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‘Do It For You, Not Others’: Fitness Transformation of a Mother

This is my journey to fitness, weight loss, strength and self love.

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Fit
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Hindi Female

This is my story from being an overweight 9-to-5 employee to being a fit mother, winning the title of Face of South 2018, emerging as a fitness influencer and an entrepreneur, and most of all, my journey to self love.

We always hear transformation stories of weight loss of those who were athletic since childhood and young age but turned lazy and unhealthy overtime and then they decide to turn around to their previous body types. But what about those who never played a sport in childhood, who never had any knowledge about being healthy and spoke of only art and education at home?

This is my journey to fitness, weight loss, strength and self love.
Before (right) and after (left).
(Photo Courtesy: Afreen Khan)
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There is nothing wrong in being into arts, music, or studies but when you live a life like that, you start believing that maybe physical strength and agility, and hence, fitness isn’t your cup of tea.

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The Old Me

Five years ago, I believed that fitness is only for athletes, sports professionals, models or actors. And I was none of the above, so how could I have fitness goals?

Living in this shell for most of my life, I started noticing my insecurities build up to an extent that anyone talking about my weight or body made me cringe and gave way to self doubt.

This is my journey to fitness, weight loss, strength and self love.

This got worse when I became a mother and my own friends and colleagues started making fun of me – calling me a ‘Fat Punjabi Aunty’. I had to do something, if for nothing else, just to prove them wrong.

This was my first mistake in my journey to fitness – “doing it for others”. We have been conditioned to these thoughts – “let me do it to shut their mouth’’, “let me get a size smaller to prove I’m better than her’’, “let me get slimmer so that he finds me hot’’.

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My Biggest Realisation

This is what needs to change.

Don’t do it for them, do it for you.

I realised this when I started losing weight, because the same people whose approval I sought started criticising me instead of appreciating my efforts, saying “I want to get fit just to get attention from others”.

When I got serious about my health and started living a disciplined life they questioned me on that too saying “You are a wife and a mother now, so what's the need of all this?”

That was the end of trying to do something to please others. It’s then that I realised that I need to do things for myself, my way, right or wrong. My journey, my effort, my goals all for myself.

I started my fitness journey for others but now my growth is mine. I have no inhibitions about how people judge me on the way I look. Now, I know better than to decide my worth based on their opinions.

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Setting an Example for My Child

A female body deals with a lot of stress when she gives birth to a child. It’s not just the mental block, its physical too.

When my child was a year old, I started feeling immense weakness in my body, so much so that I could barely stand carrying her. It got worse as I was diagnosed with low BP and slip disc from an early age.

My discipline in fitness has not only made me stronger, it has made me set an example for my 5-year-old daughter who is my biggest supporter. And it makes me proud to see her learning about the importance of health at such a young age.

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Milestones

My discipline and hard work helped me lose 15 kg.

My passion for fitness paved unknown territories for me.

I had the opportunity to represent Bengaluru on a national level platform and was crowned the ‘Face of South 2018’ in Mrs India Earth pageant.

This is my journey to fitness, weight loss, strength and self love.

I was not only fortunate enough to join the stage with women from all over the country but also got specially recognised and applauded for my physical strength in the fitness round of the pageant.

Today, its been 6 years of my transformation journey. I have been an entrepreneur working with corporate giants like Microsoft as their empanelled technical training partner and simultaneously living a life of a mother as well as an athlete.

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Transformation of Both Body and Mind

From being a shy person who never played a sport all my life, to being a health blogger and fitness influencer who does a combination of cardio and strength training, I’ve come a long way.

I am learning body weight training and that has also helped me gain mental strength.

I feel that strength grows immensely when doing movements like push ups, frog stands and headstands which are not easy to perform as they need lot of stability and core strength.

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My Goals

I hope someday every woman will include fitness as a part of her day to day life as a means of self love cause it's your body and it deserves the best from you. Whether you are single or married or a mother, your health and well being should be your priority, not an after thought.

(The author is a fitness influencer, mother and ‘Face of South 2018’. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. FIT neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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Topics:  Fitness 

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