Suryakumar Yadav on Fitness and Food, From Butter Chicken to Portion Control

TIT Correspondent
info@impressivetimes.com

For many fitness enthusiasts, favourite foods and a disciplined lifestyle can seem difficult to balance. For Indian cricketer Suryakumar Yadav, however, the approach has been less about completely eliminating the foods he enjoys and more about moderation, consistency and portion control.

The cricketer recently spoke about his fitness journey, training routine and dietary habits, recalling the lifestyle changes he and his wife, Devisha Shetty, made when he began seriously working towards representing India.

One of the biggest changes involved reducing his sugar intake. Although Suryakumar described himself as someone with a strong sweet tooth, desserts and ice creams were among the foods he consciously cut down.

“We both are foodies,” he said, explaining that both he and Devisha enjoy food but had to reduce several items from their regular diet.

When asked about the most significant dietary adjustment, Suryakumar pointed to desserts and ice creams.

Rather than permanently banning his favourite foods, he said he occasionally treats himself after achieving a goal or completing something significant. The focus, according to him, has been on maintaining balance instead of following extreme restrictions.

And that approach extends to some of his favourite Indian dishes.

Despite becoming more disciplined about his diet, Suryakumar did not completely eliminate butter chicken or biryani.

“Butter chicken never went off the menu,” he said, adding that biryani also remained part of his food choices.

The key difference was quantity. According to the cricketer, portion control allowed him to enjoy foods he likes while continuing to focus on fitness.

His approach highlights a simple principle: favourite foods do not necessarily have to disappear from a fitness routine when consumption is kept in moderation.

Suryakumar’s lifestyle changes were not limited to food. After marrying Devisha in 2016, the couple began discussing what he needed to change to take his cricket career forward.

That included reducing late nights and weekend outings while giving his body more time to recover.

His structured routine eventually incorporated gym sessions, running, batting practice, yoga, meditation, stretching and recovery days. On some days, he trained twice, while weekends could be reserved for rest, family time, a drive or enjoying a meal.

Suryakumar acknowledged that adjusting to the new routine was not easy initially. Giving up familiar weekend plans required a change in mindset.

However, he said that within a few weeks he began noticing changes in how he felt physically and mentally.

He recalled feeling fresher on the field, more positive in his thinking and more relaxed during matches and training.

For Suryakumar Yadav, the fitness journey was therefore not built around extreme dieting or completely eliminating favourite foods. Instead, it involved disciplined training, adequate recovery, better lifestyle choices and moderation at the dining table.

His experience offers a practical takeaway for fitness enthusiasts: consistency can matter more than restriction, and portion control can make it possible to enjoy favourite foods while staying committed to a healthier routine.