Hi, I hope you are enjoying this series. Here is a new story, it has been very motivating for me. I am an observer and I have been friends with Clarence for almost 8 years now. He has been a great friend, a person I love to hug as he was huge. He was about 105 kgs when I met him. According to me, he was fit and happy. Over a period of time, things changed I saw him drastically lose weight I was worried I remember telling him – “Don’t listen to others. I like you the way you are.“
- Tells me something about you. Your life, career, family etc (Who is Clarence)
My name is Clarence Jonathan Milne, born and brought in the City of Joy, Kolkata, India. Being an Armenian from my mom’s side of the family, I had the opportunity and the privilege to study in one of the reputed schools in Kolkata, the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy. My career simply didn’t begin in the fitness industry but in fact, I started my journey in the Time Share industry ( Club Mahindra). I moved on to working for IBM India and then HSBC. However, this
was just a phase of my life. Currently, I am a certified Evidence-Based Practitioner in fitness. I am a nutrition consultant. I am also one of the faculty members at National Fitness and Nutrition Academy ( NFNA ).
As the head coach at Zest CCFC ( Calcutta Cricket and Football Club ) Kolkata, my team and I manage the training and nutrition program for both, the members of the club and guests. - When did you start your fitness journey?
Back in school, I was engaged in sports such as Rugby and basketball and any other form of physical activity. However, there came a time when I became lazy I was eating a lot and that itself made me obese ( as the calories that I consumed was greater than the number of calories I expended). Every time I thought about getting myself back on track, it seemed a difficult task for me. Every day I used to tell myself: This is it, I got to get back but it never did happen because to put in simple terms, I was lazy. I wasn’t that enthusiastic about it. Days passed by and those turned out to be months and then years, I realized I have lost my strength, power, stamina, the urge to do what’s right. It seemed impossible but they say if you put your mind into doing a task and doing it because you know the importance of it, then anything can happen. That’s when my journey towards becoming someone who I am today began, which was around 6 years ago.
- What inspired you?
As I was getting bigger in size ( in terms of body weight and body fat percentage ) I have been told by many people, both family and friends that I need to do something about my health, fitness and overall lifestyle. Did I listen to anyone back then, no not really, otherwise my journey towards fitness would have begun a long time ago! However, it was because of my amazing, beautiful, loving, caring sister Jessica Natasha Auckland who said to me one day that everyone has been talking to you and saying what needs to be said according to them and it seems you don’t have it in you. She said: You lost you Will Power. That itself struck me and I said to her that I will take it up as a challenge.
“He is happier in what he does. The change has been phenomenal. It wasn’t just about fitness but I saw him evolving and doing much more. I fell he is emotional, physically and mentally much stronger than before. I saw him finding his way out regarding what to do in life. I am really impressed by all he has achieved so far.”
I joined Zest and I spoke to Vinit Baptist, I didn’t know what to expect, I thought to myself that I will probably just go for the first few days and then give up. I remember after my first session after a very long time I could barely walk, didn’t feel like getting out of the bed. It was bad. I kept going the next day and then the following day and it went on. I controlled my calorie consumption and in the span of 6 months, I lost approximately 30 kgs. From 105 kgs I dropped down to 75 kgs. Everyone was like how did you do it?. What was your activity like? What did you eat? and a lot more.
Seeing the change in me, I fell in love with the industry. That is when I decided to take one step at a time and educate myself and help people to achieve their goals towards Fitness.
- What are your plans for the future?
Well, I have every intention to continue the very same line of work of being a fitness trainer and hopefully one day I could set up a gym of my own. The reason being I love what I do and most importantly when I see that change in a client in terms of strength endurance, weight loss or anything towards fitness it gives me great joy and happiness. I love to cook and maybe one day may start a YouTube channel to show people that if one’s goals are towards weight loss you can eat anything and everything as long it’s your within your calorie intake ( Calorie Deficit ) In other words the video would basically help a person to understand the approximate calorie intake of each item that is used to prepare a dish according to the portion that is used. Just a fair idea for everyone. - Other than Fitness what do you want to explore in the future?
I love to travel. Been to a number of placed around the world but still got a lot more to explore. Given the current situation doesn’t seem like I would have the opportunity to move around much. Maybe one day could think about it again. - What were the struggles till now?
As I mentioned earlier that in the span of six months I lost approximately 30 kgs and during that time I had to ensure that I eat a certain amount of calories. Being a foodie that was one difficult task initially but over a period of time, I got used to it. - You appear to be very optimistic and positive but we all have our bad days especially the situation we are in. How do you cope up with such days? True we do have our bad days, it could be any reason and it doesn’t always necessarily have to be the same reason for everyone. However, with the current situation, there are many people who are not in a position to bear the expenses for their necessities to survive. There are many industries that have not opened their doors to employment yet because of various reasons. The Fitness industry is one which hasn’t opened its doors yet. Gyms are shut and trainers are finding ways to cope with the current situation. To be honest we do not know when exactly the Government of India will allow us to open the gym. As a fitness trainer, we need to find various alternative ways to earn so that we could survive. I feel that one way to go about it is to provide online training to clients. Is it an inferior approach to offline training? yes, it is!. However, that doesn’t mean we stop providing our services to our clients. This approach of training clients online using an application will need to be considered by all trainers. In fact, I also feel that many individuals may still feel uncomfortable to exercise at a gym because of various reasons. Hence the idea of training clients online is something that will be considered by many individuals for a long time.
- Any advice or suggestion for my readers regards to Fitness!
Given the current situation, you may be working from home and your activity level may have dropped as well. I understand its different and difficult times for everyone. We all have different lifestyles. To be honest, people who have better immunity have less chance of getting the virus. That doesn’t mean that we should not take the necessary precautionary measure to reduce our chances. There are many products out there that will simply tell you that take this pill it will boost your immunity. I will request everyone not to be a victim of such products. There is not just one factor or one magic pill that will boost your immunity but instead, multiple factors impact one’s immunity and health such as sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress levels, etc Simply depending on eating ‘X’ or ‘Y’ Food will do nothing for the immunity. Try to keep one hour aside of your day and exercise then and if not possible ensure you incorporate any form of activity to your daily life. If you are focusing on reducing your body fat percentage, as the law of thermodynamic states and as per the recent scientific research papers ensure you eat at a calorie deficit. For those who have a sedentary lifestyle and for those who do not exercise I implore you to start. It’s the start that is said to be difficult for many people but every day when you get up from bed thanking God for helping you to see yet another a beautiful morning, simply plan your day, ensuring you keep a certain amount of time to exercise. Set yourself a goal to achieve towards fitness. Every day set a task to help you achieve that goal.
IF you all would like to know more please do feel free to get in touch, https://www.facebook.com/clarence.milne He would be happy to help. You can also call him – +91 98364 66608
