If you want a peek into someone’s heart, you need to be able to give them a glimpse of yours.  I keep talking about vulnerability, and decided to share a piece of me that not everybody knows about.

I was a skinny girl till I got to 5^th grade. As a child, I struggled with wheezing, and refrained from eating chocolates and icecream. All this changed in Abudhabi when I was about 10 years old. Decadent goodies were available in plenty, and I had finally outgrown my wheezing! So there you go, I was literally a kid in a candy store. And ofcourse, mom being an excellent cook did not help 🙂

I went from skinny to a chubby pimply faced middle schooler in the Middle East. Truth be told, I still don’t like those photos on display! Mom ensured I was active, but given I was not obese, there was never a major push for me to lose the extra pounds until I got older. I probably weighed about 120-125lbs through high school. And to give you some context I am only about 5.1 in height! During my second year in college I think I hit nearly 130. And at that point, my mom believed that the time had come for a serious intervention. Will power has always been my strong suit! Once I decide to put my heart and soul into something, it gets 150% of me.

Mom promised me a new wardrobe, and in Dec 2000 I got one! Just 3 months of swimming and a hardcore regimen on fruits and veggies got me to 100lb. Nothing else mattered. Seeing mountains of goodies never made me falter.

Since then I have never been overweight. I put on a few pounds and lose a few pounds. It varies just like everything else in life. When I was hospitalized with asthma in 2015 February, I touched 89 pounds. I’m one of the exceptions to the steroid rule. It increased my metabolism, and made me lose weight!

These days, I don’t focus on a number on the scale, I focus on being as strong and flexible as possible, just like water. I listen to my body. It tells me what it wants. Like now, it’s the holidays, and I’m eating a few more baked goods than I probably should! It was funny when I heard my friend’s mother say to me on Christmas day – you are not all skin and bones now , u look so much prettier:)  Lol, I was thinking to myself, I might be getting a little too pretty, time to hunker down and get back to some rigorous working out and laying off the baked goodies , come January 2017 🙂

PS: I have a very interesting relationship with my arms. I’m not in love with them. I think they are disproportionate to the rest of my body. But I have finally learned to love them!! And oh yeah, I’m a total celebrity style arm poser 🙂

• Uncategorized