Work Out to Work-it-Out
Another crucial element to any weight loss journey is the workout regime. This part is bang on for some and confusing for some. We all know those people who are thin even though they never hit the gym. Their standard answer, “I used to play a lot of sports as a kid.” I cannot guarantee the truth behind this statement but I can guarantee that as an adult making up for lost time will not get you a higher metabolism but will result in some of the other injury and/or complication.
I started working out seriously when I was 18. I would run every morning and do pilates. I had a healthy balance. However, during the summer of 2015, I came across this quote, “Work like a beast to look like a beauty.”
This is the time when the aahhh sound with heavenly white light showered down on me as I was having my epiphany. The answer to all my problems was here! I need to work out to work-it-out! After that, there was no stopping me. I started running in the morning, doing pilates at noon, high-intensity training in the evening and then repeating it all over again. After that, I thought bodyweight exercises was not enough so I joined the gym. I would run 3 km every day as a workout finisher.
After my vacations got over, I was down 9 kilos and determined to keep this up. When college started, I joined a gym near college. I would go to the gym every day right after college, workout in my dorm between classes and dance with my friends at night. If anyone asked my friends where is Nikita, the standard answer was, “She’s probably working out.”
After college it got worse. My place of work had a 5-week training program and had it set up in Pune. My first thought was how will I work out? Not what will I expect in the program, no excitement for my new job, but just how will I get my exercise in? The training program was one of the toughest things I have come across in my life. We would be awake till 2 am, start work the next day at 5 am have training till 7 pm. When was there time? I made time. I woke up at 3 am, 4 am, and even skipped lunch to work out. When everyone was relaxing after work, I was working out. I had worked out at every hour of the day.
What did this do to my body? Nothing but multiple injuries. Everyone in my gym calls me ‘injury ki dookan’. I hurt my back, my knees, my tailbone and was filled with bruises and blood cloths. I looked like Doby on a hanger. Was this the beauty I was promised to look like?
For all of you that are confused with how many times to exercise per week and what’s the perfect way to work out, the advice I can give you is do what makes you smile, what you look forward to and what helps you de-stress. Anything that causes you annoyance, makes you feel like it’s a task, make you want to get it done faster is not worth your time. The second advice I can offer is don’t over-train. Listen to your body and give it rest. If you do not work out for whatever reason, nothing is going to happen. Third, exercise is about making your body healthy and strong and not about looking a certain way. The fourth and concluding statement, results take time. Seeing results takes time. Working out twice a day to show results twice as fast is not smart, it’s stupid. The goal of exercising isn’t to reach a goal weight but to achieve a healthier lifestyle.
