: First Overweight, Then Borderline Anorexic: How I Finally Chose Fitness Over Weight Loss #IndiaNEWS #healthy living Trigger warning: Mentions of Anorexia, an eating disorder (ED). “There was

First Overweight, Then Borderline Anorexic: How I Finally Chose Fitness Over Weight Loss #IndiaNEWS #healthy living
Trigger warning: Mentions of Anorexia, an eating disorder (ED).

“There was a time in my life when I used to starve myself, just to look thin. But over the years, my life experiences broke it down to me that weight gain or looking a certain way doesn’t matter. Being fit and stronger does. That realisation helped me embrace fitness and respect my body,�? says Radhika Nihalani, a fitness enthusiast, mother of two and successful entrepreneur.

Donning many hats, she aces a good balance between her family, work life and, of course, her wellness. Though she says, “It wasn’t an easy journey and it still isn’t. �?

Having a love-hate relationship with her own body ever since she was a teenager, Radhika recalls her weight loss journey from being an overweight teen to being borderline anorexic to dealing with postpartum weight gain and finally getting into a fitness routine.

“All women, especially mothers, might relate to me. I’ve had a roller coaster ride throughout till I finally embraced fitness as a major lifestyle change,�? says the 39-year-old who runs two PR companies.

Always the “plump kid�?

While growing up in Delhi, Radhika says that she was called the “plump kid�? throughout her childhood and never had to experience body shaming or body image issues. “When I was in school, there were no discussions around fat shaming or body image issues and I always felt okay in my skin. Even when people made subtle comments on my body, it didn’t bother me much,�? she says, adding that her perspective and her sense of body image changed as she became a young adult.

Radhika Nihalani remembers being called the “plump kid�? throughout her childhood.

It was when she joined the college that she started noticing her weight had increased over the years. She recalls that her weight was around 80 kg during her early years in college which she felt was a “big size for a 52 girl of that age�?.

“It never occurred to me until I joined a dance class that every single person in the class was a certain size and I didn’t look like them. That triggered me,�? she recalls.

“There was also another incident which happened in my own house. One day my cousin and I decided to weigh ourselves on our newly bought weighing machine. I was sure that my weight wouldn’t be more than 55 kg but when I weighed 78 kg. I could not believe that I had gained weight as I was least bothered about it up until that point,�? she elaborates, adding, “These two became the turning points in my life. �?

Radhika then went on to take extreme measures that resulted in unhealthy weight loss.