My definition of being healthy is to live every single day with maximum energy and building a strong immunity to avoid getting affected by common diseases that most people face.
Considering the sedentary lifestyle we have and unnatural surroundings that we live, healthy lifestyle is not a luxury. It is a necessity.
My healthcare routine is quite easy.
Good homemade food with balanced nutrition + physical activity.
That’s it. Keeping it simple allows me to be consistent.
My Strong Opinions About Health
- All those who say that they are too busy to prioritize their health are utter fools and have imbalanced life. When you have your health, you have a thousand goals, when you don’t, you only have one! Too deep, isn’t it?
- You do not have to give up anything. No need to give up sugar, namkeen, fast food. Just need to keep everything in moderation. Simple!
- Strict dieting just makes you lose muscle weight. In reality, you need to lose fat weight and build muscles.
- Healthy body doesn’t mean having abs. It’s about how easy it is for you to carry on your day without getting bothered mentally or physically.
- Everything, literally everything in life can be gifted to you by someone or bought using money. But not health. It’s purely your discipline that speaks.
Some of My Friends Are Health Mentors!
I have 2 friends who keep motivating me with their own journey and experiences.
Yash Sawalkar – A childhood chuddy buddy who is a fitness freak and prioritizes health over literally everything in life. And I strongly agree. He is the one who helped me with so many diet recommendations. He’s a childhood friend and I started my fitness journey from 2013 just after getting inspired by him.
Suman Dhar – We are teammates and close friends. His transformation journey is inspiring! Plus he keeps sharing health-related videos on Instagram every single day! Yup, I keep getting hammered with health tips so much that I can barely get off track now 😛
It’s so important and underrated hack to have supportive people around you to keep you moving towards your goals. I covered about importance and ways to build accountability partner here.
I see this as a lifestyle, not a journey!
Lifestyle Practices
- Daily intake of water from copper vessel early in the morning on an empty stomach while doing nothing. It has several health benefits.
- Cold water showers every single morning, throughout the year – no exceptions. This helped me build my immunity.
- At least 1 physical activity in a day considering my desk job.
- Purchased a standing desk and that is one of the best investment I made till date – totally recommended for all white collar professionals. I wrote about it here: 3 Best Purchases I Made in 2023.
- Recently I started looking out of window by taking breaks while working. I got to know that I lack sun exposure, especially for my eyes.
I am sure I am missing out majority of the things that I started doing, but these are good to start with.
My Workout Routine
6 days of gym per week includes alternate days of Cardio and Strength Training. I keep my core workout at around 45-60 minutes per day. Not more than that.
In Cardio, any of these for around an hour –
- Cycling
- Running
- Swimming
- Table Tennis
- Walking 10k steps
- Climb 33 floors of building (6 minutes 13 seconds is my best so far)
In Strength Training = 3 sets x 15 repetitions each
Seated Leg Extensions
Muscles to be trained – Quadriceps (front thigh muscles)
Lat Pulldown
Muscles to be trained – Lower back and sides of the body
Dumbbell Bench Press
Muscles to be trained – Chest muscles
Dumbbell Chest Flys
Muscles to be trained – Chest muscles
Dumbbell Front Raise
Muscles to be trained – Front shoulder muscles
Dumbbell Overhead Press
Muscles to be trained – Shoulder muscles
Dumbbell Curls
Muscles to be trained – Biceps
Overhead Triceps Extension
Muscles to be trained – Triceps
Food Intake
It’s said that 80% of health is all about your diet and only 20% comes from exercise.
I prefer homemade food even if I live alone. I learned cooking and shared all my recipes here if you want to refer.
Read it if you are a bachelor with limited ingredients and almost zero cooking skills.
Before hitting gym, I consume soaked almonds+walnuts and raisins+figs. There’s a way to eat it but it’s totally rich in almost every nutritional value with several health benefits.
I am not a fan of whey protein yet. So I mostly consume Amul High Protein Buttermilk which gives 15g protein per pack.
I realized that Indian diet lacks protein and fiber in general. So I am trying to balance it out.
How I Measure Progress
- Annual health checkup – since I am in my 20s, complete body checkup once in a year is sufficient for now.
- Healthify weighing machine – Just knowing weight doesn’t help. This machine helps me know my body fat, muscle mass, etc.
- Healthify App – For tracking calorie intake. Although I’d recommend tracking calorie intake just for a month or so because most of us have consistent food intake and it doesn’t fluctuate a lot.
- NoiseFit Smartwatch and Mobile App – This tracks my physical activities like exercise, steps, distance, calorie burn, heartbeats, etc.
- Google Fit App – If you don’t have a smartwatch, this app works fine. It works just while you have your phone in pocket.
I have long way to go for my ideal health goals but this is not bad either.
Consistency > Motivation.
That’s it.