Sirsasana at any weight
Have you ever started yoga and given up; only because you believed that you had to be all muscle and sinew to hold a head stand or a crow pose?
Meet Monica Sahu, banker-turned-social media influencer. She is heavier than your typical yogi, but her strength is exceptional. With over 20,000 followers, her Instagram account serves as an eye opener to those who assume that only skinny is fit.
Sahu started her weight-loss journey at 110 kgs. “I lost 41 kg in the first 2 years. However, I was not in my best health at my leanest form, and definitely not as strong as I am now,” she says. A couple of training-related injuries made her realise that health was primary, and she turned her focus to fitness rather than just a reading on her weighing scale.
And she realised that yoga was definitely her calling. “Doing what I do, I am judged every single day. People laugh when I say I’m into fitness,” says Sahu. “But I’m proud of focusing on fitness and not just appearance.”
Runners come in all sizes
Been putting off running until you’ve lost a little more weight? Lakshmi Moorthy, Co-Founder and CEO of nicheBees Technosolutions, didn’t.
Of course, it wasn’t easy. When he started running in 2015, he weighed 110 kg. People advised him not to run at that weight, even though he enjoyed the activity. “The negativity and my weight made me hesitate,” he recalls. He credits his wife for giving him the support to tide over his initial fears about running. “If you enjoy it, just do it,” were her words. So, Lakshmi continued to run, albeit at a slow pace to avoid injuries.
It was a life-changing decision. Running made him more conscious of what he ate, for instance. “I had failed at dieting earlier, as I had dieted purely to lose weight; but when I started running, I inevitably started eating healthy to support my running. I realised that it is just a matter of finding a workout you enjoy,” says Moorthy, who has completed multiple half-marathons and even a full one till date.
The weight is melting off and he is thrilled about it, but his focus is now on increasing his stamina.
Weight no bar for Zumba
Letting your weight get between you and your passion? Meet Aarti Sharma, an IT professional-turned-Zumba instructor, who didn’t. Weighing 102 kgs at her heaviest, Aarti was introduced to Zumba, after multiple weight-loss attempts failed miserably. With Zumba, she realised that she had finally found an activity she truly loved.
She went on to quit her job and become a full-time Zumba instructor. It has been challenging, of course. “People assume that I cannot do the job because I look a certain way,” she says, adding that often the gyms and studios she approaches, do not respond well to her, at first. But she takes it in her stride and sends them a demo video which shows what she is capable of. “And that is when I get a call back,” she says. The positive feedback from clients helps too.
Though she is continuously working on her fitness levels, she is no longer “crazy about losing weight” as she puts it. “It’s more about being fit.”
