4 weeks to fitness

Go from flab to fab in 28 days with expert advice on diet, exercise, and skin care. plus, how do the famous do it? Find out!

If, like most people, your New Year's resolution, involves losing weight, why not get a headstart on your lifestyle change programme? Chalk out the next four weeks of your life as per these custom-made fitness plans and get on the road to healthy living.



Week 1 Eat smart

Eat more of ufffd
>> Include proteins like skimmed milk powder, egg whites, lean meat, fish, cereal-pulse combinations in every meal. Proteins have calorie-burning effects. Do not cut out milk entirely.
>> Include whole fruits and fibrous vegetable (minimum 750 gm/day), sprouts, soaked methi seeds to increase satiety
>> Allowance of cooking oil + ghee entering your stomach irrespective of the venue < 450 gm for this entire month. The mantra is to bake, boil, roast, steam, micro-wave, saut ufffd using broad based/ non-stick pans

Eay less of...
>> Avoid fried items, sweets, bakery food items (trans fats), refined foods (maida, jams and jellies, doughnuts, pastries, cakes, brownies, etc.), salty/ preserved foods and outside food.
>> Avoid coconuts, groundnuts, cashewnuts and poppy seeds in gravies.
>> Avoid salty/ preserved food. Omit table salt.
>> Drink at least 10 to 12 glasses of water everyday.
>> Finish dinner by 7.30 pm.
All of week 1's changes should be carried out till the end of the 4 weeks

Week 2 Plan for

Each meal
Early morning: Green tea/ tea
Breakfast: 1 cup vegetables with poha/ upma/ daliya/ oats/ unsweetened corn flakes/ muesli/ steamed idlis/ moong dal dosa/ besan chilla
Mid-morning: 1 bowl sprouts/ 2 boiled egg whites or an omelette

Lunch:
Thoroughly washed raw vegetable salad or unstrained vegetable soup
2 small phulkas made of a combination of wheat, jowar, bajra and ragi flours (amount of each cereal in equal proportion)
1 medium cup unpolished rice/ brown rice/ vegetable khichdi
1 cup green vegetables
1 cup dal/ sprouts
1 to 2 pieces lean fish/ chicken
1 tall glass buttermilk

Evening: 100 gm of seasonal fruit/ plate of salad/ 5 almond/ 4 dates
Dinner: Same plan as lunch
Bedtime: Tall glass of skimmed milk

Week 3 Same as week two

What to order when eating outside:
>> Unstrained, unseasoned vegetable soups without corn flour or butter blobs
>> Steamed idlis/ sada dosas
>> Steamed Manchurians
>> Boiled/ Baked/ Roasted Fish curry in tomato-onion curry
>> Tandoori roti
>> Khada bhaji (no butter/ cheese) with dry roti
>> Steamed rice/ veg pulav/ soyabean pulav
>> Fresh Fruit salad without cream
>> Plain soda

Week 4

Feel lighter
Early morning: Green tea / tea
Breakfast: 1 tall glass milk, 3 egg whites
Mid-morning: 1 seasonal fruit
Lunch: 1 cup sprouts, 1 glass buttermilk,
Evening: 1 cup unstrained vegetable soup
Dinner: 8 pieces paneer / 1 bowl of curd / de-skinned chicken soup/ 3 boiled egg whites/ 1 piece lean chicken or fish
Bed-time: 1 tall glass of milk

Avoid while eating out
>> Soups with corn flour, butter, cream
>> Idli fry, Butter idlis, medhu vadaas, Appams/ butter dosas
>> Manchurian dishes
>> Fried fish/ fish in coconut based gravies
>> Butter naan, stuffed parathas, kulchas, missi rotis
>> Mashed bhaji, masala pav
>> Fried rice, Biryani, jeera rice, mutton pulav
>> Fruit juices, milkshakes, ice-cream, falooda
>> Cold/ hard drinks

Diet courtesy Bina Chheda, consulting nutritionist at
HN Hospital.u00a0

Exercise

Week 1
>> Do a 30-minute fitness regime, include some "fun" activities ufffd ones that you will enjoy and sustain. You can opt for swimming or playing a sport.
>> Do a 30-minute brisk walk after dinner
>> Get active in your daily life. Walking, carrying out 'active' chores at home, spring-cleaning your home, walking up stairs, walking your dog, carrying your weekly shopping home, dancing, are all forms of physical activity.

Week 2
Add a strength training routine for 30-minutes. Include push-ups, abdominal crunches, exercises for the hips and thighs.
Training tip: Do a variety of strength exercises for maximum benefit. For example, do crunches on a ball, use a core board. Remember, different gym accessories and activities condition different sets of muscles.

Week 3
Up the intensity of your workouts. Do some martial arts or kickboxing. Start brisk walking for 30 minutes instead of regular-paced walking. To maximise weight loss, increase the intensity or duration of your workouts.

Week 4
Add mind-body exercises to your routine. Yoga and pranayama are great ways to unwind and maintain mind-body balance.
Diet courtesy Namita Jain, clinical fitness specialist, Bombay Hospital.

Workout courtesy fitness expert Namita Jain.

How the famous do it: Tips from the stars
Breakfast like Bips ufffd
Bips allegedly has a mushroom omelette made of six egg whites and toast or porridge made with skimmed milk, with a serving of fruit.

John's diet tip
Snack on healthy foods every two hours. The Bollywood actor also works out six days a week from 30 minutes to two hours each day.

More protein and yoga for Jen
Jennifer Lopez adheres to a daily diet of 1,400 calories. She eats more protein early in the day. Portion control and a sensible approach to nutrition are how J-Lo keeps her million-dollar body in top form. Dancing is her favourite form of exercise and yoga helps her de-stress after a long day.

Daniel Craig's move the Clean and Jerk
Stand with your heels on the ground. Grab a barbell like you are going to deadlift it. Lift it to your mid thighs, flip to your chest, then press overhead. Craig combines this with traditional squats, bench presses, pull ups, chin ups, basic dips ad barbell cu

Skin care

4 weeks to go
One month gives you enough time to address skin issues including acne, pigmentation, unwanted hair, dry skin, oily skin or wrinkles. With the supervision of a dermatologist, depending on your skin condition, try chemical peels, skin polishing or laser treatments.

2 weeks to go
Start using the cleanser, moisturiser and toner suited to your skin type. Sunscreen must be used daily. In case you planning to wear an off-shoulder dress, it's time to plan a back polishing as well as underarm laser hair removal treatment.

7 days to go
Care for the neglected areas of your body like underarms, neck, groin, elbows, knees and the cracked heels. Do a good exfoliation and then top with a nice moisturiser. For exfoliation, use besan with lemon drops, or yoghurt with rice flour. Also, salt added to coconut oil is a good body scrub. If neck, elbows and knees are very dark, take a skin polishing treatment with your dermatologist.

6 days to go
Today is the hair-care day. Do deep conditioning for hair. Beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of honey and glycerine and then add 1 teaspoon of any conditioner to it. Make a hair mask.Apply on scalp for 20 minutes and wash off. Get a body massage done with baby or olive oil mixed with beer. This will give a very good shine and glow on skin. You could also get a whitening skin polishing.

5 days to go
Do a body bleach, manicure and a pedicure today. Use a face pack made of oats, cucumber, almonds and yoghurt for 20 minutes (for dry skin, replace yoghurt with cream (malai)). At night, use a rich night cream containing Vitamin C on full face and neck.

4 days to go
This is also the ideal time to take a facial/ clean-up depending on your skin. It is not advisable to do these treatments too close to the event. In case you have sensitive or an acne-prone skin, there might be slight redness or acne breakout post clean up which might take 1 to 2 days to settle. Apply calamine or aloe vera gel on the face at night prior to sleeping .Repeat the hair pack and the body massage today.

1 day to go
Just relax. Indulge in some nice nail art and if you are in a funky mood, get a small temporary tattoo done to match your dress. Remember to have two glasses of orange juice. No late night phone calls!
Skin and beauty by Dr Apratim Goel, Goel Cutis Skin Studio.