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“Whatever I choose to do, I do it to get out of my comfort zone”

Harpreet

She is extremely hard working and does not give up easily. She does not like doing anything out of the ordinary. She loves to get out of her comfort zone and challenge herself. She started trying herself at outdoor activities such as trekking just three years ago. Today, she is lighter and fit with loads of stamina and very comfortable in the outdoors. Now she is getting ready for her next big challenge- trekking to Everest Base Camp. Let’s hear Harpreet Gondal’s story in her own words.

It all started with me wanting to go to Hemkund Sahib- a holy place for the Sikhs which is at a fairly high altitude in Uttarakhand, so I started trekking in the Sahayadris and working out regularly to be able to make the holy trip. I started training with a personal trainer from January 2013.Unfortunately, the Uttarakhand landslide led me to cancel my plans and then came Oxfam Trailwalker in the picture. So, I focused my energy to prepare for the 100km trail walk with a bunch of girlfriends. We started trekking once every month and proudly called our group the “Trekkerinas”.

Ever since I started working out there has been no looking back. GOQii has helped me to further strengthen my resolve to exercise every day. Having successfully completed the trail walk only led me to believe that I could do more. Thereafter, I did two 10km runs and finally the 21km in January 2014. I got encouraged to do more and that’s when a bunch of us GOQii players decided to go do the Markha Valley Trek in Ladakh. It was our first time to Ladakh and high altitude trekking.

Though I completed the trek, I would not term it to be a success for me. But, it did teach me a lot about myself and my body. This is where my coach and the GOQii team (Anusha and KK) were very helpful. Just watching and listening to people like them made me believe that I should keep training and keep trying. This motivation and the sheer will to keep going and not let being a mom, wife, being overweight etc pull you down was all thanks to GOQii.

When I got on to GOQii sometime around early 2014, my health goal was to become fitter to be able to do all the adventure activities that I strived for. That’s been my sole goal. Of course, I want to shed the extra kilos but, being mentally and physically stronger has always been a bigger goal for me. I also wanted to make a permanent lifestyle change, I have oscillated enough with yo-yo diets and wanted to get over that phase. GOQii has helped me make a lifestyle change and now I feel far more comfortable with my body, my self-image, more peaceful and happy with the way I lead my life.

With GOQii, I have realized that you shouldn’t wait to shed that weight and then attempt the adventures you always wanted to do, there is no right time, just go ahead and start doing why you want, you will learn in the process but, of course, one must focus on training to their best capacity and capability.

GOQii has made me conscious about the correct food habits to adopt not just for myself but for my children as well. I am more aware and conscious of my physical well-being and I absolutely love the control I have on myself now.

As for EBC, I would say whatever I choose to do, I do it to get out of my comfort zone. I have been looking forward to this challenging trek. Going to the mountains for me is a ‘Soul Spa’.

What does Coach Hardika Vira have to say about Harpreet Gondal

Harpreet is extremely sincere and dedicated. Knows what she wants and tries her best to achieve it.We were working on her inch loss and she desired to become fitter and lighter so that she could trek easily. She has been truly dedicated to workouts from the start. Currently, she is working more on her endurance and strengthening exercises, – there’s a good combination of workouts to be done for a longer duration, low intense to improve stamina and endurance and strengthening exercises to help improve lower, upper body and core strength which is very important when you trek. But, not to forget about the rest period that is required for complete recovery of muscles.Nutrition wise – We ensured healthy balanced meals throughout the day. Concentrated on good pre and post workout meals.

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“My dream project has been to trek to EBC”

Jitu Arora with several of his Marathon medals

Jitu Arora with several of his Marathon medals

From running marathons and half marathons for several years and then suddenly becoming inactive, to weighing 95 kgs and not being able to walk even 10000 steps is scary isn’t it? Jitender Arora has been through this scary phase until one day when he realized being scared is doing no good to him. And rest, as they say, is history…. Let’s here from Jitender how he brought about a healthy change in himself and getting back to being his old fit self. Jitender’s story in his own words.

For almost a decade I stayed in the US and the UK till about 2011.  During, my days abroad I was extremely fit. I indulged in a lot of outdoor activities and ran marathons and half marathons regularly. I had finished 3 full marathons and a dozen half marathons. My downfall started when I shifted back to India. I got huge responsibilities at work. I was looking at functions with multiple geographies and too much traveling and erratic eating habits took a toll on me. Due to lack of any physical activity, I had also cultivated a few habits that I should not have. All this led me to put on weight and my lifestyle was also very stressful. Overall, very unhealthy. I weighed 95 kgs and wasn’t even able to complete 10,000 steps in a day it used to be a very tough task.

I joined GOQii in May 2014. The band was a gift from my wife on my birthday. She watched the review by Rajeev Makhani on NDTV and thought I needed it. She was right, I definitely needed it because I was overweight and was not really into fitness.

But, to be honest I started using it seriously only when Shimpli my coach told me about the 100 Km trail walk to be held in December 2014. I thought that is a good challenge to give myself and I started training for it. I had decided I will walk and see if I can complete it. If not, it would just be about meeting few other like-minded people and that will give me an extra dose of motivation. I seriously trained for the trail walk.

I also started with yoga and strength training because I felt just cardio was not working for me and I wanted more of a complete turnaround. I got back to my running and back to running Marathons.

On the day of the trail walk, I was confident I could do this walk within 48 hours and do it in a pretty decent time. I was only hopeful because of the training, the coaching support and the device itself helped me kind of understand my goals better and I started pushing myself a little bit more in terms of being more active by changing my lifestyle, changing my eating habits, hydrating better. A lot of these small suggestions by my coach has helped a great deal in the   past one and a half years.

Ever since I got back to my healthy self, I have been challenging myself to do various things. I did the 100 KM trail walk twice in two consecutive years, I have done 12-13 half marathons in last few months, I have done the devil’s circuit in Gurgaon. My next big challenge is to trek the Everest Base Camp. And, I am going this May. I have always loved the mountains. I have done a couple of small treks. I guess for every individual who loves the mountains’ their dream is always to get close to Mount Everest. So my dream project has been to trek to EBC. It’s going to be challenging for me but, more than anything I think I am going to come back more knowledgeable and fitter and perhaps be more appreciative of the nature.

I am looking forward to my EBC trek as I am going with few other GOQii players. I treat them as my second family so that’s again a comfort factor for me.

What does Coach Shimpli Patil have to say about Jitender Arora?  

Jitender is one of the most vibrant and cheerful people I have ever known. He became a part of the GOQii ecosystem in the very initial days of GOQii. When I spoke to him for the first time, he expressed that he was a very active person while in the US, but lost track of any kind of physical activity once he came back to India. He was thus aiming to get back to his fitness again. We started with some simple cardio exercises and later moved on to interval training with intense core strengthening. The best aspect was even though we wouldn’t communicate every single day, he made sure he caught up with his workouts and astounded me by sharing his workout summary at the end of the week.

We also focused on his eating habits, especially his pre and post workout meals. After a few months of coming on board the GOQii platform, Jitender registered himself for the 100 km Mumbai Oxfam Trail walk, we teamed up together. At no point in time, did I see Jitu losing his motivation to complete the walk? His energy levels started dipping, his feet started giving up, his body started aching but, his willpower was strong and that kept him going and he successfully completed the trail walk.

It did not stop here. Soon after he got himself into various activities including 10 k run (TCS Bangalore), 10 Half Marathons- including Standard Chartered, One 15 KM trail Run, 100 km Mumbai Oxfam Trail walk once again, one 30 Km Road Run (Gurgaon) and one Devils Circuit (NCR 2016) and the list continues!…he is currently preparing for his big Everest Base Camp. Jitu is a great inspiration to many, and is a perfect example of how to reconnect to the disconnected path, and stay up to it!

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“I can run up to five to six kilometers today which I could never do before”

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He did have a proactive life in the past being in the development sector but, monotony sacked his lifestyle and health became an unimportant aspect to look after. His body repudiated any form of physical activity after a slip disk issue he had in the past and slowly fear dominated his mind with respect to carrying out any form of exercises. His body kept pulling him down with various other health issues but he decided not to give up. Take a look at what Amit has to say about his journey…

I have been working in the development sector for almost 17 years now and have had jobs that have kept me active but, as I have grown in my career path it’s become more sedentary, with minimal fieldwork involved.

Then came a point in my life around the year 2008 when I had a slip disk and with that came a drastic downswing in my physical activity due to which I gained a distinguished amount of fat especially in the abdomen and the face and eventually fear kept creeping up my body against any form of physical activity.

Moving on, I finally decided to do something about it because my stamina and immunity kept deteriorating, I kept falling ill with every change in season and unfortunately I also had sinusitis. So I summoned up all my courage and went and joined the gym. This was around October 2015.

What happened next? Well, I strained my back badly and two months after joining the gym a friend of mine introduced me to the concept of fitness bands. But, the band that he had was expensive so I did my own research and came across Goqii. When I studied the model and the product, I realised that it comes with coaching which in fact I found very interesting.

The coach concept with a fitness band was so enthralling, to have someone guide and motivate you all the time. You know that you can always count on someone out there who is constantly checking up on you. I immediately decided to discontinue my gym membership because I wasn’t getting the kind of support I needed in that environment.

I took GOQi in January 2016 and I got Saba Mirza as my coach. You won’t believe it but, I literally ensure that I am reading my step counts throughout the day and tend to remain as active as possible. My diet, exercises, and my movements are all tracked by her. The prime thing for me right now is the persistent encouragement that I receive from my coach. I know a lot about my body today and I would entirely give my coach the credit for this knowledge I have gained.

Before coming onto the GOQii platform I wanted to accomplish two health goals for myself:

1. Resolve my back problem for which I have started doing yoga exercises and,

2 to Lose weight

Since January 2016, I have successfully lost six kilos, my stamina and immunity have substantially increased and I am entirely positive about myself. There is so much optimism in me now.

As for my diet, in the past, I used to consume oily and junk food. I also sometimes indulge in over eating. All that has stopped now and my diet today has taken a complete shift. I am eating smaller meals frequently throughout the day.

I am a changed person today. The discipline in my life has changed me completely. I am more energetic and agile now and that is helping me complete all my work on time. So much so that the filing of all my important documents and personal papers which were pending for ages have finally found their right places. People around me have noticed the changes in me. They say that I am calmer and less anxious than before.

I can run up to five to six kilometres today which I could never do before and guess what? The salad is something I am going to eat for the rest of my life!

What does coach Saba Mirza have to say about Amit Gordon?

Amit and I started working on his health goals three months back and since then he has been doing well in every goal and every challenge that he sets for himself. His long-term goal is to get a fit and a trimmed body as well as a healthy mind. Our focus was to resolve his back issues, improve sleep quality, enrich the meals with various nutrients and increase the stamina and endurance for the workout. For this, we follow SMART goals and habits for him

  1. a) Incorporating interval training in his normal daily,
  2. b) Doing Yoga and Meditation daily in the morning,
  3. c) Drinking turmeric milk daily at bedtime
  4. d) Having a fruit before running

And right from day one, he is putting all his sincere efforts to be consistent in this targets. Along with that, I have thrown few challenges in his way such as the sugar-free challenge for five days with which he was so intrigued that he himself extended it to seven days. And most outstanding one was the 500 karma point challenge in 21 days which he with all his determination and vivaciousness, achieved within 12 days.

The uniqueness in working with him on his health goals is his yearning to learn new thing and his readiness to accept the new changes. For example, we have started working on increasing his immunity and to prevent the frequent muscle injury. To achieve this, I asked him to add a rich source of omega 3 fatty acid, either from a food source or in the form of supplements.

He took the suggestion and started on cod Liver capsules daily. As part of his journey, we are also working towards incorporating a healthy lifestyle for him. Within this goal weight loss has become a by-product. We are still working on making his life fitter and healthier than before and putting all our efforts to be consistent with these healthy habits and goals.

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“I have been able to improve my half marathon timing by improving my overall fitness”

Last year Thane Half Marathon clocked a timing of 2:43:45

Last year Thane Half Marathon clocked a timing of 2:43:45

For individuals working in corporate, the story is pretty much the same and the reasons for a sedentary lifestyle is also no different. Aasish Kumar’s story hence was no different. On and off he would try his hand at a physical activity like playing a sport, go for a jog but it was not consistent and there was no discipline maintained. But, one fine day he realized let’s try and make a change. Since that day and today, life has a come a full circle for Aasish. He has lost about 9 kgs from 83+kgs to about 75Kgs in just about 6 months and is much fitter and agile. Aasish’s story in his own words….

I work for a corporate and my job is a desk job. It does not require me to move too much. In other words, it’s predominantly sedentary work as far as my job is concerned. Given that work was stationary, my lifestyle was also inactive with no physical activity whatsoever. I tried playing a sport, go for a jog sometimes, and went to a gym but only for few days. Secondly, my food habits were also erratic. I never monitored or bothered much about what I ate. I was not consistent and disciplined in anything I was doing. And all of this was eventually affecting my health. I was aware of my problem but, did not know where to start and how to rectify the problem.

Sometime last year during the first half of the year, I attended a conference organized by my organization. At the conference, as a part of promoting healthy lifestyle we all were given a GOQii band. I did not use the band for quite some time. Then one day, I decided to pick the box and read about GOQii and its offerings. I decided to give it a try. I registered on the app and I got Amee Chandarana as my coach.

I started with setting 2-3 health goals to achieve. One of the most important health goals was to reduce my weight but the same time I wanted to do it in a healthy way. I wanted to improve my eating habits and get more disciplined. I was looking for professional guidance with respect to how to integrate various aspects of lifestyle i.e. food, water, exercise, various forms of physical activity that you can take on and start off gradually your path to health and fitness.

Starting month was difficult for me to suddenly make changes to my lifestyle and adjust to all the exercising etc. But, once I got used to it, I got hooked on to GOQii. I got into a rhythm of using the device and the coach. I wanted to ensure that I stick to my plans and bring about a positive change in me that will in return make a real difference to my lifestyle. Today, I have a regular workout regime wherein I train in the gym with my personal trainer with one day of rest. I supplement the gym training with the information that I get from my GOQii coach.

GOQii has helped me both on the app front as well as on the coaching front. On the app front, I am able to track my fitness, food, water, sleep progress on a daily basis. This is helping me to self-regulate myself and have a disciplined life. I started my coaching some 3 weeks after I started using the app.

With regard to coaching 2-3 things come to my mind. Firstly, there is someone who is keeping a track of what you are doing and equally interested in what you want to achieve as an individual with respect to lifestyle.

Secondly, you are getting important tips from your coach on how you can change your diet by reducing sugar, increasing the water intake, a mix of food that you can have and lastly, your coach also motivates you to clock your 10,000 steps daily. After being able to clock 10,000 steps easily on a daily basis you are motivated to go to the next level. For instance, I started with 10,000 steps initially today, I am easily able to clock 12,000 to 15,000 steps daily.

The coaching does not end with just this, you also get tips on various forms of exercises, yoga, food, etc. It’s a holistic approach with respect to all aspects of lifestyle. It focuses a lot on your health goals and how to achieve this is in a said period of time that you have set for yourself. Thanks to the coaching I have been able to shed about 9 kgs in the last 6 months. I was at 83+ kgs when I came on board the GOQii platform and now my weight is around 75 kgs. My target is to reach 70kgs and I am moving towards this target.

People around me have also seen the change in me. They find me energetic and positive now and are surprised with my change. They are surprised about the disciplined lifestyle that I follow. The time I got the GOQii band, a lot of my colleagues also got but nobody was using it the way I am and now they are surprised at the outcome.

The best part of the GOQii training is that I have been able to run half marathons without putting in any extra efforts to train. I have been able to do it with my regular workout regime. My overall fitness has improved drastically and that has helped me improve my half marathon time. I have cut down my time by half hour. I finished the half marathon in February in 2:12:50 seconds. That according to me is a super cool improvement.

This year's Thane Half Marathon improved timing of 2:12:50

This year Aasish completes half Marathon with an improved timing of 2:12:50

What does Coach Amee Chandrana have to say about

The journey from the start has been remarkable. With small healthy changes like improving water intake to eating in intervals have been finely adapted by Aasish. He is very enthusiastic and determined towards his goals. We also together worked towards running the half-marathon and he successfully completed in 2:12:50 as against his last year’s timing of 2:43:45. The next 10 km run for a cause he targeted to finish in1:10 but nailed it in 1:4 without any injuries. Overall, Aasish makes sure he follows the healthy routine to keep him fit and going.

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