Do It For Yourself - Karavi Pattnaik

"In school, I started gaining a lot of weight. People would talk behind my back about my obesity. Their talks didn't bother me, it was only when my friends started teasing me that I realized the pain of body shaming. Words like, Moti, Hippo, Pumpkin, Baby Elephant, were my nicknames. They would also say that I comprise 2 people, not one. 

Through all the teasing and shaming what my friends failed to understand is that I didn't choose to be obese. It's in my genes and there's nothing one can do about it. My parents, too, started telling me to lose weight, which was hurtful. I really wanted to lose weight, but couldn't find the zeal. 

Later, due to a health condition, I was asked to lose weight by my doctor. This time I knew I had to work towards it, not because what other people think or say, but for my own good. I started working out, the zeal was there this time, maybe because I wasn't thinking about people, but myself. I lost a few kilos. I am still chubby and a work in progress; slowly getting to the weight that makes ME happy." - Karavi Pattnaik.