Today we’d like to introduce you to Tina Naidu.
Hi Tina, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was an overweight kid well into my late teens. I went through that teenage phase where I was still figuring myself out and comparing myself to others. We lived in Mumbai, India until I was 14 years old. Whenever my mom took me shopping for clothes, people at the store would mockingly say they don’t carry “my size.” I would hear them whisper about my weight or call me moti (fat).I was fond of dancing from a very young age and learned different dance forms: Bharatnatyam, Bollywood, hip-hop, fusion, etc. But often during my dance performances, I would hear people say, “that fat kid can dance.”I didn’t understand it at the time. So, I began questioning if one must be skinny to be able to dance? Soon, I started associating happiness and the idea of beauty with “being skinny.” When we moved to the U.S., shopping became a little easier because you don’t have shopkeepers here showing you clothes like they usually do in India. But the internal comparison and struggle became even more pronounced as I didn’t quite look like the people around me; I was a brown girl in predominantly white surroundings. I was lost and just wanted to blend in and I turned into this young girl full of self-doubt, not at all comfortable in her body or skin. This drive to lose weight started for the wrong reasons and a desire to fit in. I started associating skinny with being happy, but even after I lost weight, I wasn’t happy. A pivotal moment in my life was when my dad suffered a stroke (he has a family history of hypertension, diabetes, & heart disease), I saw how this impacted our family and I realized that fitness to me is beyond being skinny. I shifted it to health markers and also realized that I wanted to do this for me and not to fit in. I realize my size and body doesn’t define me. So fitness has evolved for me over the years. I work in healthcare, but during 2020 I decided to educate myself in fitness & nutrition. I completed a few certifications, which led me to become a health coach at a south asian virtual fitness & nutrition company that helps south asian women take charge of their health. I realized I didn’t have a resource back when I started, but now I get to be a resource for others with similar struggles. My story and struggles got a purpose and now I get to empower others on this journey without giving up the cultural foods they love.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think like most, this journey hasn’t been easy. Coaching wasn’t ever on my radar, but I think my values and goals some how aligned and led to down this path. The biggest struggle was imposter syndrome – I was coming in the way of my own growth. Why would someone want to get coached by me. I thought may be people need to be coached by fitness gurus that we see in magazines. It took a lot of internal work to understand that my knowledge doesn’t have anything to do with my size. I also had to work through my own body image issues, practice affirmations and gratitude, to address this internal struggle before I could help others.
I used my knowledge as my power – i’m a NASM certified fitness & nutrition coach, certified pre & post natal coach, and a health mindset coach. I took time to understand the mindset being this journey and this has helped me tremendously on showing up for my clients.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a part time coach at a virtual fitness & nutrition company called The Boss Body Revolution that gears towards south asian women and their struggles on this journey. Our goal is to create more awareness around strength training along with nutrition so they don’t have to give up their cultural foods on this journey. This is truly what sets us apart from others – we don’t believe in restrictive diet approach and in fact use a more sustainable way where women feel empowered on this journey by fueling themselves and getting stronger. We have a science and evidence backed approach. We believe that realistic goals will lead to more consistency. I love that south asian women are much more comfortable taking up space in gyms. They are not afraid of lifting weights and understand the power of fueling their body with right nutrition instead of trying to eat as little as possible while cutting out food groups. Along with giving them customized and personalized training plan, we are also navigating the mindset and emotional pieces which is a big part of their journey. We are providing them with tools that they can implement for years to come even beyond their coaching journey with us.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
My own story led me down this path. My biggest takeaway is to not compare our journey to others and not define our worth based on our body size and weight. There’s so much more to us. I remember when I lost weight, now people started saying “you are too skinny.” That’s when I realized I don’t want to be on this journey because I want to prove something to someone else, I want to do this for ME. It’s the intrinsic motivation over extrinsic motivation that would keep me going in the long run.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bossbodyrevolution.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fit2frolic?igsh=MXg2emdzZzZjb3dkaw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
