‘From someone who wouldn’t get up from the couch if the TV remote was out of hand’s reach, to this, it’s been quite a ride,’ Shraddha Kothari laughed when she spoke to us. From 94 kg in July 2015, she has worked her through to losing 43 kilos in 8 months.
Ever since, she has spent the past year maintaining a healthy weight, becoming a yoga teacher and loving her body {with weight and without}. If you doubt the possibility of becoming that fit and ever giving up on fries, this is how she did it.
Shraddha highly and happily recommends what she calls her second home, the gym I Think Fitness in Chowpatty. While for the nascent few months, she relied heavily on cardio, she later took up weight training under her personal trainer Sagar Kamble. Now she practices a combination of yoga and weight lifting, as she sees fit.
Shraddha is a Jain vegetarian, and she switched to just eating really healthy homefood. She’d wake up and have a lot of water, then pick oats for breakfast and perhaps, fix herself hummus and pita or other wraps for lunch. After that, she would have a fruit in the afternoon, and a high-protein dinner {tofu or soy}.
The smoothies, milkshakes and just about anything at The Yoga House because they are just so organic and healthy. She also recommends having the barley upma at the Nutcracker in Kala Ghoda {although everything else there is pretty indulgent}.
For the 8 months, she really just stuck to good, simple homefood, resisting any temptations to eat outside. On really exceptional occasions {such as her birthday}, she would have the nutella waffle from the Belgian Waffle House. And definitely the Jain Mexican Burger from The Rolling Pin {but be prepared to work out after, she says}. Also, the coffee at the Kala Ghoda Café.
To make life easier, Shraddha recommends really not making food the centrepoint of all outings – go do different activities. She would go on walks on Chowpatty beach, go shopping and focus on other things, making it easier. And lastly and most importantly, she got her motivation, constant support and drive from one source alone: her spiritual master Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshbhai, head of the Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur.