Tag: health

What do we tell the God of Laziness – Not Today

by Himan

I had made my big commitment in front of my colleagues on the beer table after the 2017 Mumbai marathon. I had 365 days to prepare for one of the biggest challenges of my life. Just to put the challenge in perspective, I looked at the health app of my iPhone. The app had diligently recorded the everyday steps and distances I had covered. The average steps per day for 2016 were 4699 with an average daily distance of 3 kms and for 2017 it had gone down to an average of 4483 steps with an average daily distance of 2.8 kms. This is is how sedentary my life had become. I had no control on my food habits. On an average, I was eating lunch/dinner outside of home for 5/6 days. Exercise was generally only on PC while playing FIFA, Cricket, Call of Duty or games on mobile phones. I was the highest goalscorer on the PC and success in virtual world was making me more satisfied than anything I did in the real world. I was addicted to food and gaming and to ensure that I didn’t become a laughing stock next year, I had to change. I knew I was unfit so I started small. Generally, I had no energy after coming back from office. So, I decided that I will walk for 20 minutes in my building compound from tomorrow. The tomorrow became today and I was again not in a mood to walk but score some goals in the PC game. The god of laziness and comfort was inviting to my status quo zone. But today I said no to him and for that 20 minutes, I did go for the walk. I had my favorite music in my headphones and I had already started to imagine that one year down the line, I will pass the finishing line of Mumbai half-marathon. I continued my routine throughout February and my average distance per day for the month (sunday being rest day) had been up to 3.7 kms with an average step count of 5983. The weight was down from 123.2 kgs to 122.1 kgs. The journey had well and truly begun.

The Beer Motivation

by Himan

After completing the dream run, a group of colleagues decided that we should go for a well deserved round of Beer. Normally, I am not a big fan of hard drinks but that day, I had a big craving of beer. The only problem was that due to Marathon event still going on, roads were closed and no cabs were available. That meant we had to walk a few more kilometers to get to the elixir of life. The sun was already firing its bullets of heat as temperatures rose above 32 degree Celsius. However, today wasn’t the day to quit but take challenges head on. We decided to walk as the place was only one kilometer away as per my colleague. He was in the lead and other four of us were following. After ten minutes of walk, I looked at him. He instantly knew what my gesture meant and smiled at me. “Just another 7-8 minutes walk” he said with a big smile to his face. I looked at my watch and lumbered on. By this time my whole body had started to protest on this deviation from the plan but I remembered all the motivational songs and pushed myself. My colleague continued to motivate me by telling another five minutes, the next right to the traffic light, just 500 more meters. Finally after a walk of 42 minutes, we reached the famous Cafe Leopold. The server looked at my face and quickly ushered us to a table and within two minutes the pitcher of beer was in front of me. I took my phone out and saw its health app. From the moment I had woken up that day to the moment when I sat down for Beer, I had completed 19003 steps with a total distance covered of 14.5 kms. “You see, you have done 1/3rd of Marathon” said one of the colleagues or “2/3rd of a half-marathon” said another colleague. “I swear to Hoegaarden, that in the next Mumbai half-marathon, I will complete the half-marathon” I said. “You said something similar last time about old monk and it nearly went bankrupt, just ensure you don’t do the same to this magnificent beer company” said the third colleague. All of them laughed in unison, every second of that laugh hit me hard and ignited a fire inside me. That moment I had decided, I will go for a half-marathon next year. Little did I know that this was going to be one hell of an year.

The Dream Run(Walk)

by Himan

On 21st January 2018, i woke up with mixed feelings. The feeling was of nervousness and I thought to myself what have I got into. The dream run was a distance of 6kms along the best part of Mumbai and next to sea. My friend (who had kicked my butt in climibing 24 stairs) called me to check if i was up. She was more determined to get me to the run than I was. Reluctantly, I wore my shoes and gear that was given by my company (at this point I wasn’t interested in spending money on any physical activity). I took a cab to pick her up and she was very cheerful about the day and the experience that the run was going to offer. They say that positive energy is contagious and her energy did a lot to lift up my spirit. At the holding area of the dream run, we met many colleagues and we decided that all of us will do the walk together. That was a moment of sheer delight for me, I had been walking for a month now and was very confident that I will be able to finish with them. The energy of the people was awesome, the cheer that everyone did whenever a marathoner or half-marathoner went from the other side was just amazing. 4 kms went without any challenge and as a group, we clicked pictures and enjoyed the music of the bands on the way. The trouble for me started at the flyover, I had run only on flat ground and climbing this thing the morning heat took the wind out of me. My colleagues could see that on my face and all of them encouraged me to finish the walk. After another 20 minutes, it was done. Yours truly has crossed the 5.9 km distance in a heroic 1:06 hours. I was delighted and then one of my colleague suggested to grab a beer. The only caveat was that we had to walk as due to marathon all road were closed and no cabs were available. I did volunteer to join him instantly. 30 minutes later, I were to learn a very important lesson my life. Not to take up challenges in the moments when you are really happy about something. To be continued.

The Lowest Moment

by Himan

The date was 15th December 2017 and I was in a hospital. I was accompanying a friend who had to meet one of her relative. She decided to take stairs instead of a lift and climbed two stories in a jiffy. I on the other hand took several minutes for those 24 steps, every single one of them felt like an Everest at that point of time. She smiled at me and in the usual banter that goes between friends, commented to me how fat and unfit i was. I laughed at the comment but deep inside, I was broken. The comments on the shape of my body and excess weight were becoming regular. In every other domain of life, I was doing much better and was happy with the progress of my life and career. However, this was one area where i had failed miserably over and over again. The first time I had crossed the 100kg(220 pounds) mark was in 2009. From then every year, my resolution was to lose weight and for eight consecutive years, i had failed. 2017 was going to be another year where I would fail in next 16 days. I came home that evening and stepped on the weighing machine. The number on that scale brought tears to my eyes, I weighed 123.2 kgs (271 pounds) and I was out of breath when I bent down to tie my shoelaces. The lowest moment was to come next day. I work for a healthcare company and in a meeting, an expert in Diabetes looked at my neck and told me that I was becoming insulin resistant and if i don’t change my diet and fitness, I would be a patient for sure very soon. These gut punches on back to back days were the lowest moment of my life. That evening, I spoke to my father who listened to me patiently & that conversation changed my life. There was and is going to be a lot of sweat, blood and tears but the path has been good and I continue to move forward. This is the first page of my story and I am going to continue walking.