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LifestyleHealth & Wellness
How this Indian influencer couple got fit after 50 to beat back pain and knee pain
Tara and Sushila Thapa overcame chronic pain by getting fit in midlife. Now their Instagram page and running group encourage others
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Bhakti Mathur
Published: 7:15am, 25 Jul 2026
Updated: 7:55am, 25 Jul 2026
Tara and Sushila Thapa, from Dehradun, an Indian city nestled in the Himalayan foothills, are rewriting the script on what fitness can look like in our fifties. Their journey is proof that health and wellness are not shaped by age as much as by the moment we choose to begin
For them, that moment arrived in midlife. Tara, 59, runs a shop repairing televisions and electronic items; Sushila, 56, works as an insurance agent.
For decades, their lives had revolved around working long hours, raising two sons and keeping the household afloat. <a href="https://healthylife7.com/u-s-partner-nations-conduct-full-mission-profile-exercise-during-rimpac/” title=”U.S., partner nations conduct full mission profile exercise during RIMPAC”>Exercise had no place in their routine. Tara struggled with chronic back pain; Sushila endured persistent knee pain.
Tara, who was a non-smoker and didn’t drink, felt old and fatigued all the same. He decided to change his life after a dinner party in 2015, when his friends teased him for abstaining from alcohol, joking that he did not know how to enjoy life.
“That remark stung, because life did feel joyless,” he says. “I was overweight, worked long hours, and lived with constant back pain.”
I decided I would get into the best shape of my life
A friend asked: “What is your passion? What are your goals?” Tara had no answer
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