Weight loss is not necessary only to get a perfect figure. This can help you become the best version of yourself and be happier than before. Her husband Arvind was the motivator, supporter and competitor of Renu Mishra in this journey.

I have been on my fitness journey for almost seven years. I never wanted to be size zero but I wanted to remain body wise (physically) and mentally (mentally) fit. I believe that, since women are considered the pivot of the family, they should at least take full care of themselves. They should take special care of their health and their overall grooming. All I have to say is, “Women should love themselves. All measures should be taken to keep oneself happy.”

In childhood, I had heard from elders that “If you keep your body and mind right, there is nothing in this world that cannot be yours.” But that was childhood, who wanted to understand so much knowledge? I don't realize how many days are spent in sports, studies and education. Although I have been an active person since childhood. Sitting for me happened only while studying or sleeping. The food was also local and simple, so there was never any physical complaint related to obesity.

Yes! It is a different matter that whenever stress entered my life, it had a direct impact on my health. During college time, whenever I felt stressed while competing, I would relieve my stress by talking to friends, sometimes by helping my mother in the work, and sometimes by arguing with my father. I used to live in Banaras at that time, so turning to the Ghats when I felt stressed was an unspoken dedication of mine towards nature. She would sit there for hours and watch the Ganga flow in its departure. When peace takes over my mind, I return home.

it was becoming difficult to walk due to increasing weight

Then she reached the next stage of age. Got married, left the banks of Ganga, left the rule of being the eldest child in Pehar. When I stepped into the world of my in-laws, my heart felt a little constricted even though I didn't want to. There was no place other than the terrace in the evening. Then life picked up a little more pace and I moved to a thermal project colony with my partner.

Fitness cannot be achieved in a day

But now when I look back, I understand one thing that nothing is impossible in this world. We just need to have the determination and passion to do anything. Just as Taj Mahal was not built in a day, similarly a well-built body is not built in a day. We have to work on it every day.

Sometimes, when we get tired while doing any work alone, we take help from someone to move ahead. Similarly, when you feel bored while walking or working out alone, grab your partner's hand and pull him. In my case, my partner Arvind always kept me moving forward. He knew that if the woman of the house is fine then everyone will be healthy.

Seven years ago today, I went to my mother to take care of her. Within a few days of leaving my full routine and living there, I started feeling lonely. I am starting to lose my positivity. I discussed all this with my partner. He didn't say anything at that moment, just explained a little and let it go.

But the next day he told me to join a nearby gym. I was a little surprised to hear his words, because I had seen women in my neighborhood and society either becoming the beauties of their homes or courtyards or, when given a lot of leeway, wearing suits, salwars or dupattas over nighties. Saw him walking.

It is a different matter that our thinking was a little different from those thoughts, but joining a gym and that too alone, then seemed strange and impossible. But I said, “Nothing is impossible in this world.” The very next day, I inquired about two-four nearby gyms and joined the one which seemed well equipped and the price was reasonable. And this is where my fitness journey started.

I started feeling tired within three days

At the beginning of weight loss, there was happiness on the first day, a little sigh came out on the second day and a groan on the third day, on the fourth day I thought, “Today I will not be able to go.” Oh! How much pain there is in the body!” (This is a kind of excuse that we give to explain our heart) Then suddenly my partner's message flashed on my WhatsApp. When seen from above it appeared to be a photo. I thought there would be some motivational photo.

Still, when I clicked on the photo to keep my heart warm, I saw that there was a photo of my partner's watch in which he had walked ten thousand steps in an hour.

Before I could react, another message came, “Good morning Pali, I have completed my today's task, how far have you reached?” Suddenly a feeling of competition arose in me and I wrote in reply, “Enough! I was just leaving for the gym.” The reply came from there, “Good, good! Let us see who is more fit in the next three months.” I also picked up the keys of the scooter and while coming down the stairs replied, “It's okay, Dan!”

Weight reduced by ten kilos

Gym five to six days a week and a light walk for twenty minutes after dinner in the evening to relax the muscles, and a slight change in my diet worked wonders. Both of us had lost ten kilos of weight from our bodies. Along with our fitness, our stamina also became stronger. Had become mentally positive also.

Renu lost ten kilos of weight by continuously exercising and following diet. Image: Renu Mishra

The advantage of doing regular workouts is that whatever habit is formed in twenty-one days, our muscles remember it in three months. Even if you drop your workout midway or are unable to do it due to some reason, she still doesn't forget anything. As soon as we start the workout again, the entire workout gets refreshed in their memory and then we do not face that much problem again.

If you can't find a gym then do online classes.

After returning home, I faced some trouble because none of the gyms there had any plan for women and even if there was one, there was no equipment there. I then started going for walks with my partner in the evening and joined an online yoga class in the morning. By doing yoga, I found that my body had become more flexible and whenever I felt stressed about something, if I meditated for ten minutes, everything started feeling fine.

In the same year we were transferred to Aligarh. When we came to Aligarh, we saw that the city was small, there was no space to walk in the narrow streets of the city. In the morning itself, the mood would go off after seeing the bike, school bus, Tirri's railway lamp. I spent two months trying to figure out what to do. Then finally both of us joined the gym and started working out.

I always pushed my limits

Be it yoga, workout or a simple walk, I realized that in the beginning, you should work out as much as your body allows, but when you become a little pro, you should try exercising beyond the limits. You won't believe, where I couldn't do a ten second plank, I have deadlifted eighty to ninety kilos and have done a plank for more than five minutes. I always pushed my limits and saw how much stamina a person can have.

You can exercise whenever you get time. Image: Shutterstock

i remember when COVID-19 When this terrible time came, my routine became a bit unstable. Due to some personal issues, I was very mentally disturbed at that time. The boundaries that a person had to live in during Covid were a very difficult time for an extrovert like me.

For the first month, I gathered courage and did home workouts, but the next two months were very difficult. Negative thinking and insomnia started affecting me, which started having a bad effect on my health. Don't feel like doing anything. Bad news coming from all directions had given us sleepless nights.

Since I am very emotional, any news started having a negative impact on me. Neither felt like eating, nor sleeping, nor talking to anyone. I had also switched off my phone during those days. The restlessness of the mind was such that, “What is this world even if we get it?” God knows from where a stubbornness had set in that nothing has to be done now. When everything has to go like this then what will happen even after doing everything? It's been more than four months since this happened.

Walk helped to overcome stress

One day my partner asked me, what happened to you? I said, I don't know! And then she cried a lot. Even today I don't know why I did this. He caressed my head and from the next day onwards, whenever he got a chance in the morning and evening, he started picking me up and taking me for a walk. Within a few days I started feeling better.

One day I found a home workout video online and started doing it. I felt from within, “When we die, we will die, now we are living so we keep doing whatever we are doing.” I groom myself a little more, love myself a little more.” I would also like to give half the credit for such thinking to my partner.

Even today, whenever I feel upset and things are not going my way, Arvind and one or two of my friends always stand by me to explain. In the end it's just that we women have a great need to keep ourselves happy. Along with this, also take special care of your health. Fitness does not mean not eating food at all or reducing weight to size zero.

Fitness means making your body fit while remaining in your essence. Measuring your courage, the extent of your courage from time to time. To complete the journey of this life, we have been given a medium in the form of body. So, if we do not keep the one with which we have to see the whole world, with which we have to enjoy this life, then what kind of life will we have?

Also read – Fat to Fit: Nisha Khajuria lost 20 kg weight at the age of 40, know how the journey was