Mrinal Mathur from Colindale recently completed a gruelling 44-mile swim – the equivalent of crossing the English Channel to France and back – to raise money for the charity Diabetes UK.
The organisation is close to his heart as his much-loved grandfather was diabetic and passed away due to complications from the condition.
Mrinal, aged 29, completed the challenge over three months in 39 swims at Copthall Leisure Centre in Barnet, raising more than £350 in the process. “I have always loved swimming,” he explains. “Growing up in India, I, my sister and father would go for a swim every morning in an outdoor pool in the summer. Swimming is therapeutic. You focus on your breathing, detach from the outside world and you have time to reflect on home or work at the same time as doing a full-body workout.
“I felt amazing when I’d finally done 44 miles. I was swimming for other people as well as myself.”
Swimming the Channel was also part of a bigger plan to improve his own health and fitness. Diagnosed with sleep apnoea – a common condition where your breathing stops and starts while you sleep – he has been using an oxygen mask at night to combat this.
“The thought of me being a 29-year-old guy, sleeping with a mask pumping air to my lungs, was not the best sight,” Mrinal continues. “I asked my GP if there was anything I could do to reverse the condition. He suggested losing weight and referred me to the Healthwise weight management course at Copthall Leisure Centre.”
Healthwise is a scheme offered at ‘Better’ leisure centres in England and Wales. People with a variety of health conditions such as arthritis, heart problems, or stroke are referred by a health professional to a low-cost, 12-week exercise or rehabilitation programme as a way of improving fitness and wellbeing.
Joining the weight management scheme, sales manager Mrinal, comments, was ‘game-changing’.
“In the weekly sessions, we discussed things like calorie intake, high and low-calorie foods, portion sizes, sensible eating habits and alcohol-intake. The discipline of meeting every Tuesday gave me a structure and a reason to get healthy and I always looked forward to finding out how much I’d lost.”
On top of dietary suggestions, Mrinal and his classmates were also advised on individual fitness regimes and after several weeks of healthy eating and swimming six days a week, he was delighted to find had lost around 19kg (almost 3 stone).
He still has a little way to go before he reaches his target weight of 85kg after which, his doctor has suggested he can try sleeping without the mask. The reduced two-year membership to Better leisure centres means he will easily be able to continue his daily swims and keep losing weight.
“I would definitely recommend the Healthwise scheme to other people,” Mrinal concludes. “Shakyle and Billy have been amazing coaches. You need the right people around you when you’re trying to get healthy. You can find a lot of information online but the personal touch really helps.”
Leisure centres in Barnet are run by charitable social enterprise GLL under the ‘Better’ brand in partnership with the local authority.
Billy Phillips, Barnet’s Healthwise Coordinator, adds, “Mrinal is a brilliant example of how following a plan of healthy eating and regular exercise can bring about lasting change in someone’s life and massively improve their health and vitality. We look forward to supporting him in future.”
To find out more about the Healthwise scheme in your area, visit – https://www.better.org.uk/what-we-offer/activities/healthwise
For more information about Diabetes UK, visit – https://www.diabetes.org.uk/
