From Ultra Fat To a Marathon Runner : The journey

The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start .
-John Bingham

The Before person you see was the super fat me in 2007 , the After me is in 2010 and present.
I must caution the readers that the before to after transformation does not include any wonder pill , diet or a magical weight loss program . Its not a VLCC add ( though i was tempted to sell them this pic ) .

The History

My parents pampered me a lot . So needless to say i became really fond of eating . In school i wasn't overweight but a person whom you would call very healthy . I guess the school activities kept the weight somewhat in control and prevented my body from bursting out .
The real problem came when i entered college . There wasn't much physical activity and i really developed a taste for the unlimited buffet at the hostel mess . There are people who eat and eat and still don't put on an ounce , I sadly wasn't one of them . The sedentary lifestyle and the hostel buffet ensured that my waist line grew on a steady upward slope . I touched 88Kg's with a waist of 36.5 inches by the end of my 5th semester .


Reason for the Transformation

One thing you must realize is that there is no magic involved in the transformation nor some dramatic steps . All in all there are no shortcuts , unless you want to go under the knife .
To speak the truth i don't even know for sure as to why i started to actually work seriously on loosing weight . The answer may seem obvious , I was fat !! . But there are many people who are fat and unhappy or nonplussed about it , either way they still choose to remain so . I was the one who belonged to the nonplussed about it group . But you know sooner or later , you do get weary of all the jokes being thrown at you . Others may seem the jokes directed at your body harmless and funny , but they aren't . Even your own parents call u motoo ( they claim that its out of love for you) , but what they don't realize how irritated you get when they call you this with a smiling face .When going out for buying clothes , it again becomes embarrassing since nothing except the XXL fits you , and when you complain to the shopkeeper for not having a jean you like in your size , even he doesn't miss a chance to taunt you. People just don't get how hurtful the jibes can get , specially when in a group . It lowers your self esteem . Its nothing at all connected to that you can't take a joke .

Anyhow being fat was just one of my concerns , the other i still don't find very comfortable talking about . But the combination of the two just became too much to bear .

Getting Fit

First the junk food went out .That meant no ice-creams , no sodas , no burgers and no puris . Kind of a torture diet , but then again to loose the extra fat ,these things go to the poison list . The occasional binge did come from time to time , i am but a mortal who can succumb sometimes to his taste buds . This went on for a year or so and it did bear results . i was under 80Kgs now , maybe around 78kgs .
So now i was in a state where i had been many a times in my life i:e the not fat yet not lean either state . It wasn't good enough for me . Now what you have got to realize is that cutting your fatty foods to get fit , is not enough . I realized this when i stopped getting any progress after hitting the 75-80 kg range . With the weight down and the summer breaks in college , i started running or more like fast walking . It wasn't much , just 1 -2 Km maybe of continuous jogging . But with the weight loss , the body didn't resist the running act . In fact it felt good .

The turning point though came when me and my college buddies went to shimla( for a week) . There you have the altitude thing going , which makes it a tad bit difficult to breathe and the terrain is not flat at all . So i walked a lot there , up the hill down the hill etc . This was where my stamina got a boost . On coming back to Delhi , when i went for my usual run , something felt different . I could actually run now , not the fast walking but actual running .The distance was still very small but still the feeling was awesome. Consistency is the key to success and i made sure i was very consistent with my running . Come rain , come heat , come anything , i ran . First i touched the 2km mark on a regular basis ( running daily 2 kms ) , then the 4km , 6km and finally 8kms ( this transition from getting to 8kms from 2Kms took around 4-5 months) . So now i was doing 8kms runs around 5 times a week ( this was around September 2009) . I coupled my running with some push-ups and crunches .
However September was the time when i started my job and then it really became hard to keep the running schedule. So now i was only doing 2 runs on the weekends of 8 to 10 km each . It was torture , i mean running these runs on the weekends after a 5 day gap back to back was very tiring and painful . It used to leave me almost dead but i never gave up on it .


Inspiration to Getting Fighting Fit

The torture runs went on for a couple of months more till November 2009 and then Heena happened . I run at Lodhi Garden . Generally the people who come there in the evening to jog are either really slow or they just run 1 to 2 laps (each lap being 2Km approx) and 99% of all the joggers are men . So when one evening i saw this girl , running in the park with very good speed . This sight wasn't common and it made me curious and in her next lap i followed her ,obviously not to stalk her but to see how fast she really was . And she was pretty good , much better than the 90% runners at the park . I still was curious as to how much did she run . So one day when i found her sitting on the bridge at the park after her run . I went to her and started small talk . I came to know that she did 3-4 rounds of the park daily !! . I was awestruck , i couldn't believe it and suddenly she became my idol and inspiration . We became good running buddies , it was a delight to be around her and running alongside her . Anyhow getting back on track to the Fighting Fit transformation .
I got free from office early on a day and went to the park to meet Heena . She was as usual running , on seeing me she stopped and invited me for a run . Now imagine this , i was in my jeans , with a tucked in shirt , was not wearing my running shoes and i had just returned from office from a hard day's work . I explained this to her, however she remained nonplussed and told me that she runs after going to college each day , so what's the big deal about it . I had no answer to this . However the incident made me think , i realized that i wasn't making any progress and had somewhat hit a wall , running or struggling to run 2 times a week wasn't good enough . Being a hostler in my college days , i was used to staying up late , but waking up early was an alien concept . However sacrifices have to be made to achieve something better . So now i started running 8-10 Km even in the mornings , waking up at 5:30 am at least 3 days on the weekdays after sleeping around 1 am on the previous night . Here the hostel training really helped since it had trained me to sleep less and still work more (or party more or watch movies more in college) .
I texted her about my each run and the way she appreciated my progress really propelled me to carry on with even more enthusiasm . I even started developing abs ! . it was just great .



From being a regular runner to a marathoner

As i started running in the mornings , soon the running was no more a struggle . The activity became more than just a hobby . Running became a passion , it was where i found my solitude and peace , away from everybody . I was already very fit . But somehow i still wasn't content
with just running leisurely . So i kept on going on and pushing myself harder .
November 2010 came and with it came Airtel Delhi Half Marathon . I had trained myself hard for it . My runs now got extended to 12-16 Km . Finally on the D Day without any gym ,without any advice from anybody about running a half marathon , only with my own solitary running , i completed it in 1hr 38 min ( bib number 8375) . I did not stop here and used my preparation for the half marathon to push even harder than i ever had and extended my weekend Sunday runs to 20-22 Km after the ADHM . Ignoring other peoples advice some of whom were pretty experienced runner's and who commanded respect ( which wasn't very wise of me ) , Registered for my first full marathon the Mawana Sugar Full Marathon in February 2011 and finished it in 3hr 58mins ( according to my watch) , 4Hrs according to official timing ( chest no. 24) . I was still hungry , hungry for more and finally i finished the Delhi Runners 50k Ultra , held in March 2011 at Nehru park in 5 hr 38 min .
At present i mile around 70-80 Km a week . Sundays being long run days , where i push myself beyond 25Kms regularly . I recently ran from my home at Pandara Road( next to India Gate) to a place in Gurgaon ( total distance 40Km approx ) . As for my inspiration and buddy , Heena just did her first half marathon this April , the Bolt 21K (London) in flat 2 hours . I am as proud of her as she is of me . I hope we keep on running hard and achieving things that we desire be it our professional lives or running related goals.