photos courtesy: BNPGR friends/pexels.com
video courtesy: BNPGR friends
BNP Green Runners’ Project Glow: Better Than Before
The modern world is getting more and more automated.
The physical use of our body is reducing. Making use of the full range of motion of our god-given limbs is not at all mandatory.
We all eat more than required.
The food industries run the new narrative.
Weight loss and weight reduction have become catchwords that everyone loves to chase.
2017 and 2019 were interesting years for the Borivali National Park Green runners club, Mumbai
We could organize and run two of the best long-running programs, Weight loss season 1 and Weight loss season 2.
155 Runners lost around 450 kg during these two seasons.
Post-completion of these programs, almost all participants involved could improve their marathon timings.
Thereafter it became an annual call to repeat the programme.
ऐसे लगने लगा था की साल भर की वजन बढ़ाने वाली मस्ती का course correction BNPGR के ही जिम्मे आ चुका है
people would constantly request Sanjay, and he would remind me reluctantly.
For me, the 2nd edition was more of a duty than enjoyment.
The programme didn’t incorporate any new ideas or innovations and followed the pattern of Season 1.
However, it had many newcomers and therefore remained very exciting to the participants.
We were able to end the programme at a high by revisioning the Master Chef-inspired concept in a brand-new format.
We were fortunate to have Executive Chef Mr. Salil Phadnis of Sahara Star and Executive Chef Kedar Bobde of Hyatt (who is committed to a fitness regime and an avid cyclist) grace the event with their presence.
After 3 months of excitement, the running janta could present their culinary skills infused with their understanding of nutrient content, choice of ingredients, right combinations & good presentations of cuisine.
The finale was an apt and spectacular end for celebrating the 90 days of dedicated work.
Coming to the ‘now’, people have always accused me of suggesting wacky and weird ideas (few may remember my obsession with proteins as evidenced by my Sunday WA posts – chronicling my attempts to make protein smoothies an art, like wine tasting).
One of these wacky ideas was creating a programme for complete lifestyle-health change to bring about inside-out, holistic transformation. When I brought it up to someone, I was told “This is far from wacky…because I don’t even get what exactly is it?
3 years later, this very idea manifested in the form of Project Glow
Why in 2022?
Why not? We all had gone through the most intimidating covid years.
From WFH (Work from home) sedentary lifestyles to the overall stress and fear of the unknown which surely affected everyone, this felt like the perfect time to launch it.
I strongly believe that the Covid years have reduced every individual‘s ability to socialize. We may require a few more years to go back to the old normal. I believe that a program like Project has the potential to bring people closer and shorten our journey back to the Old normal.
The beauty of the programme is that it can fulfill everyone’s own interests and requirements.
Who does not want to look good? Radiate the glow and look sexy!
Why not repeat the old programme?
Covid has brought in a paradigm shift, so we need a new and different approach.
Why and how such a different program in 2022 when 3 years ago I didn’t even have rice for this खयाली पुलाव?
Because, fortunately, I could upgrade my skills &: get:
- Certified as a Marathon Trainer, by completing a course for the same (which also introduced the subject of sports nutrition and motivated me to complete a 5-month certification course in Functional Nutrition)
- Certified as a Functional Nutritionist
I could rediscover and reconnect with the long-lost student in me, I found myself reading nonstop, listening to podcasts and videos, discussing with my batchmates, and most importantly: self-experimenting.
Soon the new realization took me on a different kind of inner journey.
My Inner Journey:
Usually, spirituality or searching for inner peace are associated with the inner journey, and while I remain a seeker on that path; after two weight loss seasons, running-related injuries & recovery, a marathon course, and functional nutrition I have found myself eternally curious about a different inner journey: what happens within our body.
Food, Movement, Exercise, and the interconnection. How do we define good health and good fitness? What is our understanding of the same?
All these questions & the range of the answers opened new doors.
How to go ahead with Project Glow?
We decided to work out a totally different format.
Offer the willing participant something she or he would cherish for years to come.
Yes, there would be self-rewarded ( if they remain as dedicated participants till the end ) to see, show & boast about their new self glow! Our aim is to keep the journey enjoyable. Every involved participant should be able to cherish the experience and remain nostalgic!
The glow experience must become part of her/his future reminiscence!
Functional nutrition is a relatively new field. The beauty of Functional Nutrition is that it not only explores ‘what is wrong within your body but also works on pre-identifying/ predicting what may go wrong in your body in the near future? (2 to 5 years before you develop the chronic issues) if a timely course correction is not introduced.
But how?
We need comprehensive blood reports/pathological reports.
In India, we believe in breakdown maintenance, unless someone sponsors our preventive maintenance initiative!
By and large, no one willingly goes for regular health checkups or even comprehensive blood tests.
Moreover, finding reference values is difficult, as we do not have any continuous medical ecosystem where healthy volunteers are enrolled in research programs/ medical checkups to generate different timelines & data for reference values.
So how do we convince a large number of people to go for blood tests?
How do we convey to a large number of people that this is not just a weight loss project?
And of course, as Indians, we love typecasting!
Like Bollywood when someone does a couple of action films, he is immediately stamped as ये तो action hero है, ये तो सिर्फ action ही करेगा!
We were and are labeled as weight loss guys.
It took several group presentations within BNPGR to put forward the concept.
Once a core team was formed, a big presentation was arranged.
BNPGR hired a hall, and we all used a Powerpoint presentation to explain the Glow project and the path ahead. to continue chapter 2/6
shailesh 