Manisha Koirala on fitness struggles: 'I remember crying out of sheer frustration'
Synopsis
Manisha Koirala didn't just post a gym selfie — she laid bare the emotional cost of a fitness plateau. After months of strict dieting and training with zero scale movement, she broke down in tears, bought a second weighing scale hoping the first was wrong, and eventually found her answer not in harder workouts but in understanding how her body had changed with age.
Key Takeaways
Manisha Koirala shared her fitness struggles in a candid Instagram post on 29 July .
Despite consistent training — including lat pull-downs, triceps extensions, and yoga — and strict calorie and protein tracking, her body plateaued for an extended period.
She recalled crying out of frustration and even purchasing a second weighing scale, convinced the first was inaccurate.
A team of doctors and fitness experts helped her understand that the body changes with age and requires a different approach, not just more effort.
Four months into her revised routine, she reports feeling stronger and healthier, though she acknowledges she still has progress to make.
She described the journey as 'healing, not vanity' and urged others facing similar plateaus to choose patience over perfection.
Acclaimed actress Manisha Koirala has opened up about a deeply personal chapter in her ongoing fitness journey, revealing that despite months of disciplined dieting and consistent training, her body refused to show results — leaving her in tears and questioning everything she was doing.
The Instagram Post That Started the Conversation
Manisha shared a detailed video on Instagram documenting her workouts, which included lat pull-downs, triceps overhead extensions, lower back extensions, and yoga. Alongside the workout footage, she posted pictures of the meals she consumed throughout her fitness journey — a candid look at the discipline she had committed to.
In her own words, she clarified that the posts were never really about the gym. 'These posts aren't really about the gym. They're about getting my life back,' she wrote, adding that somewhere along the way, while dealing with life's surprises, she had quietly stopped prioritising her own health.
When the Scale Refused to Move
Manisha described a particularly gruelling phase where she ate well, trained consistently, counted calories, and tracked protein intake — yet the weighing scale showed no change. 'Then I'd step on the weighing scale… Nothing. Every. Single. Day,' she wrote.
The frustration reached a tipping point. 'One day I was so convinced the scale was lying that I actually bought another one. It betrayed me too. Funny now. Not funny then. I remember crying out of sheer frustration, wondering why my body wasn't responding,' she shared.
The Turning Point: Understanding Her Body
The breakthrough came not from pushing harder, but from shifting her perspective. Manisha credited a team of doctors and fitness experts who helped her understand that the body changes with age and requires understanding rather than punishment.
'Our bodies change with age. The body I had years ago isn't the body I have today. It doesn't need punishment — it needs understanding. I had to change my approach, not just work harder. That changed everything,' she wrote.
Four Months On: Progress and Hope
Now, four months into her revised approach, Manisha says she is finally seeing results — though she acknowledges she still has ground to cover. 'I'm still some distance from where I want to be, but I feel stronger, healthier and, most importantly, hopeful,' she said.
She framed the entire journey not as a vanity project but as an act of healing, and signed off with an encouraging note for others in a similar place: 'If you're working hard and not seeing results yet, please don't lose heart. Sometimes your body is asking for patience, not perfection. One day at a time.'
Manisha has previously spoken about her health battles, including her well-documented recovery from ovarian cancer in 2012. Her current fitness push, she noted, is also linked to a personal promise she made to herself — to prioritise her health before her next film.
Point of View
Counting every gram of protein, and still getting nothing — because that is the lived experience of millions of women navigating fitness after 40. The broader point her doctors made, that the body requires a fundamentally different approach with age rather than simply more punishment, is medically well-supported but rarely communicated this plainly by a public figure. In a media environment that routinely sells transformation stories without the messy middle, this kind of candour carries genuine public health value.
NationPress
29 Jul 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Manisha Koirala reveal about her fitness journey?
Manisha Koirala revealed that despite months of disciplined dieting, calorie counting, and consistent workouts, her body showed no visible results, leading her to cry out of frustration. She eventually changed her approach on the advice of doctors and is now seeing progress after four months.
What workouts is Manisha Koirala doing?
Her routine includes weighted exercises such as lat pull-downs, triceps overhead extensions, and lower back extensions, along with yoga. She documented these in a video shared on Instagram alongside pictures of her meals.
Why did Manisha Koirala's fitness routine stop showing results?
Doctors and fitness experts she consulted explained that the body changes with age and cannot be treated the same way as it was in earlier years. Rather than working harder, she needed to change her overall approach — a shift she says made all the difference.
How long has Manisha Koirala been on this fitness journey?
Manisha stated that she is now four months into her revised fitness approach and is finally beginning to see results, though she acknowledges she still has some distance to go before reaching her goal.
Why did Manisha Koirala decide to prioritise her fitness now?
She made a personal promise to herself to make her health her 'biggest project' before her next film, after realising that the accumulated stress, lack of sleep, and slipping routines over time had taken a toll on her body.
