Stand-up comic Kenneth Sebastian talks fitness, and why his recent hot picture has made him the recipient of many a back-handed compliments
This is not a new trend - me working out, I mean. I have been doing that for six to seven years now, since my college days. But people didn't know that about me, as I have always had a pudgy face.
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I have been shy about putting it out there, but last year, I put a topless picture on my Instagram, and suddenly it was like, "Oh, Kenny works out!" There was another reason I never wanted to post it - because I always made fun of people who post fitness videos and pictures. But that's because with them, everything is so absolute. It's all about working out. With me, I hate it when I have to get up and go work out. It's impossible to love working out and eating clean - it's a lot of effort, almost like a punishment. I work out some days, but I eat junk on some days. Working out is truly the most non-glamorous, non-dramatic habit.
At the gym though, the funniest part is that if you have decided to work out, that basically means everyone around you has a license to pass comments at you. For example someone once told me, "You can look a lot fitter for the amount of weights you are lifting", and I was just like "What! How can you say that to me? It's a gym, not a comedy show."
I have been working out a long time, so for me, it's all about maintaining it. I have now started focusing on my diet as well, just so it can be more transformative. But it's super hard to do that, and socially it's really bizarre when you become all about 'I don't eat this, and I only eat that". My only hack is - eat home food, even if it's junk. How bad can that be right?
The reason I would never write a stand-up act about fitness, because I feel working out is 95 per cent about your mental health. I have been able to do it, as I had a good mental environment around me growing up. But for most, it's a personal struggle.
But the most amusing part of me getting noticed now for my fitness streak is all the reactions I have been getting. I have been getting brand enquiries for underwear! But the back-hand compliments are my favourite part - "You're very hot for a Malayalee"; "You're fit for a comedian"; "You are already funny, why do you want to be fit?"; You are already famous, why do you want to be fit?" And I am just like, "Okaaayyyy, thank you, I guess."
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