User Stories Archives

September 24, 2022 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Poulomi Bhattacharya Loses Weight, Gets Active & Fit With GOQii

Imagine having a good work-life balance and then a sudden change at work derails your otherwise active lifestyle. You begin gaining weight and that invites a host of other complications you would have not imagined! Our Player Poulomi Bhattacharya faced something similar. Here’s how her Health Story unfolded.

All Work and No Play

Based in Delhi, Poulomi Bhattacharya is a high flying senior hospitality professional. For the longest time she worked in the operations side of the Hotels business where she had a hectic but active life. Then, around 2005, she moved to the HR front in the Learning & Development side. This took a toll on her health in terms of gaining weight. “In Learning & Development, there is not much scope to be active,” she said. She led an inactive lifestyle and to further add to the already inactive lifestyle, was a slip disc that she suffered from.

This kind of inactive lifestyle was coupled with bad eating habits. Due to her hectic schedule, she was eating 3 meals a day at odd hours. During these years, she also traveled a lot and moved between different locations such as Goa and Bengaluru. In 2014, she began gaining weight and also developed Blood Pressure issues. She was on medication to control her BP. She suffered from menstrual issues.

In 2019, she moved back to Delhi for a new job and here, she used to travel approximately 20 days. This kind of fast-paced, on-the-go work environment gave her little scope to rectify her health issues or even be active. Her stress levels were high and thanks to the lack of a work-life balance, she decided to introduce some changes and lead a healthy lifestyle.

In Feb 2020, when she checked her weight, she weighed 71kg. She said that it’s the highest she’s hit in her life. “I realised that I had to find time to do something about it,” she said. Initially she started going to the gym and walking on the treadmill but in March 2020 when COVID struck, she was homebound.

While she indulged in all household chores, she had developed a terrible pain in her arms. The pain was due to lack of calcium. She says her calcium absorption was less and hence, she had to take injections. Her BP was also low and her doctor suggested that she walk for 20 minutes daily.

Making A Lifestyle Change With GOQii

After going through all these issues, her husband began looking for a fitness tracker that could also measure BP on a continuous basis. He came across GOQii and Poulomi decided to try it out. When subscribing for personalised health coaching, her goals were simple – to lose weight, be fit and active.

Initially, she was assigned Dr Naina Sudharshan. Poulomi Bhattarcharya says, “She guided me so well that she became my best friend.” Slowly and steadily, Poulomi started following all the habits set by the coach. Getting active was one of those habits coupled with a nutritarian diet that places emphasis on fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts. Poulomi was also asked not to skip any meals.

She didn’t have a regular exercise routine but she began following live coaches on GOQii Play and GOQii Pro, and now, it has become a part of her daily life. She follows Coach Neha and Coach Anushka’s Yoga classes and they have helped her improve her mental health and strength. She also follows Coach Arooshi’s classes for tips on Nutrition.

For her pre-workout nutrition, she consumes lemon juice with chia seeds in it – as this has the ability to promote a feeling of fullness and also has great antioxidant properties. For the remainder of the day, she consumes a balanced diet that provides energy and nutrients to her body.

Meditation is something that she has introduced to her routine as well. This has helped her with her anger issues as well as helped her normalise her sleep. For meditation, she follows Coach Rounak on GOQii Play.

Some Changes Poulomi Bhattarcharya Experienced…

Since joining GOQii, Poulomi has reduced her weight to 56.4kg and her target weight now is 55kg. She said that she feels much lighter, has more energy and is more positive than she was before. She has completely stopped her Blood Pressure medication as well.

She recently spoke to our Founder & CEO Vishal Gondal on an episode of GOQii Health Stories. You can hear her speak about her entire journey in detail here:

Her current Coach Sheena Nambiar says, “Poulomi Bhattacharya is a very committed person who really wanted to develop her health and fitness levels day by day!”

Did this story inspire you? Do you want to manage a medical condition or simply lose weight? Let our Coaches and Experts help you make a lifestyle change. To write your own Health Story, subscribe for GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

For more inspiring Health Stories, check out Healthy Reads and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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September 10, 2022 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Devyani Chaudhari Overcomes Acidity & Stress Issues With Lifestyle Changes

Does work rule over your “me time”? Are deadlines more important to you than the quality of your meals? Are you prioritizing your work over your health? If yes, then you might have a lot in common with our Player Devyani Chaudhari. Like most working folks, she didn’t have a work-life balance and paid for it with her health. After some major health issues, she adopted GOQii and along with her coach made some sustainable changes. Here’s how her Health Story unfolded.

Working Hard But Not Working Out

Based in Dombivli, Devyani Chaudhari, aged 54, worked in the supply chain side of a pharmaceutical company. She would work from 8.30am to 9pm and thanks to this, she wasn’t able to pay much attention to her lifestyle.

This erratic lifestyle was an addition to ongoing personal issues such as stress due to a toxic work environment, her son’s health, loneliness due to her husband’s death – all of which often lead to suicidal thoughts. She would constantly suffer from terrible stomach aches and high stress levels. To add to it, she also faced a disturbed sleep cycle.

While she tried to manage her lifestyle by eating her meals on time and working out, nothing really worked. “My son took it upon himself to try and find a solution for my issues. He did research and found out about GOQii,” says Devyani Chaudhari.

Making Changes That Worked Out

Devyani came on board the GOQii platform on 16th October, 2019. Her initial health goal was to lose weight. But, her coach revised that to ensure she first gets over her acidity issues which were extremely intense. Due to acidity she would throw up frequently and had developed ulcers.

Since she is a working lady, extensive working hours lead to irregular eating patterns and she used to consume a good amount of junk food too. “Toning the body was always on the agenda,” she says. She tried doing Zumba but due to the high intensity, she could not match up or would end up experiencing some pain.

Devyani was advised to cut down on junk food and instead eat healthy food at regular intervals. Her coach Madhu Soni started with small changes and tried to regularize her meals. Starting with Ajwain, Saunf and Jeera water on an empty stomach, she also asked to take lemon-honey water on alternate days.

Slowly, her meals began to get regularized and intake of junk food reduced considerably. After a few months of opening up and sharing a good rapport with her coach, one day she timidly told Coach Madhu Soni about her urine incontinence. She had been using diapers and feared that her colleague might soon find out.

Based on this, Devyani was advised to do Strength training and then finally walking was her winning strategy which helped her to shed off the excess fat from the body. From 72kg she slowly came to 65kg. Unfortunately, she met with an accident and hurt her ankle and was unable to workout after that. Her weight went back to 77kg. Now, her weight is 75 kg and she is working on reducing it further.

Devyani Chaudhari Makes A Complete Shift!

Owing to some of the changes that Devyani Chaudhari made in her lifestyle, her acidity issue is cured completely. Her stress levels have also gone down considerably. The regular intake of Ajwain, Saunf and Jeera water in the morning and reduced stress played an important part in reducing her acidity levels.

Before, she used to take pills quite often for her sleep issues but now, her sleep quality has improved and the frequency of taking pills has also reduced. Her dependency on diapers has stopped as well.

Coach Madhu Soni’s advice on meditation and chanting the Om Mantra has had a positive effect on Devyani. This helped her quit her previous toxic job and take up a new one with positive people around. Devyani Chaudhari credits her change to her coach saying, “I got a guide and motivator in my coach”.

Does this health story inspire you? Do you want to make a sustainable lifestyle change like Devyani? Subscribe for personalised health coaching here to get started now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

For more inspiring Health Stories, check out Healthy Reads.

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August 27, 2022 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

Yogesh Shah Manages Multiple Illnesses & Gets Healthy With GOQii

Often, managing just one condition can be an insurmountable task. Imagine working your whole life, while your physical, mental and emotional health just spiral downward, while the number of pills you take keep increasing. Our Player Yogesh Shah was in such a predicament where he was dealing with multiple illnesses but managed to overcome them with help from his GOQii Coach Deepali Sharma. Here’s how Yogesh Shah wrote his own Health Story.

Dealing With Multiple Illnesses

Based in Ahmedabad’s Mani Nagar, Yogesh Shah is a 63 year old retired Government Employee. He said that he had a hectic schedule. “There were times when I would work from 7am to 11pm, never even having the sun’s rays hitting my body for years,” he said.

Erratic work hours led to bad eating habits, disturbed sleep and high levels of acidity as he consumed a lot of tea. Yogesh Shah told us that this was his routine for 36 years of his work life. While he was extremely dedicated and diligent towards his work, it took a toll on his health. He suffered from multiple issues which included weight gain, diabetes, hypertension, disturbed lipid profile, chronic stress, bipolar disorder, gastric trouble, anxiety (8-10 attacks a month), palpitations and cervical pain due to a surgery he had 4 years back.

Till 2021, he used to pop 18 tablets daily. Around Dec 2020, he was consuming 26 tablets which included medication for COVID. Despite the issues, he was positive and did not let his conditions damper his way of life.

“I realized I was not doing the right things and that this was taking a toll on my health but, I did not do anything about it,” says Yogesh Shah. The health issues started around 1992 and aggravated in 10 years. His family was worried and felt helpless about not knowing what they could do to help him.

Making A Positive Shift

He wanted to get better, reduce weight and control his illnesses but was not sure how to go about it. Then, just before retirement, he got to know about GOQii from two young women in his office. They motivated him to go for it. Yogesh Shah purchased GOQII from Amazon in Oct 2021. Initially, he found it difficult to decipher and understand GOQii but, slowly and steadily he was able to understand how the platform works.

He followed all the instructions given to him by his Coach Deepali Sharma. She introduced small changes which had a big impact. Over the course of time, he has been able to improve his health and control his illnesses. He says, “Initially I could not understand my coach but then slowly, I started understanding. Some of the changes she brought about made quite a difference.”

His daily routine begins with praying, then gardening in his little kitchen garden. He follows this up with morning meditation for which he follows Coach Rounak Gajjar on GOQii Play. He also follows Coach Sheetal Tewari and Coack Bhumika Unniyal for yoga, meditation and pranayama.

Currently, he walks about 15km on most days whereas before, he would feel breathless even after 1km. On the International Day of Yoga on June 21, he walked 21km. He says that he now wants to participate in the GOQii Trail Challenge 2022.

“Coach Deepali has given me a lot of habits and I follow them religiously. Hence, I have been able to make a change!” he says.

What Are The Results Of Yogesh Shah’s Efforts?

“Nothing will work unless you do. You need to work hard to achieve your goal. This is something which my Player Yogesh Shah has proven with flying colours,” says Coach Deepali Sharma. “Initially, he had multiple issues like weight gain, uncontrolled sugar levels, disturbed lipid profile, chronic stress, bipolar disorder, gastric trouble, anxiety and palpitations.

He used to feel tired after a kilometer walk and now, he is on 21km, which is equivalent to a half marathon. His HbA1c came down from 8% to 6% with almost controlled Fasting blood sugar. Episodes of anxiety dropped drastically from 10-12 episodes to almost nil now. Symptoms like shivering, headache, restlessness are completely out of our book, which were quite prominent before,” she says.

“It’s not stress that kills us but it is our reaction to it and Mr. Yogesh was outstanding in cultivating that positivity with intrinsic motivation. Stress was affecting his sleep a lot. With hard work and determination, he is now out of his anxiety medicines. We worked on setting a sleep-wake cycle as well and relaxation exercises also helped us a lot. I have seen an incredible improvement in his sleep from 2-3 hrs to an average of 5-6 hrs as of now. He is a person with a clear vision and that’s the reason we lost good weight. He is 71.25kg (latest) which was 82 kg when we started. This was achieved by keeping post sunset meals light, adding healthy snacks and carb control,” says Coach Deepali Sharma.

As of now, Yogesh Shah’s medication has been reduced to 13 pills. You can view Yogesh’s entire journey as he speaks to our Founder & CEO Vishal Gondal on an episode of GOQii Health Stories.

Do you suffer from similar conditions? Did this story inspire you to make a lifestyle change? Then reach out to a GOQii Coach and subscribe for personalized health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

For more inspiring Health Stories, check out Healthy Reads.

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August 13, 2022 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Anupa Samuel Lowers Triglycerides and Cholesterol Levels With Help From Her GOQii Coach!

While the lockdown was a great move to curb the spread of COVID-19, it affected the health and lifestyle of a lot of people. Those leading active lifestyles had to be homebound and this led to the development of certain ailments that affect them even today. Our player Anupa Samuel faced a similar situation where her triglycerides and cholesterol levels shot up but with the help of her GOQii Coach, she was able to reverse her condition. Here’s how her Health Story unfolded.

The Journey From Active To Inactive

Anupa Samuel is a 46 year old who lives in Mumbai with her husband and 2 children. She claimed to be a sports enthusiast, playing sports since childhood. She enjoyed playing sports such as throwball and badminton. She was quite active even before the COVID pandemic, walking almost 14km a day.

After the lockdown, Anupa Samuel was unable to participate in the activities she enjoyed. She stopped walking. “It got difficult to walk even 5k steps,” she said. Her eating habits became problematic as well as her lunch and dinner was too heavy and she began eating at odd hours. Although weight wasn’t an issue for her, her triglycerides and cholesterol levels shot up significantly.

Choosing Diet Over Medicine

When she figured her triglyceride and cholesterol levels were high, she made a decision to avoid medicines. “I don’t like taking medicines,” she said. She was willing to do anything apart from taking medication and wanted to solely focus on reversing her condition through diet and nutrition.

When her husband asked his friends and colleagues if it is possible to reduce triglyceride and cholesterol levels through diet alone, they said it would be a difficult task as you need to switch your food habits and eat lots of salads, to which Anupa said, “I can do it!”

Joining GOQii & Making A Positive Lifestyle Change

Anupa joined GOQii on Feb 11, 2022 when her husband gave it to her as a gift. Around April, she was assigned to Coach Nikhil Sapate. “Now, he’s not just a coach but a very good friend of mine, so I’m very comfortable with him,” says Anupa about her GOQii Coach Nikhil.

He closely monitored her habits and took into account her goal of wanting to reverse her condition through diet and nutrition alone and suggested a few changes.

These suggestions included:

Start the day with apple cider vinegar with turmeric and lukewarm water for detox
Drink bay leaf ginger tea in the evening
Eat fruits, roasted pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, soaked brazilian nuts, walnuts and almonds
Include red rice in meals
Eat heavy meals only till lunch, whereas before her lunch and dinner used to be heavy
Post lunch, stick to green tea
For dinner, eat fruits or a bowl of salad
Drink more than 2L of water a day

Apart from the changes above, Coach Nikhil also ensured that she stopped consuming brown bread. She also began indulging in activities she enjoyed doing before. Currently, she spends her time being active throughout the day by walking, playing table tennis, performing aerobics, planks, squats and badminton, etc. She varies her workout to keep it from being boring. Albeit, she tries to cover these activities within a single day. She says, “I enjoy activities so I can give as much time as needed for exercising”.

When her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in April, she had to do hospital visits once a month. While waiting for her father’s treatment, she found ways to keep herself active like meditating while waiting or trying to complete her steps by walking up and down the stairs of the hospital.

Within 6 months of joining GOQii Anupa is already an Elite Player. When asked about her progress, she says, “All the credit goes to my GOQii Coach. He is outstanding. Apart from him, coaches like Anushka Contractor and Mukesh Morwall have helped me a lot!”

This can also be credited to the fact that Anupa is quite active on the GOQii App. “My kids say that I am married to GOQii only,” she said as she has a hard time when she is not close to her GOQii Tracker.

She is a regular on GOQii Play and also joins live online classes on GOQii PRO. Her favorite coaches include Anushka Contractor, Mukesh Morwall, Rounak Gajjar, Sheetal Tewari and Alistair Fernandes as well as she enjoys dancing.

She is also an active reader of the GOQii Blog. Her main goal right now is to improve her sleep and hydration levels. She joins the ASMR sessions on GOQii Play to improve her sleep.

Results Of Personalized Health Coaching With GOQii

At the time of joining, Anupa’s triglycerides were at 345 and her total cholesterol level was at 239. Her TSH levels were at 7.33. “She was looking to bring her triglycerides and total cholesterol down with the help of natural food and no medication,” says her Coach Nikhil. “After cutting processed foods and fried items, she managed to bring her triglycerides down to 187, and cholesterol to 174, while her TSH levels dropped massively to 4.64. The levels were achieved in 3 months,” he added.

As of now, she avoids biscuits, crackers and packaged foods as well as any type of bread. She consumes air fried chicken and fish with minimum oil intake. She also completes 17k steps a day.

“All the changes we made gave good results. She feels that her energy levels have improved and she can work the whole day without any sign of fatigue. She has gotten leaner as well. Now, to achieve her goal of improving her sleep, we’ve begun with chamomile tea,” said Coach Nikhil.

Anupa Samuel made significant changes in just a few months. You can do the same with dedication, discipline and a little bit of guidance and motivation from our experts. Sign up for GOQii’s personalised health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

For more inspiring Health Stories, check out Healthy Reads.

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