Exercise at any age: How these 3 women ignored physical activity but began late and got back in shape

“I coach many women in their 40s and 50s who thought their work lives and household chores more than made up for a lack of exercise. First of all, we tend to overestimate the number of calories that are burnt while doing housework. They can never be enough to make up for calorie burns during more traditional exercises. They cannot restructure and reshape your body. If you overwork, managing chores and office, the body gets exhausted. Exercises are about relaxing the body too. Some of these women, who started late, were able to reverse their body conditions with something as simple as deep breathing, yoga and disciplined eating,” says holistic health expert Dr Mickey Mehta. Functional medicine expert and celebrity fitness coach Vijay Thakkar has many 50-year-old students, who had enrolled with him when they were 42. “Today they are better than 35-year-olds in terms of body functionality and fitness. Even if you start your fitness journey post-50s (and I have many heart patients coming for cardio-rehabilitation), you can take it slow and easy, build up with small efforts like walking and stretching and sync yourself with your body threshold, of course after medical evaluation,” he says.

Savitri chose yoga and calisthenics

Savitri Bobde, a 39-year-old start-up owner in Bengaluru, had never exercised till 2020. (Express photo)

“Unfortunately, I, like most people around me, assumed fitness was all about being thin. In my mid-30s, my legs started hurting and my knees gave way during a trekking holiday. Things got worse when I founded a startup; the stress of setting it up resulted in acid reflux and nausea every morning. That’s when I approached a fitness coach who told me that I was low on immunity and stamina and needed strength training,” says Savitri. She began with yoga in 2020 and the following year, signed up for calisthenics — a form of strength training where you use your own body weight as resistance to perform multi-joint, compound movements with no equipment. Her routines were about pull-ups, push ups, lunges and squats, all of which strengthened her core, legs and upper body. She also gained 7 to 8 kg of lean muscle mass over two years.

“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.

Pushpa’s challenge: Tadasana, walks and warm water

When Pushpa Sharma retired in 2023, she found herself overweight at 80 kg with knee problems that restricted her movements. (Express photo)

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.

So when she retired in 2023, she found herself overweight at 80 kg with knee problems that restricted her movements. She was further diagnosed with diabetes, her sugar levels shooting upto 400 mg/dL. That’s when Dr Mehta advised Pushpa to begin with yoga, doing mostly standing positions with Tadasana. “Now I walk between 5,000 to 8,000 steps daily and track my progress on an app. I do yoga for an hour every morning in a hot room till I sweat,” she says.

She follows a diet discipline. “I have two bajra chapatis by 10 am, have vegetable and fruit salads by 3 pm and a dalia khichdi by 5 pm, the last meal of the day. I have given up tea altogether, preferring to sip warm water whenever I have an urge. I have a glass of unsweetened milk at 9 pm,” adds Pushpa. She now weighs 70 kg and her diabetes is under check. Her takeaway? “People talk about self-love. That begins only when you take care of your body instead of burning it out,” she says.

Vandana’s turning point

Vandana Garg with her son. (Express photo)

For a long time into her 40s, Vandana reconciled with her obesity thinking it was hereditary with all family members overweight. That’s why she never thought much about her post-pregnancy weight gain. That was until her scales tilted to 88 kg and she developed hormonal complications, thyroid problems and psoriasis. “I never thought exercise could take care of my fat genes. But research shows that even if you inherit them, you can change your life by doing an hour of moderate exercises daily,” says Vandana, who began with free-hand exercises and then brisk walking. But since she would tire out easily, she varied her routine with yoga.

With the stubborn fat taking time to melt away, Vandana changed her diet. “I shifted my breakfast to 7 am, junked parathas for oats, dalia or multigrain sandwich, eliminated wheat, limited portions of rice and added more salads and sprouts for lunch. I even switched over to bajra rotis, vegetables and soups for dinner. There was a time when snacking meant only pakodas. Now I have bajra puffs, roasted makhana (foxnuts) and papaya salad instead,” she says.

Contrary to perception, exercise can be begun at any age even if you have ignored it all your life. “Nudging your body shouldn’t be about shoving. You must give stimulus to your body to improve and adapt itself. There are no bad workouts but workouts not done the right way,” shares Thakkar.