Are u a Fitness Freak?

Bitten by the fitness bug, (whose harsh sting may last for a maximum of a couple of months in my case), I realised that everytime I walk into the supermarket to buy some food, my eyes naturally tend to scan at the nutritional information at the back of the pack.

I had made a mental note of what my fitness instructor had told me. "Try to avoid fatty foods, helps see results faster". It sounded as if it were straight out of some well funded research project. I liked the "see results faster" bit. As if, the results were by themselves discrete entities of existance, that will choose to find me one fine evening while I am running on my treadmill, and say "Ah! here he is, ....still diligently working out, ..lets show up".

The contradiction however, is what another friend and a fellow "fitness freak" told me. "Its never about what you do....its about how consistent you can be" --literally destroying every bit of faith I had in my programme to show me the results. It was almost like Lord Krishna advising Arjuna, to keep sticking to his duty , come what may , and that results were not his worry. I am supposed to be consistent, in burning 250 CALORIES through regular exercise, remain consistent in my diet and consistent in my passion to health-irrespective of whether or not I see any fruit of all the persistence. It was the consistency that paid off, the joy was in the journey and not the destination.

Hundreds of Gyms, have sprung up in a neighbourhood, that was once a pensioners' paradise. Large SUVs , remain parked outside these gyms, as if reminding you about the passion of their respective owners who wake up 5 AM every morning and drive 500 meters every morning, to go to the gym. All gyms have elevators, that land directly on to the "Cardio floor" where the "fitness freak" can improve his body metabolism by regular exercise.

News telecasts run on television sets ,even as young men clad in track suits run at 110 rpm , level 4 of the "cross trainer" , enabling them to relish the sight of themselves sweating, in the mirror and the sight of the sensex touching 19000 on the television.

Its a very strange world. The world of the fitness freak. Often, bordering on insanity under the guise of passion, and determination to walk on a journey , whose destination was but just a mirage. A vicious cycle, that starts with dreams of a "lighter" existence, ends up as another reason, to expose the share of your wallet, to ever booming health industry, of Incredible India.