In this instructional video, Aravind Padmaraju, Ph.D., founder of HAFIT, outlines a four‑step framework to prepare for a sustainable fitness journey. He begins by urging viewers to uncover their true, deeper motivation for losing weight beyond superficial goals, emphasizing that a compelling personal reason fuels long‑term commitment. Next, he advises a reflective analysis of past weight‑gain patterns, asking viewers to trace when they were at their ideal weight, what lifestyle changes (e.g., reduced activity, higher‑calorie foods, stress‑driven eating) led to gradual weight gain, and to recognize that weight gain typically occurs over years, not weeks. The third step focuses on identifying and managing triggers such as stress, emotional eating, and specific high‑calorie foods (e.g., peanuts, sweets), explaining how cortisol and conditioned habits amplify hunger and sabotage diets. Finally, he recommends a gradual overhaul of eating habits and building nutrition knowledge, likening the process to a baby’s developmental stages: start small, progress slowly over 3‑6 months, and tailor diet and exercise to one’s unique schedule and body. Throughout, he shares his own 10‑year weight‑gain story as a case study, promotes free training and consultation services, and stresses that fitness must become a lifelong lifestyle rather than a short‑term fix, ultimately aiming to foster a new generation of healthy, fit children through parental example.
Chapters
So before even you start your fitness journey, first thing what you need to do is you need to understand your old patterns. You need to also ask certain questions to yourself before even you start your journey. So I want to ask you some questions, so I want you to answer to yourself. Welcome back, friends, for one more new video. So this is Arvind Padmaraju, founder of HAFIT, and we strongly believe building the habits is the only way you can build fitness. So let's get started with today's video. So today we're going to talk about why you keep— there is some issue everyone faces during their fitness journey until and unless they realize how they have to— what is the best way to do it. So even I have gone through these vicious cycles of losing and gaining, losing and gaining. You will be never able to sustain the journey forever. So I have one genuine advice which worked for me and worked for most of my clients. So before even you start your fitness journey, first thing what you need to do is you need to understand your old patterns. You need to also ask certain questions to yourself. Before even you start your journey. So I want to ask you some questions. So I want you to answer to yourself. So before you started a journey, first of all, ask you— first of all, I want to ask you, what is the main reason you want to lose weight? Just losing 5 kgs, 10 kgs would never be a reason. There is some thought in you which, which could have triggered for you to start losing weight. It could be a health reason, it could be Someone has insulted you in front of so much of crowd that how, how big you are looking. And maybe it could be some of the reason that your old clothes you are not able to wear, or it could be, it could be you are feeling tired to take care of your kids. It could be anything. Find out that reason why exactly you need to lose that additional 5 kgs or 10 kgs or whatever may be the weight. Find out that. So that reason will drive you throughout your journey to sustain it and keep your journey going on. Okay, this is the first question you need to ask. Second question what I want to ask is, see, when, when, when, when was the last time you are on your ideal body weight? From that time to till today, just I want you to analyze what all changes happened in your life. How did you start gaining weight? What are the things has been stopped? When you are more active, when you are thin and fit and healthy, or maybe in a good ideal body weight, what were the activities you used to do it? Just do a self-analysis, do a self-awareness review. That will give you at least a solid foundation that what are the things actually caused you to gain weight. Most of the times what happens is, with, with my story, what happened is The moment I started working, as long as I was walking, roaming, going in public transport, I always used to be fit and healthy. The moment I started, the moment I started having a bike, car, my overall activity started reducing and my eating habits has become more— started taking high calorie dense foods like sweets, fast food, junk food, rather than eating a balanced kind of a diet. So the moment I started eating, I do, I still remember in 2000, my, my weight gain started in the year 2005 and 2006. That is the time I bought a bike and I was staying away from my home and I, I started staying in Kannur where I used to have a mess every, every afternoon and every night. I used to go and eat like a full meal with the two omelette and chicken and I used to start binge eating and have every, almost like every weekend parties, we used to booze like booze like anything and eat a lot of food after drinking. It doesn't— it did not happen in one single day. I did not go— I think I remember I was around 70 kgs when I started working. Over a period of, I think, 6 to 7, 9, 10 years, my weight gained to 102 kgs. So why I'm telling you this story is the moment you understand this logic that, you know, your weight gain took for some time. It did not happen over a week, over a night, over a month, over a year. It took a solid couple of years. That will give you enough clarity that you have to also focus on taking your weight loss journey slowly. It's not that— it's not a sprint what you are doing with your fitness journey. Ask this question: when, when your weight gain took so many years, What do you want to achieve by just losing weight so quickly and going this fad diet, doing all crazy stuff which is spoiling your health and fitness? So give enough time, build that small, small changes into your life. Don't start everything at once. Start taking small, small steps which will actually help you to build that sustainable habits and, and have a proper purpose why you are doing it. So the moment you break that short-term mentality you will always keep progressing on it. And the third thing what I wanted to ask you is, see what is your triggers. It could be your stress, it could be your emotional eating, it could be some of the foods which you cannot resist. These are the things you need to completely get rid of it. Until and unless you get— if you don't solve the stress factors, patterns which is happening in your life, it would be difficult for you to sustain your fitness journey. And also it would be difficult for you to follow a diet because you keep feeling hungry. Main reason is the stress releases cortisol, which is, which indirectly triggers the hunger hormone. How much ever food you eat, you will not be able to sustain it. And the second thing is your emotional eating. The emotional eating, for me, one of the reason was Every time I become emotional, it could be happy news, it could be sad news, I always used to fill with the sweets. Until and unless I went through and asked my question, why I am binge eating sweets, why I am doing it, until I found the reason that I have been programmed my brain from the childhood. My mother used to give me for any good news or anything happens, I used to always eat a sweet. So that became like a habit for me. Until and unless I break that habit, I could not able to sustain my diet. So I want you to understand and go through the list and write down each and every, uh, your challenge and pattern what is happening when it comes to food, food habits. The moment and whichever foods you are, you cannot resist. I, for example, for me, I cannot resist Peanuts. If I start eating peanuts, 100 grams, say 10 grams, I end up eating 200 to 300 grams. Those are very high calorie dense foods. I used to eat a lot of peanuts by just thinking it is healthy because half of my energy calories was going there. Then I had to restrict that. I need to go through it. So I want you to also list down what all your, uh, these factors, these patterns happening in your life, and address them, each one of them, before even you start a journey. And have a strategy how you can, if at all required, get rid of these foods completely away from your meal. Okay, so that is what the third. Number 4, before you start a fitness journey, check your, check your eating patterns. So don't try to change everything at the day one. For example, if you're trying to consume too many, more than your required body calories and you are taking high calorie dense foods, observe it and try to cut down slowly. It's not like a marathon kind of a thing, right? So just take your, your time, understand your body, slowly, slowly make changes. Your body— see how a baby grows, right? The baby cannot run the moment she give a birth, right? First the baby has to sit, and then baby has to crawl, and then baby has to walk, and then baby has to run. Your fitness journey is also— just think that, you know, you are, you are a newborn baby into a fitness journey. So give a slowly, slowly a time, over period of 3 to 6 months, sustain it and try to do everything which you can sustain and which you can able to follow it, okay? And this is another one which I want to also tell you is during this journey, start understanding about your nutrition knowledge, gain that nutrition knowledge. So this is one of the things which I struggled almost like 8 to 9 years because I never understood how nutrition really works, how exactly the food is absorbed in your body and what is actually the nutrition value and what are the foods that nutrition value is there. And go and start reading that nutrition label. The moment you understand the nutrition, the moment you know that basic information, it is very easy and flexible for you to sustain that, uh, your fitness journey. Don't just depend on any kind of a diet, any kind of a workout routine. Just understand your own routine. See, every human in this world has a different body, a different body and different habits and different patterns and different schedule. So try to create based on your schedule what fits for you is the best plan for you. What fits for you, the diet is the best diet for you. So that's why when you have the information and knowledge about, uh, the diet and exercise and overall plan, you would be able to plan it better and sustain it better. So when you actually, uh, if you attend my free training which I put across in my website. So you will understand what are the 3 main reasons why you are failing it. So go through it. I have, I have put a free training for you to understand better. And also I'm giving you a free consultation to understand if you want a guidance, if you want a guidance from me and my team. So please go and book it and see whether if you are a right fit for us to coach Because we don't coach anyone and everyone. So you have to be eligible, you have to be qualified for us to coach because we are looking for serious action takers who really want to put the efforts and get the change in their life. And at the end, why we are doing everything and why I wanted to start educating you in a right way is at the end, the fitness has to be as a lifestyle. You have to take as a lifestyle. And don't ever think that, okay, I will lose that 5 kgs, 10 kgs, and I go back to my old routine. There is nothing like that, that you lose and leave. Whatever you gonna build, that, that routine has to be there till you die. If you are not making that decision today, don't even— don't even start your journey. Take a time, give your time to yourself, and make your mind get that clarity in your mind so that You will take that decision forever. And you take the decision that fitness is a lifestyle and it is a marathon. I always have milestones, but I have to keep doing till I die. Give that commitment to yourself. See, and one more important thing, why I— what I want to achieve by creating these videos and doing all these things. Apart from my, uh, the full-time job is I want to create a new breed of the healthy and fit kids. That will only happen if you and me, and as parents, we all become healthy and fit and create that environment for the kids from the home itself, and create that environment, and by looking at us, they take fitness and lifestyle as their own routine and their own habit. So that is why I'm doing all this, and hope whatever the videos I'm creating is making a lot of sense to you. Go through them and share with your friends and share with your family and keep helping me to help you. So help me to spread this knowledge, and also it indirectly helps you. The more we give, the more we get. So hope this video made a lot of sense to just to revive into a short summary what we discussed in this video. Basically, before even you start your journey, first find out your reason. Why do you want to lose weight? Just losing your weight will never be a reason. There is a trigger point which is triggered for you to think about your weight loss. It could be a health, it could be a kids, it could be any kind of incident happened in your life. The step number 2 is understand your old patterns. Go through your previous journey. How did you actually gain your weight over a period of years? It has not happened overnight, it has not happened over months, it happened over years. So give enough time before even you start a journey. Decide in your mind that I'm gonna do it for a year, I'm gonna do it for a lifetime. So give enough time so that you start seeing a result in a proper way and more sustainable way. The point number 3 is focus on taking fitness as a lifestyle. Don't do it for a small, small, small, small changes. Do it as a lifestyle. The step number 4 is, the step number 4 is learn during this process about the nutrition and fitness. So that will give you a lot of flexibility for you to follow the plan forever. And also try to keep the food items which are more trigger items and see the patterns where you're feeling stress, where you're feeling emotional eating, and what are the trigger foods. Try to fix them first before even you start a journey. So that is what I want to share it in this video, guys. Hope this video you, you felt it is a lot of value. If it is yes, please do comment in the comment section that what are your patterns currently happening and how long it took for you to gain that weight what you are in currently. So let me know in the comment section and also go, go through the video with the free training which I put on in the my website. I drop the link in below and do take a free consultation and see if I'm if I can help you to get better version of yourself. And thank you so much, and do not forget to subscribe our channel, and please keep sharing this video to your friends and family. And also click on that bell icon so that you get notified when I post my new video. Thank you guys, Aravind signing off. I'll come back to you with one more new video.
