8 Home Remedies to Reduce Belly Fat

Top 8 home remedies to reduce belly fat

Belly fat is a return gift that our haphazard lifestyle and wrong eating habits give us. Belly fat has always been a major concern area.

It not only destroys your image but also increases your risk to many health ailments. Try these Ayurveda tips to lose the fat deposits around your belly.

Start your day with lemon juice This is one of the best therapies to eliminate belly fat. Pinch some yellow juice into a glass of warm water and add some salt to it. Continue drinking this every morning to boost your metabolism and to get rid of that paunch.

Stay off from white rice Replace white rice with various wheat products. Include brown rice, brown bread, wholegrains, oats and quinoa in your diet.

Avoid sugary substances Stay away from sweets, sweetened drinks and foods rich in oil. Consuming these foods can increase body fat around various areas of your body like abdomen and thighs.

Drink plenty of water If you want to get rid of your belly, then drink sufficient amount of water every day. Drinking water, after regular intervals will help to boost your metabolism and remove toxins from your body.

Eat raw garlic Chew two to three cloves of garlic every morning, and drink a glass of lemon water after that. This treatment will double up your weight loss process and make your blood circulation smooth in your body.

Avoid non-veg food To eliminate belly fat, it is recommended that one should avoid non-vegetarian food as far as possible.

Load up on fruits and vegetables Eat a bowl of fruits daily in the morning and evening. This will fill you up with many antioxidants, minerals and vitamins.

Spice up your cooking Use spices like cinnamon, ginger and black pepper in your cooking. These spices are loaded with health benefits. They help to improve your insulin resistance and reduce levels of sugar in your blood.
source:toi

How to Get a Flat Stomach with Simple Easy Yoga

Yoga can help you get a flat stomach and be a great ab workout. In this yoga video teaches us simple and effective yoga positions to lose weight, get fit, and get rid of the belly fat.

Simple Walking Exercise Could Rid You Of Back Pain

A simple aerobic walking program is as effective as clinical therapy in treating lower back pain, a new study suggests.

Dr. Michal Katz-Leurer of Tel Aviv University's Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and her colleague Ilana Shnayderman, a graduate student at the Department of Physical Therapy and a practicing physiotherapist at Maccabi Health Care, say that their treatment option - that includes walking two to three times a week for a period of 20 to 40 minutes - fits easily into a daily routine and allows those with back pain to be more responsible for their own health. According to Dr. Katz-Leurer, research has shown that when people walk actively, abdominal and back muscles work in much the same way as when they complete exercises that target these areas.

And unlike muscle strengthening programs, which often call for specific equipment and can involve exercises that require expert supervision, walking is a simple activity that can be done alone. For the study, the researchers recruited 52 patients with lower back pain to participate in a randomized control trial. Through questionnaires, they were initially assessed for pain levels, feelings of disability, and avoidance of daily activities, as well as muscle and walking endurance. Then, half of the participants completed a typical clinic-based muscle strengthening program, with two to three exercise sessions a week for six weeks. The other half completed a six-week aerobic walking program, walking two to three times weekly. Participants started with 20 minutes of walking, then progressed to 40 minutes as their endurance improved.

Results showed that both groups improved significantly in all areas of assessment, demonstrating that the walking program was "as effective as treatment that could have been received in the clinic," says Dr. Katz-Leurer. Dr. Katz-Leurer says that the walking program has the additional advantage of encouraging patients to follow a healthier lifestyle overall. In terms of physical fitness, those in the walking group were able to walk an average of 0.05 miles farther during a six-minute walking test at the end of the program compared to the pre-program assessments. She also notes that that regularly active people are less likely to suffer typical aches and pains over their lifetime. Walking, a low-impact activity, also lowers blood pressure, boosts brain and immune system functioning, and reduces stress, she says.

The study has been published in the journal Clinical Rehabilitation.

Having Sex Just As Effective As Gyming

It's official! Having Sex Just As Effective As Gyming

A new study has found that having sex is similar to exercising, as it burns an average of 4.2 calories a minute in men and 3.1 calories a minute in women. For the study, sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson observed 21 young heterosexual couples having sex and discovered that heart rates reached as high as 180 beats per minute, Live Science reported. Participants in the study were asked to don an armband, called SenseWear, that would help researchers keep an eye on their energy expenditures while they had sex.

Before being sent home to have sex at least four times in a month, each person was required to do a 30-minute moderate-intensity workout on the treadmill to provide a baseline measure of their calorie expenditure during exertion. The findings showed that men, on average, spent 101 calories while having sex, as compared to 276 calories on the treadmill. Also, women spent an average of 69 calories during a sex session, compared to an average of 213 calories on the treadmill.

According to researchers, the results of the study suggest that sexual activity may potentially be considered, at times, as a significant exercise.

Sexism is endemic in cycling. Keep calm ladies and ride on

Female cyclists at a Cycletta event with Victoria Pendleton

This Sunday, hundreds of women will descend upon picturesque Cheshire for Cycletta, a series of women-only mass participation cycling events fronted by Olympian Victoria Pendleton. Cathy Bussey, a keen cyclist, shares some of women's worst tales from the saddle.

Cycling is by far the most energetic activity you can undertake. Other activities may produce more force, as does weight lifting, or more muscle power over a short period, as does track sprinting or most swimming events, but there is nothing that approaches the long-term, high-power demands of cycling. In these events, the cyclist is working as hard as possible in the most efficient way for many hours at a stretch --

Of all the sports and activities out there, cycling is a great way to get active again, whether you are overweight or not. It is low impact, you can start small and you can get exercise while just going places. Gagnon’s first ride was only 1 mile. Now he rides five to six times a week, for much longer distances and is training for cyclocross races.

Mindful eating contribute to weight loss

 Mindful eating is not a diet, or about giving up anything at all. It’s about experiencing food more intensely — especially the pleasure of it. You can eat a cheeseburger mindfully, if you wish. You might enjoy it a lot more. Or you might decide, halfway through, that your body has had enough. Or that it really needs some salad.

Two things that contribute to weight loss and maintanence-mindfull eating and regular physical activity. You are a vegetarian, also please monitor your energy levels by keeping an eye on how you feel throughout the day, loss of energy could mean a calorie and nutrient deficit.
If possible do get a body composition analysis done, to find your fat percentage, that way we know you are losing fat, and not muscle. Since you are doing a lot of cardio- tennis, walk , swim, please have a small snack eg, small apple, few dates or raisins, half an hour before your work out. Swimming is a type of weight training, or resistance training, but you might want to add some weight training under expert guidance to your exercise plan.  Today’s experiment in eating, however, involves becoming aware of that reflexive urge to plow through your meal like Cookie Monster on a shortbread bender. Resist it.

Exercise Improves Our Health

Benefits of exercise

Exercise for Weight Loss and Maintenance
1. Exercise helps you to live longer by significantly reducing your risk of dying a premature death.

2. Exercise helps in controlling weight by reducing body fat and maintaining healthy body weight. According to a research in the UK, each year 9,000 people die prematurely due to obesity. Obesity considerably reduces the life of a person.

3. Exercise helps in combating diseases and health conditions. People who are physically active have a much lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, breast cancer and heart disease.

4. Exercise helps reducing heart disease and cardiovascular problems. Regular exercising strengthens the heart muscle which improves blood pumping and heart rate.

5. Exercise reduces the risk of high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

6. Exercise helps in building and maintaining healthy bones, muscles and joints. It also tones your muscles. Regular exercising stimulates bone growth and reduces risk of developing osteoporosis.

7. Exercise improves your mood and reduces anxiety and depression.

8. Exercise enhances your energy levels.

9. Exercise encourages better sleep pattern. It also improves sleep quality of patients suffering from insomnia.

10. Exercise helps elderly people become stronger and help in avoiding disability.

11.  Exercise also promotes your psychological well-being and improves mental health.

12. Exercise enhances work, regeneration and sports performance by increasing stamina or endurance.

13. Exercise strengthens muscles involved in respiration.

14. Exercise improves circulation by increasing blood flow in muscles.

15. Exercise increases the red blood cells that consecutively facilitate transportation of Oxygen and nutrients.

16. Exercise reduces suffering from migraines.

17. Women who don’t exercise regularly tend to have more problems and complications during and/or after pregnancy. Exercising regularly after menopause can decrease the risk of breast cancer.

18. Exercise improves sex life.

19. Exercise suppresses appetite hormones, making you eat less.

20. Exercise reduces the acuteness of asthma.

"If exercise were a pill, it would be one of the most cost-effective drugs ever invented"

Obesity in India

This is a list of the states of India ranked in order of percentage of people who are overweight or obese, based on data from the 2007 National Family Health Survey.

States	Males (%)	Males rank	Females (%)	Females rank
India	12.1	14	16	15
Punjab	30.3	1	37.5	1
Kerala	24.3	2	34	2
Goa	20.8	3	27	3
Tamil Nadu	19.8	4	24.4	4
Andhra Pradesh	17.6	5	22.7	10
Sikkim	17.3	6	21	8
Mizoram	16.9	7	20.3	17
Himachal Pradesh	16	8	19.5	12
Maharashtra	15.9	9	18.1	13
Gujarat	15.4	10	17.7	7
Haryana	14.4	11	17.6	6
Karnataka	14	12	17.3	9
Manipur	13.4	13	17.1	11
Uttarakhand	11.4	15	14.8	14
Arunachal Pradesh	10.6	16	12.5	19
Uttar Pradesh	9.9	17	12	18
Jammu and Kashmir	8.7	18	11.1	5
Bihar	8.5	19	10.5	29
Nagaland	8.4	20	10.2	22
Rajasthan	8.4	20	9	20
Meghalaya	8.2	22	8.9	26
Orissa	6.9	23	8.6	25
Assam	6.7	24	7.8	21
Chattisgarh	6.5	25	7.6	27
West Bengal	6.1	26	7.1	16
Madhya Pradesh	5.4	27	6.7	23
Jharkhand	5.3	28	5.9	28
Tripura	5.2	29	5.3	24

Signs of Obesity
Aching in the back and knees
 Depression or other emotional problems
 Difficulty walking or moving around
 Heartburn Rashes in the folds of the skin
 Shortness of breath with exertion

Chocolates can help keep you slim

Chocolate lovers no longer have to fear the flab as eating more can help you keep slim, new research claims.

A study has found that despite boosting calorie intake, regular chocolate consumption is related to lower body mass index (BMI).

The effect is modest but greater than can be explained by chance, say the US researchers who took account of influencing factors such as overall fat consumption and exercise.

BMI relates height and weight and is the standard measurement used to assess levels of obesity.

The good news about chocolate emerged after scientists screened a group of 972 men and women with an average age of 57 for a study of statins - cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Among other diet and lifestyle questions, participants were asked: "How many times a week do you consume chocolate?"

Chocolate is known to contain plant chemicals called polyphenols that combat heart disease and may influence metabolism.

The researchers suspected they might, to some extent at least, off-set the unwelcome effects of high saturated fat levels in chocolate bars and sweets.

No account was taken of different types of chocolate, some of which contain more healthy elements than others.

The results showed that chocolate was not only "calorie neutral" but actually appeared to make people slimmer.

Participants who ate chocolate on more days of the week than average were statistically likely to have a lower BMI than those who did not.

This was despite the fact that people who ate more chocolate did not consume fewer calories overall, or take more exercise.

Study leader Dr Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California at San Diego, said: "Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight.

"In the case of chocolate, this is good news - both for those who have a regular chocolate habit, and those who may wish to start one."

Eat slowly, lose weight

Researchers at the University of Rhode Island have found that eating faster increases the amount of food consumption.

Results of their two new studies revealed that men eat significantly faster than women, heavier people eat faster than slimmer people, and refined grains are consumed faster than whole grains, among other findings.

In one laboratory study, Kathleen Melanson, URI associate professor of nutrition, and her lab team found that fast eaters consumed about 3.1 ounces of food per minute, medium-speed eaters consumed 2.5 ounces per minute, and slow eaters consumed 2 ounces per minute.

The researchers also found what Melanson described as 'very strong gender differences' in eating rates.

At lunch, the men consumed about 80 calories per minute while the women consumed 52 calories per minute.

The second study, which examined the characteristics associated with eating rates, found a close association between eating rate and body mass index (BMI), with those individuals with a high BMI typically eating considerably faster than those with a low BMI.

"One theory we are pursuing is that fast eating may be related to greater energy needs, since men and heavier people have higher energy needs," said Melanson.

While the link between eating rate and obesity is still being studied, Melanson said that her research has demonstrated that eating slowly results in significantly fewer average calories being consumed.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of The Obesity Society in Orlando this month.

Sex thrice a week, a must!

Trainers have been suggesting that their clients and visitors to the gym have sex thrice a week. Sex has been known to burn calories but how many and depending on what factors. Here's an insight into it.

Some may call it synchronized gymnastics and others choose to call it "making love", but it all just eventually boils down to a three letter word s-e-x. The age old practice we so proudly flaunt as our own since the advent of the Khajuraho Temples to the ultimate guide to sex called The Kamasutra, we have always been known to be the pioneers in innovative and complex love making.

We transcend from being flamboyant, curious teens to more experienced and well-read adults. Giggles and sniggers prevail over new found discoveries after endless surfing over the net, reading dirty magazines and receiving the dirty bits from experienced friends. We live in a country where we proudly wear the fact that we wrote the sex book but we also live in times where it could be taboo, making us complete aliens in the society. Well, heads up for what's coming then. It' not the million crunches and squats you do that help you burn up your calories, its much more than that! Don't be surprised if your fitness charts read, "Sex thrice a week" because that's exactly what trainers have been advising their clients to get down to their business.

A Human Movement specialist states that sex is aerobic in some parts and anaerobic in others. "Sex unfortunately as practiced today, as an act of pent up stress, an act of lust etc will burn calories. But that by itself is not sufficient to replace jogging". Badrinath focuses on the fact that jogging, running and other forms of aerobic activity actually help people to have better sex that last longer, helps them recover faster after climax and have more energy and endurance to last. When his trainer asked him to turn up the heat, Gokul Govardhan, a fitness was under the notion that he would have to increase his workout sessions and get into a more rigorous routing. Little did he know that his trainer was actually asking him to have sex thrice a week. "I didn't think it was not possible.

I believe in what my trainer tells me to do. Sex removes the fat content that sticks on to the body and wipes out all the toxins". Gokul has been working out under the same trainer for the last 2 years and he believes if this is a solution for burning calories, then be it! Shreya, another regular visitor of the gym says that sex is an amazing way to lose weight and it also defies the statement "no pain, no gain". "I don't see anything wrong in having sex thrice a week, if not everyday.

It's a great cardio and ab workout." Hollywood celebs have sworn their toned bodies on amazing sex and that is proof enough to say that trainers are right about this. "The trainer is my guru and according to me, the teacher is always right!" says Shreya.

The calories burnt of course depends on a lot of factors like age, duration of sex, foreplay, and the intensity with which the act is done.

Calories burnt (depends on factors like age and gender)

On average 170 calories or more are burnt in the age group of 18 to 25.

On average 135 calories or more are burnt in the age group of 25 to 40

If a man's not doing much work, then he burns about 120 calories, in the age group of 40 plus Indian male.

Women burn more calories only if they're doing the work during sex. On an average, men and women burn about the same because the work they do is similar.

Movement analysis:
If you were to do a movement analysis of one nights sex - 5 to 10 minutes goes in foreplay (basically kissing, touching and caressing) caloric output is negligible (20 cal).

The act itself lasts for 20 minutes (100 calories), cool down and sleep (10 calories)!

If you have multiple sex (2) or intercourse in one hour then you may look at 300 calories

The additional 60 cal could get you back into the game and passion also increases the body temperature.

Children's Nutritional Needs

A survey of 1,800 school-aged children to find out what they consumed in a typical day.

15% of the students did not eat any vegetables
40% ate only potatoes or tomato sauce (aka French Fries and ketchup)
20% of the students did not consume any fruit

Currently, children ages 6-12 eat an average of 2.5 fruits and vegetables a day, only half of the recommended servings. These poor eating habits have made today's children susceptible to heart disease and obesity and a prime target for improved nutrition and increased education. It is important to monitor your child's fruit and vegetable intake and find creative healthy ways to help increase fruits and veggies in children's diets.

Children need a variety of foods to grow strong and healthy. Their appetites decrease or increase as they go through growth spurts.

5 Teas that make you slim!

The brew that energises can also help you lose weight. Here's how...

It's widely known that just one cup of tea can prevent strokes, arthritis, tooth decay and even keep cancer at bay. While it's regarded as nature's tranquiliser for its soothing properties, the brew also has another great benefit - it helps shed weight. Scientists have shown that tea has high levels of compounds that battle the absorption of fat.

Here are 5 teas that can result in a slimmer you...

1. Star anise tea: promotes digestion
Star anise, the fruit of a small evergreen tree (Illicium verum) native to China, can be used in the treatment of digestive troubles such an upset stomach, diarrhea, nausea etc. One may drink a tea made from it by steeping a whole pod in one cup of hot water for 10 minutes. Strain this and sweeten it if required. Sip on this slowly when an upset stomach occurs.

2. Peppermint tea: controls what you eat
If you like peppermint tea then try and rotate that with a green tea drink as both speed up digestion and thus help you burn more calories. The peppermint leaves can be used to make a light, refreshing tea, which can be drunk either hot or chilled. To prepare the tea, take a tablespoon of fresh or dried leaves and add them to boiling water and let it steep for four to five minutes. Strain and add honey, if needed.

3. Green tea: builds metabolism
Research says the chemical EGCG found in green tea that speeds up the body's metabolism, is responsible for helping people lose the kilos - it can burn a whopping 70 calories a day! Green tea also raises the level of antioxidants. It's believed the antioxidant catechins in green tea boost metabolism and helps burn fat (can burn a whopping 70 calories a day!) Steeping time for the tea: two to three minutes at 85 Degrees Celsius.

4. Rose tea: prevents constipation
One of the oldest flavouring teas available, rose tea - made by mixing fresh roses and the bud of the tea - has a major therapeutic effect on the human body. Apart from clearing toxins and beautifying the skin, rose tea contains vitamins A, B3, C, D and E and is known to act against infections. It also prevents constipation and helps one lose weight.

5. Oolong tea: guards against obesity
Research reveals that oolong, a semi-fermented tea may have a stronger effect than even green tea. It promotes fat burning is said to help reduce cholesterol and the concentration of fat in the body. About two cups per day is recommended. Steep oolong tea anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes, for a more full-bodied cup.

Half of U.S. adults will be obese by 2030, report says

Based on trends, half of the adults in the United States will be obese by 2030 unless the government makes changing the food environment a policy priority, according to a report released Thursday on the international obesity crisis in the British medical journal the Lancet.

Those changes include making healthful foods cheaper and less-healthful foods more expensive largely through tax strategies, the report said. Changes in the way foods are marketed would also be called for, among many other measures.

A team of international public health experts argued that the global obesity crisis will continue to grow worse and add substantial burdens to health-care systems and economies unless governments, international agencies and other major institutions take action to monitor, prevent and control the problem.

Changes over the past century in the way food is made and marketed have contributed to the creation of an “obesogenic” environment in which personal willpower and efforts to maintain a healthful weight are largely impossible, the report noted.

It also laid out a new way of calculating how many calories to cut to lose weight, giving what it said is a more accurate means of estimating projected weight loss over time.

The common weight-loss wisdom is that reducing calorie intake by about 500 calories a day “will result in slow and steady weight loss of about 0.5 kg (about a pound) per week.” That rule doesn’t take into account the way the body adapts to the change. In particular, as anyone who has actually lost weight can attest, the less you weigh, the fewer calories you can consume if you wish to lose more weight or maintain the loss.

The report said that weight loss should be viewed over a longer period of time and proposed a new “approximate rule of thumb” for an average overweight adult. It said that “every change of energy intake of [about 24 calories] per day will lead to an eventual bodyweight change of about 1 kg (just over two pounds) . . . with half of the weight change being achieved in about 1 year and 95 percent of the weight change in about 3 years.”

Though the report acknowledged that it’s ultimately up to individuals to decide what to eat and how to live their lives, it maintained that governments have largely abdicated the responsibility for addressing obesity to individuals, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations. Yet the obesity epidemic will not be reversed without government leadership, regulation, and investment in programs, monitoring, and research, it said.

The report, issued in a four-part series published in the Lancet, was released in advance of the first high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly focused on noncommunicable disease prevention and control, which will take place in New York next month.

Weight gain hits women after marriage, men after divorce

Tying or untying the knot seems to affect men's and women's waistlines differently: A new study shows that women are more apt to pile on excess pounds after marriage, while men add the weight after a divorce.

"Clearly, the effect of marital transitions on weight changes differs by gender," lead author Dmitry Tumin, a doctoral student in sociology at Ohio State University, said in a university news release.

His team looked at weight gain in the two years following a marriage or divorce among more than 10,000 people in the United States surveyed from 1986 to 2008.

Both men and women who divorced or married were more likely than never-married people to have a small weight gain in the two years following their marital transition, the team found.

In most cases, the weight gain was minor and not a serious health threat. But the risk of incurring a large weight gain was higher among men after a divorce and among women after getting married.

"Divorces for men and, to some extent, marriages for women promote weight gains that may be large enough to pose a health risk," Tumin concluded.

The study didn't examine the reasons why major weight gain is more likely for men after a divorce and for women after marriage, and the research did not go beyond the two-year marital transition period. But the findings fit with previous research.

"Married women often have a larger role around the house than men do, and they may have less time to exercise and stay fit than similar unmarried women," study co-author and sociology professor Zhenchao Qian theorized in the news release. "On the other hand, studies show that married men get a health benefit from marriage, and they lose that benefit once they get divorced, which may lead to their weight gain."

The researchers also found that people over age 30 were most likely to gain weight after marriage or divorce, and the risk grew stronger as people grew older.

This may be because they've settled into certain patterns of diet and physical activity, the researchers said.

"As you get older, having a sudden change in your life like a marriage or a divorce is a bigger shock than it would have been when you were younger, and that can really impact your weight," Tumin said.

The research was to be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Las Vegas.

Forget gym, now burn calories by sexercise!

Forget running on treadmills or hitting expensive gyms to shed those extra pounds, as now a cheaper way to lose calories has emerged in the form of - sexercise.

A study has revealed that, women are more inclined to have sex after a long day if they think it will help them lose weight.

Research showed that 76 percent of women are more inclined to weave the nocturnal workout into their routines if they think they will burn calories.

And almost two thirds of women who do own gym memberships said they were happier to carry out such activities as having sex and even doing the vacuuming if they thought it would burn as many calories as a traditional workout.

According to Kerry McCloskey's book, 'The Ultimate Sex Diet', a half-hour session of lovemaking will burn about 150 to 250 calories, and even up to 350 calories, depending on just how active you are.

Simply kissing for an hour burns over 200 calories - equivalent to three HobNob biscuits.

"We are burning calories constantly as we go about our day to day business," the Daily Mail quoted Darren Linnell, creator of Aspire drinks who commissioned the survey, as saying.

"It's about being aware of the small things we can do to give us that extra boost," he stated.

Drinking tea can check weight gain

Taking tea may prevent weight gain caused by junk food, according to a new study.

Researchers found regular consumption of tea also suppressed damaging changes in the blood linked to fatty foods that can lead to type-2 diabetes, reports Dailymail.

They said the research on mice could signal another set of health benefits from tea if they are confirmed in trials on humans.

In the study some mice were given a high fat diet and others a normal diet. Each of these two groups was then split into smaller groups and given water, black tea or green tea for 14 weeks.

Both types of tea suppressed body weight gain and the build-up of belly fat linked to a fatty diet.

But black tea, which is used in most ordinary cuppas, also counteracted the harmful effects on the blood normally associated with a high-fat diet.

These included increases in cholesterol, high blood glucose and insulin resistance - a precursor to type-2 diabetes where the body does not efficiently use the insulin it produces.

Rising obesity levels in Western countries have resulted in many more people having insulin resistance.

Taking tea has already been linked to lowering the risk of heart disease, cancer and Parkinson's disease. Other research shows drinking tea on a regular basis for ten or more years may improve bone density.

HEALTHY TIPS

Q: I am working in an IT company. Since we shifts at work i don ve proper sleep at night.. So i ve dark circles.. also i find my lower abdomen becomin fat.. So kindly suggest me to keep me healthy and fit..

A: Eat green leafy vegetables, have plenty of water and avoid all the junks.
-Eat early and light dinners.

Overweight and dig net saris?

Net saris are a rage at parties and weddings this season but don't go for it if you are short and fat, advise designers. If you still want to risk flaunting your flab, go for dark colours, satin petticoats and a lot of motif.

"Net saris look fabulous on women with well-toned bodies, long torsos. Such women, in fact, look very sexy in net as it accentuates their perfect curves. But fat women should try to avoid it," Seema of designer duo Swapan-Seema said on the sidelines of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW).

According to a Delhi-based stylist, "net saris are a complete no-no for fat women".

"Net tends to contour the body type and I don't think it's worth showing the flab," said the stylist, who did not wish to be named.

Designer Seema, who has a range of net saris in pastels with subdued work, says there are a lot of women in their 50s who wish to wear net saris in order to look younger.

"It is up to an individual if she wants to wear it. If my clients wish to wear net and I feel it won't suit them, I recommend chiffons or georgettes. But if they insist, what can one do?"

But overweight women who are still keen to wear net saris should not be disappointed.

Designer Jaya Rathore, whose ethnic Indian collection is dominated by net, says comfort can play an important role.

"Good petticoats in satin and brocade can always make a difference to women wanting to wear the net sari. I feel every woman should try every possible type of clothing and see for herself if it suits her. If she is comfortable, she should just wear it.

"The only thing I would recommend is that heavy women must try net saris that have a lot of motif and jaal, which can help camouflage the fat if they feel conscious of their girth," Rathore said.

Young designer Joy Mitra, who has been working with nets for the past few seasons, has some tips for overweight women.

"Fat or slim, short or tall - a sari always looks beautiful on any form. One shouldn't feel conscious. There's always a way to fix such problems. You can wear a full sleeve blouse to hide fat, the petticoats can be different and more stylish to take attention away from the waist.

"I also feel heavier women should wear darker colours - that can do the trick of making them look a little slimmer in case they are way too conscious," he said.

Some, of course, avoid it themselves.

Veteran actress Moushumi Chatterjee is a little on the plump side and she feels net saris dont suit her.

"Women should wear what suits them. I don't think net saris suit me much and I am not comfortable wearing them. I prefer saris in cotton, chiffon, kanjeevaram, silks, etc," Moushumi, who flaunted a black and white sari by Reynu Taandon at WIFW, said.

Neetu Chandra's Fitness mantra

Bollywood Actress Neetu Chandra's fitness mantra

Neetu Chandra became an overnight sensation with her sensuous and scandalous lesbian photo-shoot. Just a few films old, she has taken the world of Bollywood by storm.

This actress is always in the news for bold roles and her bold figure. But does someone as thin as her need to ‘get fit’? Why is Neetu sweating away in the gym? Click on, this video for the inside information on Neetu’s fitness craze.