Early years!
From childhood, I was very obese and never confident of my body. I was more into studies, long hours of sitting, and with very less interest in sports or any fitness activities I piled up kgs. Blame it on my genetics, I felt it was ok to be fat as people around admired me for my charming face. So, losing fat or weight was never in my comfort zone especially after entering the IT world. It was at the time of my wedding, I tried to lose some weight and joined aerobics and yoga but was never mindful of my diet. Years went by and after having a kid, I desperately wanted to lose weight like any other woman, but without understanding the basics I used to cut down on carbs and would have more liquid diet. I even managed to lose some kgs and was maintaining the same weight.
Mom’s Health Issues
Suddenly when life was going smooth, my mom’s health condition deteriorated. She was diabetic and had a family history of kidney disease. Our lives came to a standstill when she was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD-Stage3). It hit hard on us and took a time to digest the news. As days went by, we understood the importance of nutrition and the diet that needs to be given to my mother. In due course, as a family, we started understanding the importance of many nutrients like sodium, potassium, etc that need to be assessed in the food that is given to her. Slowly I started learning about calories, protein needs, fluid level restriction, etc while trying to help her with the treatment.
Act now!
That is when I realized that I need to start my weight loss journey as soon as possible, else my health parameters may go for a toss as I age, and mainly, I wanted to get fit and healthy so that I could take care of my mom and family members. I enrolled in a running group on my premises and started to practice running. I took part in many marathons and completed 10k.
But without proper nutrition knowledge, I could not lose any weight further. I then joined FITTR and enrolled under a coach and there was no looking back! Eventually, I understood the importance of calories, proteins, macros, etc. I could relate it with my mom’s diet and hence grabbed all concepts well. So, I was very keen on doing a course in Fitness and Nutrition so that I could have an impact on people’s lives and help them stay away from lifestyle diseases.
Last days of my mom
My weight loss journey went smooth and I lost a whopping 12 kgs. I eventually enrolled in the course. My mother was also very supportive of the same. Our journeys continued in parallel, and we used to discuss a lot of whatever knowledge I gained from the course.
She was so happy that I will impact lives in the future. I was even guiding a few of my friends simultaneously and was very happy to see their transformations. My mother eventually got into dialysis during the covid pandemic but still, she never gave up. She used to follow her diet restrictions with so much perfection. She is my greatest source of inspiration. Though now she is not around us physically, I’m sure she would be so happy and would bless me from above to emerge successful in my course and became a fitness coach officially!
MAKE FITNESS YOUR PRIORITY BECAUSE PREVENTION IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN CURE!
Author: Sukanya Duraisamy
