user journey Archives - Page 12 of 13

April 20, 2019 By GOQii 1 Comment

Patience is a Virtue Which Produces Excellence | Santosh Krishnan User Journey

Santosh Krishnan, a type 2 diabetic decided to rise above his excuses to lead by example. Santosh had an HBA1C reading of 8.4 which was alarming for a diabetic. In August 2017, Santosh with the help of a personal coach decided to turn his life around, setting a long-term goal of reversing diabetes which was holding him back from his desired quality of life. Initially his levels were (Fasting: 176, Post Prandial: 204, Weight: 77kgs ) and results didn’t come easy or instantly but with a great level of patience and determination tethered with a supervised diet and exercises, he brought down his levels to ( Fasting: 95, Post Prandial: 139, Weight: 69.8 kgs ). Today, he has an HBA1C reading of 6.8 which is completely normal. When asked, Santosh had much to say about his achievement and he was immensely proud of himself. Presenting his story in his own words.

Santosh Krishnan
Before (Left) After (Right)

“My journey with GOQii started in the month of April 2017. Being a follower of Luke Coutinho on Facebook, I wasn’t new to the world of health and fitness. One day I happened to come across a fitness band called GOQii on my friend’s wrist and immediately ordered one for myself.

Ever since I came on board the GOQii Platform, there has been no turning back. However, it was not a smooth journey. Later, I got to know that Luke was the Master Coach at GOQii. My journey with GOQii has had its ups and downs and I remember at one point I was corresponding directly with Vishal Gondal, the Founder, and CEO of GOQii because things didn’t go my way. I recall the time when I had changed three coaches in a span of four months, ultimately realizing that it was me who needed a makeover on my attitude, but as you will understand, it is easier to blame someone else than take it upon oneself.

My current coach has played a crucial rule in my health. I’m a type 2 diabetic and there was a time when my sugar readings were extremely high. Over the past 6 to 8 months we have made small changes to my lifestyle by introducing new elements like the consumption of ACV, actively keeping a track of all my required activities, which by the way has helped me immensely by giving me an understanding of where I stand and what I should do.

Regular workouts, optimum intake of water, cutting down on junk were the few steps I took combined with my coach’s presence and motivation which was irreplaceable. We know there’s a long way to go and my goal is to totally go off pills. It might be a farfetched goal but with self-belief and my coach’s constant presence, I definitely think it’s possible.”

What did his GOQii Coach have to say?

Santosh’s GOQii Coach was very enthusiastic to talk about her client and was very proud of his achievements. Here is what she had to say: “Santosh’s goal was to reverse diabetes and become healthy again. After my initial call with him, I understood that he’s focused and knows what he wants for himself. We began with basic exercises gradually including cardio and body exercises to the regime. We worked on a schedule per his convenience, I also advised him about the importance of frequent meals, pre-workout and post work out meals, water etc, which he followed religiously. It was a pleasure to see his data on the dashboard, which motivated me to concentrate more on his progress”.

“He seems to have taken charge of his health and his recent reports show that his sugar levels have come down drastically. He lost around three kgs and reduced a few inches on the waist as well. Santosh is super happy with his progress and so am I. It feels great to be a part of his amazing journey,” she adds.

Santosh has left no space for self-doubt in his endeavours and has been patient, constantly pushing his limits to further improve his glittering morale and a healthier lifestyle.

April 13, 2019 By GOQii 7 Comments

Going Beyond The Challenge | Ravishankar User Journey

What would life be without challenges? Challenges can either make us or break us and quite honestly, without a challenge, we would never grow. When life throws what seems like an insurmountable challenge at you, what do you do? Faced with a similar hurdle, Ravishankar Balasubramanian, 43, from Coimbatore decided to take control of his life, challenged himself and took a huge leap towards a healthier lifestyle.

The Challenge

Like most of us, Ravishankar led an active life throughout his school and college days. He used to play Volleyball but as time passed, he fell into a sedentary lifestyle due to work and other commitments. He was at an alarming 118kg. Deep down he knew he couldn’t live like this.

After consulting a doctor, he got to know that he had excess bad fats and needed medication to reduce it. This is when Ravishankar told his doctor that he doesn’t want to rely on medication. He challenged the doctor that he would lose weight naturally in 2 months. And so, his journey began!

Defying the Odds

Ravishankar immediately took to walking. He believed that with an obese body, one cannot perform many exercises. His initial goal became to lose the extra kilos. Through walking alone, he was able to shed 15kg. He knew this wasn’t enough and had to lose more weight. This is when he decided to get some help.

Enter GOQii

Around October 2018, Ravishankar began looking for a fitness tracker to measure his daily steps and activities. Initially, he was confused between the Mi Band and GOQii. Considering the pros and cons of both, he settled on GOQii because of the personalized live coaching feature. He hasn’t regretted his choice since!

Healthy Habits and Transformation

After taking stock of his goals, his GOQii Coach suggested that he continue walking and jogging. His GOQii Coach also introduced him to a few exercises he could practice. In addition, she asked him to start with pre and post workout meals. Initially, Ravishankar was unaware of its importance but decided to trust his coach. Now, it is a regular part of his day.

His coach guided him on his eating habits. He was strictly asked to avoid junk food and go for good proteins. She explained in detail as to why he should follow these habits. This motivated him to be consistent with them.

His sleeping habits improved a lot after inputs from his coach. He started drinking buttermilk with dinner and hot milk before bed. When Ravishankar traveled abroad for work, his coach was sure to follow up regularly by asking him to send pictures of his plate to know what and how much he was eating. She also ensured that he followed the habits she had set for him.

His GOQii Coach suggested workouts to improve his running style and to recover from injuries. Now, he runs a minimum of 30km a day. He does this by running 2.5 hours in the morning and at night after work, he goes for a walk, followed by jogging and running. He plans to run a marathon next year and is training vigorously to achieve this goal.

Inspiration and Active Sunday Champion

Today, Ravishankar Balasubramanian weighs around 80kg and is motivating people around him to do the same! He is an Active Sunday Champion and heads the sessions in Coimbatore. He guides his participants and is a continuous source of inspiration for them.

India Steps Challenge

Within two weeks of the challenge starting, Ravishankar had already referred 100 members and increased his daily cap to 36,000 steps. Without losing a beat, he began walking and clocking in 36k steps and more on a daily basis. He is one of the first few individuals to claim the OnePlus 6T as a reward in the India Steps Challenge.

Ravishankar’s journey to weight loss and his determination to dive further into health and fitness is a source of inspiration for us all. From something as simple as walking, he has transformed his life for the better. Now, he has a dedicated team that walks, runs and exercises with him. Through walking alone, he has started a collective movement!

He believes that if he can do it, so can you!

What Did Ravishankar’s GOQii Coach Have to Say About Him?

“In his health journey to reduce weight and belly fat, we decided to stick to a routine of structured workout cardio, strength training and lifestyle modification with a focus on balanced food, sound sleep and managing stress in a positive way.

When he approached me with the willingness to participate in the India Steps Challenge, I was was very happy to see his excitement and zest towards it. We formulated a pattern where he could train, take part in the challenge and at the same time stay injury and stress free too.

With a constant monitoring of his workout, nutrition and sleeping pattern, today, he has achieved his target and a healthier lifestyle at the same time. I wish him a very happy and healthy life forever.”

#BeTheForce

March 30, 2019 By GOQii 2 Comments

Kartik Aggarwal’s Journey to Being Healthy

Has fitness ever taken a backseat with you? Have you ever been active in the early days of schooling but as life and work caught up, your lifestyle became more sedentary? Did junk food and aerated beverages replace delicious, home-cooked meals? While it is comforting to know that you’re not the only one, somewhere it has to stop. At some point, you need to stop and question your lifestyle choices. You need to make a lifestyle change just like our player Kartik Aggarwal did.

Life Before GOQii

Kartik Aggarwal was always into sports. Since school, he was quite active. He has even represented his school in rollerskating. After graduation, work consumed most of Kartik’s time. Fitness became an alien entity to him. Health became secondary. He began skipping meals, his water intake was low and he treated himself to carbonated drinks more than often.

How Did GOQii Help?

Kartik Aggarwal had initially joined GOQii to study the application. He wanted to understand how the interface and the fitness tracker works. As the case with all new players, Kartik was asked to set a goal. His goal was to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

He began by regularizing his meal timings. Every morning, he drank a jug full of water. He completely cut off tea and coffee. If he craves for aerated drinks, he has buttermilk or lemonade. On the fitness front, he exercises 5-6 times a week. He works out either in the gym or takes a walk in a park nearby. Kartik has begun taking the stairs and avoids elevators or escalators.

Given his busy schedule, Kartik Aggarwal manages to take short walks every hour or so. He tunes in to Ronak Gajjar’s Meditation Class on GOQii Play as that’s the only show he can squeeze into his schedule.

GOQii Active Sunday Champion

After being active on the GOQii app, Kartik Aggarwal received an email from GOQii. The email was for an Active Sunday registration. He signed up and has never looked back. Since then, Kartik has been a one-man army who regularly champions the GOQii Active Sunday sessions in Ghaziabad.

What Did Kartik Aggarwal Have To Say About His GOQii Coach?

When asked about his coach, Kartik said that his GOQii Coach has been really helpful. She persistently follows up with him to complete his habits, despite the fact that he is not active on the app due to commitments from work. Although he doesn’t even get the time to check his phone, thanks to her dedication, he has been following his habits as much as possible.

Since joining GOQii, Kartik has lost about 7 kg. He says that his lifestyle has dramatically improved, especially his eating habits, thanks to inputs from his GOQii Coach!

Kartik will be live on GOQii Play soon. Tune in to his show to know more about his journey to a healthy and active lifestyle!

#BeTheForce

March 23, 2019 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Ashwin Chitransh Never Gave Up On Being Healthy!

Ashwin C-COLLAGE

After GOQii Before GOQii

Sleeping during the day and working at night was his regular routine. He had no discipline in life and ate indiscreetly. He weighed 79 kg at a height of 5 ft 6 inches. He tried to lose weight by just dreaming about it and doing the bare minimum. He did not have a good workout routine so the small gym that he had created for himself at home was not utilized to its optimum. Finally, magic happened and he got into a routine. He joined a gym with a personal trainer, his diet got regularized and he is far healthier and fit that he was.

Ashwin Chitransh’s Transformation Story In His Own Words

It all began for me in August 2017 when I took a trip to McLeodganj for a couple of days and had rich grand meals. When I came back home, I weighed close to 79 Kg at the height of 5 Feet 6 inches. I was aware that I was leading an unhealthy life but I wasn’t doing anything about it. Set up a small gym at home but hardly worked out. My routine was haywire with me sleeping during the day and working at night. My eating habits were bad and nothing was helping me get on track. I wanted to change things for myself. This is when I was introduced to GOQii by a friend. I liked the concept of a personal coach who will motivate and push you to achieve your health goals.

I enrolled in GOQii and also joined the Gym with a personal trainer. This started my journey of transformation! On my first day at the Gym, I felt nauseous and thought I’d pass out in 15 minutes. Other guys were working out smoothly which was quite intimidating. There were so many well-built guys using heavy weights that I could not even dream of. The key, I realized, is patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Don’t compete with others, compete with yourself to achieve your goals.

Apart from a gym workout, cardio workout is important for me. Most of the fat which I had, was on my belly. I started by walking for 2 km, increasing gradually to 5 km per day, at the speed of 5 to 6 kmph. Then, a bit of my belly fat melted, I started running/jogging at 8kmph. I gradually moved to 10 kmph but reduced the distance to cover (to 1.5 km).

Currently, I work out for 30 minutes mostly focusing on the abdominal area. Slowly once the belly fat saw some reduction, I started working on 2 muscles a day.

One thing which is very important to keep in mind while undertaking any health goal is that it takes time to achieve these goals. You need understand your body and how it reacts to various strenuous exercises. You need to have patience especially when it comes to achieving weight loss goals.

Exercise alone cannot help you, diet is equally important. “There is no love sincerer than the love of food,” quoting from Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw. A lot of my misconceptions were broken. One such misconception was that if you go on a diet you have to remain hungry. Secondly, good healthy food is tasteless. But, in fact, I learned a few things:

To eat healthily, you do not need to make it taste bad necessarily
Quit (Avoid) unhealthy/junk/fried food

My GOQii Coach helped me make healthy food choices. My diet now includes pre and post work out meals and salads. I was never a salads guy but I eat them now. I have stopped having refined sugar since November 2017. My meals are balanced and portion size is small with multiple meals in a day, unlike my earlier three large meals.

All these small changes over time have helped me achieve my health goals. I am much fitter and healthier now. My only message to all is don’t be disheartened if your hard work does not pay initially. It takes time. You won’t see changes in a week. Just be self-motivated and keep pushing yourself. There will be days when you won’t be able to work out or you won’t be able to follow your diet. But, it’s okay! Continue with the same routine next day. When you fall, you must have the willpower to stand up again not once but multiple times. Its sheer determination and hard work that will help you achieve your goals. Did I fail during my transformation phase? Of course, I did fail, and on more than one occasion but I never gave up.

What does coach Evangelene Wankhar have to say about her player Ashwin?

Ashwin Chitransh was assigned to me in October 2017. His goal was to lose 10-12kgs. He wanted to get active and build strength. Prior to GOQii, he had already started with gym workouts with a personal trainer and lost 3kgs. But, his concern was his food habits. When we started, he was having a heavy meal for dinner, adding few unhealthy foodstuff during the day. These were old habits which I had to gradually get him to shed. Each time he had a heavy meal and ate unhealthy food, I guided and explained to him the pros and cons. I told him choosing healthy food over unhealthy will help him achieve his goal. He agreed and started applying the tips I shared with him every day. Of course, he had few cheat meals but he has managed to make the cheat meals healthy as well. If he took something over the counter which was unhealthy, he compensated that with more activities and a healthy diet the next day. Over the last few months, he has progressed well. He has been very consistent in his workouts, healthy food habits and has been following every guideline that I share with him. I am proud to say that Ashwin has achieved his target goal of losing 12kgs and now we are in the process of building his strength and muscles since that is his next goal.