It may have looked like slapstick, but for stand-up comedian Maitreyi Karanth, it was not at all funny. While playing squash with a friend, she ran to get a shot and slammed into a wall, experiencing severe bleeding and bruising deep in her chest muscles.
That was in 2005. The injury took months to heal, affecting her mobility. A physically active person, Karanth was frustrated with her inability to exercise. She sought comfort in eating and, within a year, had put on 25kg (55lb).
She was not particularly bothered by the extra weight – as an actor and former teacher, she had self-confidence.
“I still felt very pretty and continued to post pictures of myself on social media without feeling like I needed to hide any part of my body,” says Karanth, now 52, who was born in India and has lived in Hong Kong for 21 years.
It was only after her battered body healed, and she could play squash and hike again, that she really “felt the brunt of those activities”, she says.
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