Content writer and travel photographer, Shweta Parulekar, remembers never being conscious about her weight. By the time she was 18 years old, she was already too heavy for her age. “During those days, being this size never really bothered me. I was not ashamed about my body and was happy throwing my weight around,” jokes the now 23-year-old.
As the years flew by, and she started piling on weight, she made several failed attempts to fight it, with the most expensive gyms, fad diet programmes, shakes and everything possible, but nothing really worked. She says, “I realised that money was getting drained, but the number count on the weighing scale just kept increasing.”
The wake-up call
“Around December 2016, my eyes popped out when I saw my weight on the weighing scale. By that time, I was at 95 kg and clueless about how I had managed to pile on so much,” says this 5-foot-2-incher, whose job as a travel photographer did keep her active. However, she’d been eating mindlessly, and didn’t really have a set workout routine.
Around mid-February of the following year, she came across a Zumba class in her neighbourhood, and thought of giving it one last shot. “After joining the class for a few days, the scale showed no shift. I took it as a challenge and decided to just do it. From March, I focussed my mind and body towards the change.
Challenging herself
The efforts finally started showing, but at a slow pace. I lost 2 kg,” she says, adding that this helped her believe that she could do it.
“My mother was there with me through this journey, and helped me every single day in my fight with the extra weight. Her faith was the major motivating factor,” says Parulekar.
Her day would start at 6 am with a warm-up. She would then head to her Zumba class by 7 am. After an hour there, she’d leave for work. “In the evening, I would go for a walk and cycle for about 1½ hours daily. This continued for about three months. But unfortunately, I had to discontinue the Zumba class as it was shut down in my area.”
By then she was 78 kilograms, a huge achievement. But she knew she had miles to go before she reached her ideal weight.
“I had to push myself real hard to reach the target weight. I used to walk daily for 1½ hours in the morning and for the same duration in the evening. I started climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator.
Slowly and steadily, my weight went down further, and I was getting close to my goal. By October 2017, I was 60 kilograms,” she says.
Making food choices
For Parulekar, it has been consistency that worked. And a good diet, to which she credits 70% of her success. “I did not follow any fad diet, as I knew I would not be able to stick to it. I made correct food choices and ate small portions whenever I felt like indulging. But I completely stopped eating white rice, sugar, refined flour, and packaged food.”
She’s clear that food fuels the body and that, “One cannot eat burgers and pizzas and decide to work out double and shed those calories. It clearly does not work that way. It is all about training and controlling your mind, and once you start saying ‘No’ to the wrong food, then half the battle is won.”
She stuck to home-cooked food, and her mother took care that she did not get bored, by making healthy food interesting. She says, “Our Indian food is full of variety and I never stopped myself from eating poha , dosa , idli or paratha ,” pointing out that portion size and the way it is made makes a huge difference. “I didn’t run away from the food I had grown up eating,” she says.
Like all of us, she too had to deal with hunger and craving. But if she craved cake, she ate it, just a small piece. Also, she remembered to always carry around food and healthy snacks, learnt how not to mistake thirst for hunger, and ensured that she got a good night’s rest.
Enjoying the journey
During her initial month of exercise and diet control, Parulekar managed to shed only 2 kilograms, and it took her almost eight months to achieve her target. She tells people not to give up too soon, and to look at it as a process. “Weight loss is a beautiful journey when done with complete dedication and hard work. It not only gives you the desired results, but also a way lighter and active body. Be patient and don’t give up.”
She says, “My altered body gives me the confidence of doing everything that my overweight body probably would not have allowed me to do. I can walk and climb through difficult terrain and am able to do adventure sports that I couldn’t earlier. Running and trekking up mountain trails are fun now!”
