RUCHI VERMA 
"I started working out right after college: I was overweight and realised it was unhealthy to remain so. Plus the snide remarks on being fat. Started cardio like mad and lost a lot of weight... and gained dark circles along the way. But it didn’t matter as long as people called me “skinny” and “looking sick”. I loved it... as long as I wasn’t fat. Fast forward to 2016. A mom of 2, including one child on the spectrum and living in the pollution hotbed of India. Running on the roads didn’t seem like a viable option anymore. That’s when I joined a functional training gym and had my concepts of fitness upended. Strength training, compound exercises and nutrition became my new mantras. The trainers taught me a lot and the new shift in my physique was amazing. Skinny gave way to a lean fit look and curves appeared where there was only skin. It’s not been easy and the lockdown made it tougher. But my husband and I got our equipment at homeboy now. Between crazy work schedules, parenting and the disapproving cluck clucks of society on what girls should and should not do, I find time to pursue this fitness dream of mine. Now people tell me protein is bad, women shouldn’t do bodybuilding (as if). Now I laugh it off. What the world says or thinks matters squat (pun intended) to me. I know what my mind wants and what my body reacts to. And I am kicked to take my story onward!"
