Arpita Agarwal, a student, who lost 42 kilos in 6 months is testament to this philosophy. She managed to lose weight while managing to continue indulging in Chinese food, pani puri and ice cream!
This 20-year-old student claims that her biggest motivation from within came from within after she was continuously taunted about her weight.
Her lowest point she says was when “I couldn’t even walk properly because of my weight. I couldn’t fit in my own clothes and got embarrassed when the shopkeepers would say that my size was not available.”
The turning point “was only when I reached my highest weight, which was 96 kilograms. I was often bullied for my weight and the constant taunts got to me,” says Agarwal.
Agarwal then decided, “we are our worst critics as we tend to over analyse ourselves and get discouraged when we don’t see the results that we are hoping for.”
“You can choose to continue to hate your body, to put yourself down, and to sit around waiting for miracles,” states Agarwal.
“But miracles will not happen if you don’t work for them. Weight loss is a journey which requires effort,” assures Agarwal.
Her diet included a mix of healthy food and her favourite vices.
Her breakfast would include oats, buttermilk, bread with peanut butter. While lunch would include chapati, dal, buttermilk, dahi and salad. And dinner would include soup, dal, brown rice and salad.
She binges on her favourite indulgences, Chinese food, pani puri and ice cream on her cheat days. She also swears by oatmeal bars.
For her fitness she tries to mix up her workouts to have some fun with it. “Don’t stick to your boring old routine,” says Agarwal.
Her training includes 15 minutes of cardio, 1 hour of functional training, weight training and CrossFit. It includes burpees, jumping jacks, plank walk, plank jumps, plank and lunges.
To stay motivated she says, I always inspire myself by looking at fitness videos. For weight loss, I followed many of them.
Every time you lose focus or motivation you need to think of the struggles you’ve faced before as well as where you dream of being down the line.
I remember how much being overweight affected my health. It was a task to walk, to find clothes of my size and to do everyday jobs with ease, to ensure she doesn’t lose focus says Agarwal.
She sees herself health and happy 10 years down the line. I stopped eating out and cut out junk food. I replaced ghee with olive oil and started to walk a lot, she says with that in mind.