In this episode, we explore the incredible journey of Mahasweta Ghosh. She is an ace marathon runner and one of the first Indian women to conquer the toughest marathon in the world, the Marathon Des Sables. Mahasweta shares the secrets behind her success, including her tailored diet by celebrity nutritionist Ryan Fernando. She became the Desert Queen of India from humble beginnings, triumphing in over 50 races. Balancing her running pursuits with a thriving corporate career, she is a shining example of dedication and perseverance. Join us as we unravel the fascinating tale of Mahasweta Ghosh, a true inspiration for runners and dreamers alike.  

Ryan:You said that, you know, you were never an athlete and now you've conquered one of the most grueling races in the world. The Marathon des Sableurs. It is one of the world's hottest and most grueling endurance races. Why is it? The most grueling race on the planet.

Mahasweta:It is a lot for a person to deal with. I like to call MDSs like the bare minimum race.

But coming down like this, like big drop was scary. So they tie a rope and you have to hold the rope and then you go down. Now imagine you're going down, you have walking sticks,

Ryan:you

Mahasweta:have a bag on you. And then you have the mat of, of, on which you sleep, which is to the back. So you're standing and there is like a steep, it's a drop.

As I'm scared, I'm trying to drag my feet in through the sand. And the next thing I know, I hit my leg on a big boulder inside. MDS did have history of, uh, someone dying many years ago. I think the toughest part of the marathon, DeSable's preparation was the food.

Mahasweta Ghosh, one of the first Indian woman to conquer the Marathon de Sable with more than 50 races completed.

She is not only a successful runner, but also a corporate leader, inspiring thousands of Indians with a remarkable ability to balance both worlds.

Ryan:Why did you become a marathon runner?

So Shweta, thank you for coming on my podcast. It's a pleasure to have you today over here. It's a pleasure. Everyone knows you as a runner, but let's start at the beginning. Were you always a runner? Did you, did you have this thing that you were running marathons in school? What's your story?

Mahasweta:So Ryan, thank you so much.

It's an absolute pleasure and delight to be here and part of your podcast. Never thought I'm going to be here five years ago, but something I did that got me here. So I'm super happy, uh, to going back on how my life was. I forget running. I, I never, ever was even into sports. I'm born to a traditional Bengali family where Focus was in education, music, painting.

Uh, the only complaint my parents ever got from school was I was never into any kind of sport. So that's my background and, uh, I, I think I continued being that person till I became so fat and I just didn't know what to do. And then I took to fitness as a, as a rescue mission to get rid of it. And you know, those numbers, I was 78 kgs in early 2000, pretty much in Bangalore studying in college.

And, uh, I remember that at one point I was not able to fit into any clothes that I had. And every month I would have to go and buy new clothes and I had to ask my dad.

Ryan:This was the engineer you?

Mahasweta:Yes, this was the engineer me.

Ryan:And you're just out of college. And yeah, I was in, I was in early

Mahasweta:20s. I was still in college and I was in early 20s.

And, uh, I had to just ask my dad for extra money every month because I had to go and buy new clothes. And of course, with that, I was also being very sick. I got PCOS and PCOD, whatever. And, uh, you know, gastric issues in and out of the doctor all the time. And at some point, I think I just had this moment of breakdown, meltdown, as you would call it in today's terminology.

I said, I cannot live like this. My confidence was rock bottom. Uh, I think if in today's situation you would evaluate it, I was borderline a case of depression because I was so fat. I only used to wear a certain kind of clothes because I didn't know what to wear. And, uh, I think that was a turning point when I first started into, uh, weight loss regime.

And the only fitness activity I could get to doing was walking. So I walked and in three months, of course, I did try to work on my nutrition and my food habit rather. Of course, then it was called dieting and there was no concept of nutrition. So I got into the traditional dieting model and I lost weight and then I joined the gym.

And then I was, I continued that journey because I didn't want to go back to being 78 kgs. So I was into gym and I decently managed to do my dieting borderline.

Ryan:And you reached what, about 65 kgs? And I reached about

Mahasweta:64 65 kgs. And I sustained that till 2012, when I actually Someone literally borderline is the dearest friend co asked me to get into running saying that, Oh, you're strong because you do gym and you should start running.

So that's my background. So

Ryan:why did you become a marathon runner? I mean, like you said, somebody co asked you to become a runner. What's your story on that? He's like the nasha hit you on day one, or it took a few months to get there.

Mahasweta:It's it's funny that I used to work in Wipro and then Wipro used to have this run called the spirit of Wipro run.

Also, you

Ryan:used to work for Wipro.

Mahasweta:I used to be working for Wipro at that time. And they had a run. They still have it. It's one of the, I think it's in the Guinness record or something saying that all locations within 24 hours, some country is doing that run worldwide. And so that's their USP. And that was the run I registered for.

And the first ever time, I just signed up straight up for 21. 1K. Then I called this friend, I said, okay, now that you've got You signed up

Ryan:for 21. 1 And you were only walking and gymming.

Mahasweta:I had only done gymming and I, by borderline, hated running, if I may say. I thought it's extremely boring. And the only running I would do is like those 20 minutes before my gym training on the treadmill, which I really, really would find an excuse into.

Not to do it. Like, you know, not to do it. Absolutely had no I said, okay, you know, and, uh, the funnier part is that his wife was my then boss. So I said, Well, you know what? One time I'll just do this and get rid of it. And then never again in my life. And then I called him and I said, Okay, now I signed up.

Tell me how to train. And I broadly had like three months. So he told, Okay, two days you continue running on the gym. And one day you go out and run in some wherever I was staying. And that's what I did. And then I I went to the race day at no experience of what it means. You don't know hydration, nutrition, nothing.

And I was I thought I'm going to be the last person. Everybody would have left by the time I came. I came back and then somebody came running and said, Madam, Madam, uh, runner up. I said, what runner up? I mean, I would have come last. Everybody would have left. So the first ever half I did was in 215, which is by the number game, isn't a decent, is a pretty good number even today.

So that was like my first trigger saying, Oh, you know what? This isn't bad. I can try.

Ryan:I got

Mahasweta:the key saying, and so I was the second runner up. So I was like, okay, maybe next year I can be, I can either come first to be the second runner up. And then so I continue doing that only with that goal that okay, next year I'm going to like, so I suddenly found myself putting up into a goal to do it.

I think that just kicked in saying I in the very first race, I, I enjoy the flavor of what it does. You get a medal. It's like, you know, somebody told very interestingly that this is one race where You don't have to win to get a medal. It's like instant gratification. Never thought of it like that. I have a wall full of medals.

You've seen it. So I thought that was, that was rather amazing to start with. And then the rest is history.

Ryan:So, you know, marathon, half marathon, runners up position, a full marathon is what distance? Forty two. Forty two point two. Point two. That's a long distance, okay. But even driving a car that distant, like we live in the city of Bangalore, okay, and you're visiting me today and average speed in Bangalore is 15 kilometers per hour.

So if I sit in a car, I'm actually taking almost three hours to reach there and you would actually run faster than that in most marathon bases. So people are now setting themselves up to do. 5K, 10K, uh, 22, uh, 21, which is the half and the full marathon. What has been your most, let me ask me this, how many marathons have you run so far approximately?

Would you have cost a hundred marathons by now?

Mahasweta:Yeah. If I add all distances across, yes. But if I say only the full distance, there's a 42. I just did my 18th in Mumbai.

Ryan:Wonderful. And in all of these, all of them. irrespective of distance, which has been your most memorable marathon or, or most memorable run?

Mahasweta:I think Jerusalem marathon stays my most memorable marathon ever for, for many reasons. Is that distance

Ryan:the same

Mahasweta:for

Ryan:most marathons, right? Of

Mahasweta:course. Of course. So is that. It's my first international marathon. And how did you

Ryan:land in Jerusalem of all places? Very funny. I will do London or Boston or Chicago.

I mean, you have to qualify to get it. So what was the logic? I think

Mahasweta:I think I have I have a really bad set of friends.

Ryan:So

Mahasweta:this and I hope

Ryan:they're not listening to this. I

Mahasweta:hope they're listening to this because so this friend of mine said, Oh, we should do Jerusalem because Jerusalem is known as the highest marathon.

in the in the in the marathon distance worldwide because it's extreme high elevations because of the terrain that it is and it and makes you run through the city so this friend said oh we should do my jerusalem i'm going to do jerusalem marathon and this and that i said well okay you know let me also sign up and i'm very diligent when i say something then i say something it's not like i'm gonna i don't i just don't say for the heck of it so i said the next thing i know i've registered and then i've applied for visa and i have visa and everything and then i called and i said have you signed up He's like, Oh no, I'm still thinking.

I'm like, excuse me.

Ryan:So the friend who's convinced everyone to go to Jerusalem has not signed up. Yeah, he's

Mahasweta:not signed up. But

Ryan:you've already got your tickets. I have got

Mahasweta:my tickets. Everything is set. I am going. I said, okay, then I'm going. So, you know, so does that

Ryan:friend sign up? No. Okay.

Mahasweta:So, so, so find

Ryan:that friend and shoot him.

Mahasweta:Yeah. I mean, I really, I was like, I will never forgive you for like, so I went to Jerusalem all by myself, you know, and, uh, and I did this run. Now, why it is, why it is. My favorite is that there's a first time in an air BNB. I actually stayed with the Jewish family and I still have such fond memories of that place where I stayed.

Second, interesting thing, Jerusalem shuts down the city on the day of the race. And then shuts down literally like because you cannot get taxi, nothing. And I was staying obviously in an Airbnb which is in a residential area and I had to go to this park where the run starts. So I had pre booked a taxi.

So the taxi said, yeah, yeah, we're going to come and all of that. Called him in early morning, getting ready, ready to leave. Waiting to come. Yeah, coming, coming, coming. I'm going and waiting down and I never carry my phone and I'm all alone. So where am I going to leave my bag and phone and all that? So no phone.

I go then after he's not coming. He's not coming. He's not coming. I'm like my heart. It's really racing already. And then some point he says, No, the city is closed. I can't come. And I'm like, Oh, shucks. It's like seven kilometers from where I'm staying in the start line.

Ryan:Yes.

Mahasweta:So, so then I said, okay, whatever.

I saw the map and I said, okay, this is broadly in which direction I have to go. Next I'm going to ask whoever is on the way to the start point. I will reach 7 km. I have enough time. I will run into the start line, run to the start line. That's the start of my first international marathon. So I went, I started running.

Then I saw some cops. I pleaded the cops saying, Can you please drop me to the start line? The cops called their boss and said, Oh, can we drop this lady? She has a baby and she's going for the race. So they declined. So there was this taxi guy who had who was carrying some, I don't know, some six, seven people.

He charged. He said, I will take 2x money, but I will take you to the start location. However, up to me. I said, dude, you take 100. I don't care. Save me seven came running before the run. So it's so sweet that actually that guy took me to the start line. I reached on time and I did the run. The run was beautiful.

It takes you through the whole city, like cobblestone elevations. Like the first time I saw, like, you don't see this. It's the first international, right? So. You don't see like you're here and then 500 meters you see like everybody's going up straight like that It's that high elevation and then you're going steep down.

It was insane I had I think I aimed to do like a 415 or something I was still not as fast as I am now, but then I ended up doing a 445 because I was like That's low in the terrain, and people were zipping past. Obviously, the locals who live and train in there for them. It was like a cakewalk, but I and the prettiest city that I could run and you can see the entire city running through the route.

So I Jerusalem by far stays my favorite ever, wherever I've run. I think I haven't had another one which will take away that experience.

Ryan:So, many people may know this, uh, out there that I am her nutritionist and my favorite run with her is the marathon, the sapler, the MDS. So, you know, um, I thought you would have said that is your favorite run but I, I also remember it was your most grueling testament to the metal grit that any individual on the planet has.

So, tell me and tell my fans about the MDS. First of all, Why is it the most grueling race on the planet? And when I say grueling, it can kill you.

Mahasweta:Yeah, MDS did have history of someone dying many years ago. But, uh, and

Ryan:So the distance is

Mahasweta:So, so I think what makes MDS tough is, uh, I split it into three parts.

And the first part is, of course, the fact that the terrain. It's in the Sahara Desert. Uh,

Ryan:running a distance in the Sahara Desert.

Mahasweta:Yeah. And when we say desert in India, if you go to, say, Jaisalmer and

Ryan:see, I've done in Pokhran

Mahasweta:and that terrain is tough, but I had not seen what a desert really is just to give you a context.

And I'll give you a very, uh, something that people probably would have done is when you go to Dubai and you do the dune bashing. You know how those dune bashings are, right? So imagine 2x of that dune sizes is what MDS has. That's only the dunes. Then there are these rocky terrains, which has those pokey rocks because of the sand abrasion.

The rocks are very, very sharp. So they have this little narrow patch through which you have to run. Some parts, they actually, you have to climb holding a rope. Uh, and then, of course, those dunes are miles and miles and miles long. And that heat. So, so

Ryan:now everyone's thinking this is a one day race.

Mahasweta:Yeah, so the MDs is so, so that is number one is the terrain.

The second is the distance. And the way the distance is planned now, it is a two 50 I my it. So the distance is, distance varies between in the range of two 50 because it is two 50

Ryan:kilometers, two

Mahasweta:50 kilometers, it cannot be the same distance because since they are. You have walked, you're in the desert, like, you know, you, you, it kind of varies by two, three, four kilometers, you're, you're in a

Ryan:car and drive 250 kilometers, I crib, I just cannot imagine how somebody will decide to run 250 kilometers that too in the Sahara desert.

Mahasweta:So, and, and it is done through six stages. Now, it's not like you, you know, today I don't feel like running, so I will do 20 Today, if I'm scheduled to do 42 or 38 or 31, then I have to do that, and I have to finish within the cutoff time for me to qualify to do the next day.

Ryan:So every day is a race against yourself.

Mahasweta:Yes.

Ryan:And to co qualify

Mahasweta:every day is a race for you to qualify for the next day. So it can be that with all this preparation, you know, in my epic season. There were people who actually didn't make it to the last day. Like they were disqualified the day they were getting the medal. Can you imagine how hurtful that would be?

Like they've gone through the entire 256 kilometer torture. Yes, but they still didn't make it on the finish line. I don't think I can deal with that pain, like, you know, so that is why MDS has this, it is, it is unique and surprising in terms of giving you pain at all different levels. Okay. Now the third part is it is, you know, it is self supported, which means that you carry everything that you need for the race during the race, your hydration, nutrition, your lunch, your dinner, your sleeping accessories, your race gear, everything on you.

And you carry that bag and you run on your by yourself.

Ryan:So you're in the desert. You got to do it over five or six days, six, six days. You've got 250 kilometers dune sand and to top it off. You're carrying everything that you own through this desert over six days. And now they tell you to carry your food and water also with you.

Mahasweta:Yes, they only give you water. Which is also at the temperature, whatever it can sustain. So there's no concept of cold water as marathoners. We're very, we're luxurious runners. We get chilled water, ice and cold sponge and food and all of that. You get nothing. All you get is water. Which is which which we ideally got lukewarm water.

So I drank lukewarm water through the race and when I got really, really bugged and I wanted to have something cold, I would take that water when I was back in the tent and then I would wrap up my buff. with water and then cover it and let it be after maybe one, two hours, that water will cool down to become like in drinkable temperature or something like that.

Now, uh, the food is critical because you have, there's a mandate as well.

Ryan:By the way, there are no kitchens on the Sahara desert. If anyone's thinking, there is no light your

Mahasweta:own fire.

Ryan:You have to light your, you have to carry your own fire. You have to carry your own stuff

Mahasweta:and you have to light your own fire.

Now, uh, just to give people perspective, that, that tent that I'm talking about is actually like a turpulin, which is, which is in an inverted V shape. Tucked with logs at the back and it's open on both sides. There's no cover.

Ryan:And you, you carry that?

Mahasweta:No, that, that tent is what they carry and they set it up for us.

So the tents are laid out by numbers like our rooms. We are allocated those tents in all of, we have to stay in those tents. Each tent is shared by eight people. We have like a thick carpet at the bottom, which is like a dhari, nothing better than that. And a similar thing on the top.

Ryan:Does sand come through the tent?

Mahasweta:So that's what I'm saying. And in both sides, it's open. And every evening we had sandstorm. And every evening, everything we had was in sand.

Ryan:So you had sand in every crevice of your body?

Mahasweta:Yes. And we had sand like, it would go into your mouth. And by the

Ryan:way, you can't have a bath, okay? There is, yeah. So,

Mahasweta:yeah.

So, 12 liter water they give you.

Ryan:Every day? Day. So you get only 12 liters of water?

Mahasweta:And that water is for you to brush, poop, do whatever. 12 liter is all you get. For your cooking, for your race, for your

Ryan:Hydration. For your

Mahasweta:hydration, for your whatever you need to do. You can get additional water at an expense of time.

So like if you take say like a

Ryan:video game.

Mahasweta:Yeah. Yeah. So if it's like you take extra bottle of water, say, okay, I want like they give you two 1. 5 liter bottles and then the big five can, when you come back to the camp. So if you take extra water, take first time you ask 30 minute added to your time. Now people are struggling here to finish like, you know, 10 hours, you.

Make it to like 955. Imagine what it'll do to add 30 minutes to you. First time, 30 minutes. Second time, one hour. I think if you ask third time, then you're disqualified. So it's not like you can, uh, borrow. The other strict rule is that you cannot borrow from anybody. If you are caught borrowing, then you will be pulled out of the race.

The runner who had been having the first position to last 10 years was actually given penalty because he was caught taking something from somebody.

Ryan:So it's only water, it's food also.

Mahasweta:Anything. It's everything,

Ryan:okay.

Mahasweta:If you're sitting in the camp and you're like sharing and all of that is okay. But if you're taking anything, borrowing like, you know, extra water or extra food.

So the

Ryan:race is, you have to carry what you consume. And if you don't carry what, what you are meant to consume, deal with it.

Mahasweta:Yes. If you, you cannot even trash. It's, it's an eco friendly race. You cannot even trash outside of where you're sitting. So like the bottles they give you carry a bib number.

Ryan:Oh, so, so you have to be really climate conscious about what you're doing.

Mahasweta:So you Suppose that I don't know

Ryan:about this.

Mahasweta:So when you go to the when you go to the checkpoint, for example, they're going to give you your water.

Ryan:So are dehydrated food sachets and empty our sashes and all had to be disposed very yes,

Mahasweta:wherever. So that you're eating, say, in the camp. Right. So you they have every tent has like a bin that you put in stuff.

The important part is water because water they give you through the race points, like because you're feeling your water at the checkpoint. But the checkpoint they give you either two bottles or 1. 5 so which you can refill. Like for example, I was carrying the bag and I had 1. 5 liter bottles on me. Total 750, 750.

One had decoction that you gave me, which I will talk about, and the other one was plain water. Now, that remaining water bottle, if you choose to carry with yourself, then you have to carry back to the next checkpoint, or you leave it at the checkpoint that you are because you cannot trash it on the way.

If anybody finds out that they're really, really strict and you'll have people, uh, you know, guarding you all through, if they find out the bottle, it has your bib number, you'll be given penalty to the extent that you may be pulled out of the race.

mixed:Wow.

Mahasweta:So, so you cannot do that. The other interesting part, somebody and everybody ask me saying, what do you do for toilet?

And I, I have this thing that MDS makes you clean your own shit. It literally does. They give you poop bags like you have for dogs.

Ryan:Yeah. So

Mahasweta:you take your poop bags, you go to, oh, it's not

Ryan:like in India, you can just do it and leave . Yeah.

Mahasweta:It's not like you can go do it. And

Ryan:you, this is the Sara Desert where there's nobody there.

Yes. So you could bury your shit basically.

Mahasweta:Yeah. But, but

Ryan:they don't allow you to bury your shit. No,

Mahasweta:you cannot do that. You have, you have those enclosures kind of made and which has, which has like a western, uh, you know, style, uh, infrastructure. You put the poop bag there, you use it, lift it, pick it up, tie it up, and there's a bin there which you will go through.

Now, You can, and if you have to say on the go road, uh, while you're running, if you have to use outside the checkpoint, that's probably exceptions where, but how many if you're doing, but if you're the camp, you cannot just go and litter anywhere, so there's no concept of littering. They do have an extremely good care of medical facility.

Now, of all of these, the third point of why MDS is difficult is because through that race, Uh, that that whole experience of physical pain added to eat the mental preparation. I think it needs a next level of mental great determination to be doing that kind of race because you obviously not Eating the food that you like.

You're not eating. You know, if you're feeling cold and hot and sunny, you typically want to have hot cold water or cold drink or open the fridge and have something you don't even get the kind of food that you're used to eating. Like I ate, uh, you know what? I'm not even frozen food like that. Haldiram dal chawal for forever.

Now, even if I look in the flight and I'm like, Oh, my God, how did I eat this for seven days? So I think some of putting all of this together It is a lot for a person to deal with. It just kind of takes you to the bare minimum. I like to call MDS is like the bare minimum race. You only have as much as you need.

Like my mom asked me a very interesting question before I was leaving. She said, So what if you like you need something and you don't have it? I said, That's the whole point that you know, you may need something, but you don't have it. So how do you survive in such situations? I think it's a race of survival.

as against the way we kind of deal with all our other runs.

Ryan:So for me, it was very exciting when you came up to me and said, Ryan, I'm going to do the MDS. And I was like, Oh, because it's It's, I feel it's every nutritionist's worst nightmare because planning a diet plan for marathon runners, you know, different races across the world, ultra marathons and all, it's pretty easy because you go to a place, you stop, you can get whatever you want, the cold water, the biryani, you know, you can eat what you want, the gels and all.

And in this race, everything is boiling down to that 13 kgs that you could carry.

Mahasweta:Yeah, I think my bag was 11. 5 but minimum minimum aid and I think maximum you could do was 14

Ryan:or 14. Yeah, but you know, when we were planning the whole thing, I still remember we were snipping off sashes so they could become lighter and then shred this.

I'm going to carry this. I'm going to carry this. I'll just eat this basic. So then we decided to plan psychological warfare. Also, if you remember, we tested out those foods where you got bored and ate it for a few days to, um, Give us some insights into what we packed into your bag.

Mahasweta:So, I think the toughest part of the marathon desables preparation was the food.

I think I, I remember, uh, this was pretty much the same time last year. 2023 when I think I had this room filled with all kinds of packed food wherever I could find like from fly to, uh, you know, any food store. Uh, I remember, uh, Sanjay going to some from food market. He got everything like everybody got everything that they could think off.

And it was my job. to kind of eat and reject or

Ryan:accept him. Yeah.

Mahasweta:Yeah. It was, it was really, really hard. I remember

Ryan:this one question asked me, it's like, like Ryan, what about the nutritional content of it? And I said, Shweta, we have already done one MDS, the nutritional content for five days. If you can just eat an Idli or crispies, you will still survive because your body will go where you will break down is psychologically.

And therefore the food could be that one thing that may be giving you that ray of hope.

Mahasweta:So So good. You bring that up is because I think when you remember, I think we we went through that excel of hours like 345 times the first time we did and we put it up. First of all, tasting that food was the most horrendous experience because, as you know, I don't like eating packed food and all of that.

I am a big fan of, you know, cook fresh and eat. I don't even like fridge food. So for me to put like hot water into some Haldiram's dabba and dal chawan and I was like, God, what is it doing to my body kind of a feeling? All thanks to you, you make me feel like that. But I think so that was the toughest part.

And then, then when we, uh, build that list, I think, and when we started packing, we realized that the weight was like insane. There's no way we could carry that. And then the amount of gel and bar and all of that. And I think that's when we started r rationing saying, okay, you know, one gel. And that was,

Ryan:that was the equation that you and I had, which is I went to the max of your weight.

Yeah. Because the logic was, okay, she can carry this much, she can eat this much anomaly, let's give it to her. But I think where you came back to me was. I'm going in as a soldier, and I think I can, if you're giving me 100%, I actually remember you seeing that you could even survive at

Mahasweta:40%. Correct. I think I, when I was training with that bag, I remember I was training, like I trained with my bag for like about 7 8 kgs.

And I said, Okay, this is this is manageable, you know, and this is manageable in Gurgaon, you know, in a flat road in India. And I'm doing it like one time.

Ryan:I think you started panicking when the bag went beyond 10. Yes,

Mahasweta:I really, really freaked out. And I think that's when I said, Okay, you know, Remove, remove, remove, remove.

What is it that is bare minimum that I the

Ryan:extent of even taking the ready made food, where the foil packing was 250 grams. Yeah, yeah. And we found out a foil packing that was half that weight.

Mahasweta:I removed the packings, except anything that was like this nitro packing. Except that I think I got those small packs of everything and anything I could bring on even the bars.

I took the lightest weight of the bars. I got most of the stuff from wherever I could to to do that. But what was interesting is that I did keep things that, as you say, that gave a psychological boost. You know, like if you remember the pickle you suggested I Carry,

Ryan:yeah, imagine. I

Mahasweta:remember

Ryan:Pickle in MDS because my thought process is by desert.

Hey,

but an Indian wants a pickle.

Mahasweta:No. And. Eating that gel and those bars after a while my only like one two day three was okay The day after I finished the long run day and I do want to talk about how that torture is that one was You know Your taste buds are completely dead like the the look of the gel and you want to So all you want to do is what do you do?

And pickle was such a saving grace. I know that when I do next time, I'm going to cut short one more gel and carry an extra pickle because that was the survivor. So I think like, you know, uh, the pickle, those little, little things. I remember I carried a packet of little hearts as a treat to me because you really like little hearts.

The, the, the potato chips that I carried, you know, I think some of those things to ensure that I am getting a little bit of that food. Pleasure, if you may say, was, was absolutely helpful. The hajj mola that I carry. Do you

Ryan:remember when I came, when you came back and I met you for the first time, I actually gifted her packets of chips because I realized, you know, as a nutritionist, there's physiology and there's psychology and people who I think, Hey, this nutritionist is giving Lay's chips to her client.

And it's, it's about the psychology. It was not about the physiology of nutrition, but it

Mahasweta:was. It was the most thrilling experience that Ryan walks into my house with this whole bag and it opens and gives you, you know, chips. And I said, and this I have to take a picture because I earned this chips packet by running MDS.

I think so.

Ryan:Those are the hilarious moments, you know, that you had. But, um, you know, there were, I remember when you came back, you said there were moments that you. You wanted to just quit up and give, and you, you hit rock bottom, you hit soul searching, you short of seeing God, I think that race really put a gun to your head.

So what were the most difficult parts of the race? Do you remember which day, what moment? So the

Mahasweta:most difficult part of the race for me was the long distance, the 90 kilometer day.

Ryan:That was, I think, if I'm not mistaken, day three.

Mahasweta:It's the day four and the five.

Ryan:Day four and five.

Mahasweta:Day four and five. And after that, also you have a 42K do, after you finish the 90K.

So,

Ryan:in the It's literally running a marathon every day in the desert. Yeah. And one of the days was a dual marathon.

Mahasweta:Yes. And the 90K day, I had one simple logic of that I will finish. I start and I'll finish and then I will stop. Which I think the smartest thing I did. Uh, but also that that day was really, really hard in terms of the root, like my, you know, it's like psychologically how you console yourself saying, Oh, this is a long day.

While it's the longest, I'm sure the route is going to be the easiest. So the first half of the of the race was horrible. Like, it was so, so crazily tough. And I remember this one Tough from a point of view,

Ryan:the heat, the sand, the

Mahasweta:Those are, those are constant. That, that is always, they are, they are the top markers always.

What varies is also the route. Now this had this one route, which was like this, uh, bare and dry land. And the bare and dry land is very hard. It's very, very tough to kind of walk or run in those terrains. Then it had this long patch of, I don't know, maybe 8 10 kilometers. And I have some pictures of that.

It was, it was so, so rocky. There's no way you could even maneuver your legs properly.

Ryan:I remember one of my clients actually in his first MDS pulled out because he Strain his ankle on this. So you actually can't go fast.

Mahasweta:Yes. And so what happens, especially when you reach the top of the dune, which you don't realize.

So sometimes, so this one, this, the, on this day, you go through this really, really extremely rocky, like big boulders where you have to like literally, it's like trekking. Imagine if you're hiking up a mountain, how does it? So it's pretty much like that. And then everyone

Ryan:sees Sahara, just flat sand, right?

Mahasweta:Correct. That's what, so, so the dunes are like at least three floor, four floor high dunes, which you climb and then you come down and then there are these patches where you have this, you're going through this kind of gradual,

Ryan:you can't go around the Then the

Mahasweta:250 kilometer will become 500 kilometers. Of course you can.

Ryan:So there are flag markers along the way. Yeah,

Mahasweta:there are flag markers along the way. You

Ryan:can see the flag marker.

Mahasweta:Yeah, you can see the flag marker. Do you

Ryan:see that mirage effect? Of course.

Mahasweta:And you see the flag marker looks like, oh, it is right there, like 50 meters. It's actually like probably two kilometers away.

Because it's, it's, and that's

Ryan:what plays mind games with you, right? That's what

Mahasweta:plays. So I'll tell you the night story, of course. And, uh, so, so this one time I reach up the top of the dune and I can't see anything below, and I'm like, what happened? So you're standing and there is like a steep

Ryan:drop. It's a drop.

And is the sun like really, really So

Mahasweta:this probably is like 3 p. m. in the afternoon, 2, 3 p. m. in the afternoon. Sun goggles

Ryan:at all time, right?

Mahasweta:Sun goggles all the time. You can only take it off once the sun is off. And then also you don't want to because the sand dune is coming up, so you better just wear something.

So, and I'm Do you

Ryan:use any

Mahasweta:special

Ryan:lenses?

Mahasweta:No, I just use Oakley, uh, Prism, uh, standards, nothing else. And, uh, and so then, and so one

Ryan:thing I didn't advise you about which sunglasses to use. And yeah, so

Mahasweta:I just, I just Googled up and I saw whatever everybody was, was adding. So I just picked up that. So that is maybe

Ryan:the next MDS, if you decide to do it, we'll Google up.

It's going to

Mahasweta:come, come to your list very soon, Ryan. So

Ryan:you were talking about this drop, right? Yes. And. And so, and so

Mahasweta:that drops. So when you talk about the people getting hurt is, is one such example where actually, uh, a lot of people who are used to that kind of going down and elevations and all that, they were like zipping past.

I'm petrified of coming down. I'm, I'm always happy to climb, but coming down like this, like big drop was scary. So they tie a rope and you have to hold the rope and then you go down. Now, imagine you're going down and you have walking sticks,

Ryan:you

Mahasweta:have a bag on you. And then you have the mat of, of on which you sleep, which is to the back.

So you are, you have something really bulky on your back. So it obstructs your movement. It's not like a free movement. And then you have your walking sticks on you and you come down. They come down a little bit and then there's no rope. So then you have to go down on your own. Now, as I'm scared, I'm trying to drag my feet in through the sand.

And the next thing I know, I hit my leg on a big boulder inside. And it was like, okay, so my right foot was full of blisters. Thankfully, the left foot didn't get any blisters. I don't know why this disparity, but then to help that, the left foot now had this big thud on some, some boulder.

Ryan:Aisha, please note this down.

Okay. That she got blisters in the right foot. So for the next MDS, we do. Uh, weight load of the bag should be, uh, to the left and also maybe your gait analysis is more pressure on the right. So that is correct. We never got this in the, um, end counseling is a point that I got in today. Wow. Awesome. Yeah. So, okay.

So you got the hurt.

Mahasweta:So I got the heart. Now the, obviously my mind went saying, Oh gosh, right. It's already

Ryan:psychologically. Psychologically. I'm like.

Mahasweta:And I'm like, Oh my God, what did, what happened? And it was kind of hurting, hurting, hurting. So anyway, so that was about

Ryan:this, this, this probably the

Mahasweta:40th, 50th kilometer, but anyway, so

Ryan:about 40 kilometers more to go.

Mahasweta:I still have 50 kilometers to go because it was 90 kilometer day. So anyways, I come down and then whatever I finished, we went and then the sun starts to go down and the route is a little bit nice.

Ryan:How

Mahasweta:do you walk in the

Ryan:night?

Mahasweta:So at night you just walk or you run because you have a

Ryan:headlamp or something.

You have

Mahasweta:a headlamp. And so my, my, were you

Ryan:walking with other people just to keep yourself motivated? No, I

Mahasweta:wasn't because, uh, because you, I mean, you might randomly just talk to somebody or something because I was all by myself. Right? So it's, it's not, uh oh. Safe

Ryan:is a marathon for women.

Mahasweta:It's it's safe.

There's a lot of people running alone. I ran most of the most of the

Ryan:viewers because there are only people from the MDS. Is there public around there?

Mahasweta:No, there's nothing. Nobody. It's it's in the Sahara desert. Like for God's sake, there's not even animals or there's there's nothing you see any

Ryan:animal.

Mahasweta:No, we only saw in some plots when we were crossing maybe like some so called distant village, which is like three, four houses, you will probably sees another human being or you will see some camels.

There's nothing else. Like, there is nothing else. There is no tree, no plant, nothing. It's one of

Ryan:the loneliest races also. Yes,

Mahasweta:it is. It is. It is. So, that's why I said that mind is very, very important. Like, I played all kind of games with myself. I kind of, I played Antakshari. I, uh, I did conversations with people all my life.

You know, like, I, I I had moments where I just went back from my life from where I remember till date, you know, how my life has been, what I did,

Ryan:almost like a, um, internal meditation.

Mahasweta:Yes, it is. It is. It is meditative. Like when you, when I came back, I think I was I was a different person because I had like, uh, aloha moments of saying, Oh, you know what, what a discovery.

I

Ryan:found you much more calmer in your subsequent counseling that I did. Like previously to the MDS, you'd be very agitated before a race, any marathon. I got to get this, I got to get that. I got to do this. You're not like you're catching a bus to somewhere. And now you're like,

Mahasweta:if I

Ryan:miss the bus, I'll walk.

Mahasweta:Correct. So I see, it just brings things to perspective. As I said that, you know, there was no luxury of, say, changing clothes. I wear the same set of clothes for seven days. So today What about

Ryan:women if they have their menstrual cycle in the desert?

Mahasweta:You'll figure it out.

Ryan:And we planned for it, right?

Mahasweta:Yeah, you, you figure it out.

I'm, I'm sure there were 120 people, women. So, I'm sure people had those challenges or whatever. I mean, you figure it out.

Ryan:So, in Athletic Powerless, what we do is, we understand women's cycle 12 months in advance. That's why for any marathon, ultra runner, or Olympic level athlete, if menstruation cycle on an app, then you can use food or certain nutraceuticals about one year in advance.

to slightly shift your menstruation cycle. Because if you know the MDS is on X date around six to seven months prior, you can plan to shift it slightly. So that was one thing that we were, you know, working with you. But, um, you know, you'd carried all of these things and all, um, Everybody carried water and I remember telling you, we need to get you the best isotonic solution, which I know as a sports nutritionist is glucose fructose and the right ratio of sodium to potassium because you in the desert or anywhere for that matter, you lose five times the amount of sodium to potassium and in most sporting events or marathons, you lose it only for one day.

And here was five days in the trot. But I think it was very you. I was very enamored or very startled at the same time to discover that many people just relied on plain water. So what was your experience with hydration? What was your experience with the OneChase and how did it help you out at the Sahara MDS?

Mahasweta:I still remember the Taste of that decoction. I used to make in the morning when I used to leave the camp like by the day six I was like cursing you saying Ryan. I cannot have this another day of my life

Ryan:But you didn't cry but

Mahasweta:that was the reason I think I was able to sustain through those seven days in this brutal He is because I had my hydration in place when I say hydration and not just about water It was about the electrolytes I was getting.

I had the right portion and the right mix of whatever I needed to sustain because you're losing salt at such a fast pace.

Ryan:Could you see the white salts on your outfit? Everything was white. Everybody?

Mahasweta:Everything was white. The

Ryan:other runners also? Yes,

Mahasweta:yes, yes. Everything was white. You could, you could feel it.

By the time you would come back and your body is so heated because of Uh, you know, like you're wearing gaiters. So your foot is kind of really boiling inside

Ryan:just for the general audience in India who's never seen a desert. What are gaiters?

Mahasweta:So gaiters are like shoe covers. Like imagine a socks that you wear over a shoe.

It it is kind of stuck to your shoe with a velcro. It prevents for any sand to go inside. But

Ryan:did sand go in?

Mahasweta:No. You have to wear a gator to run in a in a sand. You get snow gators as well, which protects you from it getting wet and not snow, not getting into your shoes and socks. So you have to wear a sand gator.

The job of it is that sand doesn't go inside your foot. Now, the challenge with gators is that it becomes your it's like heat sealed inside. So that is why you get blisters and hot.

Ryan:What was the peak temperature

Mahasweta:during the day around 4850

Ryan:4850.

Mahasweta:We would start at like 40 this year. So Uh, I think

Ryan:anyone doing the MDS this year is gonna be, uh, crucial because it's gonna be the hottest summer on the planet.

Mahasweta:Yeah, it, it, it was, it was a, it was the hottest. Did your shoes

Ryan:melt in any way?

Mahasweta:No, it didn't because, uh, thanks to my shoes, but I did have a teammate who's, uh, which shoes did you

Ryan:use for the MDS? I wore

Mahasweta:Solomon. I've always done all my trails, uh, with Solomon. I am a big, I, I believe.

Ryan:And, you know, when you're talking about OneChase being the, the, uh, I remember you sending me a picture of OneChase in the desert.

Yes. And I was like, I was so proud because being the creator of a isotonic solution, like, what would you ask? You wanted to enhance performance in people. But then when you put that in the Sahara desert in the sand, you know, it just gives you a perspective. Five days in the desert, isotonic, but you shared one story that a lot of people did cramp and were lost on race because they had no knowledge about how to hydrate.

Mahasweta:So I will tell you a simple example.

Ryan:And I was surprised because we assume that the Western people are far more educated than us here in India. And you said that many came with just absolutely nothing.

Mahasweta:So one of my tent mates, the day one, uh, when we finished, we were like, the day one, we were like close by.

We thought, okay, we'll run together. I was new, I was a little skeptical. So we started with them and then of course I, I moved ahead and then, uh, they, they came a little later and once we kinda pretty much finished nearby, he came and he fainted at the finish line. That was day one.

Ryan:Fainted as in collapsed?

Mahasweta:Yeah.

Ryan:Okay.

Mahasweta:At, at like at the camp On day. On day one. On day one. Now he's, he is a, he's a triathlete. He's done one of, uh, the hardest full Ironmans in the world. He has done, like, I don't know, some 100 days solo sailing and stuff like that. So he does this like the back of his hand. But, of course, he's from UK and he's not used to this kind of heat.

He was not prepared.

Ryan:You're more tropical. He

Mahasweta:did, he didn't have, uh, he was not taking any electrolytes. And he was just like that. So I'm

Ryan:genuinely surprised because Triathlon Ironman. You know, you got to be educated that sports nutrition. Nutrition is so important

Mahasweta:because because Ryan, nobody's nobody wants to spend on nutrition.

Ryan:And speaking of spending, how much did you spend for the MDS? What's the what's the entry fee to enter the

Mahasweta:MDS? 4500 pounds to register.

Ryan:That's a lot of money.

Mahasweta:And then the gear that you have to place in place adds up to I don't know. I mean, maybe about, uh, 2, 000. So you're spending

Ryan:about 10, 000 pounds? I, I

Mahasweta:spent about approximately 7 to 8 lakhs just to race.

I'm not considering my training, my nutrition, all of that. I'm keeping aside because that's my regular expense, for example.

Ryan:So for the Indian audience out there, if you have to prepare for the MDS, you're looking at about a 15 lakh expenditure.

Mahasweta:And I mean, if they go through nutrition and the

Ryan:training, the physical, the running coach,

Mahasweta:anywhere between lakhs for sure.

Ryan:Like, if you want to be like supercharged Mercedes Benz side. You, you go a little bit higher on your expenditure.

Mahasweta:Yeah, because we can see some of those things like. So this is not

Ryan:something a student can do.

Mahasweta:Well, if the father's rich, he or she can.

Ryan:Or they get good sponsors. Were you sponsored?

Mahasweta:No. Nobody, nobody sponsored.

Ryan:We are open for sponsorship for the next MDS. You give us the money. We're going to the Sahara. I'll be the guy that sits in the Moroccan hotel watching TV and like, okay, where is she at this point in the race?

Mahasweta:Yeah, they have, they have a GPS tracker, so you can actually track me where I am.

Ryan:Were people in the MDS allowed to contact their families?

You had satellite?

Mahasweta:There is no network. Talk

Ryan:to me about no phones. What about that?

Mahasweta:There's no phone. There's no phone for 5 days? There's no phone. There's no network. There's no charging option. You carry your either charger. Uh, like a power bank.

Ryan:You carried a power bank, right? I

Mahasweta:carried a power bank. I don't know why I carried it.

So next time I'm not going to carry phone. I can just shave off like at least 500 grams by not carrying those two devices.

Ryan:I know phone. I can shave off 500 grams to you and me. Like what is 500 grams? When you have to go five days through the desert.

Mahasweta:Ryan, you're saying that you remember the toothbrush? I cut off the tail of the toothbrush because it saved me 10 grams.

Like you were telling me.

Ryan:You know what we did after? We found the baby toothbrush, which you put on your tongue. Yeah, that's what you

Mahasweta:told me. But I said, you know what, in the sand, it might get lost and I won't have one. Then I actually thought, I said, why do I even need a toothbrush? It's not like I'm having shower and I'm, you know, gelling my hair and coming out like this.

I'm like, you didn't sand and dust. So I said, next time I told, I said, I don't even need a toothbrush. And I'm going to carry and I carried that tiny two rupees paste. Uh, but I do have a list of things that I'm not going to carry next year. Do you have

Ryan:photographs of that?

Mahasweta:I, I mean, I'm sure I have put

Ryan:these photographs up in the podcast so people can see these.

Yeah, it was insane, insane,

Mahasweta:the kind of stuff I, uh, I did, but carry, but there is an option of using satellite phone, which is at an additional cost to call. Uh, and I did call, I think after, uh, the long day after the third day, I think, and okay, the, the, the most amazing or the lovable part of MDS. Okay. Uh, you, you go, you day one, you finish and then this lady, so there are dedicated people who take care of tents.

Like, you know, like tent managers, so to say. So they come, any announcement, anything they have to give and all of that, they come and give tent by tent by tent because there is no like big mic and all of that happening. So this lady comes in the evening with a bunch of paper printouts and they call out and they give those papers.

Now take a wild guess what those papers are.

Ryan:Emails from whom?

Mahasweta:Yes. They have letters from friends and family. Who have sent emails to us on day one. What is very interesting. Nobody sent me email. The last the previous year, my bib number 917. That person sent me an email saying I was 917. You're doing very well.

You know, that person was tracking me. And, and he said,

Ryan:I don't know who

Mahasweta:that person is. He was 917 the previous year. So today this year, I know the tour is 917. I'm going to send that person an email.

Ryan:Only an MDS veteran knows what it is to be broken and do that race. And what that the words of encouragement mean for the and

Mahasweta:then and so that when you know, now from the day next day onwards, everybody would like we would all wait.

And I had a whole bunch of people like my my boss, my physio, you, everybody sent emails for the next six, seven days. And we remember, we used to read out those emails. And we literally used to cry.

Ryan:Why would you read out the emails? Everyone in the tent would listen in?

Mahasweta:Yeah, yeah. We would share. Like, we would share comments, like some, some people had their kids writing in, and they would have funny jokes, or you know, somebody had I would jump and say, oh, you know what, my boss sent me an email, like, for God's sake when I'm off work, she should be cursing me and she was there cheering and supporting for me.

That's something that you would want to share. So we would share and we would cry and you know, it was, it was like those the tent becomes your family. You shared those moments which are so special. Does

Ryan:it give you, does it give you hope that humans can connect anywhere in the world? Oh

Mahasweta:yes, especially if you're put in a situation like this, in a state of crisis and survival, I think you become the best of the friends.

I, I mean, uh, I'm going to London now, so I'm really looking forward to meeting all of them. And, and there are people who you bond really well with. And, uh, I met one of them at Berlin last year in September. So I, Especially if you're put into this kind of distress situation, you know, it happens in a lot in professional lives.

Also, if you have a bad boss, then the team really, really bonds very well because the pain point is the same. We all relate to ourselves. We were at MD as the same situation. We were all away from home. We were not in touch. We were we were we were getting going through putting ourselves through this whole pain or whatever.

So we obviously had each other to kind of share, and nobody understood our pain better than the people who were there themselves. Like, you know, I had the most amazing experience. Like there was this, there was my neighbor. And somehow he was like the fireman. He would lit the fire and I was never successful in lighting that fire to heat the water.

So,

Ryan:okay, so you needed the fire for

Mahasweta:heating the water is what you will put in your food. Then that food will become edible, right? Otherwise, this is all the dried stuff that we were carrying. So and and then of course, I needed my coffee in the morning. So it was his job. He would wake up, say, Do you want some hot water, Shraddha, in his English?

And I would say, Oh, yes, of course. Why not? And then he would make that. So how would you

Ryan:heat the water? You would have a butane torch or paraffin candles? We had

Mahasweta:these little, then one tiny little stove, which, which weighed, I think, some 20 grams or something. And then it had those tablets which you, which you pre order and you carry at the camp because you can't carry in the flight.

And then they lit up, you light them and then there's fire. It takes a lot of while because it's open, it's windy. There is sandstorm putting

Ryan:bags. So you're

Mahasweta:trying to put like, yeah, like there's one time I think twice. Actually, there's like a big fire lit up in front of some tent. So we were, we were at the outside.

So it was easier for. It was easier for us that nothing would go on to fire, but it's very difficult to light one because there was like open air coming out. How many

Ryan:people took part in the MDS?

Mahasweta:1200 this year. And we had 40%, almost 40 percent dropout.

Ryan:1200 people take part in the most grueling race on the planet.

Yes. And 40 percent dropout.

Mahasweta:So this year

Ryan:They don't drop out, they don't beat the cut, right?

Mahasweta:No, the people do drop out because uh, Did anyone drop out from

Ryan:your tent?

Mahasweta:Yes. Day two.

Ryan:What was the reason?

Mahasweta:Day two he dropped out and he, he, uh, he just

Ryan:Injury or just, I can't do it? No,

Mahasweta:I can't do it. I can't do it because it's a, see, it's

Ryan:all the Indians, all the Indians are asking, do we get a refund on the funny?

Mahasweta:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, yeah, like it's, it's, it's like once paid, it's like marriage once done, you can't be not married again, you know, all

Ryan:the business community when you enter the MDS. Remember, no refund. So you have to complete the MDS.

Mahasweta:Yeah, it's like after spending all of that money, you spend the same money whether you finish or you're not finished.

So you better decide what you want to do. Speaking

Ryan:of spending money, you know, I want to take a U turn into what we have been doing the last few years together. You're one of the very few marathon runners in the country. Who invests in, um, sports nutrition plan. Many people do sports nutrition plan. They do three months, six months, 12 months.

They do it with people like me or sports nutritionist or at my co op nutrition clinic or with the various dieticians nutritionist out there or even the running coaches do nutrition plans, but people do it like three months, six months or not. We've been together now for years. I think four years running now, five years running.

What's your thought process as an elite runner? As an endurance runner, as a woman runner on spending money on a nutrition advisory plan.

Mahasweta:I will tell you something that my mom told me and I will remember this moment I was sitting at the Morocco airport to come back home. And after the race, I was just like, I was, I was to extend my trip and come back.

But then I pre poned it and I said, you know what, I'm done. I want to just get home.

Ryan:There's always that thing, no? Let's get home.

Mahasweta:Yeah, it's like, I think I'd had enough. When I was alone, lonely, like, beaten, broken, uh, but yet a new me, and I think I just was waiting to come back to the comfort. So my, so there were two things that, one my dad said and one my mom said.

My dad never appreciated me doing this, and of course, splurging all the money that I do. But he said that, you know, maybe I should have supported you more on. I'm so proud of you. I think that weighed to me as much as my MDS medal does. But the interesting part of my mother said was that you were able to do this because for all these years, the way you've taken care of your body, especially with your food.

is why you were able to sustain these seven days because this your body had been prepared for for years. It

Ryan:was not that we started. It was not. It's not a

Mahasweta:project. You know, the point I'm trying to tell is that people take, uh, nutrition as a project. I will do this and then I will learn and then I will do.

I don't think I've learned in the like we're going to finish four years and start five. I don't think I've learned. And And there is nothing that I can learn. I understand. I'm more educated to see, you know, what to eat, what is good for me. You've given me that sense. But can I do this on my own? Of course not.

So, I think people treat this, you know, they want to do it, but they do not treat their body with that love and care. And I go back to saying that it is, it is my definition of self love. that I want to ensure that while I'm doing the sport with my age, going through this grueling experiences, I have to take care of my body at all times.

And that means that I have to have the right nutrition in place. It's not about a race. It is about my day to day at my age. I don't have any diseases. Considering from the family history I have, I can be bragging about it, and I think I'm able to do it only because I have worked with you for all these years.

So I mean, I don't, I honestly don't understand why people wouldn't spend on staying healthy and happy.

Ryan:I think, uh, you know, you have defined the perspective that your body is the most expensive real estate and you're living in it as a landlord. You're not living in it as a tenant, which what I see is many marathon runners, ultra marathon runners, and even 5k, 10k runners.

Everyone's like, Oh, I'm a tenant in my body, you know. They'll take some cursory advice off the internet and do it and stuff like that.

Mahasweta:It's like this that, you know, you're okay to spend whatever lakhs of money on the doctor, but you don't want to prevent spending that money. I'm not saying that I may not need to spend that money, but at least I'm giving my body a fair chance to not spend that money.

So why wouldn't I do it? Right?

Ryan:So, so the wonders that you've got in nutrition. Uh, which, which you've continued to sustain, you've continued to invest. And for everyone out there who keeps picking up the phone, it's like, I want to work with celebrity nutritionist, Ryan Fernando. I do not work free with people.

Shweta invests her hard earned money in my nutritional services. Where am I going with this point? Year on year, you keep investing. You know, you're a lady who would carry a Louis Vuitton Gucci bag, but from a thought process, you'd like, I'd buy a better shoe. I'd buy a better running outfit. I'd get a better diet.

I'd invest in a running coach. I'd invest in a mind coach rather than carry that bag, which is materialistic, but you see it internally to you. So when you are investing, what are some of the wonders that you have seen from nutrition? Like, are there like some nice things that you hate doing? Like, look, look, and I say this nice things that you hate doing first thing in the morning.

Um, what are the things that you love from a nutrition perspective? And. What are the changes that you have seen in nutrition? For example, you started following something and what was the outcome of that?

Mahasweta:So, so on a lighter note, my LV bag wouldn't get me sitting here, but my investment has been right. So I can, there is ROI to my investment.

As people can see that I'm sitting with celebrity nutritionist, Ryan Fernando. So I think I did it well. And right. Uh,

Ryan:you could probably buy four Louis Vuitton bags with the MDS

Mahasweta:people. People just like, Oh, you have you are with how much is Ryan charge? And I'm like, that's none of your business. We're like, you know, go ask Ryan how much he charges.

Are you interested in training with him? Then just go. You know, then they say, Oh, you have a coach who's in the U. S. How much does he charge? Everything is all about money. So you have

Ryan:a coach in the U. S.

Mahasweta:I have a coach in the U. S. Who does my running training. I've been with him for as long as a little longer than I've been with you.

I have a coach who does my, uh, gym and, uh, you know, the whole mobility, agility, etc. I also am a regular with the physio. You know, it's like, because to me recovery is most important, uh, you know, and I think, I think it's, it's about training, performance, recovery, uh, and, and my general wellness. So I think all of that.

Coming to your question, I think There's just so many, I, I just don't know where to start, but I think the first thing that you got me gluten free, you know, I, I have always had roti. Being a Bengali, I've never been a rice fan. I've always liked chapati. Like, I remember growing up, I used to, we didn't have a concept of making roti at home.

Ryan:But I always thought Bengalis ate rice.

Mahasweta:Yeah, I didn't.

Ryan:Oh, you are an outlier. I'm a

Mahasweta:born outlier. I think I used to get rotis from neighbors or sometimes even from hotel. I've even eaten bread for dinner because I didn't want to eat rice because I've never been fond of rice even today. I will I would like a biryani or a fried rice but like rice is like once in a while, occasional treat is fine.

I'm not like a rice fan. So, the first and I always add this whole problem of sinus and all of that. I think when you got me to gluten and lactose free was the first time I saw today I can differentiate. I know that when I eat gluten what happens to me. So I, you know, I think that was the biggest life changing advice or correction you got into my life first.

Also, I had seen my dad, he would always say when I eat roti, my stomach gets upset. Now, what are the chances that he's actually gluten intolerant or allergic, but he doesn't know because nobody, nobody did the gene test and figured it out and all of that. So I think that was the first, it's a turning point in my life, if I would say, because I have struggled with sinusitis till I met Ryan Fernando.

So I think I would, I owe you for this big time outside of whatever money I pay you, number one. Number two is that with my age, to be year on year working on performance, I don't think it would be possible if I wouldn't be working with you.

Ryan:You actually, sorry to interrupt you, you actually did about 140 kilometers last week.

146. 146 kilometers. I've not even driven that distance in one week. Shweta's run that distance in one week. So that gives you the perspective of the pounding she does to her body and how young she looks. And I'm not allowed to reveal her age. But she's really young at heart, really young in cellular age.

It's because of the nutrition that she puts into your body. So

Mahasweta:also like that you mentioned 146 kilometers and an average I train two to three hours every day. I have a full time job as well.

Ryan:So how do you manage family, parents, your partner, your boss, your company? Because people think that you're okay like this lady must be running then going off to sleep.

Walk us through your day.

Mahasweta:I never get to run and go to sleep. Like never. It's like I, I, I finished running and then by then my gym trainer is calling, ma'am, gym. I'm like, yeah, I'm coming. Wait.

Ryan:Shweta, where are you? The podcast is going to start. Yeah, I'm just finishing my run and coming. So she's actually finished her run and then come for the podcast.

That's how disciplined Mahashweta is.

Mahasweta:Yeah. I mean, I, I just, I just think that I managed because I, I Like you say, in MBA, you're taught, right, that if you cannot measure, you cannot manage. And I think we don't, we apply it only to sales numbers. I apply it to my life. I just see that I have 24 hours. I need a good quality six hour sleep is good enough for me.

You know, if I'm, if I'm, and people relate recovery and rest to sleep. Recovery and rest happens through the day. It happens to the damn food that you're eating. It happens to your state of mind that you are in. It could even happen to just get up and look outside and take few deep breaths. Is recovery good enough?

But people don't see it like that. People say, Oh my God, you know, I need to sleep 10 hours if I run for two. I mean, nobody needs to sleep for 10 hours. So I'm a big fan of Sadhguru. He's, he sleeps for like for three, four hours. That's what I would love to go to. So, uh, and then I, I just, I just finished my training.

I eat what you tell me to eat. I. It's like, so when I eat or I go somewhere, I have the saying that what would Ryan react to this and trust you me, that is my first reaction saying Ryan will die if he sees me eating this. I cannot eat this. So that's my reaction. But, uh, but I, I just, I think it's just easy.

I only spend, I recently did a presentation when I said the winning margin and the winning margin is I split my day hours into how I split it. And only 8% of my whole day is what I spend into my passion, which is fitness.

Ryan:Only

Mahasweta:8%. Only 8% the rest.

Ryan:But that's still two hours a day, right?

Mahasweta:Yeah, but it is only 8%.

You still have 92% of your time to do what you want to do. The ch the point I'm trying to make is that it's not that I have anything extra, is that it's a choice I have made. You know, instead of going and binging at Netflix for two hours, I would rather go and do my run, you know, instead of trying and sitting somewhere and, and I do coffee after every single day after my run, I do coffee with my friends,

Ryan:it's

Mahasweta:my, yeah, I mean, everybody knows that 730 she is found at the cafe, irrespective.

Like if I don't go, then the coffee guy will ask, Madam, I need to get a like, you know, the cutest thing I hear. And then I come back, I get to work, I have a, as you know, I had, uh, Uh, marketing for a big IT company worldwide. So my job is taxing. I put about eight to nine hours of my job.

Ryan:And that's mental thinking, right?

Mahasweta:Yeah, it's mental thinking. It's different

Ryan:if it's just physical labor or something, because you could be mentally absent and just do your data processing. But you've got to be sharp with a team who's probably half your age.

Mahasweta:Oh, yes. Team with half your age or people who are in my age and having different challenges.

Seniors who are kind of extremely demanding hours and times and stuff like that. So I just think that I think it's a it's controlled in terms of, you know, how do I recover? So when I come back, I know that glutamine and collagen, most important, you know, carry it wherever I go, like even in Bangalore, my bag has collagen and glutamine with me saying, Oh, you know what?

I had to run. I have to have it. So it is just these choices that I have. I have made because I just think that if I'm working with experts, what is the point if I don't follow you? You know, you tell me, uh, Shweta, you can't eat gluten, but I say, Oh, you know what? I ran 30 kilometers. I just don't show up at all.

You know, I live in Delhi, right? So people swear by chole bhature. Now that, uh, now, like for example, Holi is coming, Gujia. I found somebody who makes gluten free baked, gluten free baked date sweetened Gujia. I'm

Ryan:calling you up, you're sending that across. You

Mahasweta:know, it's like, oh my goodness, how did that happen?

My life suddenly started looking up. I have made those choices. If I wouldn't get that, I'm happy not to eat. But, but the problem is that, you know, you give in to your temptations. I think it's just simple choices that I've made. That's what has helped me sustain. Simple.

Ryan:You know, you talked about your work and heading a large global IT company's marketing division.

If you had to run your own company and you had people working with you, would you encourage your employees to take up physical activity? Would you encourage them to eat healthy?

Mahasweta:So I would make fitness as a part of the whole appraisal process, saying that, you know, it is a mandate, like, like, if you know, uh, these, uh, a lot of the shoe brands who have offices here, they have this practice that, you know, you have to mandatorily be doing one out of a gym and things like that.

So it would be part of their, their regime and routine. It's, it would be like a mandatory code of conduct, if I may say. And Ryan Fernando would be doing nutrition for everybody. And I think

Ryan:I would

Mahasweta:love to kind of ensure that, you know, charity begins at home kind. So, you know, you start with practicing it with everybody.

On that note, you would also know that I ensure that my mom goes to gym and follows a fairly decent eating plus supplement. level. Like she also takes glutamine and collagen and all of that. All curtsy of you. She goes to the gym every single day. She

Ryan:does resistance training.

Mahasweta:Of course, she does. Like she sends me videos where she's doing like 80 leg press and stuff like that.

Ryan:Cool. She's she's

Mahasweta:65.

Ryan:So here's the thing. If Mahasweta Ghosh had to recommend to the women of India, the modern women of India, um, Some advice. What would you take out from your book of wisdom to them?

Mahasweta:Watch where you're investing. Most people go to parlor for beautification and doing skin care and health care and everything like you said.

And I love when people say that my skin looks very nice. Maybe some of it is genetic, but I think I am feeling and looking the way I am looking because I'm taking of my body from inside, not from outside. You know, like I I don't get a facial or a thing like that done. I'm not, I'm not trying to look down upon anybody who's doing it.

I'm just making a suggestion that maybe balance it out of taking care of your body. Not just externally, but internally as well. Because internal will reflect externally. Instead of buying a solitaire worth 10 lakhs, maybe invest in a nutritionist. and get back into a wellness regime, which is a combination of your fitness, the right kind of food, uh, mental wellness, and you will automatically start looking the way you're looking.

I, I don't remember when I last, I think two years ago I got a facial done because I was going to my cousin's wedding and, and everybody in my house is like, they're, they're bongs, right? So everything is about gold and decking up and I'm, I'm nowhere there. And I said, okay, at least let me play a tiny role.

So I just seeing that. Makes my choices,

Ryan:you know, people who are on a nutrition plan, specifically when they're doing it with me. I still remember I was working with a leading, um, Hollywood, which is our part of the world. Yeah. Bollywood.

mixed:Yeah.

Ryan:Actress. And, uh, she came to me three months later and she says like, you know what the camera man asked me, madam.

So she came to me and was like. I haven't gone for a facial for three months. What have you done? And what most people don't realize is that skin is the largest organ in the human body. You put in the right foods, you open up the pores. And for the viewers out there, like most of my guests who come in and put tons of makeup on, this is her glowing skin.

There's no cakes of makeup on her. So the process over here is running, enhances oxygen. Running enhances the damage to the body, which is positive in terms of the growth hormone that comes the next day to reheal your body so you become younger. And third is the dal chawal roti that you're eating correctly, minus the gluten.

By the way, gluten is huge in hyperpigmentation. Research has shown that most of your rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, vitiligo, which are skin conditions, are triggers of eating the wrong food, where your autoimmune system slaps yourself. So right now, the only slapping that is happening inside of your body is those two hours of workout that you do every day, which is a positive.

Most people do it from food and that food when it slaps the body Well, you get it on the lips to the hips kind of thing and the skin starts degenerating

Mahasweta:I I will I will tell you something which is really funny and So when I first started with you you gave me this collagen I have right and super expensive or whatever at least then it felt Like so I used to be like, I don't know what this thing does I don't know why he's giving me all this, you know It is so expensive like first you paid I and then supplements are also like this and I used to be like You know, like I had it, but I think I was like, do I really need this?

Like, is it go go? And today there is always,

Ryan:it's in your suitcase, but it's in my

Mahasweta:suitcase bag, and it's like a stock of it in the house. Like, you know, what if, you know, tomorrow suddenly as if I won't get it or something I'm having, it comes from the moon. So it is a mindset change that happened not because of anything else, but, but realizing what it is doing to me.

You know, I think that realization today, my mom has like. like collagen and all my, I think all my friends who are not even into fitness, they've also started having collagen looking at my skin. Like their reasons are different, but at least they've started having collagen.

Ryan:So I hope you're taking supplement.

in collagen because that's the collagen I design. And I'll share a secret with you. When we were designing the product, we put in the right amount of vitamin C, grape seed extract, and glutathione in very minute quantities. But the reason why collagen is important For you is not the skin. Yeah. It's your soft tissue.

Boom, boom, boom, pounding the payment every day. Right? So what people don't realize is collagen or gelatin. These two guys have a certain amino acid in it, which the other food chains, uh, of protein, you do not get those two amino acids readily available. So actually your body doesn't absorb collagen. You eat collagen.

Your stomach acid rips it apart into its designated amino acids. You absorb those amino acids. Now your body is like, Hey Bahashwetha, you've given me proline and hydroxyproline. What are you going to do with this? The skin's like, Hey buddy, you know, we need some, we need some proline and hydroxyproline if you got some extra.

So literally I'm like a drug dealer to you, you know, providing you that, that necessary bump up. And then the next thing that people ask me, Is there any side effect? I always tell people if it's found in the human body. So collagen is found in the human body. So it's like saying vitamin C. It's found in the human body.

If you take a little bit more vitamin C, not too much of it. So you don't need more than 10 grams of collagen a day. The thing is, the Indian diet is deficient in collagen. Yeah. And all the manufacturers that are manufacturing vegetarian collagen, they're actually hoodwinking the public.

Mahasweta:So I will, uh, tell you two stories.

The reason I actually don't mind having collagen now is because I realize that, you know, and this is a statement that my physio made a few months ago, is that I'm seeing your body transform as in terms of the muscular structure. It's like it's becoming more like an athlete. And all I contributed to is one is the training, running routine, and the second is you.

I'm not saying this because you're on a podcast. I've been here with you for for long enough to know that how much I trust you. Uh, so that was the big reason why today I know what it is doing to my body, especially, uh, when it comes to running, because for me, everything is the world is about running. If it's good for running, if it's good for me, then I will do it.

I don't care how, whatever, whatever, as long as I have the money pocket to, if I can afford it, I will do it. I am, I'm a white collar job person. I don't have black money. So, but, uh, I had a friend, I have a friend. She's a runner and she had been having her knee trouble for a long time. Very good runner, but I think she'd been injured for a long time.

So one day, I generally run alone, but that particular day I think was happening and she was like, Shweta, do you take collagen? I said, of course I do, I like two times a day. She's like, I, I said, you don't? So I, she said, no, you know, I'm vegetarian. I said, collagen's all vegetarian. She said, no, no, it comes from some whatever.

So she's Jane. Okay, she's like. strict about not having all of this and she was like, no, no, I don't think so. I can have, you know, I tried really hard to convince her. And, uh, there are others also really laughing. Yeah. She's a runner and she's a very good runner, but she'd been having a knee injury for a long time.

So then she started having collagen and she did a super strong NDM. She's

Ryan:a

Mahasweta:New Delhi marathon, the full

Ryan:distance.

Mahasweta:No, the heart, the heart, 21

Ryan:kilometers of pounding on the joint. But,

Mahasweta:but she says she started having collagen and she says that her, her knee starting to feel better. So I mean, for all those of you who think that, uh, the, the skin part that we were actually making fun off is actually a byproduct, you know, for someone like me, for whom Running is the world.

I think, uh, it is, it is doing so much good to not just me. There are others who are kind of trying to adapt. I remember

Ryan:when you first started me was like, well, what about whey protein? Right. And, uh, don't get me wrong. Whey protein is really good. But the moment you understand your gut symbiosis with a food, be it dairy, be it gluten, be it collagen, be it animal protein, be it vegetarian protein.

The problem is, people try to make nutrition fashionable.

mixed:Yeah.

Ryan:It's like, oh, you run with Solomon, so I should run with Solomon. Asics, because my feet structure is different. So, the same applies with nutrition, you know. You're a busy bee. You do a lot of work. You do a lot of running. You do, I mean, 140 kilometers a week.

I don't even drive that distance. Someone asked a question. What do you do on your off days? Do you ever relax?

Mahasweta:So, I'll split that into two parts on the off days. So there's off from work and there's off from training. Now, off from training is a Monday, which is not off from work. So off from training is when I actually do the physio, maybe do some mobility, uh, you know, spend some time doing meditation, which I do any which ways daily, and then I just focus on work.

Now, off from work is when I actually chill out. Because they're also my long run days, which I really, really love. So I get to run longer. And then you also give me cheat meal and my off day. So I do take cheat meal. And I'm sure you will ask me what I eat.

Ryan:What does this lady do on a cheat day?

Mahasweta:I, I

Ryan:know you love my hometown, which is Goa.

Mahasweta:Yeah. So I'm a, I'm a hardcore non vegetarian. So my cheat meal is usually a lot of Thai food, uh, because I don't eat gluten, but I now we have a gluten free pizza place in Bangalore in, sorry, in Gurgaon. So then I do pizza, but occasionally, but actually my go to food would be a lot of Thai food because, uh, it's gluten free and all the sushi and everything.

So you

Ryan:like spicy food?

Mahasweta:Uh, not really. But then Thai food is because it's my it's my cheat meal and it's the only luxury I can have so then go for it. So and, and I'm not like too much of an Indian cuisine like butter chicken is not something I would go for a regular cheat meal day. I might do it one off.

Ryan:And as a Bengali on your rest days or cheat meal days. Are there any books involved?

Mahasweta:So that's what, so on my rest days, I, on the weekends, I typically I love to read. So like last weekend was like a really high I started a book on Saturday and by Monday morning I'd finished the book. So that was like a perfect rest day for me.

Otherwise I'm also a movie junkie. So I love to watch movies and if it's in the theatre then all the more better. But then Have you ever

Ryan:fallen off asleep in a theatre because you're so tired from a run?

Mahasweta:Never! I've never fallen off anywhere when I've not wanted to sleep. Never ever. Uh, and, uh, so I either watch movies or I do Netflix.

Uh, I love, uh, suspense thrillers. I like watching a lot of these thriller Netflix series. And I, I actually like to take the downtime. You know, sometimes I keep my phone off. Like, you know, I, I do, I do believe in digital downtime, which means that I would not watch anything, anything on the screen. No phone, no Netflix, no screen, nothing.

I just probably just try and do cooking or do things that have that would relax me, which is not the usual. So I kind of, I really focus on saying that, how do I want to ensure that it gives me the, uh, hit refresh in the true sense of mental. And then for the physical, of course, is the Monday when I do the physical rest part of it.

Ryan:And once you've recovered and rested and had your cheat meal and you come back to a training day. What does your training day look like?

Mahasweta:So I wake up around 4. 15, between 4 to 4. 30 in the morning. And then I'm out. What's

Ryan:your sleep time?

Mahasweta:Uh, around 10, 10. 30. And, uh, I Do you need an

Ryan:alarm clock to wake up?

Mahasweta:I do, because, uh, I think I just, I've just gotten used to it. But I do tend to wake up around that same time, even without an alarm. But I do keep an alarm, but I don't use the phone for an alarm, by the way. Why is that? I just don't like to keep the phone next to me or the digital and I don't check my phone till 10 10 30 in the morning usually unless if I know that there's something pressing at work and I'm expecting a response.

I'm not a cardiovascular

Ryan:surgeon, neither am I. I have the same thing. The other day I got a client messaging me on the food diary and I checked it only at 9 in the morning when I walked into the clinic and it was a panic message about the scale not moving. So I just chuckled because, you know, I'm like, You didn't have a heart attack, but to that person is like, I stepped to the weighing scale at 6 a.

m. in the morning and you were not available to 9 o'clock, you know, so I think we need to detox a little bit on the pressures of being instantly available and the cortisol stress that comes into your thinking and body actually contributes to weight gain.

Mahasweta:I remember, uh, you telling me this and, uh, I think it was because of my age and whatever my cycle schedules, I was having some sleep trouble and you told me saying, do you spend a lot of time on the screen?

And I said, well, yes, that's my job. Uh, and then outside of that, and I said, okay, I can't, I can't take the screen away from my job, but I definitely can take screen away from my rest of the time. So, so I keep the phone outside in the study. It's charging. And then, uh, you know, I, I put a, um, regular alarm clock, which the old school one kinds.

So I really enjoyed it. Very difficult

Ryan:to get nowadays. I recently went to buy one of those old school with the two bells and I'm searching for it. It's not very easily available. But but speaking of alarm clocks, you know, we need wake ups to start our day. So you're getting up by 4 30 in the morning alarm clocks going off.

What then?

Mahasweta:So I, I get up and then I am a coffee junkie a little bit that you know, so first shot of coffee, then I get ready, I step out to run. I'm usually out to run by 5. 30ish, depending on what my schedule is. Maybe earlier, but never later, especially because I live in Gurgaon, it's very, very hot. So you've got to finish your run early.

Finish my run by whatever, usually 7, 7. 30ish. And then traditionally customary coffee that happens at the cafe in the, in the neighborhood. Uh, where I come, my partner joins, if there are other friends who are running, it's a, it's like an open thing. Whoever is there and we have lots of friends who regularly come there.

So even if not my, my circle of friends come, there are other friends who are there. So we have like a whole banter of whatever, 40 minutes, an hour. They come back home and sometimes there is gym, sometimes there is no gym, maybe gyms later in the day. Uh, I kind of set up breakfast for my family. Uh, I change, get ready, do my puja, meditation, uh, lay breakfast for the family, and then I hit work by 11 ish, 11.

30 ish. And, uh, I think 12. 31 is lunch. Uh, and, and through this time, I just get up, I take lunch, and then I get back to work. And then sometimes there's gym in the evening, so then I take that break for an hour, I go to gym. Uh, I mostly work from home. Uh, because my work timings mostly UK shift. So I started on 11 11 30 and I go to late night.

So then I do the gym for an hour and I come back. I do dinner back to work and then I finish work around 9 9 30 ish. Then I take some downtime with my family, which is, uh, like either read a book or do something, whatever. Maybe just go out for a little drive or watch something and then go to sleep by 10 10 30.

That's my typical day, uh, Monday through Friday.

Ryan:So that's a typical day and that's you going go, go, go, go and training during season. Uh, but what is your off season like? Do you completely drop off, uh, in terms of your entire schedule now? On what does your nutrition look like in the off season days? So, uh, a lot of marathon runners and all the off season they just go berserk.

They just get off the bandwagon. They stop doing a nutrition plan. So what's your off season like?

Mahasweta:Honestly, I don't believe in anything called as off season, you know? I mean, I think for every athlete who's got to be in the sport, it's like that, that you cannot go below base. And interestingly, today morning I was running with somebody I met for the first time, and that person was telling that every time he finishes a run, he stops running completely.

And then he only starts like 18 weeks before the race. And I'm like, You're at sub negative. How would you 18 months, 18 weeks? How would you do a marathon again? So I am always in training as you know, uh, yes, the training intensity varies depending on how close I am to a race, etc. According to that, my nutrition plan also varies saying, you know, if I'm saying a low volume period, uh, versus a high volume period, obviously the diet and the supplements needed, the recovery needed and all of that is, is very, but it's never a state where.

I don't know what offseason is because I don't understand that. Why would you not train? Because the moment you don't train for four weeks, you're going to go back like six months in your training routine. So why would you do that? You know, I get two weeks of break after a race and then I start training again.

The intensity gradually builds up from there. Uh, you know, training for the next race that I was coming up, but I don't remember having a time and I'm not really training or I'm not into nutrition. The most important mistake I think most people do is that when you are peak is low is when you also lose focus on nutrition.

That's when you put on weight. That's when you lose all your strength and then you have to start back from scratch. And most of the times we come back with saying, Oh, you know what? Now I have to lose five kgs and then get to my training. And then just imagine how how messed up your body and your whole system and your routine is in the poor running coach.

Does he focus on getting you back to base? Or building your base. So I think my base is always there. Be it calm nutrition, be it, I am, I am just, you know how paranoid I am if my weight goes up. Like, for me, it's like hell breaks. I'm, I don't think I ever let go. I might take smaller breaks. Like, say, I usually don't drink whenever I'm training.

But if I'm not at, say, close to a race day, I might have a drink. I think that's the only variability I will do outside of that. It is, I would like to say that this is my way of life. It's not something that I am doing for a particular cause. If tomorrow I am wherever and whatever I'm doing, I don't think nutrition is going to go away from it because it's It's my way of life.

It's very simple for me. You tell me what to eat, what supplement to have, how much to eat. Why do I need to break my head over it? Like, you know, I was telling, I wish my cook knew or my help knew to read your chart. Give it to him saying, Didi yeh manade na bas hogaya. It's like so much easier. So I just think it is, it is the biggest respite I have in my life.

Ryan:You said that, you know, you were never an athlete and now you've conquered one of the most grueling races in the world. I get so many people coming in for. transformation diet plan chaiye, yeh diet plan de do, wo diet plan de do. And then when I see you doing the regimented nutrition, which is scientific, how does this mindset and motivation, I mean, because you didn't have it in school or college.

Am I right? And now suddenly this is mindset and motivation to make it a way of your life. So, first of all, what you say to yourself in your head, And, um, how do you keep yourself going? Is there a nusha of victory or something that happens with you? And that's why you're always there. You're turning up every morning.

Mahasweta:I don't think I'm driven by victory. I'm driven by the process. I love the fact of where I was to where I've come. And that didn't come in one day. It's a 20 year story. If you I don't know if you've seen my 78 kg picture. If I

Ryan:did, I remember if

Mahasweta:you if anybody sees that and this, I know most people who see it for the first time saying this is a lie.

I said, Why will I lie? I mean, you know, this is me. So I have I have seen that trans transformation. The point that people miss out about transformation. It doesn't happen in a day. It has taken me two decades. It has taken me a Ryan Fernando. It has taken my running trainer. It has taken my physiotherapist, taken this whole team to be where I am and it will not sustain if I leave any of this.

So in like in digital transformation and because I'm working in tech, people say, right, that it is not a, it is not like you shift, change one gear and it is all done. It is a holistic development that you have to do now. I think, I think that Transformation that I have seen is my motivation and now that I am here, I know that if I leave it, it's going to go back because it's like elastic.

The moment you leave, the tension is going to go recoil to where I was. It will. It will take me what's six months on the tops to go back to that 78 kgs at max. You know how my body functions, right? I mean, I'm sure you'll agree. How easy is that going to be? Now, I think one way is to look at it that the second thing is that the way I feel the way I am and the wellness in me, which is not just my physical but mental also comes from this process.

I think knowing, you know, it's like that, that once you have tasted these things, you do everything to keep it. And I think that's what I do. In terms of motivation, I think I seek daily wins. You know, like when you, when you, when, like you said, the one 40 K week, for me, that was a win. I said, oh, you know what, if I'm able to do this 1 46 K week, well I'm going to treat myself to hot chocolate.

Now I have whatever hot chocolate at my home. But I said, no, I wanna go to this place and have that hot chocolate. It's like nice and thick and sugary. And I said, you know, because I earned that. So I always keep. this whole reward and recognition mechanism for myself. Nobody's going to give me. I don't want it from outside.

I want to do it for myself, saying, you know, 1 46. If I feel that I have done satisfactorily well to my satisfaction of performing this 1 46 K week, I'm going to go treat myself to this. I think that's a way of motivation. Now, I first said, You know what? I will have a almond crossover. Or then I said, no, no, I'll have a tiramisu.

I eventually, because I wouldn't have any of that. It's gluten and whatever. I eventually said, you know what, hot chocolate because it's good for recovery. So, you know, I've tweaked those likings in my life. And that's what keeps me motivated to keep going. I think people look at it from a very long perspective.

And therefore they lose traction and they do not break it into. I always say this have the smart goal concept, make it measurable, have have smaller goals, short term goals, win those move to the midterm goals. Therefore you will reach to the long term goal. It cannot happen in one day. It cannot happen in one week.

It's it's an ongoing ongoing process. As I say, it's a way of life. I think that's the only way to stay motivated.

Ryan:A lot of women are going to be inspired about this reward and recognition and how you've started and how you don't need an external affirmation to yourself but it's your own goals and then you meet it and you get there.

Um, and so I think a lot of women are now watching us and getting very enamored. We've done hundreds of blood tests over the last few years, right? And I've taken a lot of blood out of you and Throw some insight on how important do you think is the blood test being able to change your behavior, your diet plan, your training regime, uh, and should the endurance athlete.

So you've been on the side of the fence as a marathon runner minus professional sports nutrition. Uh, and now you're on the side of the fence with a professional sports nutritionist. How do you think the blood test have helped you from being an endurance athlete?

Mahasweta:I'll give you the first example. I don't know if you'd remember when I first came in, my cholesterol used to be high.

Uh, not, not because, I mean, there were, there were multiple factors, I think, because I didn't know a lot of the nutrition, uh, knowledge that I have today working with you. Plus some amount of, uh, family history. Uh, I have a family history of everybody having heart disease and all kinds of stuff. So I think today my cholesterol is pretty much normal.

I don't take any medication, so that's a first indication. Now, I'm telling you, this is a comfort that when I see a whole family with heart disease, cholesterol's shooting up, sugar going out of the way, my mom said everybody's diabetic, you know, I lost my granny to, you know, losing kidney failure and passed away and things like that.

I think what has helped me is to the confidence that, you know, my body is, I am not inviting these diseases into me. It's a way of control. It is a, it is a report that whatever I'm doing, it's like a result report card, you know, I do six months of studying. It's like, it's like the semester scheme. I had an engineering six months.

You study, you get a report card, you give your exam, which is a blood test. You get a report card. You say, you know what? All good. Okay. Okay. A, Okay. This one be Ryan. This is B. What do we do about it? Then we're going to fixing more saying, okay, maybe let's, let's get into, you know, uh, fixing this or, or whatever reason it is.

I, I think over the four years we've reached a stage where everything from bees has also become a. So today when we look at the blood test, I don't think for the longest time we have needed to do any corrections. We've kind of said, yeah, all's good, you know, now all is good. Can we make it better? I think that has been the focus, which is a big shift from here saying this is high.

So we need to correct and make sure that your cholesterol is low to today saying that, you know what? Can we improve your hemoglobin further, so it will enable you to better run. So I think this whole blood. test journey that we have done of hundreds of blood tests from being correcting to health perspective to performance has has been the journey that I think we have had to put it very very simply.

Ryan:So speaking of the health corrective process of the blood test and then the performance the performance part of the blood test, right? So obviously you are, I could give you an honorarium sports nutrition degree right now with the amount of work that we have done together. So from the supplement point of view, what are your health supplements and what are your performance supplements?

Mahasweta:I think from a supplement per se, gone are those days when we had, we started with health supplements, I think, you know, where we said, okay, we need to take your cholesterol under control. We need to take care of your this and that. Today, everything that we are working on is mostly to say, how do we ensure that, uh, you know, your, your performance is enhancing.

Your recovery is being taken care and also considering my age, how am I able to sustain this?

Ryan:Did you ever have this thought process that, Oh my God, I've, you know, Ryan's given me this 22 supplements. I remember there was one race that we went for. There was nearly 22 supplements. Now people might get shocked out there, but was there that thought in your head?

Like, Oh my God, I'm taking so many powders, pills and gels. I was just, what is your thought process today?

Mahasweta:I, When I first time when I first started, I think the first very month when I saw it and I was kind of like, uh, I looked at it and I was like, okay. And my question was, how long will this be sustainable?

You know, honestly, if I say, but today, uh, the way it has helped me to fill in the What my food cannot give me probably or my body's ability to absorb that food I know what that supplement how it is benefiting me. So I don't think I ever think today I think I cannot do the other way around, you know, if I have to sustain what I'm doing I can go back to 78 kgs.

I don't need to do any of this stuff I'm going to save this money and buy the Louis Vuitton and I'm definitely not going to come back to this chair again But I think for for me to sustain and if I want to continue doing it with my age coming out, being a woman with my cycle fluctuations and all of that, I think it is just only only only enhancing me working towards my performance, helping me to deal with, you know, the whole menopause thing, the most whatever dreaded M word in the women's world.

I think I'm able to sustain. I only have I would give it to you for all that. All that we are putting into together. So I think there's no straight answer to what supplement I think is a whole combination that comes in. It's not about one one multivitamin or one omega or one D three like most people do, but it's a combination of all these aspects together saying what I need for my performance, what I need to recover, et What I need to deal with my menopause, I think those some of those things that you give me are horrendous to have, but I still remember, I'll never forget that Zinzino oil.

I was like, Oh my God, who has it? Like, every time I have it, I'm like Ryan, what are you making me have? Like, you know, so

Ryan:for those who are hearing this name, this is, uh, this is one of the most, uh, highly recognized omega threes, which come in from Iceland. So the Arctic cold fish, uh, combined with olive oil, uh, ensures that your omega three doesn't denature.

And these guys don't put into a capsule because you need to, uh, bond it to olive oil. And, um, you, you can't take like 500 milligrams in a capsule. It's not enough. So we need like. 20 capsules, that's 10 grams of the oil in a day. And, um, so I always tell athletes, you have no taste buds, you know, at the end of the day.

Mahasweta:I, I always say this to people, a lot of people like I remember had gone home recently and somebody asked me, so, uh, what do you eat for dinner? And I said, usually chicken and some kind of like, you know, salad and whatever. So my dad sitting next to me and he said, You can't eat what she eats. You know, he just clearly made this blatant statement.

You can't eat what she eats. And I said, well, it's tasty. My dad said, well, for you. So, the point is that I think the definition of taste is it's an acquired taste. You know, I am the same person who loved this plush chicken curry. And today I just love my boiled chicken with some basic spices into it, literally boiled or air fried in my newfound love.

But it's just that I, today, as compared to that whatever taste, I know that this is good for me. I feel good eating it and I think that feel good is far more superior to whatever taste. Like, I have my cheat meal to, to taste whatever I want to taste. But it is only that moment. Anything else for most of the time, if it's not good for me, I'd like saying, Yeah, you know what, Ryan's going to die thinking this and I can't have Ryan dying.

So don't act this simple. So I think sometimes I do think I will say this. Sometimes I do think, Oh, you know what? I really loved eating this. And I discovered that this is whole concept of loved eating. And now in your mind, you've preset, what do you call emotions or triggers of saying that, Oh, yeah, I liked having say, on the road.

That is what I liked. But today when I eat it, do I enjoy it as much? No, I don't. Now, the moment I realized that, then I realized that, you know, my liking is of the past of what I I didn't care after that I had, I felt acidity or I felt uncomfortable or that I didn't have any awareness. Oh, puchka pani puri khaya, oh you know what, all girls having by the roadside, very happy.

Uh, but today I don't feel like that. So that, that change has happened over the years and today it's, it's all about what is good for me. I mean, I, I think I love the state of being that I am

Ryan:so, you know, you talk about the supplement and then, you know, you hate something and then there's a routine and then you begin to love it as the routine part, I think is what helps everyone get to a new sense of realization and speaking of routines.

We didn't talk about your marathon running routines. So how does that work for the uninitiated outside? Who maybe somebody is like very inspired by you having at one point in your life being 70 plus kgs and now you're one of the fittest woman I know. Your skin is glowing. Um, you know, you're very disciplined and even a boiled chicken seems to appeal to you and your father says though you can't eat what she's eating.

This is a new avatar. This is a new you. Many women out there, many athletes out there would be inspired by this. Where do they start 5K, 10K, 15K, 25K, the full marathon, ultra marathon? What is your training regime? How has it evolved over the years?

Mahasweta:I think the first key is to start. You know, you don't need to find a perfect solution to your problem.

The problem is that, you know, we kind of want to find the perfect routine on day one. And be, be me in end of 30 days. I think the message that I would like to have everybody have is that, you know, start small. Start with realistic goals for yourself. I didn't set out to become 78 to being this person. I didn't know.

I didn't have a vision of this. Nobody, uh, I, we didn't have internet at that time to know. I didn't have Ryan Fernando. I didn't know MDS. I didn't even know marathon. Like, you know, it was out of question. I mean, I in in my time in 2000, the first gym I went to was a little cordoned off place in a men's gym.

And we had a separate entry to that place because women were not welcomed in the gym at that time. That's the era that I have begin this journey on. Now, today we have access to everything. I mean, there is this every possible fitness tool that one can think of is available. So I think the first step is to just start small and have a realistic goal for oneself that, you know, why do you want to start it?

The second thing is discipline, resilience and patience. I think most of us lack there. You want to do five days and you feel so great that you go and hell break on day six, you know, and then day seven never comes after that. You got to be at it like. You know, I've not been keeping, well, yesterday I came down and I was down with the cold.

Today, morning I got up and I wasn't feeling my best, but my training routine said I had to do the 20 2K. What I absolutely dislike to do is to tell Jason, okay, yesterday was a bad day. I couldn't do it. I rested. I'm not saying that, you know, you go, but today between. sleeping and going to run. I knew that if I run, I will feel so much better as against trying to just be lazy.

It's not that I was like anything major happened that I couldn't run. So I think if I if you bring that discipline into your program in whatever you are doing with that a little bit of resilience because there are going to be bad days, you know, especially women have a lot of bad days, you know, during your cycles, you're like going nuts over it, you know, and a lot of people have They're painful cycles like, you know, I get bloating like hell, but the point is that even then all you've got to do is to show up for yourself the moment you do that, then over a period, it becomes then the first time is the toughest the second time you already have the experience, then you third time becomes easier for time becomes easier and I think it is just those those 34 things that we need to kind of keep at it.

Most of us fail out because we don't have discipline like you remember in the whole concept of timetable. Okay. When we were kids saying, you know, we had a home time table during holidays saying eat the times at the budget TV time is for time everything. So I think we got to just have it there. I have a I have a checkmark calendar for myself for the year.

I started doing this last year and I did a blog also about saying that how I scored over the year. And I put a

Ryan:is this blog open to the public? Yeah, it is open

Mahasweta:to it. It's called my borrow lane and it is open to public to my borrow lane. I don't write as frequently as I would love to. But

Ryan:it expresses who you are.

Mahasweta:Yeah, it expresses why I've written some of these things. So So this one was about my scorecard, you know, and and it was simple about it. It has two simple tricks. This is a green tick and a red cross. The green tick means that Everything went well, like physical wellness, mental wellness, and I felt okay.

And I'm not saying great, because okay is good itself. I mean, you know, why do you, why is okay not good? You know, that means Why is

Ryan:okay not good? I think that's a nice statement.

Mahasweta:Yeah, because a lot of people think that, oh, you know what, things are, things are okay. Well, things are okay. You know, it could be so much worse, you know, you could have had one leg gone, your car would burnt out, or you're thrown out of your job, your parents are healthy.

The glass

Ryan:is always half full.

Mahasweta:Correct. For me, okay is great. You know, the days I feel okay is green tick. The days I feel miserable is a red tick. Now miserable can be that I had a bad run, that is that I couldn't do, uh, I didn't, I had a bad meditation, or I felt too stressed about something in life or whatever is a red cross.

And I diligently follow it. I do it every day before I go to sleep. I go. It's put on the wall. I go put that day. Now what it does is to actually monitor myself like, Oh, already seven crosses this month. I need to back up. You know, I need to just focus on why are things happening? Helps me to keep correcting myself.

So I just think that people need to people need to just focus on some of those Planned strategic moves off taking care of your own life. You know, I recently on a session said that. Are you an entrepreneur of your life? Or of your career. Most people aren't, you know, we just live by accident. Like today, I had an option.

I could have said, oh, you know what? I have to go to Ryan's podcast and all of that. I'm not feeling well. Let me just sleep. Let's, let's cancel the run. Let's cancel the run. I mean, okay, I will tell my that would be

Ryan:an X on your calendar, which now you're fighting to not put on your calendar tonight.

Mahasweta:Correct. Correct. So, so, so I think I, I, I would love to say that I, I, I have a job, but I'm an entrepreneur of my life. I, I decide and I want to ensure that my life is profitable. So I, I am really, really conscious about what investment I'm doing. That is so

Ryan:powerful, Shweta, because, you know, as a health coach, that's so powerful.

I see people and you see the film stars, you see the celebrities, you see what I call you as an elite athlete hitting your goals. You have that resilience, you have that drive. And most people, after they leave college, They're not accountable anymore because that report card is not there. That tick mark or that X is not voluntary being submitted.

And you know, the only, um, exam that you technically answer is your annual appraisal because you want to get a better scorecard, right? And when a lot of people don't get that scorecard, they're very unhappy that, you know, it was their God given, uh, entitlement, entitlement that they should get it, but in the basics of their life, forget the job.

They're not keeping a checklist, they're not keeping the tick mark and the X. And, uh, that's what I tell a lot of people. When was the last time you held yourself accountable? Because it was your school teacher or principal that held you accountable. And I think in most, um, relationships, I think sometimes if one of the spouse or both of the spouses, uh, have this tick mark, they hold each other accountable to a certain extent.

But I think your body is your true life partner, and therefore you need to hold it accountable.

Mahasweta:Absolutely. It, it's like, you know, most people say,

Ryan:Hmm,

Mahasweta:you know, I'm not saying Mari can be. I mean, I'm, I'm a human being. I can, I can have a heart attack or I can have organ, whatever can happen, I don't know, but I at least know that I'm trying very hard in a planned action, working with experts to not have it or delayed.

I probably that 78 kgs could have gone 85 and I'm sure I would have had a heart problem by now because it's in my genes. My entire family has, has heart conditions and cholesterol and triglyceride and fatty liver diabetes. I am 100 percent sure I would have had it by, by my age. My dad was already diagnosed with a heart condition, so I still don't have it.

It's a win for me. Will I not have it 5 years, 10 years down the lane? I don't know. But I'm consciously trying not to have it at least at least make that effort for yourself 10 years down the line. I will be sitting with you and saying, Hey, you know what Ryan, we did well. We tried, you know, and I think we did well.

We delayed it from 45 to 50. Isn't that a win itself? Like, why would one not do it? I don't understand.

Ryan:Speaking of wins and getting into running every morning. I know you have a win every morning in terms of your pre marathon meals. Sometimes when you go up for a marathon and all. So what is it and how much time prior because for the uninitiated out there, they don't know that when you have to start at the starting line, you're turning up sometimes at 435 in the morning at that location from your hotel.

So walk us through what is it the night before the preparation and your pre marathon meal.

Mahasweta:So, uh, even the

Ryan:pre marathon party.

Mahasweta:Oh yes, it's my favorite. Uh, so, so before the marathon, I think the previous night or the day, I usually like to eat really light and clean, very clean. Like, you know, khichdi is my go to dinner.

And eat really early. Why is that? I think it's just easy, light to digest, keep the fiber low, avoid any kind of load on the stomach. Because like you said, if you have to show up at 4. 30, you're waking up at 2 o'clock. You know, uh, you're kind of exposing your body to your body is not used to that thing. So as light as you can keep it, focus on hydration.

What happens is, see people do this. Oh, you have to eat pasta before marathon. We eat carbs on all our meals. Why do you need pasta? It's not like you eat pasta every day for dinner. What is special today having pasta? Carb loading happened for the countries where the staple diet is very different than ours.

Our staple diet.

Ryan:We're carb

Mahasweta:loaders. We're carb loaders. We're eating carbs in Italy, dosa, sambar, rice, roti, chapati, paratha. That's what we're eating. So what is this whole pasta? So you see, most people are suddenly going and eating this and binging in that pasta, whatever outlet. I just stick to my kitchen.

I drink a lot of water, you know, eat light, give all the supplements that we do. You remember this one time I think which really worked. When my first season of Berlin, when I qualified for Boston, we actually practiced the time duration of Berlin. Like I used to eat at four o'clock, get up at some two o'clock, try to go to do potty and then go back and sleep again.

Shweta is

Ryan:revealing all the secrets that we train professionally in different time zones.

Mahasweta:Yeah, because, because I think so, so that whole ensuring that your stomach is clear, you know, you don't have to rush to potty. You know, if you're looking at your time trial or whatever, you don't want to lose two minutes going to the loo with the discomfort that you carry.

You know, you want to feel good. There's a lot of stress.

Ryan:Stress in holding your potty in and trying to do a marathon, getting up early and trying to get the potty signals. So many of those things.

Mahasweta:Yes. So I think, I think a little bit of practice, a little bit of consciousness of what you're eating, not trying to do pasta parties before that, you know, that really helps.

Ryan:I can't believe it that you know that we have thousands of marathon runners and 99. 99 percent of them never ever do a nutrition plan.

Mahasweta:Yeah, because, because as they say, it's not nutrition, right? True. I think people think I'm a little bit of a show off that I work with Ryan Fernando and, and, uh, you know, as if I have a lot of money, I have a tree, which like gives me money at the end of the month, which I give to you.

But people, people don't see that. See, it is not just for the sport. It is about me and a combination of mean totality, which is my age, my gender. Uh, Uh, the stages where I'm in life, my profession, I cannot afford to do a two hour run and feel sleepy in a meeting. I'm sorry. I have to show up sharp. I have to show up as a leader because that's my job.

That's what they're paying me for. So how do I ensure that I'm in that state? If you're not there in my life, it's as simple. People don't see it like that. What people do is choose ER.

I don't, there's no magic.

Ryan:But I think also people are very khanjus in terms of their expenditure towards their own body versus they will buy that 40, 000 rupee footwear. But when it comes to the knowledge of what to do, when to do and how much to do, that's like I can wing it.

Mahasweta:That's the next level.

People are willing to pay when they have the disease. But they do not want to get a health checkup or a blood test. You ask anybody for when you did your last health checkup. They will say, blood test karaya toh hai. You know that I get a regular health checkup done every year, which is like full head to toe.

And the, uh, blood checkup, blood, uh, report bi annually. People don't do it. There's a lot of these incidences that you're hearing during these marathons and poor, I feel really bad that people are spoiling the name of the sport. It's not the sport that's causing people heart disease. It is your lifestyle.

It is about being callous about it. It is about that. You know, you started running today and in three months, you're running a full marathon for somebody who's never done any sport. No screening done. You don't know if you have a pre existing condition. You you're you're obese and you're not really taking doing anything about it.

Speaking of obese,

Ryan:You know, the other day, um, most of India's obese because the level is of BMI 7. And half a dozen of people that come to my clinic, they're all at 26, 27 and they feel they're at normal weight and they start marathon running. Yep. And that extra load on your blood, on your heart and on your knees actually causes you to have a side effect of damaging your body.

quicker than a lighter version of yourself, a healthier version of yourself.

Mahasweta:Yeah. So, so people don't see it for, uh, for a gain or a health or a wellness perspective for them saying, you know, as they say, no, the running a marathon is a bucket list. And then from there, it is obviously has a lot of, uh, other miscellaneous things, you know, you get to travel.

It's obviously fun. There's a runner's high. There's all of that. But the sum total, I think that whole point that it is for your health, it is for your well being is being erased faster and faster and faster. And therefore you're seeing all of these cases. And yes, people are people don't know where to invest.

They'd rather invest in a funky jazzy car in a house in buying solitaire and jewelry. And I don't know what all, but they're not willing to invest on, you know, a good nutritionist or Even a good training plan.

Ryan:Yeah, I see people coming into the gym and trying to work out themselves and their form is so wrong.

And I'm just thinking you've turned up in a luxury German vehicle, but you're being so conjuiced about paying a trainer 15 20 thousand rupees a month just to get your Mercedes Benz. in pristine shape.

Mahasweta:Yeah. So this is, uh, this is a, this is her whole attitudinal shift that we need to have in this

Ryan:country.

Different awareness.

Mahasweta:Yeah.

Ryan:Yes. Marathon is a very, um, hard hitting sport on the human body. Lots of injuries. We talked about it. You explained a lot of things. Uh, people who start running, they don't know that. Let's see. Heart attack is one of the serious side effects, so you need to do screening and everything, but there are smaller Slaps that you get from running marathon running as a distances as the mileage go up You talked about blisters when you did the MDS, but chaffing You know skin getting abraded is that something that every runner will start to face

Mahasweta:See, there are reasons why chaffing happens, uh, specifically

Ryan:for women also.

Mahasweta:Yeah. The most common reason, and women get a lot of chaffing on the sports bra, uh, cuts, like I used to wear the chest strap and I stopped wearing it because it's not designed for a woman, woman's body, uh, chaffing happens because of, uh, particular reasons is that of course, uh, the fat, which, you know, your skin bruising around.

is one reason. So my recommendation is that you wear something sleeve. So you ensure that your skin is not bruising around it. But then the other reason is that, uh, you know, the clothes fine fiber, uh, with use has, has fine tears and then they are the ones who actually cause the abrasion. They become

Ryan:the microscopic fibers start getting pulled out and then now they look like microscopic needles.

Mahasweta:Correct. Which is rubbing around your skin, especially if you're doing for a long time. So it's my discovery that so typically when I go for a race, I try and wear everything new.

Ryan:But not brand new, right?

Mahasweta:Not brand new. Like I've probably worn it once or twice. So I do race day training, gear training, which is where I wear the same attire, same shoe, everything.

And then I replicate and see, okay, all's feeling well. This is good to go for my race. So we're

Ryan:getting ready to train. I'm smiling because we do the same thing for the nutritional supplements. We never ever give a client and I've seen people in marathon runs. There's a stall of a sports nutrition company and they're handing out these smoothies.

They're handing out these gels and people will be like, okay, I'm going to try this in the marathon race. You, you train your stomach also to run.

Mahasweta:I will give you an example of another, uh, you know, someone who runs at the same place I run and he had the gel for the first time in the New Delhi Marathon and he had to go to the like thrice.

And, and of course, I mean,

Ryan:so for the uninitiated out there, when you take a gel, most gels up polysaccharides, and some of them are based on carrageen, which is a type of seaweed, or it could be a maltose based gel. And each one of us have different responses. Like I do know people who will not tolerate algae or polysaccharides or maltose based gels.

And it'll just run through your system.

Mahasweta:Yeah. So I remember the first time I took it. I had, I had a friend running with, and I had to, uh, I was running in , and then actually had to go to somebody's house because there was no washroom there. It was like some older, it was not under

Ryan:my advice. Right.

Mahasweta:No, it was many years ago.

Many years ago. Many years ago. Because I'd got, and I, and mean, and I knew, like, you know, my friends were having it told there. Okay, watch out.

Ryan:So my advice to, to anyone watching in would be that, uh, you actually take the gel when you're working at home.

Mahasweta:Yeah.

Ryan:To see gut comfort first, you try any supplement when you're sitting down at home, you know, the loo is just right over there and you can go and if nothing happens the first time, then you do it on a shorter run.

But coming back to the chaffing and everything, you made a very valid point on trying your race gear running. So from that perspective, do marathon runners change a lot of set of clothes, equipment and gear on them?

Mahasweta:See, marathon is a fairly

Ryan:expensive it is. If I were to take a marathon running this year, so I would spend how much on shoes and outfits and then maybe, let's say, do three or four marathons in a year and travel in India.

What would an average person spend?

Mahasweta:Uh, never calculated it, but like, let's say you would need, uh, a decent shoe, three pairs of shoes is what you would need. And see, there is no limit these days. Like people want to buy the most expensive shoe. Uh, and then people have the money to get like two pairs of the same and then they mix and match colors and do all kinds of funky stuff.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I know a lot of people who do that. So they buy, say they will buy two pairs of the most expensive shoes of two different colors. And they wear them opposite. And they'll wear them opposite like for all the style quotient. I don't do anything. I can barely afford to get just one pair for my knees.

I'm just thinking the

Ryan:body from inside is thinking. Yeah, dude, I'm going to make you run faster because one's blue and one's yellow. Yeah, that's a new supplement.

Mahasweta:So, so, so, so of course the shoe is the most important and critical part of it. Uh, the, the next is the attire. I mean, you can, uh, you can start from basic to go to as far as you can go to.

And I don't want to name brands out here, but you know, the top end brands and versus that. So there's no limit to it. I think what one would really like to focus on is a good training, a good trainer, you know, wherever, whoever, however you would like to choose to, a good physio, and most importantly, a good nutrition, which is, if you put all of this, it is an expensive sport, but what happens is that people do they think that do you go run and you go run and you then you run and then you run and then you get injured.

And then when you get injured is when you go to physio. When you spend money and then you struggle and do all of that. I'm of the other opinion that you know, I have a trainer, I have a professional, I've always had a trainer. I've always had a gym trainer. If I remember From the first time I went till now, like I have always had a gym trainer, you know, I don't remember, I

Ryan:think if I took all the money that you spend on gym trainer, you'd probably been able to afford a German luxury vehicle by now,

Mahasweta:I would have, I could have, I would, I probably would have two houses in Bangalore if I would have saved all the money that I've spent in this spot, you know, and, uh, I've been training with, uh, with my running coach, uh, Dr Jason car for like, what, four years now, almost, almost same time.

Yeah. A little over four years. I think you started five with you. I'm going to start five. Uh, I, I mean, I think I've always been to the gym. Uh,

Ryan:I have the gym. I'm trying to picture you in as a workout person because I just see you in the MDS running. So what's your workout style? Do you like working out in the gym?

Mahasweta:Oh, I love it. I mean, I strength training. It's very funny. Okay. That if I'm exhausted and I've had like, I'm super tired and I drag myself to the gym and 10 minutes of workout, I'm a new person. You won't believe it. 10 minutes. And I remember that recently, I think I went to the gym. I was very sluggish. I walked in and that lady looked at me and said, I saw you running.

How much did you run? I said, whatever. I don't remember. And then he said, Oh, you should be resting. What are you doing here? I said, This is the only way I can rest if I'm here at the gym, you know, what's

Ryan:your favorite exercise and in the gym?

Mahasweta:I think I there's no favorite. I just love working out in the gym.

I think there is, uh, I can tell you what I don't like. Yeah. You know, that's very simple. I just don't like lunges. You know, I just like

Ryan:for a runner.

Mahasweta:I just tell you, I get like my trainer is struggle to get me to doing lunges. I just don't like lunges. Anything else you tell me, I am happy to do it. I mean,

Ryan:so even the leg press and everything,

Mahasweta:everything I have no, I love working out core and leg press and back and all of that.

Uh, only only thing I don't like is those lunges. I do to answer your question on my workout. I do. Okay. Medium weight strength training because I don't want to load my body. I want to just do enough strength training so that I am, I have the strength. The idea is not to break the body.

Ryan:I remember you at the start of today's podcast.

You said that you've been weight training from the beginning. That's how you started your weight loss journey. You have probably two decades of weight training experience. Yes. What's your advice to the young women of India who are starting their job? Should they enroll in a gym? Should they go for Zumba?

Should they go for marathon running? Should they go to the gym? Uh, is going to the gym going to make you get muscles like Anusha Vazhnika? So what, what do you, what would you tell a young girl walking into the room right now?

Mahasweta:You know, the first thing is that, that, that thing you said that, you know, you get muscles like Anusha Vazhnika.

I just first want to tell everybody that women do not have the hormones to develop muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Hrithik Roshan or Tiger Shroff. So for God's sake, just stop thinking like that. Women

Ryan:kind of poked you because you know, you're an elite runner. You run in shorts. So I have people being snidey and said, Oh, look at her legs.

They're so muscular. Have you ever got that comment? I'm asking this from a perspective because women think that they weight train or they run, they'll get muscular. So they don't do the physical acting. So I want to call out women from that perspective of thinking so that they don't use it as an excuse to not go to the gym and train or run.

Mahasweta:I will tell you the other perspective when I go to the gym, there are so many men who walk up to me and tell, ask me saying, what do you do for your legs? Okay, so

Ryan:the men are jealous of the

Mahasweta:men are absolutely like, you know, my car. So a six when I was in a six athlete. And you can, they would typically do this one particular shot of the shoe with my calf from the back to show them, show the calf, you know, because they thought that I have the best looking calf that whatever Delhi has probably.

So it's so yes, I do get a lot of compliment for, for that. And it is a combination of my strength training and my running.

Ryan:So every young girl. For in college, going into her engineering degree or whatever degree she's doing, going into her first job, searching for a prospective, uh, partner, uh, to having her first kid or delivering her first kid and then doing weight loss.

Should she weight train?

Mahasweta:Every woman, wherever you are, you must and should weight train. Just giving you some context. Our grandparents were doing weight lifting. in their day to day jobs, like, you know, lifting

Ryan:water. My grandmother used to pull water from the well.

Mahasweta:What work is that?

Ryan:Yeah, you know, your lats work out, your arms work out, bicep, tricep, everything.

Mahasweta:Okay, washing clothes, working your shoulders. You know, lifting, lifting water and carrying it back.

Ryan:Weighted walks.

Mahasweta:Weighted walks, farmer's walk is what they did. So, women have been doing weight training ever since. It is just that We just lost ourselves in between somewhere. And we thought, Oh, my God, you know what?

I'm going to have like Ritik Roshan's body type. You cannot have it. But But look at our grandparents. They were so much more stronger. They were so much more healthier. They had stronger bone infrastructure. Look at our parents generation. For example, I think they are the most, uh, they have neglected their bodies the most.

And you know why my mom goes to the gym? I told her, I said, you get osteoporosis and you keep breaking your things. I live in Gurgaon. You are in Calcutta. There's no way I can show up. I have a full time job. So you please take care of yourself first. Something happens, I'm there, but it'll only come if you first take care of yourself.

It's a clause. So you watch out. That day and this day she calls me and says my collagen is over. Can you send me if I ask her saying? What do you want for your birthday? She'll say get me something for the gym every other day. She wants a new

Ryan:Is she fashionable in the gym?

Mahasweta:Absolutely. All she wants is gym clothes and gym shoes and you know She sees my new shoe and she's like, oh, she's ogling at my shoes all the time She oh that shoe color is so nice,

Ryan:but your mother When her younger years did not work out.

So this is something that you convinced her to do. Of

Mahasweta:course. So the point I'm trying to tell is that our lifestyles have changed. Therefore, we have made this as an activity outside of our day. In older days, it was a combined effort. Like, you know, what is the definition of fitness? Fitness means that you are able to do your day to day activity with comfort and with ease.

That is what fitness means. Now, people have merged all of these and made one nice kitchery of fitness and health and building muscles and all hormones. So why, if our grandparents did it, why is it that you, I mean, our lives today don't help. We have a washing machine, a dishwasher, help, Coke, Zomato, Swiggy, whatever.

So we are the laziest people in this world. So then you got to, got to just bring in that extra activity into your day just to ensure that you are You're growing stronger in your physiology and your mental as you go ahead in life, and especially for the younger generation, you have a whole life and trust you me, it's a right that you will have of your life, wherever, whoever you are.

So, dude, this is the only way to get up. You know,

Ryan:you were talking about your mom was the older version of you and now she's ogling your gym clothes and stuff like weight training. If you had to go back in a time capsule. and meet Shweta, who is 15 year old. What advice would you give her?

Mahasweta:I would, I would actively, actively pursue sport.

My, uh, you know, I'm born from, I'm in a, from, from a small town, Durgapur, very conservative, traditional. I mean, uh, all my sisters got married when they were 18. Thankfully, my parents thought different. My, when I, uh, I mean, they always wanted me to study. And I also knew that there's the only way for me to get out of this whole setup and do something in my life.

I didn't know what to do. Yeah. But I definitely knew what I didn't want. So that, that was the only differentiator. I think I would definitely have developed these habits, uh, you know, when I was 15. Like, if you remember when you saw my gene report, you told me this, that Shweta, if you had come to me 10 years ago, I would have made you a sprinter.

You would have been the best sprinter in this country and not a marathon runner. If I knew that I, I would be able to do, or what it does to me as a person, I would have just only changed that. I think I, I was not interested because I didn't know. I was like, it didn't give me any cake because I, nobody taught me that it is good for you.

Only little bit of playing in the evening. What did we play at that time? Hide and seek and some kind of silly stuff. So that's

Ryan:asking girls of today to upgrade from hide and seek to knowing and getting into gym, working out, encouraging parents to encourage their daughters to become fitter versions than they are today.

Mahasweta:Absolutely. Because it is. It is more important because, you know, as you grow older, your your options to do this reduces. So you better develop the habit now, because the more you grow old, it is so much so much more difficult to develop these habits, right? I mean. You know, we are such slaves to how we have been that if I tell today to bring a change, it's going to be so much more difficult.

We need, we need external guidance to develop inculcate certain habits. So, so develop those habits in your Children today, especially Children today, and it's a responsibility with the parents because in the world of digital where everything is happening on a click of a button. I mean, one click and you're gone.

So you better back up now.

Ryan:Speaking of clips, we're coming to the end of our podcast. So we're going to do some rapid fire clicks. Um, few questions. Okay. Um, and quick clicks, three things that you'll carry when you go to the gym.

Mahasweta:Water. Uh, I think a jacket and, uh, my watch.

Ryan:Top three habits that made you a great athlete.

Mahasweta:Discipline. Patience. And not fearing to spend getting expert team. It's an habit.

Ryan:Your favorite cheat meal?

Mahasweta:Honestly, pizza, which is not gluten free. But since I refrain from it, I think Thai.

Ryan:Your biggest inspiration in sports and why that person?

Mahasweta:I have a lot of sports people. I look up to, you know, and, uh, I think Federer, Dhoni.

Uh, for people who, who show and tell, I think they have been consistent over years. I especially, especially like Dhoni because I think he is, he's always shown, uh, everything that a good athlete should have, which is most importantly, good attitude, you know, coming from the background that he's come, I think he's, he's, he's been a tremendous sports person.

Ryan:If not a marathon runner, conquering the MDS, one of the most grueling races in the world and another life, what would you be?

Mahasweta:A tennis player. I still

Ryan:sports

Mahasweta:still sports. Yeah, I have. I always always admired tennis. And when I was in Bangalore, I actually used to play tennis. Uh, and I think I would be a tennis player.

Professionally, if you ask me, I probably become a professor or a doctor because that's what I wanted to become both.

Ryan:You are now the professor of running and the doctor of all the physiology in the human body. Because in my opinion, sometimes she looks at my nutrition plans like I think you forgot to give me L carnitine because my fat percentage has gone up a little bit too and I'm like, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely right.

So Ma Shweta Ghosh, it's been a privilege to have you in the same room as me. Thankfully, you're not doing this interview with me walking, because it's a nice long interview. And if we had to do this walking, thank God we covered only one centimeter today. Great to have you today. Thank you,

Mahasweta:Ryan. Thank you so much.

It hope the listeners. Take a message and they make smart investments on themselves.

Ryan:If you've liked this episode, then please gift me a like a share or a subscribe, or better still, if you comment, I'll come back to you. And don't forget, let's stay tuned for a new learning coming in. But till then, you body is the most expensive real estate.

Take care of it.

Mahasweta Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/mahasweta911/  

To get a proper balanced nutritional plan please fill out this form and my team will get in touch with you:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoJUWlJRHF3sIriq-mvLdvATxOXU0jDI_N79uQQU7lO51edA/viewform?pli=1  

Products to purchase:- 

Collagen - https://www.ryanfernando.in/ryan-recommends/collagen-powder-with-stevia.php 

1chaze - https://quanutrition.com/product/1chaze/ 

Books - https://www.ryanfernando.in/book/  Ryan's 

Socials -  

Link tree: https://linktr.ee/Ryan_SecretNutritionTips 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ryan_nutrition_coach/ 

Website: https://www.ryanfernando.in/  

For Collaboration & Enquiries: 📩 mehul@quahealth.com