How These 3 Women Ignored Physical Activity But Began Late And Got Back In Shape | Health And...

Savitri Bobde, a 39-year-old start-up owner in Bengaluru, had never exercised till 2020. Mistakenly believing she was fit because she was thin, she realised something was wrong when her knees gave way during a trek and she felt unusually exhausted. Pushpa Sharma, 62, balanced chores with her work as a government school teacher, travelling 80 km daily from her home in Jaipur, and started exercising as a retiree because of her diabetes. Noida's Vandana Garg, 54, took up exercising post-50 to control her weight and hormone issues. For a long time, she thought her obesity was due to her genes and no amount of physical activity or gym could address it.

These three women are a perfect representation of a latest Lancet study , which has found half the adult Indian population to be unfit. According to it, more women (57 per cent) than men (42 per cent men) are physically inactive. Despite being educated and informed, none of these women knew that they wouldn't have had the health complications in their middle age had they made exercise a part of their daily discipline in their 20s. But the good news is that all three, though late bloomers when it comes to fitness, have managed to turn their lives over.

"Now I cannot live without exercise," says Savitri, who is watching her diet too. She has increased her protein intake. Alternating yoga with calisthenics every week day, she even walks 4 km in the evening. Now she's preparing for a trek at Kishtwar in Jammu . "I do half-an-hour of stair climbing with an eight-kg backpack. I am not tired anymore," adds Savitri.

Married at 17, Pushpa moved to her marital home in a village for a few years, doing hard labour and staying up nights to complete her B-Ed course. Even when the family moved to Jaipur and she got a job as a teacher, her posting was in a government school 80 km away. "I would wake up at 4.30 am, cook for the family and set out at 6 am because school began at 7 am. For many years till my retirement, I took a train, shared a ride and walked to reach my school. I never had breakfast except a cup of tea, had a brunch of rotis and vegetables around the student's tiffin break at 10.30 am and never had anything till dinner. The long gaps between meals led to chronic acidity,⁘ says Pushpa, detailing her overstressed younger years where there was no room for exercise.

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