FROM 104 KG TO STEEL:
AN UNBREAKABLE SAGA

The Makeover Journey of Gaurab Burman

My name is Gaurab Burman, aged over 43. On February 15, 2024, when I stepped onto the weighing scale, the dial stopped at 104.15 kg. But this story isn’t just about weight; it is about the awakening of a sleeping soldier within a civilian. The foundation of this transformation was laid in October 2023, when my ‘Industrial Guru’ interrupted me and bluntly stated, “Do something for your body.” At that time, acting on it felt nearly impossible because my shift schedule was an absolute nightmare—5 consecutive night shifts followed by an 8-hour ‘B shift’ with zero rest, sometimes 3 night shifts, then a ‘B shift’, and the very next morning an ‘A shift’. Out of 12 consecutive days of duty, 8 to 9 days consisted of brutal 12-hour shifts that had completely broken my body. In December 2023, the Guru warned me again, and when he reminded me for the third time in January 2024, that moment became my ultimate ‘awakening’. I firmly decided that I had to do something right now.

I took my first step on February 15, 2024. On day one, I managed a mere 10 minutes of spot jogging, which, through a month of relentless effort, I pushed to 45 minutes right inside my room. In March 2024, I stepped out to walk in the open air, and that’s when a lightning thought struck my mind—”Can I increase my calorie burn by carrying weight on my back?” The internet gave me the answer: ‘Rucking’. When I started walking with a loaded backpack, people laughed and mocked me, but I stood my ground. Progressively, I began increasing the weight of the backpack. It started with 5-6 kg, which grew to 12 kg by September 2024, and reached 16 kg by December 2024. On December 20, 2024, when I evaluated myself, my weight had plummeted to 74 kg, and my chest had shrunk from 44 inches down to 40 inches.

I had become thin, but I was not satisfied inside. I didn’t want a skeletal frame; I wanted a steel-forged physique like the ‘Indian Army Para SF’. My new target was to push my weight back over 80 kg, so I aggressively ramped up my diet from a 70% calorie deficit straight to a 120% surplus. I turned the terrace of the Colony building into my personal combat arena and initiated heavy strength training like deadlifts and T-bar rows.

In the year 2025, I pushed my limits into uncharted territories. The rucking weight kept escalating until it peaked at an extreme 54 kg. However, in September 2025, I initiated a new experiment because hauling over 50 kg was hindering my speed. I reduced the backpack load to a fixed 34 kg to optimize my pace. The result was staggering—my speed improved from 15 minutes/km down to 12 minutes/km. By October 2025, my conditioning was touching the ‘Para-SF’ standard, and I started rucking with 34 kg at a sub-10 minute/km pace. November 2025 was the ultimate trial by fire—a grueling 12.5-hour Kiln Shutdown duty amidst deafening noise and choking dust, but the ‘Inner Evil’ inside me had fully awakened. That month, I crushed fatigue and rucked over 200 kilometers, maintaining an average pace of 10.04 minutes/km.

The most brutal turning point arrived on November 25, 2025, when I took an ironclad oath—“No Rest Day”. Since that day, I have continuously trained without a single day of rest. In December 2025, this regimen evolved into ‘Hybrid Warfare’, where I ruck with my 34 kg backpack and stop every 500 meters to execute 80 kg deadlifts and heavy dumbbell curls. Extreme challenges couldn’t break me—during consecutive 12-hour shifts in December, particularly around December 24 and 25, when my body was collapsing from sleep deprivation and hunger, I still crushed 10 to 13 kilometers of rucking.

Today, on December 31, 2025, I weigh 83-84 kg—solid and powerful. My combat capacity is now a 9:30 minute/km pace carrying 34 kg, and my chest is back to 44 inches—but this time, it is not fat; it is forged iron muscle. The greatest victory is that my shift schedule remains exactly the same as it was on day one—exhausting, chaotic, and relentless—but I simply refuse to surrender. My journey continues, and I have sworn that in this year of 2026, I will not rest until I completely annihilate this remaining ‘Fat Belly’. From the ashes of that exhausted 104 kg man, today stands a ‘Civilian’ with the soul of a soldier violently beating in his chest.

© 2026 Copyright from Gaurab Burman. All rights reserved.