Real-life weight loss stories often have a direct connect to people. Having a tough time starting your weight loss regime? Here is Manasi K Meghnani’s inspiring journey to help you propel towards a healthy lifestyle.
Real-Life Weight Loss Story: Weight loss is a journey that requires an emotional, mental and physical investment of different levels. A subjective journey, the route, time and destination can be different for different people. Everyone has their own reason for how, when and why they embarked on this mission. Similar is the story of Manasi K Meghnani who lost nearly 16 kgs in 2 years with two injury-led breaks. This might look pretty less in comparison to the time frame, however, her inspiring journey riddled with obstacles is what makes her story stand apart. Speaking exclusively with india.com Manasi opened up about her journey towards burning that stubborn fat sitting rent free in her body.
Manasi says, “At one point I was borderline obese. I had touched 91 kgs and that number was embarrassing to see on the scale. To people, I did not look that heavy because my body shape was somewhat proportionate. However, the number was so big and that was the first time in my life I felt unhealthy. I did not like how I was looking and feeling suddenly.”
Here is Manasi’s inspiring story of weight loss and how she lost 16 kgs.
What was your weight loss diet and routine?
It was basic home-cooked Indian food that had veggies, protein, and carbs. My workout routine was set up by my coach, Vinit Chhabria, who is been my coach for the past 6 months. A year prior to starting with him, I had a different coach who also guided me extremely well with whom I worked for 3 months.
Did you completely cut down on sugar?
Just for the initial 4-6 weeks. Then I started having sugar in chai sometimes or the occasional birthday cake.
Did you have cheat meals and how many times a week?
I initially had 1 cheat meal per week. Now I have a cheat meal when I lose another 2-4kgs. Pizza. It is always Pizza! Also, like my coach says “treat meal” is a better way of saying it rather than “cheat meal”.
What is one rule that you abide by for losing weight?
Try to be consistent and set a routine. I don’t beat myself too much if I slip once in a while, having an emotional eating moment. It is a life to be lived as a human rather than becoming obsessive over your body shape and size.
What was one thing that worked best for you?
Developing a good relationship with food. The foods that are popular favourites are not bad foods. No food is bad. All food gives us some type of energy. It is we who are able or unable to utilise or burn it well.
One challenge that you faced and how did you overcome it?
Multiple mental blocks of what I am capable of doing at the gym, my relationship with food, my dependency on food, and my emotions regarding how I look and feel. The challenges of knowing what foods to eat in what quantity were taken care of by my coach.
Is there a weight loss myth that you got to know about during your journey?
Weight Loss Myth: Women should not build a lot of muscles. Another one would be that cardio is the best.
I have seen a lot of fitter women at the gym. Some have more muscles than I do, and some have fewer than me. Fitness is not about weight loss/ fat loss or size drop. People can choose what aspects they want to focus on and plan their routine. Mine is to lose the extra body fat because being overweight is the root cause of a lot of health issues, a lot more than what I am not even aware of. Feeling great makes you look a lot better.
“I never had a body image issue at any point in my life though I was almost always an overweight person. This has been the case because I am surrounded by lovely people. I was not delusional about my weight or the size of my body but fitness was not a goal somehow. Also when I started I became a little obsessive about following my plan strictly. Honestly, it got to me mentally and frustrated me if due to another friend or family member, my meals were delayed. I still struggle with that sometimes but I am a lot better now in regards to getting obsessive with routine.”
It is always important to know your worth. Maintaining consistency can be a challenge, but it is all worth every bead of sweat!
India.com runs a special series and brings forth Real-Life Weight Loss stories for our readers to people them take that first step towards themselves. If you have or know someone who might have an incredible weight loss journey to share, write to us on our social media handles or drop a mail at – [email protected].