My fitness journey

Feb 3, 2023
6 min read

Updated: Feb 7, 2023

Namrata used to be quite sporty and slim in her physique since the beginning. She had participated in school and college-level sports competitions as well.

However, starting her corporate job life; she had become careless about her health. Extreme office work hours, frequent office outings, and parties threw her life and diet off balance. She was in her mid-twenties with a great metabolism and good genes, which made her look slim. As per her thoughts, to her height with an average weight between 55-58KG, she was ok to consume all the junk food and extensive buffet meals. Namrata was slowly becoming lethargic, waking up at 9AM and working late till 10PM or later, including a few weekends. Her then grocery list consisted of packaged food, drinks, and sugary eatables, though she used to cook at least one main meal of the day at home. Her love for sweets added to the fact of putting on weight slowly.

She got a much-needed awakening call in late 2012; when her weight touched 68kgs at an age of 32. She felt her bulging tummy while bending forward and felt out of breath climbing the stairs to her 4th-floor apartment. One weekend in Sept 2012, she gathered her spirit joining the nearby gym with 3 months of extensive personal training. The gym also had a certified nutritionist, who was bright enough not to force any crash diet on the students, but rather understood their lifestyles prescribing simple home-cooking-based frequent meals. Namrata’s diet now included more of salads and fruits, throughout the day in between meals rather than packaged food. She also learned how to portion control the food, while occasionally enjoying some junk food. Her earlier habits of drinking a lot of water and consuming fruits eased out this process.

She was about to go to a gym for the first time in her life and was totally ready for it purchasing the required outfits and shoes. 6 days a week, her day now started at 4AM. After the basic morning chores and a small bite to eat, she would start her exercise routine with the trainer at exactly 5AM. Her trainer designed the workout alternating between cardio and weights training while adding strength training daily. No matter what time the previous day, she went to sleep after office work; Namrata ensured to wake up at the first ring of the alarm. The initial 10 days were painful with muscle soreness and abdominal cramps. She would limp the whole day in the office; however, her spirit did not let her quit. Post a month, her energy levels were much improved, she was able to do varieties of exercises, and was slowly progressing toward the weight loss journey. At the end of 4th month, she was back at 60Kg with a perfect BMI and most importantly no longer felt lethargic. Her junior team members could see the difference during the new year office party. She became an inspiration that even in the IT sector, whatever the work timings; one can plan and execute a certain level of physical exercise. Even, 30 mins of daily intense yoga has helped many.

In forthcoming years, she continued with cycling, aerobics, and Bollywood dance classes bringing diversity to her workout regime. Her fear of dancing at a party completely went away joining Bollywood dance classes, where she also learned intense flexibility training. This was the regular routine till 2016 when she changed her residential place and took a year to settle herself. During that time, she enjoyed the weekend cycling in the beautiful new green locality in which she had just shifted. She was more into nutrition and lean cooking by now.

Her childhood dream of learning martial arts started creeping up in early 2017. Namrata searched for some nearby authentic martial arts centers and visited one the immediate weekend. She instantly liked the teacher, who is an Internationally trained martial arts expert in Karate and Thai kickboxing and currently leads the Karnataka team in Thai kickboxing. As per the teacher’s recommendations, she signed up for Thai kickboxing; which is one of the most difficult forms of martial arts using all eight limbs of the body. After joining the new firm, now she woke up at 5AM daily, leaving for the office by 6.30AM. Her office work hours ended by 5PM and she would get down at the institute on the way back home. The classes were three times a week between 6-7.30PM and she would later have a light dinner, getting into bed by 10PM. Namrata also became regular at the weekend morning classes, which were much longer and more intense; as maximum batchmates would attend. There will be circuit training, mock fights, self-defense training, and many more by their teacher focusing on each of his students. There were only punching bags and a few props used like bus tyres, however no other gym instruments. Their teacher taught them traditional martial arts using body weight and all other techniques of core kickboxing. The senior students had to jump rope, do pushups based on time, and not count, like others. The abs workout on the weekend may last for 30mins and the class will end with another 15mins of stretching. The students had to participate in mock fights based on their weight and not gender and mostly Namrata ended up pairing up with her male batchmates. Their teacher never did any age or gender discrimination; he prepared each of his students to the best ability and was so great at it. It was a whole new life and level of energy for Namrata and she was thoroughly enjoying the newfound experience. The exams were even tougher, there would be a preliminary test to check the eligibility to appear in the main exam which would last half a day or even longer. By mid of 2019, she completed 4 levels, along with her many other male batchmates.

During covid times in 2020, she continued morning cardio exercises such as rope jumping, jogging, and evening aerobics and strength training at home. 2021 and 2022, when she became totally careless about her fitness and diet, causing a lack of energy and gaining weight. So many personal trips and hotel stays made her eat a lot of fried and sugary food and drink as well.

2023 started with the pledge of getting back into the much-needed shape that she always used to maintain irrespective of her age bracket in the past. She joined a nearby gym, which had focused trainers. She has a long journey ahead, with a determination to achieve results by the end of this summer. Exercise should never be an option to choose in life, it should be part of our daily life just like eating and sleeping. Many give excuses that, once you join a gym and leave after a few months, then you regain the weight. First, why should we not have regular workouts to stay fit all our lives? Secondly, we put on weight because of our incorrect diet, irregular sleep cycle, stress level, sedentary lifestyle, and possible health issues; it is not only the discontinuation of the gym to be pointed out.

In today’s time, young or adult; most are engrossed in digital entertainment and even hesitate to walk to the nearby supermarket. Most metro city households have house help, cook, and whatnot, allowing people to drift away from basic chores. Convenience should not bring laziness. Many also get addicted to fad diets, causing serious health troubles and eating disorders. I earlier read a book named “Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight” by nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar; which changed my own perspective on diet.

“THIN DOES NOT MEAN FIT” !

Most of us think; why does one need to exercise if they look slim? Sadly, our definition of fitness is limited to the exterior body, not the energy level, BMI, dietary habits, and sleep quality.

Please stop discouraging people saying “Oh, you are so slim. Why do you need to work out?”, instead “Resolve your own excuse of not working out”.

Namrata in her early to mid twenties