What was my “Moment of Truth”? I usually joke and say that it was the day when I weighed and realized that I weighed exactly as much as my mother-in-law  ( though it is a true story)
While most of us talk about post-pregnancy weight, in my case I was overweight before I got pregnant..a whopping 83kgs but I couldn’t care less. I wasn’t unhappy about my weight except for the moments when I would go shopping and return feeling frustrated and heaps of clothes in the trial room because no matter how big they looked on the display, they somehow shrunk when I put them on!So pregnancy gave me a license to eat what I wanted, after all, I was now supposed to “legally” gain weight and I did exactly that enjoying every moment up until the day when I had to take a sugar test. Now with every test in pregnancy, I used to worry about the results, but the sugar one, come on it was just a formality. So I gulped down as I recall about half a pack of Glucon D, cribbed about another test ( I hate needles, wait I am petrified of it, honest confession) and went on with my life. The results were shocking. I had GESTATIONAL DIABETES and the number 1 reason for this was my WEIGHT. My gynae put me on some medicines for a week and a DIET, yes you heard it right, a very strict DIET restricting pretty much everything I wanted to eat . They even took away my indulgence, my morning tea with sugar. How on earth was I supposed to have tea without sugar? I whined but assumed its just a matter of a few weeks and things will be back to normal. But fate seemed to be having a bit too much fun at my expense. My retest results were equally bad and that’s when all hell broke loose. I was immediately put on insulin shots ( 4 times a day ) and had to check my sugar levels 6 times a day by pricking myself. For someone who ran away from injections( I am honestly petrified of needles), I had to prick myself 10 times a day.

Injecting myself with insulin seemed impossible but I was trained on it. Along with it came the timely eating. I couldn’t eat whenever I wanted ..how else would I be able to do the 12-hour fasting, 2-hour pre-meal, 2-hour post meal tests because if I ate I would skew the results. It was no less than a nightmare, I would weep, complaint, was always cranky and hated every minute of it. And then I read online ( my habit of googling pretty much everything ) that there might be a chance that my baby can be born diabetic, small chance but definitely a probability. And I can never forget those toughest moments when the doctors pricked my newborn angel on the toe and did her blood test right after she was born. I have never been so scared, EVER! And that I am sure was my “MOMENT OF TRUTH” I knew I had to get a grip of my life but I waited patiently till my LO was old enough to be in a playgroup and the first thing I did was to register for a Zumba class. Started working out regularly, eating healthy came naturally after being on diet for 5 months during my pregnancy, I no longer enjoyed Tea with sugar. I kept experimenting with various workouts kept pushing myself till I managed to lose 23 kgs and in turn, I found my calling at the age of 33. I decided to become a Fitness Instructor.

I started by getting certified as a Zumba instructor and then as a Functional Strength Training Instructor and just last month I opened my own Fitness Studio and I am now living my dream of spreading Fitness. BEING HEALTHY & FIT SHOULDN’T BE A CHOICE, IT SHOULD BE A NORM! And charity definitely begins at home – eating healthy is now a way of life at my place, my almost 3-year-old enjoys oats and grilled chicken more than chocolate pastry ( I swear), my younger sister Vijeta Rai ran her 1st 5K last Sunday and my brother while doing his graduation is also training in Martial Arts and as for me I am hungrier to learn more and spread it farther and farther away and that I absolutely still enjoy my morning TEA and I hate it if it has sugar in it!

This story was Shweta’s entry to the #Strongtothebone#momsurecan Contest in 2016

 

Shweta Rai Bajaj is the founder of  Resculpt and works as a personal trainer advocating weight training amongst women of all age groups. She is also the National Director for Ms Fitness India, a unique platform for women across the country to showcase their skills at a national level. She is extremely passionate about fitness and is continuously upgrading her knowledge and has multiple certifications to her name