Odisha man wins Transformation Challenge; shares his fitness mantra

Sambalpur: It is generally believed that one can not build muscles without adopting a non-vegetarian diet. But Pankaj Mishra from Sambalpur, a complete vegetarian, has proved it wrong by winning Transformation Challenge-12 organised by Fittr, a leading online nutrition and fitness platform.

The 39-year-old man, a resident of Talabhattapada in Khetrajpur, won the competition for achieving the best fitness through natural ways in a period of just 12 weeks. He does not even believe in intake of any kind of drug, including steroid for fitness.

The winner has been rewarded with Rs 5 lakh cash and a high-end smartwatch.

Pankaj, son of retired teacher Uma Shankar Mishra and Malati Mishra, was declared the winner after a careful evaluation of his transformation and consistency along with his contribution to the Fittr community. He was also amongst the Top 5 contestants of TC 11 last year.

“Winning the challenge means a lot to me.  I am grateful to my mentor Manoranjan Mishra for being my constant support system.  My parents, wife have also inspired me  a lot in my journey. I wish to continue on this consistent path of fitness, enabling me to change my life and fulfilling my dream,” said an overjoyed Pankaj.

The 12-week challenge was hosted on the Fittr mobile application from January 2 to March 27 attracting around 22,000 participants from across the world.

As part of the challenge, the participants were required to upload a video every week in the suggested format to showcase their week-on-week progress. The participants were evaluated on multiple factors such as muscle gain, fat loss, and consistency from the past transformation challenges.

The results were declared on April 18.