The Brunette Diaries

A lean figure is something we all desire, and when we look at some Bollywood celebs, we tend to think they had it easy. Well, not always. Some stars had to work their asses off to tone down to look fab. Let us look at a few.

Alia Bhatt

This sexy chic was not always slender like in the movie ‘Student Of The Year’. She had to go on a weight loss spree to get rid of the excess weight. She lost an enormous 16 kilos before facing cameras for the movie! Quite an inspiration!

Sonam Kapoor

Even Anil Kapoor’s daughter did not get everything on a platter. She had to work out a lot to get the slim figure she enjoys today. She had to lose 30 kilos to slim down from her initial weight of whopping 90 kilos!

Adnan Sami

Singer Adnan Sami once needed a wheelchair to move around because his weight, at an unbelievable 230 kilos, was too much. That very man burned around 150 kilos to look fit and fab!

Parineeti Chopra

Having a cousin like Priyanka Chopra in the industry was motivation enough for Parineeti to try. However, she had to lose considerable amount of weight to get into the industry. Parineeti went from chubby to chic in about ten months of a strict diet, yet she was criticised for being shapeless. For months she was adamant that wouldn’t want to lose any more weight, but after constant criticism she finally gave in and restarted her weight loss regime.

Arjun Kapoor

Arjun initially looked nothing like the star he is today and his weight loss story was indeed a life transformation. He is now rated as one of the hottest Bollywood actors in the industry!

Kareena Kapoor

The actress who made size zero a trend in India wasn’t always slim! In fact, for her item number in ‘Don’ (2006), she was criticised for her inability to maintain her figure following which she took up the challenge and transformed!

Zarine Khan

This chubby actress lost weight before entering into the Bollywood circuit. She lost so much weight that Salman Khan even asked her to put on some weight for one of her movies!

Sonakshi Sinha:

Our very own Rajjo, Sonakshi Sinha never thought she can be an actress. She was quite on a heavier side and was planning to pursue her career in Fashion Designing. However, Salman Khan told the 90kgs Sonakshi to lose weight and enter Bollywood. She lost around 30 kilos in 2 years and became a perfect heroine to star opposite Salman in the film ‘Dabangg’.

Jackky Bhagnani:

Well, his six-pack-abs were the talk of the town when he made his debut in the film ‘Kal Kissne Dekha’. But, not many know that it took 2 years for Jackky to get that body. The actor was around 130kgs before he thought of making his acting debut.

Karan Johar:

Karan Johar is surely a great filmmaker, but if you would have seen him few years ago, you wouldn’t have recognized him. He was fat and weighed 120kgs. However, he decided to lose weight and you can see what he is right now.

You have read countless articles on what to eat and what not to eat and you pride yourself in being someone who takes good care of yourself. You have the strict resolve to eat healthy food and rarely ever slip off the health plateau. Raw fruits, Boiled veggies and Salads are your best friends. But did you know that your extreme awareness (read obsession) about eating healthy can lead to an eating disorder?

Orthorexia (used as a parallel with other eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa) is a fixation on eating only healthy or pure foods, or what an individual perceives as healthy or pure. Nutritionists and doctors have seen an increase in number of people who seem to have an obsession about eating only those food items which they feel are healthy for them.

Aarti Shah, a 26 year old is one such person. Being health conscious, Aarti decided to restrict the intake of salt and sugar in her diet. “My mom’s got diabetes and my dad suffers from high blood pressure. Over time as I read up and realised that I could too suffer from the same ailments. Hence, I decided to restrict my diet of sugar and salt. It wasn’t even difficult as my parents followed the same routine. In spite of optimizing my diet, I fell seriously ill last year. I used to feel exhausted and drained all the time even though I wasn’t doing anything strenuous. Through body check up I was surprised to learn that told I had some imbalance of sodium and potassium in my body. Basically the lack of essential minerals like sodium and glucose made me feel lethargic. It was then that I realised that one needs to have things in moderation and not completely cut out things from your diet without proper consultation from a doctor.”

Practising gynaecologist, Dr. Darshna Thakker, has often come across people who are obsessed on eating right and in turn end up harming themselves. “The problem is with so much awareness, there are number of people who get too obsessed on what they are eating but then in their effort to eat healthy and pure food they tend to miss out on a balanced diet. Also each body’s requirements are different at different age groups. Everything needs to be done in a balance.”

Even though Orthorexia is not yet an officially recognised eating disorder, there are signs that one can note of suffering from it.
– Being overly concerned with your eating habits.
– Feeling the guilt of deviating from strict diet guidelines.
– Having critical thoughts about others who do not adhere to rigorous diets.
– Distancing from friends or family members who do not share similar views about food.
– Avoiding eating food bought or prepared by others.
– Worsening depression, mood swings or anxiety regarding food matters and habits.

“Eating healthy is always a good choice, but not at the cost of health and that includes psychological health. Nutritional deficiency can make one irritable and depressed. So make sure you choose right and be wise,” adds Dr. Darshna.

Tag: slim

Bollywood celebs who went from flab to fab