Fitness Story: From Being On The Verge Of Cholesterol To Running Marathons, Kunal’s Fitness Journey Is All About Dedication.

Fitness Story: From being on the Verge of Cholesterol to Running Marathons, Kunal’s Fitness Journey is All About Dedication.

Turning point:

Roughly around 2 Years back, I was leading a normal life, but I used to complain of indigestion and other health issues due to long hours of work, and bad eating habits, I decided to go for a full body check-up, after going for a battery of tests for entire day and being starved to hunger, the tests came and it was concluded that due to my heavy weight which was around 103 Kgs at that time, I was on the verge of cholesterol, and I had fatty liver diseases, I met an MD and he directed me to start working out or do yoga or some physical activity. It was a shock for me, not because I was unwell but because I had  to control my eating habits.

I had decided at that point that I want to become fit and achieve something in the coming year. I already knew that enrolling in a gym straight away won’t help me achieve my goals as I have to be very confident and have a strong will and determination which will take time in building up. Hence I started with walking for an hour on a daily basis, which turned to running in a month; I used to run in an open ground combined with some self learned yoga. I followed this routine for 3-4 months and then I was determined that I will be able to start gym physically as I had achieved back my mobility and running capacity.

Hurdles Faced:

 I also had a night shift job which involved me to be present remotely from my home from 6 in the evening till 3 in the morning. Hence my requirement was a gym which would be open even at 10 AM, which would be difficult since I am from a small city where gym have limited facilities and have less timing options. They are usually open from 5 in the morning till 9 in the morning and again open up at 5 in the evening and close at 9 in the evening. I had inquired in 4 gyms, and decided to enroll in a fitness center which is open from 5 am in the morning till 11 in the night. This gym had opened up 6 months ago, and I had heard a lot of good reviews about it. I had enrolled in the gym on June 5^th, 2016, and started to go the very next day.

Driving force:

 I had thought initially i will follow the instructions of the trainer. I met a wonderful trainer Mr. Abhichand Nair the very first day he told me that we had to do a full body analysis and my weight was a staggering 98 Kgs, and I was told that we will begin with cardio exercises, and hence I was introduced to the treadmill its operations, and the cross walker, and stationary bike. For the next month or so, we used to a combination of all the three in various orders with various timings. I was pretty confident at the end of the month that I was gonna stay a lot longer and bear a lot more pain in compared to what I was feeling at that time. Sore Legs and sore hands were a regular routine for me.

Workout program & Diet followed:

 By that time I had decided to go for personal training, and then Mr. Abhichand Nair used to train me personally with a series of battering circuits which included burpees, lunges, squats and various abdominal exercises, as time flew by I came to know that they were called High Intensity Interval Training, in the mean time, my diet had began to come under control with 3 meals , fat free breakfast  like oats or poha, sabji and roti with salads in afternoon, and daal chawal at night. For another two to three months, I had to follow the same diet with high interval intensity training combined with weight training with machines like chest press, shoulder press, leg extensions, leg curls, and dumbbells. My weight had came down to a 89 Kgs.

In around 4 months after joining gym and I could see a significant change in my body and I could do a lot of things which were very difficult for me to earlier before joining the gym. Mr. Nair due to unforeseen conditions had to leave the job and a new Trainer was assigned to me, Mr. Yashraj Vaghela, we started to work in a new direction and with new goals, he brought some changes in diet and he educated me regarding macro nutrients and micro nutrients, movements to be done while strength training, and how to build a mind to muscle connection, within 6 months of joining the gym I was at a 79 Kgs mark which was our goal.  For the next month or so we continued to do HIIT and strength training combined but with heavier weights, more repetitions and increased the diet with around 6 meals a day with intake of carbs, fats and proteins in every meal.

My lowest weight was 72 Kgs with waist size of 33 inches. For the last 3 months we have been doing mostly muscle building hitting one muscle group everyday with various approaches like super sets, drop sets, pyramid sets, and changing the weights per repetition.  We usually target chest muscles on Monday, arms on Tuesdays, back on Wednesdays, HIIT  & Abs on Thursdays, shoulders on Fridays, and Legs on Saturdays. Currently I weigh 78 Kgs with 23% body fat and 9% visceral fat. Currently I am on a 3000 calories chart with six meals spread over the entire day with various amounts of carbs, fats and proteins. I do not cheat on the diet as it is the only way to stay clean and fit. Definitely there have been injuries also in the way, at one time during weight loss due to heavy weight I couldn’t not run fast enough on the treadmill due to the pain in knees after a test we concluded that I had very less calcium since then we switch to a course of calcium tablets for three months and three months we do not take calcium.

Supplements:

Currently I take one scoop of whey protein + 5 Gms Creatine post workout, 1 scoop of BCAA + 5 Gms of Creatine pre workout. I gave up my night shift job to be more fit and more strength. Usually now my routine comprises of waking up at 5:45 AM and moving to gym by 6 and starting the workout at 6:15 AM, after 2 hours of rigrous workouts, which comprises of stretching, warm ups, a little bit cardio, and strength training using fitness equipments, and then stretching a group of muscles, get back home, have a breakfast by 9 AM, start doing my work from 09:30 AM, have my second breakfast at 11:30 AM and move to my business, have lunch at 2 PM, have my first evening meal at 5:30 PM, and then dinner by 09:30 PM, and go to sleep by 10:00 PM. In the mean time I have had few injuries too that we took in our stride like decrease in calcium level; we covered by doing a course of 3 months by taking calcium tablets. The traps muscles got sprained and it took 3 days to heal.

Inspire your tribe:

I would like to share with my fellow fitness enthusiasts that fitness is not a goal, it’s a discipline, and you have to be committed to yourself, your body. Be ready to bear the pain, be prepared mentally, physically to fight the consequences. There are many ways for failure but there is only one way to success, which is hard work & determination.