Feel good fitness - Sonakshi Sinha

The actress says the journey of her weight loss has been an emotional one.

Her debut film Dabangg opposite Salman Khan set cash registers ringing at the box office, almost immediately making Sonakshi Sinha one of the most sought-after faces of Bollywood. With films like Farah Khan's Joker in her kitty, the now svelte actress shares her story of battling a whopping 30 kilos and says how determination and discipline are key to staying in shape.

As someone who championed the weight-loss cause, what does fitness mean to you?

Before I embarked on my weight-loss mission, fitness to me was only about being thin. However, with time I've realised fitness is actually a combination of physical and mental wellness. It's an entire lifestyle change that combines feeling healthy from within, choosing the right foods, exercising regularly and thinking positive. Till the time I took up fitness seriously, I felt these were only best written about in fancy magazines and something my mom spoke about all the time, but had no practical value. But once I took it up, I realised the truth.

Given that you were far removed from fitness, what motivated you to finally embark on your weight-loss mission?

I had been built on the heavier side right from my childhood. During my growing up years, things got only worse. I hated going to the gym, hated every kind of physical activity and survived on junk. I turned a deaf ear to my mom every time she reminded me about my expanding waistline. In fact, as an act of rebellion, I would gorge all the more those very days. While mom was concerned about the way I looked, dad was more concerned about my physical health. But nothing mattered.

I loved my sedentary lifestyle, I loved my food and made every possible excuse to not exercise. Then suddenly, I found my mom had stopped nagging me completely. While it felt great initially, but I gradually found something missing. My conscience started pricking me. This was around the same time when I was finishing my fashion designing course.

In the meantime, Salman(Khan) too had dropped by a couple of times asking me to lose weight and give films a serious thought. Finally, I woke up one fine morning and decided enough was enough. I just had to shut people up from nagging me about my weight all the time.

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