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From Overweight to Overachieving! Vijayakrishna Iyengar User Story

Vijayakrishna Iyengar

At the age of 44, he was battling obesity and was also diagnosed with diabetes in May 2016. This was a wake up call for Vijayakrishna Iyengar to take control of his lifestyle and change it for good. A few concentrated and dedicated efforts by him, his doctor and his personal coach have helped him walk the path of good health. In about a year and a half, he lost 50kg and his blood sugar is in control with proper diet and exercise. Let’s hear his story in his own words!

Daily Life and Routine

My life was carrying along. Daily exercise was just walking on the treadmill in the gym for an hour although I followed a strict diet. I guess my biggest flaw was that I used to sleep only for 3-4 hours a day. Bad lifestyles have bad results. Mine was that I was obese, weighing around 138kg with a 48″ waist size and my shirt was 48″ as well. If that wasn’t enough, sometime around May 2016, I was diagnosed with diabetes (252) and that’s when the alarm in my head went off!

Suddenly, there was a need to rectify my habits in order to lead a medical-free and healthy life. I immediately started with some activities on my own. I started going to the gym and began walking on the treadmill. I was only resorting to cardio exercises and ignoring the other aspects of fitness. I had no guidance coming my way so I was not sure if I was doing the right thing.

Enter GOQii

I wanted to start doing the right things. I began by searching for a fitness band and came across many products. Then I came across GOQii! What I liked about GOQii is that it was not just a fitness band but a subscription for personal coaching which focused on holistic healthcare. The personal coach would guide you on fitness and nutrition.

GOQii went out of the way to ensure healthy habits are imbibed by the users. I found that very appealing and chose GOQii. I was very fortunate to get an excellent GOQii Coach who understood my goals which were weight reduction and to get fit, and my coach began advising very relevant habits which I could follow.

Earlier, when I had started going to the gym I only focused on the treadmill but my coach refined that and added strength exercises and core workouts. She also emphasized the importance of proper deep sleep and its advantages. Gradually, the habits set in. It’s not possible to change yourself in a day. With concentrated efforts and discipline, I am now able to sleep well for seven hours. Also, I do proper well-balanced cardio, strengthening and core workouts.

My water intake has improved and I regularly take at least 2L of water a day. All these positive habits helped me to sustain my efforts and make it a habit for a lifetime.

My strict diet (prescribed by my Doctor) followed with proper exercises helped me to reduce my weight (50kg and both trousers & shirts reduced by 10 inches) and the habits imbibed because of GOQii helps me sustain that. With these lifestyle changes for the better, I feel very good and positive about myself. My goal is now to reach a weight target of 75kg.

What Does Vijayakrishna Iyengar Have to Say About GOQii?

I cannot thank GOQii enough! The best part of having been on GOQii is that I can earn Karma Points for being healthy. These points I have been donating to charity. So I am doing my bit for the society as well, which otherwise, we seldom do. I have been maintaining a streak of 211 days (of walking more than 12,000 steps each day) and this helped me to earn a good amount of Karma Points.

Apart from being self-motivated and having a coach to further amplify that motivation, the other big motivating factor is earning Karma points. Whenever I walk, someone who may be underprivileged or having health issues gets the right treatment or support for food or education. What else is required to get motivated to move or to be healthy?

Among the other brands who just sell the band, GOQii focuses on mind, body and soul through physical fitness, meditation, and Karma points. Apart from that, having a dedicated GOQii Coach who understands the unique challenges of individuals and guides them properly to achieve their fitness goal makes it a unique product and service.

What Does His GOQii Coach Have to Say?

Vijayakrishna Iyengar was very determined and motivated when he came on board. I am really impressed by his sincerity. He always tried to do more than the target step count and never missed his workout. Along with cardio exercises, we also worked on doing core workouts and strength training. He has also started slow jogging. Sleep duration and quality improved by avoiding electronic gadgets before bedtime and going to bed by 10:30 pm. I am sure he will achieve his goal to be in normal BMI soon. Seeing him so motivated, motivates me too!

We hope you found this story about Vijayakrishna Iyengar to be motivating! Go on and make a positive lifestyle change today and #BeTheForce!

To share your journey or transformation with us, click here and our team will reach out to you!

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Make a Difference with GOQii Karma

GOQii Karma

We often think of karma as an intangible entity, something that we can’t touch or predict. There’s a fair chance that our notions of karma might not be true at all but that doesn’t negate the fact that doing good creates personal happiness and paves the way for gratitude.

It has been scientifically proven that the selfless act of giving creates happiness and promotes overall wellbeing. The opportunity to do good is a quality present in all of us. Humans by nature are altruistic beings. It is in our nature to help. All we must do is recognize that part of us and walk together for the greater good. That’s what GOQii Karma is all about! A tangible way to see the impact you make on the world by being healthy.

How does it Work?

Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s iconic Dandi March of 390km, for every 390 steps you clock while using GOQii, you are awarded 1 Karma Point. Once you accumulate sufficient GOQii Karma Points, you can choose to donate these points to social causes listed in the GOQii App’s karma section. The points you donate are converted into monetary contributions by our Karma Partners and our Karma Partners help the underprivileged via these causes.

What Has GOQii Karma Achieved?

Since 2015, with the Karma Points donated by our players to our Karma Partners, we have helped and enabled many individuals throughout India. Some of our key highlights include:

1. Supporting Victims Affected by the Tamil Nadu Floods: The heavy rainfall that plagued Tamil Nadu in 2015 drove thousands of people out of their homes. 5479 GOQii Players walked and contributed a total of 3.9 million Karma Points to Oxfam India to support those affected by providing them hygiene kits, non-food items, dry food ration kits, soap and chlorine tablets and hygiene promotion activities.

2. Empowering Women against Violence: Through our Karma platform we were able to aid Oxfam India in their quest to end violence against women. Through this program, Oxfam India reached out to more than 42,000 women to end violence and established 23 support centres within formal and informal locations to provide psycho-social counselling and legal aid to women facing this issue.

3. Upcycling to Slippers for Children in Need: This cause enabled the collection of old shoes and Rs. 199/pair to upcycle them to slippers and donate them to children in need. Greensole’s vision is to contribute to social good, by creating a self-sustaining infrastructure that facilitates the provision of the basic necessity of footwear to everyone. This cause was completed with 1, 30, 00,000 Karma Points donation by our players.

4. Trees for Rural Communities, Chintamani, Karnataka: Still an on-going cause, Grow-Trees.com wants to allow users to satisfy a private purpose of greeting someone through an eTreeCertificate, while doing social good by planting trees. With Grow-Trees you can plant trees with just a few clicks and gift them to celebrate festivals, birthdays, anniversaries or other special occasions using their personalized e-certificate. The cost of each tree is INR 85.

You can browse through some of the causes on the Karma section in the GOQii App. Just like this, every step you take makes a difference. So clock in your daily steps, collect and donate karma points as you never know who you might be helping.

On the day of Gandhi Jayanti, pledge to walk daily so you can help someone else get on their feet!

#BeTheForce

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Fitness for Positivity – How Rupasish Bhattacharjee Overcame the Odds!

Rupasish Bhattacharjee

The transition from childhood to adulthood is very delicate. Everything you do during your formative years shape you as a person. If it is your choices that shape you, what happens when you have no choice? What do you do when certain things aren’t in your control? Do you double down or do you find a way to fight? In the face of hurdles, our player Rupasish Bhattacharjee made the choice to overcome them!

Life before GOQii

Hailing from Bengaluru, Rupasish Bhattacharjee was afflicted with a liver complication since birth. Owing to this, he couldn’t eat or play as much as his friends did during childhood. He felt the need to do something about this as he yearned to live a normal life from a very young age. He did not want to miss out on the pleasures of life due to his health issues.

Thanks to this determination, he got an opportunity to enrol for a yoga program at school. He learned poses to improve his liver condition and though not completely cured, his overall health improved by 70%. After seeing the changes, he got interested in physical activities and participated in various sporting events in school. He moved to Sikkim for his graduation and completed his engineering from Manipal University. His health improved further due to god weather and because he started going to the gym for strength training.

Things were going good till the time he began working. The fast-paced routine between family and work left him with no time to think about fitness. He found it extremely difficult to manage food, exercise and sleep due to his changing shifts. This eventually left him unenergetic and depressed. He felt that being physically active had always been the reason his cheerful attitude and now that there wasn’t any, he was demotivated and negative about everything around him.

Finding a New Lease on Life

Before joining GOQii, Rupasish Bhattacharjee was desperately searching for a solution to streamline everything in his life. Around October 2018, one of his uncles who was a GOQii Player directed him to the platform. He found the coaching model impressive and immediately purchased a tracker.

He set his long term goal to be energetic since it was a major issue back then. His GOQii Coach asked him to start with basic walking and clock 8000 steps a day. He always thought that walking is not an exercise and no good would come out of it but his coach said otherwise. Convinced with the benefits, he began walking.

Around February 2019, when the India Steps Challenge was launched, he became obsessed with walking. So much so that one day he managed to clock in 35k steps on a Sunday. On average, he used to clock in 25k steps a day.

This much walking, coupled with late nights at work and proper rest put a lot of stress on his knees. He developed knee pain and had to discontinue physical activities for some time. This is when he discovered that rest is an important part of being healthy as well.

How GOQii Helped Rupasish Bhattacharjee

Earlier, Rupasish had a lot of misconceptions about food, nutrition and how they benefit the body. His GOQii Coach shared a lot of insights on these things and now he feels he is much more aware with knowledge from an expert and is eager to share his knowledge with the world.

He says that GOQii is a one-stop-shop for all your health needs. It has a tracker to track steps, it offers doctor consultations, LIVE Coaching to guide you whenever you falter in eating or exercise and challenges to keep you motivated and test your abilities.

He believes that our body is like a car which needs to be serviced. Good food is the fuel and exercise is what circulates the fuel to all parts of the body, keeping it in good condition to run smoothly. GOQii is like the authorized service centre for your car where all its problems get addressed and resolved in an authentic manner.

He feels that once you’re associated with GOQii, you automatically feel the need to eat balanced food and correct your lifestyle.

Being a Champion of Good Health

Rupasish is elated that he has been given the responsibility to lead one of GOQii’s Active Sunday Chapters at Bengaluru. He organizes sessions every Sunday at 7 AM. He plans to spread the word about Active Sunday activities to all the people in his society.

He says that being healthy is not just about physical fitness but mental health as well. When you’re happy and fit, everything feels positive. Even though his body may age, he always wishes to be a child at heart – full of energy and cheerfulness!

You can watch Rupasish talk about his experience on our User Journey Special on GOQii Play. Download the app to access many more user stories to get your daily dose of inspiration!

Do you want to share your experience and transformation with GOQii? Click here to share your story!

#BeTheForce

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Win a GOQii Stride Within 13 Days in the India Health Quiz

win a GOQii Stride100 days can seem too short to collect all the awesome prizes offered in the GOQii India Health Quiz. But remember – where there is a will, there is a way. Recently, one of our Health Quiz Khiladis was determined enough to win a GOQii Stride by earning 3000 points.

As a runner, she had her eyes set on the prize that would help her achieve her health goals. The GOQii Stride is a shoe tracker which you can clip on your shoelace. It tracks your steps, distance and calories burned irrespective of the activity, has a battery life of 180 days and is water resistant.

What came as a surprise was that she was able to win a GOQii Stride within 13 days only. Some might consider 13 to be an unlucky number but for this Khiladi, it was a moment of victory! Does accumulating 3000 points within 13 days sound impossible? It is not! Here’s how she did it!

Doing the Math

In order to collect 3000 points, a person will have to participate in around 60 quizzes, provided he/she gets 50 points in all the quizzes. This ideally means that the person will have to participate in more quizzes and to participate, you will need more keys and more lives!

Collecting Keys and Lives

When you download the GOQii App, you begin with 15 keys and 5 lives. This particular player had done the math! As an active person, she used to clock in 6000 steps every day to earn 4 keys. Add that to the 3 keys one receives as a daily bonus, and the total comes up to 7 keys daily. Then the player took the HRA test to earn an additional 10 keys and sometimes even purchased 1 key using 200 GOQii Cash.

She began inviting her friends using her invite code and was able to invite 5 friends. This gave her 5 extra lives for each that joined. She even got them to participate and play quizzes. This bumped up her total lives to approximately 50.

With all the gear she needed, she diligently participated in the GOQii India Health Quiz every day!

Playing and Winning the GOQii Stride

On the first day of the quiz, she used up all her 15 keys. Following that, she tried her best to participate in 8-9 quizzes a day. Here’s what her scores looked like:

  • 50 points in 30 quizzes
  • 30 points in 40 quizzes
  • 15 points in 10 quizzes
  • 5 points in 30 quizzes

She played 110 quizzes, sometimes scoring a straight A and sometimes she had to use a life. In some cases, she was eliminated in the second round itself. Despite minor losses, this technique and level of preparedness, helped her win a GOQii Stride within 13 days.

She is currently using the GOQii Stride and is enjoying the GOQii Plus Coaching as well! That’s it! Winning the GOQii Stride is not that difficult. Though 100 days seem less, a little effort and a lot of math can go a long way! She is currently playing to win the GOQii Vital tracker which monitors heart rate and blood pressure.

Don’t forget that there are Quizzes held every 30 minutes. So invite your friends, participate and win big!

Try using this technique and let us know if you were able to win the GOQii Stride. Is there a specific technique you are using? Let us know in the comments below!

#BeTheForce

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