Exclusive: Giving up alcohol and cigarettes is easy but giving up on food is the hardest says Ram Kapoor on his weight loss

Bade Acche Lagte Hain fame Ram Kapoor recently stunned everyone with his drastic body transformation. The 44-year-old actor, who has been working rigorously on his body since the beginning of January 2019, says he had been mentally preparing himself for the last two years. In an exclusive conversation with the TimesofIndia.com, Ram spoke about how difficult it was to give up food and his wife Gautami's constant support. He also opened up about 'Bade Acche...' co-star Sakshi Tanwar’s reaction to his transformation. (Photo: Instagram) By Vijaya Tiwari

I was always overweight and comfortable with my weight. It never bothered me, so I never thought of losing weight. My family will always love and respect me, no matter how I look. But I did not want to set a wrong example for my children. Today at the age of 44, I want to be healthier. They are growing up fast and I want to be the right role model for them. I wanted to do this for my wife, my kids and myself. I want to live longer and be with them. (Photo: Instagram)

I have been trying to loose weight since last 2 years. I had told myself two years ago that I have to loose weight and was desperately trying. I used to diet for two/three hours while I was working on different projects, but the results were not that effective. Finally in 2019, I decided to take a break from work for an entire year and started working on my goal. I had so much to do, and I wanted to do it properly. I started in January this year and till now the progress has been good. I am 60 per cent there but I still have to achieve 40 per cent. My goal is to be 80 kilos by December 2019. (Photo: Instagram)

When I started working out in January 2019, I weighed around 130 kgs and my target was to loose 50 kilos. Till July, I have managed to loose 30 kilos and by December my target is to loose another 20 kilos. I think when you are focused, there is nothing that you can’t achieve. I have challenged myself. I eat for 8 hours and fast for 16 hours. I workout 2 hours in the morning and at night. (Photo: Instagram)

I wanted to do this for my children and my wife. There were reports earlier that I wanted to do it for my daughter, but how can a parent just pick one child? I wanted to do this for both my kids. They will always love me the way I am and have never pressurised me to loose weight. I want to do this for them. They have seen my desperation, my frustration in these last 3 years. They are now super happy and proud of my achievement and they are with me in this journey till I reach my goal. I have their full support. (Photo: Instagram)

Till now, my daughter and son were never able to hug me properly. Whenever they hugged me, their hands would never touch together at the end of my back. But after the weight loss, that's the most memorable and sweet thing that has happened to me. Both my kids told me that since the time they were born, this was the first time they could hug me in their arms properly and it was very sweet. (Photo: Instagram)

As I told you earlier, I wanted to do it for myself. If my career was that important for me, I would have never gone for weight loss. I have entertained fans for the last 20 years and did various roles for them, but this is for me. My fans who love me will understand that at this stage, I want to lead a healthy life. But I am not getting too excited because I feel I have just reached half way. There’s still a long way to go and a lot to achieve. So, I am holding my excitement. I can’t thank my friends from the industry for their love and support. But honestly speaking, I am not reading much because I don’t want to get too excited and lose my focus. (Photo: Instagram)

Before 2019, I was getting mad because I desperately wanted to loose weight. But when I made the decision, there was no looking back and there was no moment when I did not feel motivated. I feel you have to be mentally very strong to achieve something like this and I had mentally prepared myself for it. People feel giving up cigarettes, alcohol is harder, but believe me giving up food, especially, when you love it, is way harder. But as I told you I was mentally preparing for the the last two years. I am happy with the results. (Photo: Instagram)

My wife Gautami loves me the way I am. She never pressurised me to loose weight or made me feel I am overweight. But whenever I looked at her, I felt what an inspiration she is. Actually, Gautami is my inspiration because when I see how fit she is even after delivering two kids, I can’t help but get inspired. She has been my biggest strength and motivation throughout my journey. (Photo: Instagram)

Never in my life I have felt insecure. I have worked in this industry for 20 years and have managed to sustain my career. There are a few actors like Ronit Roy, Sakshi Tanwar and I who have managed to stay on top during our careers. So, I never felt insecure that will I get work once I’ve lost weight. I have never thought about it. I have never worked for money. Had I ever worked for money, I would have signed every show that was offered to me. Right now, I am only focusing on my goal and have not bothered about what roles I will be offered in future. (Photo: Instagram)

I have always done shows which had a mature storyline, whether it is Bade Acche Lagte Hain or Kasamh Se. I don’t want to do shows just for the heck of it. I don’t want to work for money, as I said before. I have been very lucky to have got the kind of work that I have done on TV, web or films. I am ready to wait till the time good work doesn’t come to me. Right now my focus is not work. (Photo: Instagram)

Sakshi Tanwar has seen my transformation and been a part of the process. She keeps sending me messages, saying how happy and proud she is of me. Sakshi and I have immense love and respect for each other. We trust each other a lot. And we just don’t respect each other as actors but also as human beings. We share a great bond.

I have always been a person who wants to do things by going the natural way. So opting for surgery never came to my mind. I like achieving things through hard work and will never take shortcuts in life. My personality is like that. I feel when you get everything in life easily, you don’t value it. Similarly, if I would have lost weight within a month or two through surgery, I would have not valued it. I always wanted to earn it through the hard way. (Photo: Instagram)

Firstly, I have never ever had a problem of people making fun of me or my size. I’ve always been very comfortable with who I am, which is why, I have been able to do roles of such an overweight man in shows like Bade Acche Lagte Hain or in a film like Humshakals. Some people are positive, some are negative. Negative people always criticise others. I am not that kind of a person who has time for negative people or think negative. I am a confident person and very happy with the way I am. I don’t like wasting time and energy on people who are negative. I have too many things to feel happy about. Because this is such a big part of my personality, I’ve never ever cared about body shaming or even given a moment of thought. Whenever somebody has written anything negative about me, I have read and had a quick 5 seconds laugh over it and moved on. I have carried on with my life as life is too short to think about such stuff and worry about it.

When you are a public figure, there will be things written about you l, but most of things are not necessarily true. For an actor to think about it too much and ponder upon it is not constructive or helpful. Just think about positive and good things and move on. That’s what I have always done and will do. Body shaming is a big problem in the world and in our country. I have two children and I know there are problems like bullying and body shaming and these are real problems and they definitely need to be addressed. But being a strong and positive personality I’ve never cared about it or have never let these things ever bother me. That’s exactly what I am trying to teach my children also to be confident and comfortable enough and not worry about these things ever.