Keeping a tab on the flab

Meenakshi started her weight-loss regime in April last year with Dr Ishi Khosla, a nutrition expert.

She lost 13kg in 3 and a half months, bringing down the scales to 65kg from 78kg, and since then she has maintained a stable weight. Now, she hopes to lose another 10kg to achieve perfect height-weight ratio, by following the same plan.

Meenakshi had regulated her diet and scheduled all her meals without cutting out tasty, sinful treats. She says, diet is not practical to completely avoid certain high-calorie foods. So, Ishi charted a diet plan for me which included regulated intakes of both healthy and high-calorie foods. Instead of asking me to plainly avoid ghee, she told me to reduce the daily intake. I love mangoes . she allowed me to eat them but told me to eat the medium sized ones. Then she recommended that I control the meal following it. For instance, I was not allowed to follow mango with rice or roti. She also altered my way of diet, mango had to be taken with milk, to reap better benefits. Thus Meenakshi was put on a diet that never kept her off food or left her feeling hungry. The plan allowed her to munch on light in-between meals. As a result, she was able to not only lose that extra weight, but keep it off for more than four months. One tends to plummet into their previous eating habits after the supervision is over. But I managed to keep losing weight nonetheless, as the diet plan makes room for tasty indulgences as well. For instance, after two rotis, I was allowed to eat a pizza slice. As a result of this congenial dieting, I didn't miss out on my favourite Chinese or Italian delicacies, and yet continued to lose weight. During the festive season, my weight increased by only 1kg and remained stable at 66kg.'

She admits that she eats a bit more than usual since she's been off supervision, but her daily walk for an hour compensates for it.'Sometimes early morning walks seem easier said than done. I walk during any time of the day - be it in a park or a mall - and break it out into 20-minute spells, to complete an hour by the end of the day.' Losing weight is as much about health as it's about appearance. Thanks to the diet and exercise schedule, Meenakshi has moved off the medicines that she had been prescribed for high blood pressure. She's managed to control her blood sugar as well. And she has sized down from XXL to medium. Meenakshi says, 'I will credit professional assistance for this. Changing one's lifestyle and eating habits helps in losing weight naturally. It's economical and feasible to follow on a regular basis than shedding weight by using external devices. One shouldn't be scared to lose weight - it's easy if done the right way.'