PVLF 2025

Alifya Mohite & Umesh Mohite speak on their book "Un-Obese Yourself" With Frontlist

on Jun 20, 2022

Alifya Mohite is a Health and Fitness expert since 2004, a Post Graduate in Business Administration and Internationally qualified professional in Exercise Mechanics, Nutrition Science, Obesity Management and Sports Nutrition.

Umesh Mohite is a Health and Fitness Expert since 1994 and a National Athlete winning over 300 trophies in various Track, Field and Strength Sports. He has transformed thousands of lives including several models, celebrities and athletes.

They are also the founders of OLDRA- Obesity and Lifestyle Disorder Reversal Approach which aims at providing scientific and highly effective plans to people suffering from Obesity.

Frontlist: Intermittent fasting is preferred by a large number of people. Do you think intermittent fasting is beneficial for health as it has also been recommended by dietitians?

Alifya & Umesh: Every diet has its own properties and benefits. Intermittent Fasting is not really a pattern of diet but an actual pattern of 'Timing your Meals'. Intermittent Fasting can certainly work very well if it is timed appropriately and backed with the right nutrition intake. If a person is following an intermittent fast, but eats the unhealthy and wrong foods, he/she will not achieve fat-loss or any health goals! So it's important to time the meals correctly as well as consider the nutritional values of food to be consumed.

Frontlist: When will people realise that giving up food is not a viable option for maintaining a healthy body? What can we do to dispel the weight-loss myths?

Alifya & Umesh: This is a Global problem. We all know that food supports life. Infact, healthy food supports healthy life. Giving up wrong foods is truly essential, but giving up food as a Whole is only an indication that more problems are arriving fast. If one wants to dispel weight loss myths and reveal the secrets of weight loss that is rarely spoken, then one must read Un-Obese Yourself. After reading it, you'll get the answers to all your weight-loss and lifestyle related questions.

Frontlist: When did you get the notion to write about such a contentious topic as "Obesity"?

Alifya & Umesh: It was during the pandemic. The medical system and the faculties were working relentlessly to treat thousands of patients each day. They really did a commendable job! But as citizens, how much of health care do people inculcate in their own routine lives? India is about 40% Obese today, including the kids. If this ratio doesn't stop, we can can certainly expect an obesity epidemic in the future decade. The only difference is that obesity kills slower than the virus. Every human deserves a great quality of life and this is possible only when he or she is healthy and fit!

Frontlist: You've made a difference in the lives of many people by assisting them in losing weight. Have you ever struggled with being overweight?

Alifya & Umesh: Yes. Life shows it's highs and lows to all of us. Both of us have devoted our lives to sports, health and fitness for about three decades now. As far as we remember we always had great bodies and fitness except for a short phase just a couple of years ago. We both were going through a tough time and had faced massive financial losses in business. In that period of about 2 years or slightly more, somehow health lost its priority from our routine and we gained a lot of weight. Thus, we know the consequences of gaining excess weight- the physiological and psychologial changes that takes place. But since its our passion and profession to stay fit, we could easily transform ourselves. After seeing both sides of health, we know that nothing can replace the state of well-being and a fit body and mind. With good health, we could work harder and recover the losses and move ahead in life.

Frontlist: People have become more sedentary since the advent of the digital world, which has resulted in an increase in body size. What would you like to share in this context?

Alifya & Umesh: Our book has covered this subject also very beautifully in various chapters like 'Obesity- Inherited or Inculcated' and 'The Million Dollar Exercise Guidelines'.

We all are dependent on information and technology in this era, aren't we. Suppose the world undergoes a network jam everywhere, which means you'll have all the devices but you cannot communicate through them or you won't be able to access information and social media. Would it be frustrating? Ofcourse yes. Our bodies are the devices and our health is the network connection needed to access and make the most of this device. Sadly, people have educated themselves about all possible gigantic machines but they forget to pay attention to the intricacies and functioning of their own bodies.

Frontlist: People take medications and undergo surgical procedures to get in good shape. Can these methods bring a change in the long run? What are your thoughts on this?

Alifya & Umesh: There can be no substitute to healthy eating and good exercising. It's a basic tendency of human to hunt for easy methods and shortcuts. Weight loss through surgical interventions may help you lose a certain amount of weight, but it will speed up your ageing process, drastically reduce the volume of your healthy lean tissues and slow down your metabolism. It can also disturb your nutrition absorption effeciency and your gut health. Overtime, you can regain the lost weight or get even worse.

Whereas if you choose to work on your eating and exercise routines, you can expect weightloss along with anti ageing, higher metabolism, higher lean tissues, better organ health, higher cardiac amd skeletal muscles fitness and the inner confidence of accomplishment.

Frontlist: Most people gain and shed tonnes of weight as a result of Hypothyroidism. What should they do in this situation?

Alifya & Umesh: Hypothyroidism will slow down your energy expenditure leading to weight gain, whereas hyperthyroidism will abnormally speed up your energy expenditure leading to weight loss and muscle loss. Both are Hormonal disorders. In maximum cases, hormones get disturbed due to wrong Lifestyle and/or excess stress. Some cases are genetic. In such cases it is best advisable to focus on correct deit, exercise and sleep cycles along with your ongoing medical treatment. Individuals must not manipulate their medicines without their doctors' advice.

Frontlist: Why do you think 'Un-obese yourself' will be a transformative book for readers?

Alifya & Umesh: There is ample of information everywhere on the internet, blogs and videos. People are highly confused and desperate to lose weight and they believe in scams that offer nonsensical claims of weight loss by drinking a particular formula or swallowing a particular pill. These are just scams and if it was really effective the world would have already become obesity free. We need to accept the truth of why obesity has occured to each individual, followed by the solutions of reversing Obesity. Our mission is not transforming hundreds or thousands of people, but we aim at Obesity Free India. The facts in this book can make it happen if each one dedicates just one hour a day for one week to read this book.

Frontlist: Junk food is a way of life for many people. How can we prevent children from consuming such foods, which simply jeopardise our mental and physical well-being?

Alifya & Umesh: Children will follow what the adults do. Kids learn more from actions than from words. It's important for the adults of the house to create such rules at home that will develop a sense of responsibility amongst kids also. Our son who is just 8 years old loves chocolates, icecreams, pastries and candies like all children. But a discipline to consume any one of the favourite food on a particular day of the week has made him watchful about what he eats. When he received these things in the form of gifts, he still follows the same rule. This is just one small tip we can share here: Don't deprive kids of their favourite eatables, just create a discipline.

Frontlist: Stress leads to an increase as well as a decrease in body weight. Moreover, people have very convoluted opinions when it comes to the relationship between stress and weight. What are your views on this?

Alifya & Umesh: Stress is directly related to weight gain. Short term stress doesn't do any harm. But when a person carries an emotional or psychological stress and anxiety for days or weeks or months or even years, then it will not only pile up pounds on your body but also affect the healthy functioning of many other hormones and organs of your body. Healthy diet, effective workout and proper circadian rhythms can greatly help in de-stressing. This subject has also been beautifully covered in the book.

Frontlist: Many people think that their slow metabolism is the reason for their weight gain, while others argue that the contrary is true. What can we do to shift people's minds regarding the reality that metabolism can be manipulated and that these issues do not remain indefinitely?

Alifya & Umesh: Being honest, people should not worry about their metabolism and it's numbers. Rather people should focus on what they do in order to keep the metabolism in the right order. Imagine that a child appear for his exams, misses more than half of the questions and then hopes that the evaluator should pay mercy to his answer paper! This is the same situation with people who worry about metabolism without making much efforts on their actions. Metabolic disorders are usually a result of poor lifestyle and higher stress. Once you stop stressing about Metabolism, and start working towards it, you'll certainly win the battle.