While being overweight is already a huge physical battle, it is the taunts and jibes of the society which affect our mental health. 29-year-old Navjot fought a similar battle, when she had a nervous breakdown, owing to the never-ending body-shaming she faced on a daily basis. Coming from a traditional Punjabi family, where food is a huge part of customs and lifestyle, her weight loss journey is motivational and inspiring in equal amounts.
Name: Navjot Kaur
Occupation: Fitness expert
Age: 29 years
Highest weight recorded: 75 kgs
Weight lost: 20 kgs
Duration it took me to lose weight: 7 months
The turning point: The unending comparisons with others and the surreptitious body-shaming regime had a deep impact on my self-esteem. I had started feeling depressed and towards the end of 2016, I experienced a nervous breakdown. I quit my job, took a break from the unending spiral of my negativity and swore to take a serious perspective of my life. Eventually, I realised that I had been ignoring not just my physical health and fitness, but several other vital aspects such as my mental, emotional and social well being. In summation, my body was simply a reflection of my unhealthy lifestyle.
My breakfast: 5 egg white omelettes, 2 slices of brown bread with a cup black coffee.
My lunch: Scrambled cottage cheese or scrambled eggs with 2 chapattis, cucumber raita and some green salad.
My dinner: Any green vegetable, a bowl of daal, 1 chapatti and some green salad.
I indulge in: Pizza, pasta or strawberry cheesecake ice cream
My workout: I workout for 5 days a week. My regime includes 60 minutes of workout and 15 minutes of running. The breakdown is as follows:
1. Functional training for core strengthening and mobility with kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells - 3 times a week
2. Weight training to gain lean muscle mass - 2 times a week
Low-calorie recipes I swear by:
Recipe 1:
Strawberry parfait made from 5 teaspoons Greek yoghurt, 80 grams strawberries, 1 teaspoon chia seeds,1 teaspoon maple syrup, half a scoop of vanilla whey protein powder and 25 grams oats.
Recipe 2:
Masala omelette muffins in a mug made from 2 large eggs, 1 small, finely grated garlic clove, a pinch of red chilli, ground cumin, salt, pepper - microwave for 4-5 minutes - garnish with chopped coriander.
Fitness secrets I unveiled: I realised that persistent small efforts sum up to give monumental results.
How do I stay motivated? I don’t compete with anyone, I set daily targets for myself to stay motivated by achieving what I had aimed for.
How do you ensure you don’t lose focus? I keep participating in various health-based challenges from time to time, which gives me a reason to stay on track and keep improving myself. Also, I have learnt to listen to my body and don’t push myself beyond a point as that can lead to injuries or excessive fatigue.
What’s the most difficult part of being overweight? Being constantly body-shamed for the way you look is the worst aspect of being over-weight. It not only affects your mental peace but also disrupts your self-confidence. Superficial standards of beauty set by the glamour world really increase the whole societal pressure to look a certain way.
What shape do you see yourself 10 years down the line? I wish to be able to flaunt my abs by the time I enter my 40s.
What are the lifestyle changes you made? I started cooking my own meals and working out regularly.
What was the lowest point for you? I was overweight and looked several years older than my actual age. It had gone to an extent that people had started thinking of me as a woman in her mid-30s, which was very heartbreaking.
Lessons learnt from weight loss: My story is not one of overnight success. I didn’t take a magic pill. My results were not from a fad diet or a product from an infomercial. The most important lesson is that our happiness should be our primary focus.
if you too have a weight loss story to share, send it to us at [email protected]
Source: indiatimes.com
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