Something similar happened with 31-year-old Sumitra Sridharan, who gained a lot of weight post her pregnancy. She realised that she cannot let her weight dent her self-confidence or harm her health and decided to embark on a life-changing weight loss journey. Read on.
Name: Sumitra Sridharan
Occupation: Financial Consultant
Age: 31 years
Height: 5 feet 4 inches
City: Bengaluru
Highest weight recorded: 95 kg
Weight lost: 25 kgs
Duration it took me to lose weight: 1 year
The turning point: I had put on a lot of extra kilos after giving birth to my daughter. I believe all the post-partum stress and lack of sleep had led to all the weight gain. However, quite surprisingly I did not realise that I had put on a lot of weight till the time I saw my photographs of my daughter’s first birthday.
That was the time I realised that I needed to do something about all the excess kilos I had put on. So, I decided to revamp my diet and exercise routine. I made sure to include only those lifestyle changes which I would be able to implement for the long run and the results are here for everyone to see! I won’t say that it was an easy journey, but mark my words, it is definitely worth all the sweat and tears!
My breakfast: Protein shake or something light like idli
My lunch: 2 chapatis with a portion of vegetables, a bowl of curd and salad
My dinner: I choose between upma, chapati, or poha with buttermilk. I swear by an early dinner and have it maximum by 7 pm.
Pre-workout meal: A cup of green tea green tea
Post-workout meal: A glass of lemon water with a dollop of honey
I indulge in: I am a foodie at heart and love cooking. So, on cheat days too, I prefer home-cooked food. So I would make anything that I feel like including pav bhaji, chaat, pasta, pizza, pulao, biryani etc.
My workout: At the time, when I was rigorously working towards losing weight, I practised half an hour of cardio followed by strength training of 15 minutes. Nowadays, I maintain my weight with 20 minutes of cardio and 10 minutes of strength training on alternate days.
Low-calorie recipes I swear by: I vouch on quinoa or Lapsi veg upma. Also, ginger water is a great metabolism booster and helps with weight loss.
Fitness secrets I unveiled: I have understood that fitness is a journey and not a destination.
Each person has a different body type and each person’s journey is his own to traverse. There is no one formula to succeed. Trying and testing is the way to realise what works best for you.
How do I stay motivated? When I saw my pictures from my daughter’s first year birthday and I was extremely shocked! I have always been self-conscious when it comes to how I look and carry myself. That was the point I realized that I was probably neglecting myself during the journey of motherhood. Hence, I completely committed myself to fitness and kept my motivation high by checking my weight once a week. Once I started seeing the weight reduction on the weighing scale, it motivated me to keep going forward in the direction of my weight and fitness goals.
How do you ensure you don’t lose focus? I always set benchmarks and try to achieve or surpass them. If you want to lose weight and get back in shape, think of someone you want to be like or someone you idolize. You can also think of someone who inspires you with their fitness levels. This always helps me to stay focused.
What’s the most difficult part of being overweight? Keeping aside the obvious health issues that being overweight entails, in today’s world, your appearance and how you present yourself matters a lot. So, when I was overweight, it had started impacting my self-confidence as I had become really conscious of how I looked. This was one of the driving factors behind my weight loss journey!
What shape do you see yourself 10 years down the line? I want to become a better version of myself in the next 10 years as I have worked extensively on losing my post-partum weight. Now that I have lost all the extra kilos, I am more focused on strengthening my core and getting fitter.
What are the lifestyle changes you made? The most important change was to hit the gym every day no matter what. It did seem like a humongous task in the beginning but once I started seeing the results, I couldn’t wait to go to the gym amd workout every day. Apart from that, I completely cut down sugar and rice from my diet. I also started drinking ginger water every day, without fail. It can be easily made by boiling chopped ginger in water, then straining and storing in a water bottle to drink throughout the day.
What was the lowest point for you? It was when I hurt my ankle while training and as a result, I could not continue my workout for some time. However, even during that time, I continued doing upper-body exercises.
Lessons learnt from weight loss: If you commit yourself seriously to your weight loss journey, you will definitely see the weight loss results, without any shadow of a doubt. You need to remember that weight loss is a journey and not your final destination. It takes equal efforts, if not more, to maintain the results you have achieved through permanent lifestyle changes. Remember, it may be tough but nothing compares with the joy of seeing your ‘before’ weight loss photographs.
If you too have a weight loss story to share, send it to us at toi.health1@gmail.com