When it comes to health and fitness, many women are more acquainted with the fact of being fit as ‘looking lean’ or simply getting into that dress which was bought as a motivation to start their fitness journey. Well, most of us are thoroughly influenced by the entertainment industry, and everyone wanted to get into the famous size zero of Kareena Kapoor. Time and again, fitness has become more of looking-like-something rather than feeling something.
Let me tell you a bit about myself; I was always on the other side of the common tide of weight loss. I will not call my past self as healthy but I was never overweight. At times, I surely was underweight! I think it is very easy and common to tell someone to lose weight but it is the other way when it comes to gaining some. You tend to easily surpass the signs your body tries to give you that you need to do something for yourself! In my case, the signals were: easily getting tired, body aches, low concentration, unable to give my best at work due to these physical and mental challenges.
I am a dentist by profession. So, even working on patients for long hours used to tire me a lot. Constant backache and pain in the neck region are not new to dentists. But, that wasn’t confined to dentistry. After changing my career from dentistry to being a Drug Safety Officer, the desk job was not a win-win situation for me. Instead, my mental health had also started to take a toll. Fatigue, chronic headaches, and weakness were part of my daily routine. Then, after a long period of time, frustrated chasing them for a while, I knew I could not just ignore them and had to do something.
Being accustomed to the health industry for a while and after a little research, I knew I had to take control of what I eat. Having nutrient-dense food over just calorie-dense food was one of my priorities. I knew I was low on my protein intake, so, had corrected that as well.
My conscious food choices, eating habits, and nutrition were taken care of and I had already started feeling better with my weakness. But, my physical fitness was yet to be taken care of, and frankly speaking, I didn’t know where and how to start from when it came to exercising! All I knew was I loved dancing and so, I made exercise a part of my daily routine by starting with Zumba. I was not always on track with my exercise. But, Zumba not only motivated me to be on track but I knew, I was also enjoying it.
After a good two months of trying out various other exercise forms, I knew, I was liking it and the feeling of doing something for yourself and your body, taking care of yourself, makes you want to do things again.
After a few months of enjoying the process of being physically and mentally active, I knew I had some more work to do. I knew if I had to increase my strength, have strong muscles then only doing Zumba won’t help, and thus my journey on obtaining more knowledge about strength and weight training, and following the same started.
I won’t say I am completely fit or strong but I know I am better than what I had started with and my body feels better now.
One message I would love to give to all the ladies is that don’t ignore the signals your body is giving you. You can add years to your life or life to your years, choice is yours!
Author: Dr Mrunalini Waghmare
