Exercise is a critical part of living a healthy lifestyle. When it comes to weight loss, daily exercise produces significant results, believes Aswathy who lost weight from 94 kg to 64 kg. The popular Malayalam film dialogue which says ‘Everything takes its own time Dasa’ is very relevant to Ashwathy’s story too. It was her father Subramaniam who wanted to see Ashwathy lose weight the most. When her father suddenly died of a kidney disease Ashwathy who hails from Kadavanthara wanted very much to fulfill her father’s wish. But this time she did not want to experiment on her own. She joined the gym in Ernakulam that her father had pointed out to her some time back. With six months of hard work Ashwathy lost 30 kilos. Ashwathy speaks about those days of her hard work.
“From my childhood onwards I was overweight. Even though I was only 5 feet 5 inches tall my weight was 94 kilos. I also had Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). My face and neck were very dark. I had flabby cheeks. I would pant after taking a few steps…. Ashwathy herself had started to realize that if she didn’t lose her weight it would become a problem. Even though she went to hospital and took medicines for her Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD) there were no positive changes. Her problems were getting bigger. Even though she tried many methods of losing weight like fasting, drinking lemon water, eating honey on an empty stomach and so on for years but she couldn’t lose weight.
Joining the gym
Ashwathy’s father’s death was very sudden. Her father used to go to work in his office till the day before he was admitted to hospital. Her father was a man who took care of his health. He used to walk from his house in Kadavanthra to his office for years. He often took pain relief tablets for his knee pain. After her father’s death, Ashwathy started working. During the gap before she went to work she thought about what she wanted to do. It was then that she remembered her father’s wish for her to lose weight. Her father had constantly urged her to lose weight. He would force her to go to gyms. He bought her bananas for her to eat while she was dieting.
Thus Ashwathy joined 'Be Fit' gym in Kochi. She used to exercise at least 2 hours daily. She went to the gym from 9 to 11 in the morning. In the beginning she only did cardio exercises using machines like the Elliptical machine and the Treadmill. Slowly she began to do exercises using heavy weights. Her exercise routine was listed down by her trainer. A little while after starting to do exercises she slowly lost a bit of weight. After that she took up a diet routine. She started to avoid rice and sweets entirely. She avoided oil too. She followed a low calorie diet.
Low calorie diet
Ashwathy ate only bananas for breakfast. At 8 am in the morning she ate an orange, apple or robusta. For lunch she ate one chappathi and four or five egg whites. She ate lunch every day at 12:30 pm. In the evening she drank black coffee with no sugar along with a few low sugar biscuits. She ate dinner before 8 pm. For dinner she would eat bananas, boiled vegetables or vegetable salads. Some days she used to eat sprouted beans instead of egg whites.
She struggled for the first few days. She felt hungry and tired. When she joined the gym many people told her that she wouldn’t lose weight and that she would stay the same. Those words make her stubborn. They made her struggle hard and hold on. When she felt extremely hungry between breakfast and lunch she ate bananas. She drank a lot of water. Slowly her body became used to the diet. When the diet and exercise worked together her fat began to melt. Her loose skin and dark spots started to vanish. All problems caused by PCOD vanished. After one month her weight became 64 kilos. Other than having one chappathi for breakfast nothing much in her diet has changed. Exercise continues. Her only regret is that her father is not here to see all this. Other than that she is very happy.
When she shed 30 kilos a huge difference was visible. Her cousins and friends were all shocked. When people who knew her saw her walking by they were speechless. They couldn’t recognize Ashwathy. They asked her if she was the same Ashwathy. Ashwathy now feels she should have thought of losing weight earlier.
What she avoided
Sweets and Rice
Milk and Milk products
What she ate
To get protein she ate egg whites
She ate more bananas and vegetables
She drank a lot of water
