Before & After: These Bangaloreans Conquered Their Fitness Goals And Got In Shape

Prominent theatre artist and columnist, Rubi Chakravarthi confesses a passion for the finer things in life. This meant that she could never say no to a glass of fine wine, a plate of fried Brie, or a lavish dessert counter. Chakravarthi was always pleasantly plump and when she started packing on the pounds, she rarely noticed because of her sparkling personality that carried her through. But she knew things weren’t right when she declined an invitation to travel to the United States. An avid traveller, she was simply not up to the task of carrying her weight around and began to dread long flights.

Game Plan: Chakravarthi decided to practice the art of “zipping my mouth”. She realised that her calorie intake was way too high {she’s also a Type 2 diabetic}. And began avoiding pure carbs and started making healthier food choices {salads, grilled chicken, and fruits}. So, these days, you’ll only find her photographing the desserts laid out in front of her, leaving the eating to someone else.

Result: Chakravarthi emphasises that being underweight is as bad as being overweight. But since she has steadily lost 6-8 kilos every year since the past five years, she’s learnt to recognise the benefits. The laps around the swimming pool have gotten easier. And she recently went on a trip to Italy, where she charmed an exquisite hunk named Bruno.

Fitness Tip: Whatever diet or exercise regimen you are adopting it has to be sustainable. It needs to be doable for the rest of your life.

Through most of her teens and 20s, Prajwala had no trouble maintaining her lean figure. But that changed when she was diagnosed with PCOS. The weight began to pile up especially around the waist {a common sign of PCOS}, her confidence was wrecked, and shopping became a nightmare. Exasperated, she decided to take charge of her health in June 2015 

Game Plan: The IT professional started with 15 minute workouts on the cross trainer. She steadily built on that and also downloaded a quick workout video. To target the belly fat, she took to hula hooping {an activity she always wanted to try}. And even made her own hula hoop {the bigger, the easier she says}. When it came to eating, she skipped sugar and went for healthy, well-balanced meals and snacks, every two hours.

Result: By Christmas of 2015, Prajwala lost 11 kilos and was able to rock a slinky red dress {a dream of hers}.

Fitness Tip: Think about how you want to achieve you fitness goals, formulate a plan and be consistent with it.

Since his teens, Chef Gautham Krishnankutty who runs the super-successful Cafe Thulp, found himself on the heavier side. Through the years, as his weight kept rocketing, he tried almost every diet and exercise regimen. He would lose a few kilos but would be back to square one soon enough. This continued till he found himself at 122 kilos.

Game Plan: While browsing through Facebook, Chef Gautham came across a friend who had had a dramatic makeover. He got in touch, curious to see know how the friend had managed the weight loss. That was when he was introduced to the Ketogenic Diet. Unsure whether a high fat, low calorie diet would work, Krishnankutty decided to try it anyway. He got rid of carbs even though being Malayalee he felt he was committing a grave sin when he said no to his fish curry and rice.

Result: Within a few weeks, he found himself 10 kilos lighter. And then went on to lose 28 kilos over 2 years. He’s managed to maintain his weight because he still continues to eat delicious food. And even though he occasionally enjoys a plate of biryani, he doesn’t find it hard to get back to the diet. He also found that he had better energy levels and his mind too functioned better. All this goodness had led him to introduce keto-diet friendly dishes on his cafe’s menu. Read about it here.

Fitness Tip: Don’t stop exercising! Even after you have lost the weight, it’s important to exercise.

Growing up, Pooja Sharma found herself bigger than most kids which translated to poor confidence. She shunned stylish clothes even though she loved fashion. But started working towards a healthier outlook in her college days.

Game Plan: After her engineering course, Sharma took on multiple job roles. But found her true calling, when she joined the gym. She started training hard and then teamed up with her partner, Gaurabh Chakraborty, to get into shape. She started eating a balanced, vegetarian diet through the week, restricting her cheat days to the weekend.

Result: Sharma lost 20 kilos and is now a certified personal trainer. She had recently been crowned Miss South India {fitness} and has a dedicated following on her fashion blog and on Instagram. If you’d like to have her by your side, on your road to fitness, you can get in touch with her at poojasharma.talk@gmail.com or you can DM her here.

Fitness Tip: Things don’t change overnight, you’ve got to persist with your exercise and diet for years together.

Coming from a family where obesity was common, Maria Elizabeth Anandi wasn’t surprised that she was on the heavier side too. However, once she moved to Dubai and had her first child, things blew out of proportion. She hit 98 kilos and felt like it was rock bottom.

Game Plan: Anandi was then introduced to the Cambridge Diet, where you cut calories drastically by consuming a set of products {mostly liquid} for a period of time. She also took to running, starting off with 3 kilometers and then moving up to ten.

Result: At a lean 60 kilos now, Anandi keeps fit by sweating it out in the gym and also runs half marathons. She is also a certified consultant for the Cambridge Diet and helps other achieve their fitness goals. If you’d like to join the fitness brigade, you can write to her at shedntone@gmail.com.

Fitness Tip: Take responsibility for your health, admit where you’ve gone wrong, and do what’s necessary to rectify it.