I LOST 40KG TO PROVE MY GP WRONG AFTER SHE LAUGHED AT ME

‘The blood test results are back,’ my GP said. 

‘You’re in the prediabetic zone. I’m going to have put you on medication.’ 

After a few moments of silence, I insisted to her that I was going to lose weight and she laughed. ‘They all say that,’ she said, jokingly.

It’s a good thing that we get on, but that was exactly the motivation that I needed to reverse my Type 2 Diabetes, back in July 2019.

To change my life, and get running.

Over the years, I’d always considered myself healthy – overweight, but healthy as I typically cooked from scratch and seldom ate processed foods. 

In reality, I’d been morbidly obese with a sedentary lifestyle since I’d started working from home as a marketing consultant 20 years earlier.

I’ve always loved good food, whether it was my mother’s delicious Punjabi cooking or delicacies that I would seek out on my travels – but I just ate too much of it.

I’d been a pescetarian for 30 years, but typically ate large, hearty servings of daals, potato and vegetable dishes, with rice and rotis. 

Sadly, back in 2016, my mother had violent seizures and was bed-ridden until she died in May 2017. 

In the last six months of caring and sitting by my mother’s bedside, I put on 15kgs (2st) and weighed 110kgs. 

I was shocked at how much weight I’d managed to put on in such a short period of time and felt as if my health would drastically impact the length and quality of my life. 

Something had to change.

So, after I received my terrifying news, I changed my diet and replaced all snacks with fresh nuts, switched to nut butters and implemented an intermittent fasting regime on the 14:10 basis (14 hours of fasting and eating in the remaining 10 hours of the day) – as well as halving my caloric intake two days a week.

But alongside eating well, I wanted to start a healthy exercise regime, too. I’d heard about parkrun from my friend Ed, who’d been running for many years. He persuaded me to sign up.

A quick search led me to my nearest parkrun event at Osterley Park in west London. While I was nervous about joining, other volunteers, Andrew and Geoff, welcomed me with open arms. 

Initially, I worked as a volunteer while I got my fitness levels up, and felt confident enough to tackle the 5k course. 

I became a regular, fair-weather volunteer and loved the interaction with my community –  especially as a Marshal. I finally even managed to ‘run, walk, run’ the course a few times before the pandemic meant the suspension of parkrun in 2020.

Lockdown gave me the incentive that I needed, and a chance walk in the park with my neighbour, Rajeshree, led me to put together a regular routine focused on brisk walking.

I signed up and became a regular user of the Strava app, which recorded my walks and then, in spring 2021, started the Couch to 5k (C25K) programme. 

I managed to finish it in eight weeks and felt confident about managing to run a 5k without stopping. And, when I finished the C25K program, I was so pleased with the return of parkrun after Covid.

I’d hoped to take three minutes off my pre-pandemic time, but I was shocked and elated to somehow manage to beat it by nine minutes! 

Within weeks, I’d taken a further two minutes off my time, and joined the local running club, which met at the track twice a week.

My weekly routine soon became centred around parkrun – and not just by the run, but by meeting the runners at the event, too. 

The other parkrunners were hugely supportive of my running and offered advice on how to improve, as well as invited me to group runs. 

I soon discovered how the discipline of getting up early on a Saturday morning was rewarded with time in the fresh air, and the inevitable release of dopamine and endorphins.

The last three years have been quite a journey, to say the least. 

I’ve managed to move from 5k runs to 20k and I’m now part of the team of Run Directors at Osterley parkrun. I find volunteering (almost) as satisfying as running! 

And, two years after that initial doctor’s appointment, I hit my target weight of 73kg. I had a telephone appointment with my GP who told me that I was in remission, and I could stop taking my diabetes medication. 

From my peak at 113kgs, I’ve lost 40kgs (over 6st) by controlling my eating, walking and then running.

Since then, I’ve managed to keep my weight at my long-term target weight (except for the odd blip during Diwali and trips to India). I’ve also added the gym and swimming to my weekly routine, which I love.

I have now run over 100 parkruns and volunteered at over 70 events. 

Parkrun has demonstrated to me just how much a solitary sport can become a supportive and inspiring community – and how rewarding it really can be.

So, get involved. It might just change your life.

As told to Minreet Kaur

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