Do not try this at home

Aamir Khan is no stranger to extreme body makeovers. The actor has made it to newspaper headlines multiple times for his ‘now fit, now fat’ transitions. Earlier this week, his makeover video went viral, giving audiences a glimpse of his dedicated, yet obnoxious efforts to fit into the mould of his Dangal character. While Aamir manages to create a buzz around him, there are others outside Bollywood who put themselves through as much of a drill — Priya Bapat for instance. The actress was seen in Marathi comedy drama Vazandar last month, a tale of two chubby girls and their battle to get to size zero. In the past, actor Atul Kulkarni lost oodles of weight and gained it back for the much acclaimed Marathi film Natarang. If there’s one takeaway that they have from the experience, it’s this — do not try this at home.

Celebrity fitness trainer Deanne Pandey concurs, “Stars adapt a scientific method; their food portions are controlled and they do it under expert supervision. One should never do it on their own,” she says adding, “It’s okay to rapidly lose and gain weight once in a while, but if you constantly keep yo-yoing then it can get dangerous.”

Atul Kulkarni
My weight gain and loss was a two-part process. In the first half of Natrang, I played the role of a well-built labourer and in the second, I played a skinny tamasha actor. I first started with gaining weight — it took me about three and a half months to gain 15 to 16 kg. After that, for the second part, I lost 17 kg in just 42 days. The process definitely takes a toll on you. When I saw Aamir’s workout video for Dangal, I could actually feel the pain that he must have gone through. I was lucky to have a trainer like Sailesh Parulekar. I think the most important factor is the trainer. In my case, I had the best. In the 7-8 months of training that I went through, I didn't have a single injury and I did not take any supplement. I had a very healthy protein diet. These days, people give a lot of wrong advice and I hope that people don’t fall prey to it. It is easy to want feel tempted to ape a celeb’s physique, but must understand that as actors, it’s part of our job to look like the characters. For those whose bread and butter doesn't depend on it, I’d say just focus on general fitness. This trend of six-pack, for instance, is very unhealthy, since it reduces water and makes a lot of dietary compromises. Instead, one should focus on what is often called 'functional fitness’. If someone is living on the fifth floor, he or she should be able to climb the flights of stairs, instead of taking the elevator. If one lives on the fifteenth floor, one should climb the first five storeys at least.

I would not recommend anyone to get inspired from the actors because these are special cosmetic decisions that our profession demands us to take. Also we do it under professional guidance. When I did Natrang, I was 42-43, today, I am 51, but if need be, I don't see why I won't do it again. Only the script and the character have to be the driving factor.
—As told to Somudra Banerjee

Priya Bapat
I used to be 51.5 kg and I put on 16 kgs to play my part in Vazandar. Having a crazy sweet tooth, this was like Christmas to me. I ate lots and lots of sweets and milk-made foods. I strictly stayed away from junk foods (pizzas, burgers etc) since my character needed to have a glow on her face, and junk food wouldn’t help with. I used to drink one litre of buffalo milk — this was apart from the three big glasses of milkshake I was already prescribed. But the novelty wore off. I had to finish 1 kg of lauki ka halwa in two days!

I didn’t quit working out even when I was gaining weight though. My routine when putting on weight was: heavy weights with less repetition. In order to eat so much, I had to increase my appetite and even gain the capacity and be able to digest so much food.

It took me a good 7-8 months to lose all that weight and come back to my old shape. I worked out for two months every day on an empty stomach and just black coffee. Then after the workout, I’d have an apple. One golden rule I followed is, don’t eat after 7 pm.  I would absolutely not recommend this to anyone. If someone is looking to go through such a drastic change, I’d want to ask them one question: are you doing this for yourself or for your boyfriend/husband/wife/dad? It is important to put yourself first. Don’t do this in order to look like someone, do this because you want to get healthier for yourself. And when you do that, be sure to give yourself and your body time to cope up. Go slow.
    —As told to Pooja Salvi