About Anusha Subramanian

Anusha Subramanian, a British Chevening Scholar and a two-time award-winning journalist is a health, fitness and adventure enthusiast. She has combined her skills sets of writing and adventure training to be able to work for the larger good of the society by getting more people introduced to the outdoors and adventure.

April 21, 2018 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

Key to good health is practising a good lifestyle

Vilas-player

IT’S NOT A DIET

IT’S NOT A PHASE

IT’S A PERMANENT LIFESTYLE CHANGE

Lifestyle change works for all provided one is determined to make that change. Be it blood pressure, heart ailment, diabetes or even cancer, a lifestyle change has provided the most effective and sustainable result. Many think that making a lifestyle change is an arduous task but, there are few others who think otherwise and are very determined to make that change so as to have a good life in the future. Vilas Lange from Ahmedabad is one such gentleman who decided he wanted to change his lifestyle if he wanted a healthy life in the future.

His journey started with getting a tracking device a year ago, His goal was to reduce his weight and triglycerides. the tracking device GOQii also provided him the coach and doctor facility who helped him initially start with basic exercise and nutrition. Exerciing daily has helped him reach his target step count of 10000 to 12000 steps daily and right nutrition that helped him reduce his weight from 86 kegs to 79 kegs.

Vilas has had an issue of high triglycerides for past 11 years. His triglycerides are very high (@450) however, since being on the GOQii platform he has been able to control it and bring down a bit and is currently working on reducing this further with the help and guidance of his coach, GOQii doctor Andy his personal doctor.

Vilas now follows an exercise regime of walking at least 25 Kim’s a day and on Sundays he works out with the Active Sunday group for an hour.According to him Actove Sunday is a wonderful platform or concept where an inidividual gets to meet like minded individual who motivate and learn each other.

His message to the community is loud and clear ‘Stay Fit to be healthy’

April 14, 2018 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

From couch to running Marathons

rajneesh-Active sunday player

It has been rightly said that you will never achieve your goal if you never try. And, this is exactly what Rajneesh Sharma of Hyderabad has experienced. Rajneesh was lazy and how and had no control over his food habits. He weighed 98kgs and had no exercise routine. Weekends were all about being lazier. Rajneesh Kumar Sharma from Hyderabad felt there was an urgent need to reverse his life but, did not know where and how to start. Last year mid-October it began with him joining the GOQii platform. He was introduced to being disciplined in life, eating right, sleeping on time, exercising etc and the direct impact of all this was that his health got better. His weight dropped to 85 kgs and from being a lazy person sitting on the couch, he is today a very active person. He works out 5 days a week. From not being able to run even for 1 minute, Rajneesh now runs 7 km in 34 minutes. His weekends are also active. His life is reversed for the better. Now Rajneesh aspires to be fitter. He is more active now on weekends as well and Sunday mornings he looks forward to attending the Active Sunday. He says, it is not about just exercising and being active on a Sunday morning, it’s also about meet and talk to people from different lifestyles and listen to their stories and get motivated. Rajneesh has started participating in various Runs organized in Hyderabad. He is happy about the fact that people around him have noticed a lot of change in him.

His fitness message to all is “Don’t give up. Nothing comes easy in life, you have to sweat it out”.

March 15, 2018 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

‘It is not about losing weight but, it is how you manage it’

Shobha Kunju Shobha Kunju

We are celebrating Women’s month and also women’s health. Here is another inspiring story of a woman who with her sheer grit and determination has been able to reverse her illnesses and get on a health path never to turn back.

It is said that it’s never too late to start if you have the right intent and the determination to do it. Shobha Kunju, 58, a mother of two grown-up children is a fine example of the above statement.

Shobha underwent several health issues between 2010 and 2015. She was first diagnosed with thyroid then she had a hysterectomy, and finally diagnosed with diabetes and put on a very high dosage of medications for both thyroid and diabetes. Apart from illnesses, she was also battling weight issues being on the heavier side. No amount of regular walks and exercises helped but, she was active. A ray of hope knocked on her door when her son introduced her to GOQii in 2015. Her eating and exercise habits bettered and she started targeting her step counts. On an average, she started clocking 10000-13000 steps daily. On weekends she goes for long walks -10 km. with better eating habits, exercise and sleeping better helped her in resolving her weight issues. Her weight reduced from 86 kgs 2 years ago to the present 78 kgs, in addition, she has also witnessed drastic inch loss around her waist. Shobha’s determination, self-motivation and discipline have helped her immensely to reverse her ailments and reduce medications. She is free from all medical issues thanks to her active lifestyle. She finds the idea of exercising on a Sunday morning together with other like-minded and motivated individuals very interesting and fun. Currently, she follows a regime of regular 5km walk in the morning with alternate day’s strength training and HIIT workout. Her message to one and all is: “Be disciplined and self-motivated to achieve your health goals”.

February 27, 2018 By Anusha Subramanian 1 Comment

10 simple tips for Running everyday

Running every day can get boring sometimes. It happened to me there was a point in time when I got bored of running and started cycling more often. I had been running for over 15 years. Running every day is not for everybody if you have never run before. Running requires a lot of patience and practice. You have to beat it to be able to make it your daily routine.

Lots of us have to keep going back to square one to pull it off. Newbies should be especially careful because lack of training and/or lack of adequate preparation can easily result in injury. Having said the above, running is very doable and the key to keeping yourself motivated to run is finding the right balance between the quantity and the quality of your runs.

Here are a few simple tips that one can follow. This is applicable to both the new first time runners and those who have been running but once in a way get bored

Start Easy: Do not go all out the first time. Start easy and gradually progress if you are a beginner and new to the concept of running.

Keep short distances: Learn to start running by keeping short distances. Do not start with sprinting. That is not running. I always find people when they start running they start sprinting. Sprinting tires you within seconds of the start. More so when you have never ever run in your life. Jogging is the way to start.

Time train instead of distance train: Ideally it is better to train with time rather than with distance. You can start with a 1-minute run and 3 minutes of walk, to begin with. Most find it difficult to run for even 5 minutes continuously if you are just starting to run. Increase the 1-minute run to 5 minutes and walk for a minute. Try to run for 20 minutes a day for a month in this order and gradually increase to 3 km a day next month.

Do not overdo: If you realize that you are breathing hard or rather panting it means that you are overdoing it. Give your body enough time to get adapted to your routine. Human bodies are very quick to adapt to certain physiological stresses provided you allow it enough time. For instance, if you feel you can increase your time from 20 minutes to 45 minutes with a 5-minute break after every 20 minutes, then walk for 5 minutes. There is nothing wrong with it. Moderation is a key whenever you are starting a new physical activity.

Prepare a schedule: Just do not randomly run whenever you want to. Prepare a daily routine. If you have a trainer or a coach sit with him/her and chalk out a proper schedule for running.

Your schedule should also include good rest periods. For instance, if you ran at 6 am the day before, consider running at 5 pm or 6 pm the day after or aim for (at least) a 24-hour rest period between runs. If you want to shorten your distance do that. Do what is comfortable. Run a km or a mile on some days. Have 3 days in a week with real easy runs when you start out and be cautious. If you need an extra day of rest. Take it.

Pace yourself better. Try and do the long slow distance pace. You will only become better at doing something when you’re able to understand how well your body is reacting and how you have been performing over time. Slow and steady progress is good progress.

Proper nutrition and rest are important: Make sure that the schedule includes proper exercises, nutrition inputs and rest as 3 important components. If you just run without proper pre-workout and post-work meal, stretching and strength training exercises and proper rest all the effort that you are putting to run will be of no use. Go for a balanced diet with simple and complex carbohydrates and protein. Not to mention, getting enough sleep is just as important.

To keep yourself interested run with a partner: There are chances that you are kicked about going running every day but you can easily get bored of your routine. So to tread that path go running with a friend who is equally interested in running or get yourself a trainer who can motivate you every day.

Set a goal to do a long run within 3 months of starting of Aim to run 5 km after 3 months of starting off. Also, set a time goal for completion of this run. Register for a run. Eventually, this will help you bring about a change in your routine and above all, it will give you a chance to look forward to something eventful.

Reward yourself: Last but not the least reward yourself after a good long run. It will not cost much to get a good massage or visit a spa after a long run to feel good about yourself.

Finally, I would like to end by saying that most of us out there run for varied reasons. Some run to just stay fit and because they enjoy running, some run to get over the runner block that they may have. Some run for a cause so they are motivated to run every day. Whatever the reason may be, run every day or at least 3 days a week because it will keep you healthy. It’s a great addition to have!