In Pakistan, we still haven’t been a hundred percent acceptable of the fitness culture. Many times, you may even hear people say that falanay uncle ki beti works out, hence she’s way too modern for our son. (Like, really?) Yes, in a room full of desi aunties and uncles, the word ‘diet’ and ‘exercise’ even today would raise eyebrows. Hence, we get all sorts of responses from the people around us as soon as the cat is let outside the bag about you starting a weight loss or weight gain journey.
What’s the need?
One of the most common phrases that people on a diet in Pakistan, especially those who are skinny and are looking forward to gaining, get to hear is Tumhen kya zarurat hai? This is probably because of a cliché concept that only those who wish to lose weight tend to go on diets and workout. Hence, whenever our desi aunties and uncles hear about skinny people dieting, their heart sinks because they fear you would disappear into thin air after a few months.
It’s useless
Here comes the most discouraging kind of response you would ever get to hear from someone with whom you share your new weight loss journey. Mostly, these are the khawateen with no success stories of their own with regards to weight loss, hence for them, this is always a no-go. They think if it didn’t work for them, bekaar hota hai yeh sab and hence it won’t work for anyone else either.
Here’s my story…
Oh, this is somewhat annoying even though it can come in as handy. A few bunch of people start throwing in their own fitness stories and what they tried, what worked and what didn’t, as soon as you tell them you are on a diet. What desi totkay worked best for them or if they’re a bit ‘burger’, which fitness coach or gym facility did they find out to be the best in town. Remember, never let another person’s bad fitness experience shape up your own effort. Their body is theirs and will always be different to yours.
Help me, please!
These are the miserable weight ke haathon majboor people who are either unable to start a diet themselves and haven’t found any guidance yet, or what they tried didn’t work out for them. They’d ask you all sorts of details about how many chapaatis you are skipping every day and what genre of exercise you are following. They might as well keep up with it and you would hear from them every other day, asking you what to follow next. You find yourself becoming a fitness guide, congratulations!
Leave it asap
Okay, let’s just face it: this is the kind of response we get mainly from our immediate family members, especially our Ammi jaan who gets concerned that this dieting shieting would cause nothing but harm to our health (Beta, exercise se koi haddi toot gayi tou?). If you are a girl, you might be daddy’s little princess and hence your Abba jaan might jump in and tell you how perfect you are and that you need to drop the entire idea of dieting and working out because tabiat kharaab hojaegi. Sigh, desi parents’ logic.
