I had always been stout—to use a kind word—but during the lockdown, I knew I had to make a change.” Kunal Vijaykar is trying to recall his moment of truth for us when we ring him up to discuss his incredible weight loss success. In six months, Vijaykar, who knows his food as much as he loves it, has gone down from 106 kg to 86 kg. He admits that he realised during moments of quietude that the isolation of the pandemic afforded us all, that eating had turned into an obsession. “I used to wake up and start thinking, what will I eat for breakfast. Before breakfast was even done, I was already thinking about what I would snack on later. I succumbed to my natural desire for food, which is quite obsessive. And people were sending me grub over as well. So, here I was, sitting at home, not in the greatest state of mind since I live alone. And slipping into my comfort zone because it’s food that makes me happy.” That Vijaykar has made a name for himself reviewing eateries, trying and tasting fare by upcoming home chefs, didn’t help. “I just bloated, and I hit it out of the park!” says the television host, humourist, writer and foodie. 

But the turning point came when he felt that things were getting “slower and slower”. “Till you decide you want to do something, you won’t do it. I am hedonistic! I have never even gone to the gym. My lifestyle had become an addiction—my food intake, my laziness. I am 57, I’ve joined the gym six times, and never gone,” says Vijaykar.