'E' For Exercise And Me.

Exercise in some form had always been a part of my life from a very young age.

Let me start from my school days. When I was in 7th standard, I had changed school, I had joined  Kendriya Vidyalaya or Central school (as it was known in those days). We were living in Guwahati, Assam. Being  in the Army, meant transfers every 3/4 years, and the Central school was said to be the same everywhere in India, so my dad changed my school. Since it had just started, there were no buses organised by the school, the school itself was in a temporary building, and from where we were staying at that time, there were no buses going towards the school too.
So it used be a long walk from our house, (opposite the cricket stadium) crossing the  bridge over the railway tracks, and walking a little further up to my old school St. Mary's Convent, and then from there catch a crowded local bus to my school. It used to be very hot during summer, and you can imagine carrying a heavy school bag, and also a lunch bag. it was like I was meant to weight train from a very young age itself.
 Sometimes, because of the unreliable, erratic buses those days, I would have to walk all the way from the school  to our house. Now when I look back I wonder how I did I have the strength to do that. After about 2 years of this routine, my dad got transferred to Agra.

 Now,  in Agra although there was a Central School,  it was located very far from our house ( it was still a new concept, not like today where there  is a Kendriya Vidayala at different places in the same city). So, back to Convent which was supposed to be much closer than the Central school. A rickshaw was arranged for me, but  again, the rickshaw fellows were so unreliable, for few days they would come on time, and slowly start coming late giving some excuses or other, putting me into trouble. So, it was back to walking  to school which was about 4 kilometers from our house. And the summer of Agra, less said the better.
However, I think I liked walking to school, for I had to cross a big beautiful park full of Guava  trees, and various other beautiful flowering trees, and also the Agra University was located there,  with lots of young college boys and girls roaming around eating "paruck ki ambrooth,"  garam channa choor, drinking Coco Cola, Fanta, Goldspot to beat the heat of Agra. Since, I always loved people watching,  I didn't really feel so bad about walking.

While returning in the afternoon, the fresh smell of hot samosas being fried at the Halwai shop, near our house, along with fresh jeelabi and garam malai dhoodh was too tempting to avoid, so the money which my mom gave me to catch a rickshaw and come home, I used to save it up to indulge in eating all these delicacies.  I was always very slim, because of all the walking/ weight training, (carrying heavy school and lunch bag) and also the weekly PT classes were  enough to keep me fit.
I was also the shortest person in our family, that kind of kept me worried,  till I heard people telling me, that if I included lots of protein, (Dhal) in my diet,  and did skipping everyday, I would grow tall.
 Also I made my parents buy a tonic called "Incremin", (with the picture of a Girraffe) which was a very popular tonic those days, to increase in height. I think even now it is sold in  all the chemist shops.
Well, the combination of all the things I did finally helped me reach a reasonable height of 5ft.3 inches.

We had to move again, and this time to Calcutta, where I joined college. Here again although the college was close by, yet  not close enough to walk, for my college was in Golpark, and we had our house in Prince Anwar Shah Road. My college timings were also pretty weird:  our classes would start at  6.15 am, there were no buses plying, so early from near our house to the college. My dad used to drop me in his Vespa scooter, but while coming back,  I would still have to walk a bit, from our college to the Dakhuria Bridge, walk over the bridge and reach the end of the Prince Anwar Shah Road, to catch a rickshaw to our house.
Thank God, I no longer had to carry heavy bags.

After two years, we moved to a house in Keyotala, which was just  8 minutes walk to my college.
However, being in college meant,  roaming around with friends, window shopping ( Gariyahat, Lake market), hanging near the beautiful Lake used to be  our favorite way of passing our time. Me and my friends always walked everywhere, and we were all very slim and fit.
Marriage, found me setting up family in Bombay, and there too walk, walk and walk, to the market, to the bus stop etc. And all these places were hot, 
 In Guwahati,  Agra,  Calcutta,  at least, there was some winter  too. However, Madras and Bombay were always, hot, hotter and hottest.
After two kids, I found my weight going up gradually, mere walking was not good enough, to lose the extra baggage I found myself carrying around.

In the meantime we had shifted to what was then a cool, cool Bangalore, I was still a great walker, literally walked everywhere in and around Indira Nagar, be it the whole of  100 ft. Road, Jeevan Bhima nagar, Domlur etc, but the weight wouldn't budge. I joined Yoga class, Gym, Swimming,  still no result. Then  I joined Aerobics class, and felt this was what I was meant to do.

Those days there were no  courses conducted  to become an  Aerobics Instructor and  aerobics was what I wanted to learn, and take up as a career.
So after attending  various aerobics classes, for a few months, I decided to stop all the classes and start my own self training in aerobics and fitness by recording all the fitness shows telecast from the US, and Australia beamed at odd times, on the TV,  at around 3 a.m/ 5 a.m,  then practicing after the children left for school. I was so focused on fitness, that within one year of constant practice, I could master all the moves shown by various Instructors in the TV shows,  that I was recording.  I  felt, I was capable to start my own Aerobics classes.

At the age of 34/ 35,  I was a full fledged fitness instructor with my very own set of classes.
From that day, I  have never looked back, I was always into fitness/ eating healthy, and literally enjoying my job, which was win win all the way, for here I was paid to keep others fit and in return get to be fit too. Which other profession, can boast of such benefits, and also by the time people left for their regular jobs my job for the day was already over. I could stay at home, earn money and be fit too.

People started telling how young I looked, they would be shocked when they came to know my age, and they would be equally shocked to see my grown up children. I was  having a good time enjoying all the compliments coming my way. Till I reached 50, I was flooded with compliments, then, I noticed that, I started to put on weight, slowly but steadily, the weight, that went up never really came down, and soon I became 8 kilos overweight. No amount of exercise had any effect,  in fact the harder I exercised and dieted the more the weight seemed to be determined to stay there.
I did a lot research and found that weight loss at my age was not going to be easy, as here no diet or exercise was going to help me much,  as I was at a stage where my hormones were getting confusing signals,  and till they became balanced ( which would take its own time), I would have to bear my weight gain with a smile.
The more I exercised the more it  would act against what I desired. So, although I felt fit and had the stamina to workout a lot, my metabolism will always be very low, and the weight will always be in places where I did not want it to be.
The solution for this is to cut down my exercise to normal, do a lot of yoga and meditation, and do lots of weight training, limit my cardio, keep it to normal: this will not only make me feel better, it would also help me get  closer to getting that toned body which I had. However, I must not try to hurry, I must be patient, give my body all the time it needs to balance itself, and soon I  would see the results. As we all know, water is very important to lose weight and it would also help in balancing the hormones, and keeping us healthy. I was always drinking lots of water, and now I have increased it to more, and the results are slowly showing.

At every step exercise has been a part and parcel of my life, telling me when to go for it, when not to over do,  and when to slow down.
I am grateful, that  I am not going through the various pains and problems,  that people generally go through during this phase of life, and I am learning to feel totally comfortable and at peace with myself and my body.

 Exercising is still like an addiction to me, I love trying all the different kinds of exercises shown in the Youtube, but I am smart, I know when to stop and take it easy. I don't want to be a hurdle in my own road to success.
 Cheers to exercise!!!