: Depressed Diabetic, I Turned Things Around by Losing 37 Kg Helping 2000 Others #IndiaNEWS #Small Businesses of India Mugdha Pradhan describes herself as a ‘skinny child’ growing up. Raised

Depressed Diabetic, I Turned Things Around by Losing 37 Kg Helping 2000 Others #IndiaNEWS #Small Businesses of India
Mugdha Pradhan describes herself as a ‘skinny child’ growing up. Raised by a mother who was a nurse, they always had nutritious farm fresh food at their house in Whitefield, Bengaluru, which was a village in the 80s. They hardly ate bread or junk food, and Mugdhas introduction to aerated drinks and instant noodles only began when she moved to college to pursue her graduation.

To fit in, she started eating junk. But it wasnt until after 2010, when she started working, that she started to gain weight. “In college, I started having hyperstimulation junk food, but that didnt impact my weight so much,�? she says.

“When I got married and moved cities and countries with my then-husband, I was working as an HR manager. But trying to be the perfect wife, daughter, daughter-in-law, and employee, I lost track of who I was,�? says 44-year-old Mugdha.

When her personal life started crumbling, and she wasnt happy, she says she started using food as a coping mechanism. She says she was in a bad marriage, and their move to Toronto, Canada, increased a sense of isolation.

“Pre-pregnancy itself, I was in a bad shape, mentally and physically. After giving birth to my daughter, I was diagnosed with clinical depression and put on anti-depressants. I was having food to numb myself. I weighed 97 kg, was pre-diabetic, depressed, with suicidal thoughts, and had an auto-immune condition called Hashimotos disease,�? adds Mugdha.

A wake-up call

Mugdha Pradhan turned her life around

It was one fine day towards the end of 2016, that Mugdha reached her breaking point.

“It all slowly kept building up. The anti-depressants added to my weight woes. I was living an inauthentic life in a bad marriage. One fine day, my soul screamed from the inside, and I asked myself what I was doing. That was the day everything changed for me. That was my wake-up call,�? says Mugdha.

She moved back to India in 2017 and started working on herself. She says she initially went to a few doctors but nothing seemed to work for her. She was not losing weight, her energy levels remained low and her mental health also showed no signs of improving.

She was at such a low point on one particular day when she just had Rs 300, and had to feed her daughter too. She had to borrow money from friends. She describes this time as the low point of her emotional, physical and financial self.

She realised that she had to do something and fast.

Having studied nutrition, Mugdha started reading up and delved into research to help herself. “I had a Masters degree in nutrition but worked as an HR rep in startups for almost 14 years.