I lost 10 kilos without spending a single cent— and my life became richer.
2020. A year that changed the world and changed my life.
All of us have certain personal experiences associated with 2020 and the COVID lockdown. For me, it was losing weight.
Prior to the pandemic, I was living life on autopilot as a college student— wake up, attend classes, come home, work on assignments, scroll through social media, sleep. I basked in monotony and remained ignorant of what I was consuming. I would eat whatever felt nice and satisfied my cravings, only to feel like crap after a few hours. To counter the crappy-ness, I would… eat again. And feel like crap again. It was a miserable cycle.
Then, 2020 happened. COVID hit and this cycle broke. It felt like life slowed down, and for the first time in a long time, I started to think. Like, really, think. Reflect. Introspect. Understand patterns and triggers. Analyse habits. Become aware of negative thoughts and emotions.
I knew that something needs to change, and that was my body.
I started working out to videos on YouTube. Every single day. Sometimes twice a day. The options were endless, so I experimented with whatever I came across — cardio, pilates, zumba, HIIT, yoga. I didn’t have a fixed goal in my mind. I just wanted to lose some weight.
For the first couple of weeks, I would step on the weighing scale every day and not see any significant results (obviously), so I decided to stop checking my weight regularly. All I focused on was to get some kind of a workout every day.
After a few weeks of working out consistently, I observed that my energy while exercising depended on what I ate. I became more mindful about nutrition. I didn’t follow any rigorous exercise or diet plan — I just ensured that I moved my body daily, and mainly ate healthy home-cooked food.
Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and my body was changing with each workout. My stamina increased, I could complete a 45-minute HIIT workout without feeling nauseous, I was able to bend forward and place my palms on the floor without bending my knees… The progress was REAL.
I did check my weight occasionally (probably once every 3–4 weeks), and yes, the numbers were down each time.
What I didn’t anticipate, however, was how other areas of my life started to improve because of exercising — more energy, better memory and focus, increased confidence and self-esteem, and most importantly, a strong sense of gratitude for life. With news of tragedy and fear all around, exercise helped me regain control over my thoughts and emotions.
After shedding 10 kilos of physical weight and a lot more emotional baggage, here are some lessons I learned:
- Our bodies are capable of creating magic when we challenge it.
- Consistency is more important than intensity, especially when you’re just starting out. If you cannot sustain something for a long enough period of time, then results aren’t going to last long either.
- Weight loss is not complicated or expensive. If you just focus on the fundamentals — basic exercise and eating healthy — you’re bound to see changes after sometime.
- It’s good to set goals, but don’t let them define you. After all, there’s no destination when it comes to health — being healthy is a lifelong pursuit. Don’t get too consumed by metrics.
- There’s absolutely no downside to working out. A good workout or a bad workout — the net result is always positive.
I am by no means a health or fitness advisor; just an ordinary person who was able to improve her entire life by just working out to free YouTube videos. It’s funny how life became a lot more exciting after I started working out, even though I was locked up at home.
Joseph Pilates, the inventor of Pilates, was spot on when he said:
“Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.”
