Growing up I never exercised, which shocks people because they think a love of movement should come naturally to a personal trainer. In fact, I only did PE at school and would ask my mother to take me out of most classes as soon as I got my period.
I had no education about how important exercise is for a healthy life. Part of that is because I am South Asian. Despite my ethnicity making us six times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes and twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease than the average white person in the UK, no one who looked like me was promoting its benefits.
I was very unhealthy but I got out of it because I was naturally thin. Then in my late 20s, after I got married, I gained a lot of weight. After I gave birth, my waist got even bigger because I was eating for two and my metabolism slowed down. I don’t use scales so I don’t know how much I gained but I was twice the size I am now and so was my husband.
Along with poor diet, my sedentary lifestyle was also to blame. I had a demanding job as a global project manager at BP, which I loved, but it required constant desk-bound and international travel, which made it difficult to eat healthily and exercise. In terms of exercise, I would walk a few steps to and from work, but that was about it.
In my early 30s, I left my career and wanted to focus on raising my young family.
At that time, I started to feel bad about my post-pregnancy weight. Most of my clothes no longer fit me and it was affecting my self-esteem. After giving birth, I wore maternity clothes for a while and started to wear loose, baggy clothes. I felt sluggish and low on energy. I also became more aware of my overall health when I saw loved ones diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and dementia. This set off alarm bells and was a turning point for me.
At age 34, with all three of my sons in daycare or school, I started going to group exercise classes at my local gym to increase my activity levels and lose a few pounds. However, I realized I wasn’t really being consistent or making much progress.
So I decided to hire a personal trainer. They introduced me to strength training and I quickly saw a transformation both physically and mentally. There were times when I was unmotivated and had a hard time sticking to my new diet, but it helped that I was able to exercise at home when I didn’t want to go to the gym and that I ate plenty of protein to keep me full for longer.
I have loved seeing my progress from never lifting anything in my life (except bags and suitcases) to being able to do push-ups and barbell squats with relative ease, to finally being able to do pull-ups and deadlifts one and a half times my body weight. I have also become much stronger and more resilient in dealing with life’s challenges, managing home life, living as a joint family, aging parents, and the grief that followed the sudden death of my father-in-law.
Meanwhile, I’ve been improving my diet and managing my portions better, swapping my sugary breakfasts of toast and jam, croissants or cereal for protein-rich eggs and vegetables or Greek yoghurt and fruit. Protein keeps me full for much longer and helps my blood sugar levels stay much more stable, which is great for my mood, productivity and energy, and also lowers my risk of Type 2 diabetes.
A healthy diet is all about balance and taking inspiration from the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in olive oil, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains, while the typical modern South Asian diet is rich in carbs, sugar and fried foods.
Food is a huge part of my culture and I still love traditional Gujarati curries, which include good-for-you spices like turmeric, but I swap out white rice and Indian breads for complex carbohydrates like quinoa, sweet potatoes, vegetables, salad, beans, and lentils. I make my plates as colorful and varied as possible (focusing on eating the rainbow) and opt for home-cooked foods over ultra-processed store-bought foods.
For snacks, I swapped Bombay mix, which is terrible for weight and cholesterol management, for homemade protein balls, nuts, seeds, and edamame. I also cut out my habit of feasting on cheese and crackers before bed, which gives my gut time to rest. I practice intermittent fasting, leaving at least a 12- to sometimes 16-hour gap between my last meal of the day and my first meal of the next day.
My approach to my diet has always been to nourish my body rather than deprive myself of anything. I still enjoy pizza and pasta when I go to a nice Italian restaurant, but not as often as I used to. I love my food and I am still a big foodie.
I’ve also been pretty much abstinent from alcohol for the past seven years since the start of my perimenopause, instead drinking a glass of wine I drink kombucha (a fermented tea drink) from a champagne glass – although I’ll still have the occasional sparkling wine for a celebration. Not drinking is better for my health but it also means I overeat less, as I’m not eating at 2am after a night out with friends, which really helps my sleep.
I have no idea how much weight I’ve lost. Based on photos and my old clothes I’d guess around 10kg (22lbs). I dropped three sizes from a 12 to a 14 and am now a size six to eight. The most important change is my body composition. I’ve lost body fat and gained muscle mass, giving me more muscular definition.
During the first few years of trying to improve my health, I started to become interested in how the weight would come off and all the benefits of building muscle. It was helping me lose weight and my mental health and overall well-being.
At the age of 40 I decided to take courses to qualify as a fitness instructor and then a personal trainer. I only told my immediate family that I was studying for and taking these exams because I was doing it purely for my own knowledge and never intended it to be a career.
But I developed a passion to spread my knowledge and awareness to as many people as possible so that they too could improve their health. I also found that even short, few-minute sessions of exercise sprinkled regularly throughout the day were effective. I call this exercise snacking.
I started teaching others and built a following on my Instagram page and YouTube channel @feelgoodwithlavina, where I offer free exercise classes. Earlier this year, I released my first book, Ways to Feel Good: Boost Your Energy, Improve Your Sleep, and Move More During and After MenopausePublished by Penguin, it’s a bestseller about all things lifestyle, mind and workout snacks.
I hope to break down the barriers to exercise—cost, time, and motivation—and offer a flexible approach that helps people feel good physically and mentally, and know that we can reduce our risk of developing chronic diseases.
Now when I move, it’s not about how I look (sometimes I have six-pack abs, sometimes I have a soft belly), it’s about my long-term health and my goal of staying independent for as long as possible.
Alongside my fitness journey, my wife, Menal, 52, has transformed her body through diet and exercise. It’s been great to have this friendship and because of it, my children see movement as a normal part of life, which is something I never had as a child.
Even my mother-in-law, Nisha, 76, got involved. She’s my fitness buddy in my online exercise classes. It’s so important to keep moving as you age because it increases muscle mass; protects against osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, dementia and Type 2 diabetes; and benefits your brain, bones, heart and mental health. It’s amazing to see the ripple effect of people around me benefiting from exercise.
I started exercising pretty late in life, and I’m proof that it’s never too late to start. Reframe your perspective on exercise and your lifestyle to focus on how it makes you feel, not how it looks. Focus on the weight you’re lifting, not the number on the scale, and exercise “for sanity, not vanity.”
