What happens when life throws a curveball at you or in singer Arjun Kanungo‘s case – a broken hip that pushed him into a self-made challenge to quit music unless he got abs? Missing in action for quite some time, Arjun recently took to his social media handles to spill the beans on his absence. He opened up about the most challenging 18 months of his life where from a surprise kidney issue to a freak hip fracture in the Maldives, he found myself bedridden, overweight and questioning his future in music.
Arjun captioned the video, “I take you through my journey of gaining 30kg, hitting 117kg at my heaviest, and the crazy decision to bet my music career on getting abs. You’ll hear about my experience with veganism, the physiotherapist who saved me from surgery, and the grueling process of losing 27kg while battling self-doubt and pain. This isn’t just about physical transformation – it’s about rediscovering my purpose and passion for music.
“With just 30 days left in my challenge, I’m sharing the ups and downs, the tough food choices, and the mental battle that comes with such a drastic lifestyle change. Whether you’re a fan of my music or just looking for some motivation, this story is all about comeback, determination, and the power of raising the stakes.”
Arjun Kanungo’s Shocking Injury in the Maldives Led to a Life-Changing Bet
“I had some kidney issues just out of the blue because I’ve been eating too much protein and I was in the best shape of my life. I was looking great. I was ripped, I was freaking diced man and I don’t know what happened but you know, I had some kidney issues and the doctor told me, ‘Hey you know what? Why don’t you go vegan for a while and sort that out because you know, this can become a problem if you don’t look at it properly?” Arjun says in the viral video.
The pop star shared that it was an acute kidney injury and as advised, he decided to make some lifestyle changes and went vegan for 6 months but the next month he fractured his hip while on a remote island in the Maldives. Arjun recalled, “It was like a horror story man. Like they had to lift me up and put me in a wheelchair and I mean I don’t know if I had fracture at that time but I can tell you it was like the worst pain of my life. Like I can’t imagine anybody going through that pain.”
Realising it was not a normal injury because he couldn’t sit, stand or lie down so he did an MRI that concluded he had suffered a hip fracture, which is a serious issue especially at Arjun’s age. He said, “I’m still so young for having a hip fracture…happens to people in the 60s. Doctor told me that ‘listen it’s going to be a long road to recovery and you will need surgery and I was not happy about that man so, I was like quite upset because the statistics are crazy. I did some research and it basically means that if you have a hip surgery then there’s a 50-60% chance that in 6 months you’ll have another hip surgery.”
Arjun Kanungo From Bedridden to Shredded
Disappointed, Arjun accepted it as his life when so I was like okay somebody recommended him to physiotherapist Tamar from 206 Optimum Fitness, who has a clinic in Mumbai’s Bandra. She assured him that she had seen cases like this before and can fix it without any kind of surgery but it was going to be painful. Arjun had fractured his hip on February 15, 2023 and reached out to Tamara in early March. By mid-April, he started walking normally again and by early May, he started feeling like himself again.
However, he did not realise at the time that being completely bedridden, being vegan, having no protein and doing no exercise was catching up to him but he could not take any pain medication due to his kidney injury. “It was just like a comedy of errors man. I couldn’t understand how this happened to me and basically I put on a ton of weight. I became massive,” Arjun added.
Turning “super heavy”, Arjun decided to get into a fitness routine and started working out a little bit in June 2023. He had put on close to about 27-30 kgs and looked three times his size while in August last year, he weighed 117 kgs.
He said, “I was about 31% body fat which is basically obese and I don’t know if it’s obese but it’s pretty pretty damn fat and I was not happy with my my body. I was not feeling comfortable with my body. I didn’t want to be in front of the camera. I didn’t want to do anything. I don’t want to make music. I had to release my album because I already promised so many of my partners. So, we released it. We didn’t do a tour. I know a lot of you guys were disappointed about not having a tour.”
Music vs muscles
Promising his fans to get into the best shape of his life, Arjun worked really hard between August 2023 and January 2024, lost about 10 kgs but decided to not stop unless he got abs by September 2024. He is still determined to quit music if he fails in his fitness challenge though he is almost there and has less than half a month more to go while weighing 90 kgs.
Revealing how he achieved it in such a short time, arjun said, “In June, I started kind of swimming, going to pool, walking in the pool, running in the pool and by August I was back at it. I was in the gym – running again, felt better, no pain in the hip thanks to Tamara, thanks to all my trainers.” In the last 30 days now Arjun admitted he hates his food as he has been eating salad and grilled chicken for the past 18 months straight despite wanting to have burgers, ice creams, French fries and “the fun stuff”.
Talking about going vegan, he said, “I was vegan for 6 months till my kidneys got better and it did make my kidneys better. Okay? So, I think there is a benefit I didn’t eat meat. I didn’t eat any dairy, nothing.”
He added, “I think that it solved my kidney issues, my creatin went back all my blood markers were great. They are still great though so, it’s been about a year since I’ve not been vegan and maybe there’s a case to be made for both sides.”
He advised, “If I can come back from this so can you. I think that it has been super educational for me. I lost 27 kgs in a matter of 18 months, lost 20% body fat. I was at 31%, I came down to about 10%.”
