Solonie Singh Pathania An Army officer’s daughter with a passion for fitness and travel, I have always enjoyed the outdoors, been fairly active in sports, and loved adventure. Endurance sports, however, were never part of the plan. I’d never have imagined being obsessed with triathlons, let alone becoming  the 3rdIndian woman to complete a Full IRONMAN! But I did, and this is my story. First Steps Unusual as it sounds, I discovered my love for triathlons at 27. Until then, I’d never even heard of the concept.  A motor accident at graduation, followed by a knee surgery, had made an ..read more

Here’s the latest ‘healthy’ thing that’s dominating billboards in Mumbai. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk 30% Less Sugar.  It’s a first for Cadbury, but it follows a long line of ‘strong’ steps taken by sugar-filled-tasty-food selling MNCs who’ve been under immense pressure to show that they’re trying to sell ‘healthy’ now. And obviously the first, easiest, way to do so, is to reduce sugar.  But if you read reports linked to this launch (almost everything online seems like company-fuelled PR), or just look at the picture above, you’ll see Cadbury going to great lengths to claim that while sugar ..read more

Aditi’s surprising fitness revelation Pic 1: Year 2000, Weight 50Kgs Pic 2: Year 2012, Weight 69Kgs Pic 3: Year 2018, Weight 53KgsI asked a few people which of these photos looked alike and almost all felt that the first and the third were more alike than the one in the middle. Well, they are both right and wrong. Right, because my body weight in the first and third is the same but if you consider my fitness quotient, then first and second would be similar.  Don’t believe it? Read on. Phase 1: Ignorance is bliss “My daughter is too thin. She doesn’t eat much. How can I make her ..read more

My Top 7 Hacks to Beat the Cheat Meal I was at my B-School’s alumni dinner yesterday, meeting friends I hadn’t met in almost a decade.  It didn’t seem like we hadn’t met in so long though. Many of them, as I realised to my utter delight, were readers of the blog. And as readers of the blog always tell me, they felt quite updated about my life. I take that as a complement. FITSHIT is me on a page. Back to the party though.  We had drinks. We got updated. We had dinner. And then finally, we got to desserts. That’s the bit I decided to skip. And right on cue, as I’ve been asked a thou ..read more

aka Why I don’t write about Yoga I suffer from a rare back-disease called Scheuermann’s. That’s basically a heavily bent and rounded spinal cord with all sorts of lumbar distortions. When I got diagnosed (at the age of 19), my doctor told me I should try and lose some weight, else simple things like walking would soon become troublesome. So I did. I lost 40kgs. And chuck walking, I started running. Marathons. That helped. But my back continued to be a mess. Severe, random, shooting pain in the middle-back was an everyday reality. But I learnt to live with it. Few years ago, when ..read more

The original article didn’t include Jaggery. Included now as an additional section at the end. ‘Excuse me, can you replace this with brown sugar please’, he said. Handing back to the waiter, a packet of white.  ‘Green tea with a teaspoon of honey please’, she said. Feeling proud that today, she’s made a healthier choice. ‘Can you please deposit another gazillion dollars into my bank account please’, the marketeer said. Knowing that today, once again, he’d made a billion people buy slightly ‘brown-er’ shit, for slightly more money. But I get ahead of myself. Let’s begin with some b ..read more

Swim. Fast. Cheat. Repeat.  You read it right.  I try and be fit so I can cheat and eat chocolates, kababs, pizzas, ice creams and every other conceivable form of food sin you can think of. And despite doing this ‘cheating’ for 15 years, I’ve been able to keep away the 20kg I lost in my pool in Otters Club, Bandra. My Story Begins Here I had just returned from an 8-hour flight from London with a back-ache that wouldn’t go away. When I made my first visit to an orthopedic doctor he showed me the X-ray of my back where the last few vertebrae had come close to each other and were bulg ..read more

I am 35, I weigh 54 kgs and my body fat is ~25%. When I read what I just wrote, I can’t help but wonder if I’m dreaming. Because a little less than 3 years ago, I was 32 and I weighed 80kgs, with a body fat of 46%. As far as I can remember I was always a heavy kid. Through school and college and post-grad — and I was never shy of accepting I was fat(although I now prefer the word ‘unfit’) The Trigger The moment of truth for me was when I couldn’t finish a very easy uphill climb in Hvar, Croatia. For the first time I gave up because  My body couldn’t make the climb my head was ai ..read more

Some practical tips to help you get unstuck As I write this, I’m sitting on my 9th straight day of no exercise. How embarrassing! But I have a great reason(excuse). For the first 4 of these 8 days, I was traveling (I was at home in Delhi, eating Paranthas and enjoying the extended winter). Then, once I came back, work took over and I just haven’t found the time.  Sound familiar? Well here’s the full version.  I could’ve carried my running shoes to Delhi and atleast gone for a run. But I chose not to. Once I got back, I actually got really busy with work for 2 days. The next 2 days ..read more

A week ago, I was at Lakme Fashion Week. Anorexic models, decked-up celebs, dolled-up skinny teens — you get the drift. I hate going to Fashion Weeks. What I hate even more, is the fact that I keep forgetting this.  So every few years, I get lured again, only to find myself amongst these unattainably, unbelievably good looking people. And it transports me back to my teenage years. Where I was the fat, ugly kid amongst other normal ones. Normal ones who were attractive to the opposite sex.  16 years hence, and I’ve come a fair distance. But put me in a Fashion Week, and the gap looks ..read more