Stay In Shape, Lifestyle - Health - Kolkata Mirror,Kolkata Mirror

By Suruchi Gupta

Posted On Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 06:01:43 PM

Divide your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters (kg/m square). The resultant value, called Body Mass Index, if above 24.9 shows you are overweight, and either obese, or almost so. Take your first step to beat that fat out, not in pain, but with pleasure… why? Because that smile matters!

The doctors with the guests at VLCC

Dr Gauri Kumra, educationist and gynaecologist and VLCC health expert, shared this fitness mantra on November 26, Anti-Obesity Day, at the Theatre Road VLCC centre.

“Have an internal spark (read: enthusiasm, high spiritedness), a fire inside you, to reduce weight. Exercise should be done not to reduce weight, but to feel good! You can enrol yourself in a gym and work on the treadmill. But it will help when you want it to,” said Kumra.

Kumra was present to shed light on the link between obesity and Polycystic Ovarian Disease among women. PCOD and obesity can both be the cause and effect of each other, she said.

“Heredity, lifestyle management and diet are the primary reasons for this disease. The last two need to change. First and foremost, love yourself and do not let frustration affect your diet. The vengeance has to go,” said Kumra.

Walking is a good way of losing weight

Fight Obesity- Guide To Wellness was launched on the occasion by Bickram and Jaya Seal Ghosh. The book tells you how to prevent and fight obesity.

“I believe everyone puts on weight sometime or the other. It’s both because of lifestyle issues and mind ones. The way to lose is to lose both emotional and physical baggage,” said Bickram.

VLCC has also come up with a user-friendly website for the anti-obesity campaign. The site www.anitobesitydrive.com calculates BMI and allows visitors to share their stories with others too.

There exists some ignorance in respect to how much one should exercise too. “To lose fat by walking or exercising one needs to reach the fat reduction zone, which one reaches after about 15 minutes of warm-up walk/exercise. Obese people tend to get tired fast, making them stop just about when they reach that zone. That is why they need the help of trainers, at least in the initial stage, to lose weight and get flexibility in their muscles. After this initial help, they can try to take it forward themselves,” informed Dr Srikanta Das, VP, VLCC Health Care.

Losing weight requires a gradual lifestyle change

Ideally, a brisk walk for one hour, of which the first 15 minutes is warm-up, makes a person lose 180 calories. But the drive to lose fat should be taken up scientifically after taking in consideration the unique health factors, dietary habits, physical condition, etc of the person particular. It is a gradual lifestyle change, not crash or whimsically determined, said the nutritionist at VLCC.

Obesity is on the rise in Kolkata, especially among school kids, housewives and IT professionals.

For an obese or overweight individual, getting positive motivation to lose the weight, from their surrounding is very important. VLCC rewarded some of its clients who have recently lost weight with a token award.

The feeling of happiness was writ across the face of these awarded losers! “I feel very happy now and am highly relieved from my lower back pain after losing 23 kg of extra fat from my body. I love the compliments I get from everybody now!” said 32-year-old Ruchira Dey.

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