Search Results for: weight loss

April 28, 2021 By Mrinali Dwivedi 1 Comment

All You Need To Know About Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is an umbrella term for a long standing functional (relating to the function of) gut disorder that affects around 1 in 10 people worldwide. It is more common than you may think. It has now been recognized as the most common debilitating gastrointestinal disorder in the general population globally.

Classically, IBS manifests as abdominal pain or discomfort, that is relieved by passing stools or is associated at its onset. With an alteration in the stool frequency (either an increase or decrease) or a change in the appearance of the stool (to either loose or hard). There is still a lot that is being researched about this disorder, and although there is currently no cure, we can still manage the symptoms and live a quality full life!

What Causes Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

While the main causative factors of this disorder are uncertain, it is considered to be caused by a play of numerous physical as well as emotional factors. Physical factors being lack of physical activity, improper dietary habits and poor sleep quality, coupled with a number of emotional stressors and impaired mental health. Research has shown that those who endure extended periods of stress, anxiety and depression, are more prone to experience IBS related symptoms & vice versa. However, people who consume high doses of antibiotics or antidepressants, are more likely to experience this symptom complex.

What Are Its Symptoms?

The symptoms of this disorder vary individually. They can range from constipation, diarrhoea, bowel movements that are alternating between constipation and diarrhoea, bloating and abdominal pain/discomfort. Symptoms can be exacerbated on intake of certain foods and drinks, called ‘triggers’ or on days that the individual is experiencing poor sleep or excess mental pressure.

Note: If you are experiencing any other symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, blood in the stools, a prolonged change in bowel movements for 6+ weeks or have a family history of bowel cancer, consider consulting your General Practitioner.

How Can It Be Managed?

Diet and Lifestyle

Keep a Symptom diary to help identify potential trigger foods
Practice Mindful eating: Eat slowly without any distractions like television or mobile phones
Yoga and Physical Exercise can help reduce stress and some symptoms. It also aids in maintaining a healthy weight status.
A varied diet is the key to microbial diversity. Having a balanced meal with foods from different food groups helps maintain gut microbiota
Limit fruits to 3 portions/80g a day. This is because of the fiber profile of fruits that may interact with gut mobility
Probiotics may improve symptoms, yet an individualised approach is needed

Food and Drinks

Avoid long gaps between eating. Regular meal timings and controlled portion sizes prevent symptoms from exacerbating
Consume lots of fluids, approx 6-8 glasses a day. However, limit fizzy drinks
Spicy foods can irritate the gut lining, especially if used with highly flavoured ingredients such as too much onion and garlic. Limit them!
Caffeine should be reduced to less than 3 cups a day (tea/coffee)
Reduce Alcohol intake to 30-60ml or even lesser per week
Resistant Starch is seen to exacerbate symptoms. Reduce the intake of cooked and cooled carbs like frozen pizza/cold pasta, day old boiled potatoes, etc. or refined wheat flour products like bakery products

We hope this article helps you manage Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below and share this article with someone who needs to read it! For more on living a healthy lifestyle, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

To get the right guidance for lifestyle issues such as IBS, Subscribe or Renew your GOQii subscription now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu

#BeTheForce

April 3, 2021 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Shreyans Ravrani Shifts From Illness to Wellness!

At the age of 38, Shreyans Ravrani led a lifestyle which wasn’t very different from the working professionals of his age group. As a Gujarati, his diet involved regular consumption of oily food and sweets, something he never realized can be detrimental to his health. He didn’t maintain portion control nor eat a balanced meal. Physical activity was almost nil and to add to it, his stress and sleep were negatively impacted due to work pressure and traveling.

He had joined GOQii in 2017 as he found the personal coaching feature appealing but did not stick to his plans or take being healthy seriously. In June 2019, Shreyans Ravrani was diagnosed with high cholesterol and fatty liver disease. He was faced with 2 options – either live with the prospect of lifelong medication or adopt a healthier lifestyle. He chose the latter and his life changed since then.

Making Positive Changes

Shreyans Ravrani realized he had to reduce his weight. He weighed 77kg with a BMI of 29. In order to get healthy, he renewed his subscription with GOQii in July 2019 and got more serious about utilizing personal coaching. He already was consulting a dietitian and he started to validate all her suggestions and inputs with his GOQii coach.

These were the changes he incorporated:

Took sugar and fried food off his diet
His breakfast included oats or idli.
For lunch, he reduced his chapatti intake to 3 and included lots of salad and buttermilk
For dinner, he mostly had soup or a light khichdi.
He stopped snacking on processed foods and shifted to fruits, roasted chana or makhana along with green tea.
He began walking for 2km every day but that wasn’t enough to burn fat. So he began running in August. Initially he felt breathless after 350m. By November, he could run 5km a day. From a strenuous activity, his running time now became his “Me-Time”.

As a Jain, he was used to fasting which helped him control his hunger pangs even as he reduced his meal portion. He says, fasting gives you mental strength and distracts you from the thought of food, which he was able to do successfully.

Levelling Up The Game!

By November 2019, Shreyans Ravrani participated in and completed his first 10k run within 65 minutes. In December 2019, he did it again but completed it in 60 minutes. He was happy that he managed to beat his previous time so quickly.

Between July – November 2019, he had reduced 14kg. Seeing this, his coach had to ask him to cut down on his running and add some strength training routine to his workout. He ensures that he completes his quota of running by spot jogging at home even during lockdown!

He regularly participates in health challenges organized by GOQii with the GOQii App from time to time including the current 30 Day Quarantine Burn Challenge.

What Does Shreyans Ravrani Have to Say About His GOQii Coach?

Shreyans is extremely thankful to his GOQii Coach for her contribution towards his transformation. He thinks the best part is that he can ask questions as and when they arise in his mind and get them answered by an expert quickly. She is also a constant motivator, following up with his habits, progress as well as guiding him in the right direction. He feels it helps when you have someone monitoring your habits and giving you timely feedback.

What Changes Does He See in Himself?

Apart from weight loss and his vitals returning to normal, he says the complete change of mindset towards health and fitness is worth it! His entire family is now more aware and diet conscious. Every member makes sure to burn off extra calories as and when they indulge.

Do you want to make a lifestyle change as well? Download the GOQii App and subscribe now.

For more inspiring user journeys, read here: https://goqii.com/blog/category/user-stories/

#BeTheForce!

February 20, 2021 By GOQii 4 Comments

Shreejit Nandkumar Reaches His Health Goal With Determination and Consistency!

Losing weight or getting fit isn’t just about hitting the gym regularly or having a fitness regime. Pumping iron by itself cannot guarantee sustainable weight loss. It needs to be supplemented with a proper diet as well. One of our players, Shreejit Nandkumar, learned this little fact that changed his life forever.

A 47 year old working professional based out of Mumbai, Shreejit Nandkumar received the GOQii tracker through his former company, Schneider Electric, around 6 years back. Initially, he did not find the time or inclination to follow his Coach’s instructions due to his hectic work schedule but he followed a fitness regime religiously. His diet however, was not balanced at all as it included a lot of sugar intake, alcohol and large portions on a daily basis. In spite of not missing a day in the gym, his weight didn’t seem to reduce. He weighed around 100kg till lockdown in March 2020.

Lockdown – A Blessing In Disguise?

When the pandemic hit hard, the work from home routine and being confined indoors came as a blessing in disguise for Shreejit Nandkumar, who now found the time to interact with his coach regularly. With gyms shutting down, his weight training was heavily compromised. He began cycling early morning which turned out to be an enjoyable experience. He now cycles for 2 hours, covering 50km every day. With gyms open now, he does his weight training in the evenings.

Balancing Nutrition With Exercise

For Shreejit Nandkumar, a major shift has been his diet and calorie consumption. He begins his day with warm water mixed with honey and lemon. Then some nuts followed by a high protein breakfast. He is advised to keep his dinner light. His alcohol consumption has been reduced from every week to once in 4-6 months. Desserts and sweet intake is almost nil. Thanks to these minor modifications in his diet, he was able to reduce his weight to 85kg, body fat percentage is 15.7% from 24% and visceral fat is within healthy range.

He says that his daily interaction with his GOQii Coach, Unnati Cheddha, and her guidance has helped him see fitness from a new perspective. He has come to realize that meal timings, pattern and portion size have to be in sync with exercise. He says, “Every small thing matters and it’s important to try and be fit every day. It’s a continuous journey which has no detours and stops!”

What Does Coach Unnati Cheddha Have To Say About Shreejit Nandkumar

Shreejit Nandkumar has always been very determined towards his health goal – which was to lose weight. Weight loss was also targeted in a healthier way. Body analysis was done to keep a check on his body fat percentage and muscle mass.

He is very passionate about exercising. He will never miss his workouts. Before lockdown, he used to go to the gym regularly, which came to a pause. But this did not stop his passion towards achieving his health goal. He continued his activities with the same motivation and dedication. He was not able to do weight training exercises due to space constraint, so he chose the outdoor option of cycling. This was quite refreshing for him. He still doesn’t miss a single day and feels incomplete without it. Besides physical activity, Shreejit has been very particular with his food habits, maintaining low fat, high protein, moderate carb diet with good water consumption. He also takes adequate rest/sleep hours to recover and rejuvenate. Shreejit started his weight training as soon as the gyms opened in Mumbai.

Changes observed

Weight loss: 100kg to 85kg
Waist inches: 40“ to 32”
Body fat percent: 20.5% to 15.5%

Shreejit’s sincerity, determination, dedication and consistency helped him achieve his goals in a healthy manner. We hope this story inspires you to make a positive and healthy lifestyle change as well! Head over to the GOQii App or our website to begin your journey today! For more inspiring stories, check out Healthy Reads.

Want to share your story with us? Fill this form and we’ll reach out to you.

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January 9, 2021 By GOQii 1 Comment

Always Look At The Big Picture – Mukul Bhartiya User Journey

We often treat health as a one off objective but what happens once we achieve our goal? Do we fall back to our previous habits? While keeping health goals, it is important to always look at the big picture. While losing weight is a good target, being healthy should always be a lifelong goal! This is something our player Mukul Bhartiya understood during his journey with GOQii. Let’s look at his journey in his own words.

Finding GOQii

I started my journey with GOQii around two and half years back and my purchase decision was a result of meeting Vishal Gondal in 2012 at IIT, Mumbai where he was one of the speakers. I was looking for a fitness band and while researching, I came across GOQii. I immediately jumped in without having a clear idea of what I will do with it. Unfortunately, after just a month or so of purchase, I became very busy with work, having very little time to spend on my health. There was a disconnect with the coach and the 3rd coach assigned to me was a tough task master with his own ideas of fitness and health. So I decided to quit the journey.

I am a Black Belt in Shito Ryu Karate Do, but left practicing it around five years back due to personal issues. I kept myself active for a couple of years but after that, I became lazy, spending lots of time on social media, following twitter trends, validating my view point through anonymous writer’s rants. This time, around four months back when I looked at one of my pictures, it gave me a clear idea that I needed immediate help. I was weighing 84kg. Around 10 years back when I signed up for a weight loss program, though I lost 11kg, it was at the cost of my health. This time I needed certified people guiding me, so I went for GOQii!

Mukul Bhartiya Begins His Journey Again

My coach Ms. Falguni Bhojak is a patient and understanding coach and mentor. She asked me about my routine and my health objectives. She encouraged me to speak more about my health objectives, challenges and limitations and it resulted in a personalized health template for me. I years back. I wanted to lose weight fast, but she drilled down a few things in my mind, like “not everyday will be the same, I need to focus on the bigger picture and not allow failures to bother me”. We set a target of 1.5-2kg weight loss per month and made it a one year project. She also said that though weight loss is my immediate target, good health should be my lifelong target.

Ms. Bhojak’s first and foremost interest was to pull me out of laziness and make me active. She told me, “Mukul, can you start with half an hour of low intensity activity?” and guided me with the same. Now, what was “half an hour activity” around three and half months back, is “more than three hours activity” ranging from moderate to high intensity. In three and half months, I have lost 12.5kg. I am walking around 14-15km per day, spending around 30 minutes on martial arts, 20 minutes on yoga and eating healthy. Even on a bad day, I walk more than ten kilometers.

What Were Some Key Learnings?

Start always matters, even if it is small: I started with around 15 minutes of lazy activity and now I keep thinking how can I incorporate exercise in every activity.
There should be a bigger picture than the big picture: My coach’s question made me think what will I do after losing 20 kg? I have created a bigger picture for that and it has made my big picture look like a journey than just an end result.
Break the big picture into smaller pixels: Big picture may look daunting and many people back away, so break it down into smaller targets. Achievement of targets work as a reward mechanism for efforts we are putting in.
Stay consistent: Not everyday will be your best day. If you have a bad day, work hard the next day and make it better than your best day.
Everything needs time: You can’t make things happen by the snap of your fingers. Every result is the outcome of many actions you take on a daily basis to make it good.
Have someone who can critically analyze your actions but will be considerate and a helping mentor. Ms. Bhojak encourages me to ask questions, list out my challenges, immediately points out my deviations and keeps exercise routines which interest me.

There are options in the GOQii Arena where players can share their achievements, their story and their now-then photos and people share their achievements daily. Then there are “active month” challenges where participants can see their points, badges and ranks. There are some feature stories of achievers as well. There are many like me who either learnt or re-learnt something during their journey with GOQii. If everyone shares their stories, their journey, challenges, pain, achievements and guides each other from their experiences, moderated by experts, it can create a Facebook of “Health and Healthy Community”.

What Does Coach Falguni Have To Say About Mukul Bhartiya?

Mukul joined with a goal of losing 20kg of weight. He was doing meditation but workout or physical activity was missing due to the lockdown. We started with 30 minutes of workout. Moving ahead, as he was a trained Martial arts karate player and enjoyed doing it, we started with Martial arts as his exercise along with 20k steps.

He was following healthy eating and early dinner, but portion control was needed. So, we started working on it. He was quite determined and with his consistent efforts and hard work, we were able to see a loss of around 14.7kgs in 4 months.

The best quality of Mukul is that he is a very active GOQii Player who keeps updating his routine on the app and also discusses his challenges and progress with me on a regular basis – which is very essential in achieving any goal.

Does the journey of Mukul Bhartiya inspire you to begin yours? Head over to the GOQii App or our website to begin your journey today! For more inspiring stories, check out Healthy Reads.

#BeTheForce

Shreyans Ravrani Shifts From Illness to Wellness!

Making Positive Changes

Levelling Up The Game!

What Does Shreyans Ravrani Have to Say About His GOQii Coach?

What Changes Does He See in Himself?

From Burnout to Balance: How Dr. Ranjit Reclaimed His Health

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From Terminal Illness To Complete Wellness! Ananda Mukherjee Health Story