Iswarya Menon speaks about her fitness journey, says she was fat-shamed and ridiculed as a child

Actress Iswarya Menon is a fitness enthusiast. The ‘Monsoon Mangoes’ actress often shares snippets of her fitness regime with her Insta family. In her latest social media post, the actress has spoken about her fitness journey. She opened up that she was fat-shamed and ridiculed while in school, the diets she followed to look thin as a teenager, and how she eventually started working out for health, rather than looking slim.

“I wanna put out my personal story here, rather than putting some random caption or quotes… My journey with fitness has been very personal. I used to be really fat as a kid, back in school I was constantly ridiculed and identified as a ‘ Girl who is fat & looks round like a maida ball’ & many horribly mean things‘ ppl used to always make fun of me, laugh at me. It always annoyed me, because I dint want to be identified, recognised like that. In modern terms right now, we call it bullying. But back then I used to be super naive and innocent & I have never reacted to it. I used to always smile & go away, “ Iswarya Menon said.

She further added, “But in my head, I told myself no! I am not going to be identified as ‘fat’. That’s when things changed & that’s how my fitness journey started. I started working out from the age of 16…. I took every ridicule as constructive criticism & worked out so hard ever since. Tried every stupid diet on the planet to become thin! There was a phase of my life where I shocked my genes & had become skinny infact. Later I realised, noooo i Dont wanna impress others, I don’t wanna be thin . I wanna be healthy & I wanna be fit in my own terms. Hence I started working out, not to become skinny, but to become fit. Now fitness has become my lifestyle. I am soooooo thankful to those who ridiculed me, if they hadn’t put me down & insulted me like that, I would have never been this fit or taken fitness this seriously. My sincere gratitude to them.”

Check out Iswarya Menon’s note here.

Iswarya Menon, who began her career in cinema with the Tamil movie ‘Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi’, later debuted in Telugu, and Kannada films. She marked her debut in Malayalam with ‘Monsoon Mangoes’ starring Fahadh Faasil.