My name is Varun Sharma – The man behind the creation of Runaddiction.
My Story
I was born and raised in Delhi and currently living in Dubai.
Due to my sedentary lifestyle and eating habits I was overweight. I don’t blame myself because I am a foodie afterall 🙂
I was lazy, tired and kept blaming my work that because of my hectic work schedule I am not able to get time to workout.
I kept ignoring my health, ignored my sleep, had bad eating habits, wasn’t drinking enough water (due to which I was diagnosed with kidney stones) etc.
My biggest eye opener came when my saw my father diagnosed with diabetes 2 due to his lifestyle and eating patterns. Similarly my wife was diagnosed as a prediabetic in 2019. It was all due to her lifestyle, lack of physical activity and stressful job.
I read somewhere that if you want to take care of your family, you need to take care of yourself first.
Transformation Journey
It was in July 2019 that I decided that I need to work on myself and that was when I started to jog in the morning.
I changed my sleeping patterns, my eating habits, my lifestyle, started taking stairs instead of elevator. I even started getting off one bus stop before my usual bus stop to walk to my office building.
I weighed 99.6 Kgs with a body fat percentage of more than 30% in June 2019.
In July 2019 I joined a local gym in my neighborhood and started doing weights on alternate days to lose weight.
Here was my daily schedule that I followed from Sunday to Saturday to shed off more than 12 Kgs in 3 months.
4:30 AM – Wake up and leave for Gym at around 4:45 AM (Replace Gym session with Running Session for 1 hour on alternate days)
5:30 AM – Finish Workout at gym and run towards home (for about half km)
5:45 AM – Reach home and start getting ready for office
7:30 AM – 7:30 PM – Spend 12 hrs in Office (including 2 hrs of commuting)
7:30 – 8 PM – Rest at home
8 PM – 8:30 PM – Push Ups, Pull Ups, Skipping, Hindu Push ups and other workouts at home (Half hour)
Sleep around 10:30 PM so that I can give enough rest to my body.
I used to do weight training and running on alternate days with the idea of losing weight and building muscle. I constantly kept myself away from eating any non-healthy food, drinks or sweets. Although I used to eat them once in a while.
I followed the basics of calorie deficit but I never used to deliberately count calories of each meal that I am taking.
In the beginning it was really difficult to even run 1 kilometer however within one month I made good progress and was able to run 2 Km without stopping.
Within 3 months I lost 10 Kgs of weight and in the fourth month I lost 12 Kgs, built a decent physique in my upper body (shoulders, chest and arms).
My friends, colleagues and family noticed this change and started complimenting me which added to my motivation.
I kept going and increased my endurance to run 5K within 2 months and 10K within 4 months. An important thing was that I was keeping a track of distance and time taken with the help of my smartwatch.
I even participated in two marathons and completed 10K in less than 60 minutes during my second marathon that took place in Jan 2020. By December 2019 (6 months after I started) I lost 12 Kgs of weight and more than 10% of body fat.
Here is my picture taken in July 2019 (in white t-shirt) when I was visiting Serbia. On the right side (in sky blue shirt) is the picture taken in December 2019 just outside my office in Dubai.
You will notice a clear difference in my jaw line and waistline. I lost so much weight that all my trousers and shirts started getting loose and I was able to fit into my old clothes that I was not able to wear earlier.
Changes in Professional Life
The weight loss transformation helped me to focus on my work life as well. Although I was doing pretty well on the professional front I started doing even better.
Soon I was awarded as the best performer not only in my office but also internationally as one of the top 10 performers across 200 offices worldwide.
Why Runaddiction?
Runaddiction was born out of my passion for Running. Running has changed my life and believe me it certainly will change your life as well.
When you start running the first and most important thing that you need to buy are Running shoes.
When you buy Running Shoes online you really have to consider various things before you even look at online websites like Amazon. Unfortunately most of us don’t pay attention to small details while buying running shoes and end up getting injured.
Most people just buy running shoes online based on the looks of the shoes, colors, size, weight etc. But believe me there are a lot of things to consider when you buy running shoes.
Here is a link to my profile page on Quora where I regularly try and answer any running related questions – Profile on Quora.com
If you do a Google search for the term “best Running Shoes in India” you will see a lot of online websites in the result that are focused on US runners and they only talk about running shoes in US.
Have you ever heard or looked at websites such as runrepeat.com, runnersworld.com and runningshoesguru.com?
You will notice how easy and user-friendly it is for someone in the US to buy good pair of shoes online according to their foot type and running style.
Unfortunately we don’t have those similar websites in India, but we (www.runaddiction.in) are getting there soon.
The shoes listed on these American websites are either not available in India or you have to pay a hefty import duty to get them shipped to India. I know it is such a pain when you do your research online to find perfect running shoes and then realize they are not available in India.
If you go to any branded sports store in India selling athletic footwear and try asking them that you need “Running shoes for overpronation”.
I bet you that the salesman at the store will give you a weird look. That is because they are not trained to understand that different people need different running shoes.
In contrast to this, the stores in America have treadmills in place where the salesman will actually have you try 5-6 different types of shoes while running on treadmill and then suggest the right type of shoes for you.
If you don’t believe me then watch this short video.
My goal is to educate all runners and ensure they only buy genuine, first class and the best running shoes according to their feet.
How Runaddiction will help you?
Runaddiction is on a mission to ensure that every runner in India selects appropriate pair of Running shoes according to their feet type, running style, where and how often they run.
How Runaddiction will help you:-
- You have less chances of getting injured if you educate yourself on getting the right running gear for yourself. The main thing is to buy good running shoes.
- It will save your time and money – We write detailed reviews and include Pros and Cons so that you can make an informed decision about your purchase.
- Runners get access to best discounted deal for running shoes from various brands like Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, Asics, Skechers etc.
- We cover any new running gear that is launched in India. Be it shoes, smartwatches, fitness trackers etc.
My Favorite Running Gear (I use some of these)
- Asics Gel Kayano 26 (for Long Runs and Marathons)
- Reebok Floatride Energy Grasse 2 (Stability shoe for my daily Runs)
- Nike Downshifter 7
- GOQii Fitness tracker (have used this in the past)
- Garmin Forerunner 245
- Strava Mobile App (to track my Runs)
- Nike ArmBand
- Apple Airpods (they don’t fall out while running)
- Spotify (See my favorite running playlists)
