Gururaj Jadhav: Fitness Away from Home

Are you living away from home, and hence, finding it difficult to maintain a fitness routine and proper diet? Gururaj Jadhav, one of the top-performers in SocialBoat’s fitness challenges is here to share his experience. He is a fourth-year Hotel Management student in Bangalore, staying in a PG. And, he takes his fitness very seriously.

Gururaj started his fitness journey during the time of the first lockdown.

“During the first lockdown, everything was a mess. Just like everyone else, I had started eating a lot, became very lazy, and went from 68 to 81kgs. I started hating myself for what I had become and stopped face-timing and interacting with friends. ”

One day he decided that it was enough and with so much time on his hands, now was the right time to get fit. In the month of March, he started his fitness walk by walking 5000 steps every day and began doing home workouts. The number of steps gradually increased to 8k and then finally 15k. His run timing went from 1 hour to 30 minutes. Additionally, he also started cardio, stretching, body-weight workout, etc. Gururaj modified his diet plans and took up intermittent fasting that consists of fasting for 18 hours and eating only two meals.

From March to August, he saw almost no difference. But later he saw gradual results and currently, Gururaj weighs 59 kgs. Below are his experiences-

1. Knowing Your Diet

Staying away from home, students have to deal with two primary issues when it comes to diet-  unavailability of home-cooked food and a monitored budget. Gururaj has sorted both. He starts his day with a health mix of 23 multi-grains called Jeeni that is directly sold by the farmer. It has to be cooked and Gururaj eats it with one banana and one spoon of peanut butter.

He packs the breakfast that the PG provides as his lunch, and eats dinner from the PG kitchen. He has been avoiding rice completely and eating roti instead.

Gururaj has completely discontinued consumption of sugar, junk food, tea, and coffee. He instead spends money on fruits. This way he has balanced his diet with all the required nutrition.

2. Sticking to the Routine

Gururaj wakes up at 6 a.m. and goes for a 4 km run. After that, he goes to college to attend his classes and returns at 2. Then is followed by a home workout routine where he trains his arms, chest, and abs, one by one, each day. Post dinner, he goes for a 4-5km walk, thus ending his day.

3. Staying Motivated

Gururaj tells us that he is 100 percent self-motivated and that practice has made him addicted to his daily routine and there is no other way to spend his day now.

He does admit that on some days he feels demotivated, especially when it is sunny. In Bellary, the morning temperature is about 36 degrees on such days. However, instead of bailing out on his fitness schedule, he tries alternatives.

“I go and play badminton for an hour to compensate for the run. This way I can give myself no excuses.”

Also, he has made a few friends who are interested in similar things. On days of fatigue and demotivation, he calls them up to discuss his progress and gets back on track.

With the news of the incoming lockdown too, he will continue with his home workouts without any excuse.

4. Reminding Oneself about the Goal

“I have always wanted a fit body. And after almost two years of hard work, now that I have it, I don’t want to mess it up.”

This is how he reminds himself about his goals and sticks to them, no matter what. Avoiding junk food and sugar has become a habit for him now and unlike earlier, he isn’t tempted by them anymore.

Recently, he attended his cousin’s wedding, which was the only day he missed his workout. Even then, he strictly followed his diet and ate none of the delicacies at the wedding. His mother has always been so supportive he says, supported and reminded him about his diet.

Gururaj has already decided on his fitness goals for this year. He has been motivated by Prathiban ( fit_movements )to learn Calisthenics in addition to working on his abs and body flexibility. He also wants to participate in at least 100 marathons and win as many as possible.  

For more such inspiring stories, visit SocialBoat.