Losing weight is not as easy as it sounds. Eating healthy, working out regularly and watching one's calorie-intake are not the only things that matter. One has to also be consistent, must possess the determination, the patience and the mental strength to follow up till the end.
UK osteopath Anisha Joshi, who owns several businesses, was never fond of the gym. She did not exercise, ate everything and neglected her health for the longest time. In Women's Health Magazine, she mentions that she was never bothered. No one ever said anything to her and even as a health professional, she never thought it necessary to practice what she preached.
However, things started to change...
The turning point
It was not that Anisha did not try to get her fitness on track. She did try crash diets, lost some pounds. Then she 'yo-yoed for ages,' she says. She weighed over 10 stones, which equals to 63 kilos, at 5ft tall, which meant she was almost obese.
In 2017, the 34-year-old tore a tendon in her wrist while attending to a patient. "I had to have two surgeries. I was off work for three months and it was a weird, scary time. When I got the all-clear to return to work, I had this newfound appreciation for my health – something that my unhealthy lifestyle was totally at odds with. It was just what I needed to make a change." This, according to her, was a turning point.
Workout regime
Anisha joined a local gym, which was not the best, but she thinks it gave her the boost she needed.
She went for group classes twice a week, and lost about a stone, which equals 6kgs. But she knew that it wasn't enough.
"I knew that the workouts weren’t really being tailored to me and my goals – I felt that I was ready to level up," she said.
"I signed up at Raw Performance Gym and started training with a PT, Andrea Watson-Blake. Initially I was petrified – they have a reputation for being a hardcore weight-lifting gym. But despite the fact that it was quite an intimating space, Andrea put me at ease. His approach was ‘one thing at a time.’ He gave me a healthy eating plan (1400 calories per day, with at least 120g of protein) and I committed to sessions with him three times a week," she adds.
Diet followed
Anisha's diet routine looked like:
Breakfast: I always pick something up on the go, like Bircher muesli from M&S, and a protein bar.
Lunch:
Some sort of chicken salad, with protein bar or protein shake.
Dinner:
Grilled chicken, brown rice and lots of green veg.
A slow 2-year process, but consistency was the key
The osteopath describes her weight loss transformation as slow.
"It’s funny, I think I kind of expected it to be an easy process – like 12 weeks and I’d have this incredible before-and-after transformation like everyone else on social media. But that couldn’t have been further from the reality," she says.
"I was losing weight and getting stronger, sure, but oh-so-slowly. Of course, it didn’t help that I’d be bang on plan for five days, and then I’d go out on Saturday night and drink and eat pizza, feel rubbish the next day and eat another rubbish meal because of it," she shares further.
However, over time, with the help of Andrea, she learnt the art of being accountable for her choices.
It took her two years to reach her 9 stone goal i.e. 57kg. She can now manage to do a 240kg leg press, which according to her is quadruple her bodyweight.
What her fitness routine looks like NOW
Anisha now trains twice a week with Andrea.
"We do full-body workouts in both sessions, as well as things like conditioning and range of movement exercises rather than just trying to kill me by making me run with prowler 800 times," she shares.
In addition, she says that keeps tracking her calories, especially to ensure she is having enough protein.
(With inputs from Women's Health Magazine)
