothe our hungry souls we used to eat dairy milk silk or coco. This is not the end of the day then we go home and have homemade dinner. And then to stay awake for reading again some crunch in the night. This had been continuing for almost 2 years of my high school. Then maybe once in a blue moon, I thought that maybe I am over-weight and I need to lose some weight so I joined a gym and started doing a diet after 12 th for 3 months until I got into my college. I lost almost 10 kgs in 3 months and I guess that’s where my passion for fitness has started. But it hadn’t lasted long since the day I entered college I again started eating like anything and top of that my hostel used to serve very tasty food ( at least far better than the other hostels) and our college canteen where you get exposure to each and everything. And this while watching movies at night coke and cream and onion became my companions. This thing lasted for almost 2 years of my college.

So like one day I had a call with my friend from school and she told me she lost like almost 10 kgs and her mother, too. She took a diet chart from a dietitian who is very famous in Surat and it’s very difficult to get her appointment. So I talked with my father and he said I will try and will make an appointment. I almost forgot about that thing but one day my father called me said that we have got an appointment and bla bla bla is the date. Then I was curious about the diet. The year was 2015 I went for the consultation and after getting her consultation I was amazed by her, without asking anything she knew all my eating habits and I was suffering from irregular periods and all things. So she just made up the chart and my journey had started after that. Not forget to mention my exact weight was 85.600 kgs. Her chart was nothing like you feel hungry or you crave for the taste or anything else. I never felt hungry while doing her chart and as soon as I started my diet I started seeing shocking results within a week. I still remember within a week I almost lost 2.5-3 kgs with healthy eating. My Diet almost lasted for 5 months and I never had a single cheat day in between. In the initial 2.5 months, I lost 12 kgs I remember and after getting 2 nd diet chart I lost almost up to 16-17kgs. I still remember the day when I saw the 6 in initial in my weight number on the weight scale I had tears in my eyes as it’s been years I hadn’t seen that number. Since I am 5’8” dietitian refused to give me another chart and gave me a chart for a year which I have to follow so that I won’t gain the weight back. But couldn’t do it as I was fed up by then. After this journey, I have realized how important it is to be in shape and feel healthy and then I never stopped. I have never been satisfied with my weight since then. According to BMI, I am in a good condition but that hunger to be in perfect shape is still there. After doing that diet and due to my hunger to be in a good shape I started exploring different diets and workouts and I started trying everything. During my first diet journey, I didn’t do any workout or anything else, I just did a proper diet and that’s it. That’s where I understood that hitting a gym is not necessary to lose weight, you just need to do a proper diet that’s it. But but but to be healthy and to get a good shape to increase your BMR rate doing exercise is very important and as I was a physiotherapy student I came to know the different workouts and physiology and how doing exercises affects your body. After doing the first chart in almost two years I gained like 7-8 kgs again just due to my bad eating habits but this time I knew I was again gonna lose and I again did that. After graduating I came to my hometown and started a job in one of the gyms that are where I used to give training to others and take aerobics classes. Then went to Ahmedabad for a job and got into professional fitness or as it is called medical gym. Worked there and gained so much about different work protocols, assessment, strength and conditioning training, compound workouts, different diets, anatomy and physiology of workouts almost each and everything from experienced physiotherapists. And you know I have this benefit that being a physiotherapist I understand fitness from a wider perspective as our base is the whole body and everything inside it. I am so grateful that I went there and have learned these things which help me in everything. And then I again got back home and started working in the hospital. And juggling between here and there I was gaining knowledge about sports and fitness. So after completing my first diet I reduced weight but I was still fluffy when I compare my old self with now. Weight is almost the same but back then I didn’t do any sort of workout. So here comes my next point to tell you how hitting the gym is making change.

A little belief from my side-

        “ Once you get control over your tongue, you can do anything in your life.”

When I came back from Ahmedabad I came across the keto and intermittent diet but being vegetarian it is difficult to do keto. And keto food is also costly so on daily basis doing proper keto was not an option. So I just kept the basics the same as in keto and started a diet in my way goggling the foods and calories I may get from eating different things and all. It was become very though reducing weight below 68. I had reached 68 but after that, I was not able to lose weight, possibility that my body got adapted to the same diet. That’s where I started this way of doing keto plus intermittent fasting. I almost lost 4 kgs within 15 days without even realizing it. And along with diet gym is there. TBH I am good at maintaining a diet but not the gym. You need to have lots of guts to put your leg into the gym every single day initially but once you get used to it it becomes a habit and once you start seeing changes in your body and mental health you become addicted to it. I love the pain(soreness) that comes after 24-48 hours after hitting the gym. So after that lockdown happened and I didn’t stop, I was doing diet and exercises at home and once I reached 59 and I was damn happy but I did a crash diet at that time so I knew that it’s gonna come back soon. So yes it came back and between job and home I was maintaining my diet but not gym so I again reached 64 and It lasted about a whole year. Then again busy work schedule and parties I didn’t do the diet for almost a year and my gym routine was like once in a month or once in two months and once in four months.

And again I reached 72kgs but as I said now I know how to reduce, what to do, and at what time how much I can reduce so there’s no fear of going back. I started the diet again in my way of keto and some others as well and gym and I again reached 64 but the journey is still left. I haven’t achieved a goal yet.

When I look back and see my old self I must say this I am proud of myself. The way I used to look was just horrible and back then I was not aware of how important your look is. I have got so many things during the journey. Looks, self-confidence, how to carry yourself, mental clarities, self-love, etc.

I mean there are numerous benefits of diet and exercises for that I need to write so many different articles, I would do that, too for sure. It’s not about the body type you have got, it’s about how you take care of your body and how you can change yourself the way you want.  The journey is not over yet, still so much to do to reach the destination and I think this journey is lifelong, it’s a lifestyle. You can conquer one milestone and there it will be the next to achieve. Fitness is like the more you explore the more you wanna reach there, so it’s a lifelong journey. And I would like to say I came across this thing because I was fat what if I was a thin girl, maybe I wouldn’t have started anything related to this, and maybe I was a different person than the one I am now. So in a way, I am grateful that I was fat and a bit chubby right now. Plus those eating days at school were the best days of my life and they gave me so much that even I couldn’t thank them enough (have to mention this).

So just start healthy eating habits and exercise. It doesn’t matter whether you are thin or fat. Just do it to gain something magical and see the wonders it does.