Fat to Fit

Fat to fit is an award-winning project of Rota Pera that has been carried out in previous years to enhance the physical fitness of the community. This year it was conducted as a joint project between the Rotaract Club of University of Peradeniya and the Interact club of Dharmaraja College, Kandy. This year the project was conducted For the 3rd consecutive time, and due to the country's prevailing situation, it was conducted on a virtual platform.

We have focused on improving the physical fitness of the general public that have got stuck at homes during the quarantine period. Therefore, unlike in the previous years, we allowed the general public to participate in the project. Furthermore, we wanted to go on an innovative path deviating from conducting webinars. So we included a fitness challenge segment in our project to give the participants a more practically authentic opportunity to showcase their stamina and physical fitness.

There were 2 phases in the project. The 1st phase was the fitness challenge phase. The university student community and the general public crowd were invited to form teams and take a challenge. According to the rules and regulations gave in the guideline, one team could comprise 2 to 5 members. Male participants had to perform 20 pushups and 20 sit-ups within one minute. Female participants had to complete 20 jumping jacks and 20 sit-ups within one minute. The videos of the teams were uploaded to the official Facebook page of the Rotaract Club of University of Peradeniya, and the teams had to achieve the highest number of likes to win the challenge. Team Hockey of the University of Peradeniya won the challenge obtaining the highest number of likes on FB and price money was given to them.

The 2nd phase was an online zoom session. In this session, Miss Hasara Kumaragama, a nutritionist and a graduate of the University of Peradeniya, explained how to plan a proper diet plan. After discussing diet planning, a video done by 'MeanWhile in SL', a YouTubing team, was displayed to the participants. After that, participants were invited to upload their diet plans as a comment to that video posted on the official FB page of the Rotaract Club of University of Peradeniya. The discussion was followed by an online Zumba session conducted by a professional Zumba conductor, Dr. Erunika O. Dayarathna an alumnus of the University of Peradeniya. In the previous years, the Zumba session was held physically in the University of Peradeniya premises but, we had to settle down for a virtual Zumba experience this year. It was a new experience for everyone who attended the online Zumba session. The project was also intended to strengthen the Rotaract - Interact bond.