Slim & trim

Manpriya Singh

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Those who are thin are thin, those who are fat are fat, that’s the way it is and it’s as simple as that! Can’t lose weight and resigned to fate? “Thin people are thin because consciously or sub-consciously they have certain habits that keep them thin. The right choices are so deeply ingrained in their lifestyle that they are both fit and healthy,” Kavita Devgan, practicing nutritionist, weight management consultant, introduces her debut book Don’t Diet! 50 Habits Of Thin People (by Jaico publishers).

While the market is flooded with self-help books on weight management, this one, she likes to put it, “This book targets the basics, starts with lifestyle and helps you identify habits that will actually deliver lasting weight loss solutions.” She adds, while discounting all generic and non-specific diet plans, “All you need is a change at the basic level and changing the way you eat, so that you go through life, healthy, happy and fit.” And thin!

Analysed & simplified

For convenience of the readers and several other reasons, the book has been segmented into three parts comprising mind, food and lifestyle. Let’s start with mind. “Thin people have food only for nourishment, never for comfort. A lot many over-weight people consider food as a means of recreation or comfort.”

It is time to find pleasure in activities other than food - sports, movie; anything. “Food itself is a major factor. Find a way out to adopt the foods you don’t like. Don’t like mushrooms? May be you will in the form of a soup, if not vegetable.” Have the foods you are supposed to but in an interesting way, leaving little scope for unnecessary food groups.

Enough can be said on lifestyle, “If you don’t like yoga, may be you like zumba. Find an activity, stick to it.”

Blame it on you

Any session on weight loss too begins pretty much the same way. “During my first session with clients too, I ask them about their lifestyle, habits and other things. Targeting these will ensure long-lasting effects.” The book comes with a three-month health calendar, tools to help a person lose weight and a three-month diary in the end, where a person is supposed to write.

Words of wisdom

• Weird as it may sound coming from a weight management consultant, but weight is not everything. One should have a ‘happy healthy weight’ as per the body and not a certain number like 50 kgs.
• Don’t try to give up certain kinds of food completely. You can’t say, ‘I’ll not have cake for a year!’Completely eliminating certain foods is one of the biggest mistakes people make.
• Don’t cut off carbohydrates completely. You just can’t do that.
• And please, don’t step on the weighing scale, all too often. People check their weight too often, which can be de-motivating.

(The book is available online at amazon and will hit the stores by March)

manpriya@tribunemail.com