Maya, 42 · Schoolteacher · Tinkune
18 weeks: 89 kg to 80.7 kg, three mornings a week before school
Maya had never set foot in a gym. In 18 weeks of the ladies-only hour, three mornings a week before school, she lost 8.3 kg and 9 cm from her waist, and went from 4 minutes on the stair climber to 20.
- Trainer: Pema Sherpa
- Gym + classes plan
- 18 weeks
BeforeWeek 1AfterWeek 18Before and after
Lost 8.3 kg in the ladies-only hour
Avoided gyms for years because of the men on the floor. The 6 AM ladies-only hour changed that.
- Started
- 15 March 2026
- Length
- 18 weeks
- Trainer
- Pema Sherpa
- Plan
- Gym + classes
Measured from March 2026 to July 2026, 18 weeks
- Body weight
- 89 kg80.7 kg
- Gym scale, every 4 weeks
- Waist
- 104 cm95 cm
- Tape at the navel, same trainer
- Stair climber
- 4 min20 min
- Level 4, without stopping
- Sessions
- 051 of 54
- Ladies-only hour
Before
Where Maya started
Maya teaches science at a school in Tinkune. She had wanted to start for years, but every gym she walked past had a floor full of men, and she didn’t want to be watched while she learned.
Her sister found the ladies-only hour and booked them both a free session.
The turning point
The free session
They came at 6 AM on a Sunday. Pema measured her weight and waist in the changing room, not on the floor, and asked what she wanted.
Maya said she wanted to walk up to the school’s top-floor lab without stopping on the landing. Pema started her on machines, which felt safe, and on the stair climber for four minutes. She joined on the Gym + classes plan.
The plan
The plan Pema wrote
Machines first because they felt safe, then free weights once she asked for them.
- Three mornings a week in the ladies-only hour, 6:00–7:00 AM, Sunday to Friday, before school.
- Weeks 1 to 6: chest press, leg press, rows and the stair climber.
- From week 7: dumbbells, goblet squats and step-ups, which she asked for.
- Zumba on Thursday evenings with her sister.
- A second helping of tarkari instead of a second helping of rice.
- Weight and waist every 4 weeks, included in the Gym + classes plan.
How it went
Week by week
Week 2
Four minutes on the stair climber
She stopped at four minutes, then five. Pema told her to stop when she couldn’t talk, not when she was tired.
Week 8
Down 3.9 kg
Core work on the bench and her first dumbbells. Her sister had stopped coming; Maya hadn’t.
Week 18
Twenty minutes
80.7 kg, a 95 cm waist, and 20 minutes on the stair climber. She now walks up to the lab without stopping.
The result
What changed in 18 weeks
Maya lost 8.3 kg in 18 weeks, about 0.46 kg a week, and 9 cm from her waist. She came to 51 of 54 sessions.
She trains on the main floor in the afternoon twice a month now, in school holidays. She says she doesn’t notice who else is there.
“I needed one hour where nobody was watching me learn. After that I didn’t care.”
A lot of women never start because of the first five minutes on a busy floor. The ladies-only hour is for those five minutes. Most of them outgrow it.
Pema Sherpa, women’s training lead
What it cost
NPR 6,000 a month, on the Gym + classes plan
Today’s price, as of 28 October 2026. Everything in Gym, plus boxing, Zumba and HIIT classes.
Who a plan like this suits
A good fit if
- You have avoided gyms because of who is on the floor.
- You can train before work, from 6 AM.
- You want to start on machines and move on when you are ready.
Not a fit if
- You can’t come in the mornings. The ladies-only hour is 6:00–7:00 AM, Sunday to Friday only.
- You want one-to-one sessions. That is the Personal training plan.
