My foray into fitness was more of a challenge to my ego rather than an overwhelming desire to be fit. In 2007, while shopping, I selected an XL sized red t-shirt for myself. Just as I was looking to try it, the pretty sales girl remarked “Sorry sir, you will need a XXL size – this won’t fit you.”
I was 37 years old at that time and the penny just dropped. All the pretensions I had about being fit just dissolved. I was crushed because I realized she was right. This episode taught a few things:
Insight 1: Feedback can be a really constructive reality check and set you on a better path. Be open to it. In fact, solicit it from friend and relatives.
Once the reality dawned, it was a question of how to go about getting fitter. I first listed down what I wanted out of the way, and found that I had quite a long list - a size 39 waist, a dodgy back, a sugar problem, low stamina and nearing 40 years of age. To start with, I did some simple things: talked a friend into joining me in this journey, enrolled myself into a state-of-the-art gym, got myself a personal trainer and consulted a nutritionist there – basically backed my intent with hard cash.
Insight 2: Be clear about your objectives and burn all bridges once you start. Else, you will always want to slip back into your comfort zone. Your mind will play tricks on you, but if you spend money, you will push yourself back in.
While working out, I realized I was much more comfortable on the treadmill than doing weights. Never having run much earlier, I realized that I used to get into a meditative state while running and wanted to continue for longer periods of time. Before I knew it, I was running more and more, and I adjusted my physical training and nutrition to accommodate my passion. Remember, I was not a spring chicken and had to be careful about the strain I put on my body. However, I had an excellent team and managed to run my first half marathon at the age of 40.
Insight 3: Do what you love the most, and give in to passion. You will find that most people are very happy to support you in any positive endeavour.
One of the things I realized along the way is that both as head of the family, and as head of the organization, a lot depends on me. Hence, the imperative to focus on physical fitness to keep my mind remains fresh, agile and sharp. I believe this helps me take better decisions and have a very healthy work life balance. After my fitness regime started taking shape, my back problems vanished, I was able to get into size L shirts and my sugar problem was completely under control. Moreover, I had kicked the habit of multiple cups of tea a day, had 3 times more energy than I ever had and a much more positive disposition to life!
I also realized that my enthusiasm for fitness was rubbing off on people around me. My friends and family got into it, so did my colleagues. At the very least, people have become more conscious of what they eat. There cannot be a more salubrious effect on people than this.
I see a lot more people who are fitness conscious than I have ever seen before. With the advent of smart watches, people are aware that “sitting is the new smoking” and they keep themselves mobile. Also, people are increasingly taking up sports like lawn tennis, swimming and squash to burn those extra kilos off.
It is largely believed that one of America’s biggest inflection points was in the early ‘80s when running became fashionable and people just took to it. A healthy America became a wealthy America with so much of energy going into manufacturing and creative pursuits. Conversely, America is home to one of the most obese people in the world today – is it a co-incidence that it is because Americans have given in to a more junk food culture – the jury is out on that.
One last insight. If you want to focus on your fitness, you have to make time for it. One of the biggest “time munchers” is television. My family has not watched TV for 6 years now – we keep in touch with the world news over the internet – and it has freed up so much more productive time for us. Try it – it is like working on your body, the first 3 weeks being the toughest. And then you wonder why you never did it before!!
Vikaas Sachdeva is the CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund.
The views expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cafemutual.