new hero on the block jackky bhagnani tells sonal ved about the determination and inspiration instrumental in him losing 80 kg as a child i was plump my weight fluctuated between 90 and 100 kg my early years of obesity are to be blamed on my eating habits meal time was spent bingeing on junk food burgers pizzas chocolates icecreams butter chicken pastries were more a part of my diet than ghar ka khana as i am asthmatic the pollution made it all the more difficult for me to lead a healthy routine i would fall ill at least two to three times a year my constantly growing weight worried my parents who often urged me to eat healthy and be fit but i never listened to them living in a city like mumbai physical activity is always on the backburner playing sports is rarely encouraged as its not a part of our culture upon my parents requests i enrolled for lawn tennis at bandra gymkhana this didnt help because any physical activity would leave me breathless within minutes i would attend classes just once a week the result more weight after school i started working with my dad producer vashu bhagnani as assistant producer i had no time for outdoor activities and my weight touched 130 kg in most teenage friends circles there is one person who is constantly at the receiving end of jokes and its usually the fat guy among my friends it was me girls didnt hang out with me because i was fat and boys didnt want to be with me because i had no female friends they only called me when they needed money and a car to go out inspiration from within as a person who has been through the trauma associated with being obese i can tell you that no matter who says what you will never do anything until the determination comes from within my moment came when i was 18 and in the first year of college i told my father i wanted to be an actor and he said bluntly that i needed to lose weight earlier an overweight actor could become a hero on the virtue of his acting skills but nowadays you have to be an all rounder subconsciously i knew this was coming apart from becoming an actor i wanted to be healthy obesity brings along a host of ailments i think it is worse than cancer because it kills you physically and emotionally teething troubles like all beginners i made my share of mistakes i went on a number of proteinonly liquidonly and other fad diets i even worked out for four hours every day which is useless because your body ceases to cooperate after oneandahalfhours of workout i even tried starving which backfired when our body senses that it wont receive food for a long time it stocks body fat in advance the fad diets and excessive working out helped me lose