Need Fitspiration? This Restaurateur Lost 10 Kilos And Is Now Running Marathons

From playing tennis professionally to being a restaurateur, then losing weight and running marathons, Prarthana Prathap’s fitness journey is one for the #InspirationGoals.

If you’re struggling to keep up your #FitnessGoals, we feel you. It’s hardly even the middle of January and we’re already tiring out. But like they say, you get by with a little help from your friends. In this case, we’re making restaurateur Prarthana Prathap, everyone’s friend as she’s some serious inspiration, going from a tennis player to a restaurateur who didn’t work out and now a marathon runner. Phew!

Having reached her peak of tennis, she worked out, pushing herself to the limit playing the sport at the state level. Then she quit at age 21, in favour of joining the F&B industry. That change saw her fitness levels drop, and eating go up. Of course, as a partner of the cool restobar Sotally Tober, we’re thankful that Prarthna is part of the restaurant business, but when things settled, she realised it was time to focus on herself. Fast forward to October last year, and enter Swetha Devaraj, a coach and a trainer at the National Corps Fitness centre, and Prarthna was back in the business of her own fitness.

Slow but steady is how this duo decided to take it, with the goal of running the half marathon at the Goa River Marathon as Prarthna’s goal. Her training regime was a mix of endurance and weight training. So on days when she was doing slow long distance runs, it was either at the GKVK Campus Road or Cubbon Park — both for their beauty and quiet.

Of course, she also had to follow a diet. Tough for a restaurateur, eh? But she powered through following intermittent fasting, eating good carbs on alternate days, and no carbs on others. This coupled with the mix of endurance and weight training saw her shed a cool 10 kilos from 68 kilos which is where she first started. Oh, and if that isn’t enough motivation, prior to her Goa run, she ran a half marathon in Mysore just to get ready. And two weeks later, she was a faster by three whole minutes.

She also vouches for home-cooked meals, as they’re healthier and more nutritious. For wholesome breakfasts, either smoothie bowls with almond milk, banana, almonds, peanut butter, super green powder, psyllium husk, and berries and millet dosa with chutney and veggies were her options. On days when she wants to treat herself, she added on hot chocolate with coconut milk from Happy Healthy Me. She also recommends peanut butter, cacao powder, and cold pressed coconut oil from the health cafe’s store.

Currently, she’s training for another half marathon in Auroville in February. To her, it’s not about losing weight or looking fab, but rather about the experience because that’s what keeps her motivated. Well, for a person whose major goal is to trek the Himalayas someday, we think that’s totally awesome. So, see you at the jogging track?