Cellulite is the new cancer and fighting fat has been the subject of intense international research for decades. But even as the world studies the biochemistry of complex fat cells, made-in-India solutions to fight fat have made svelte silhouettes a reality for the horizontally-challenged.
In the best of Gandhian tradition, this fight against fat is fought passively: "passive" exercise, no dieting and no food supplements. It seems that all you have to do is sign a cheque to make the unsightly fat vanishes within a month. People actually believe it, but a close look reveals that the level of acquired gullibility is directly proportionate to how desperate they are to look like their favourite pin-up.
Twenty-seven-year-old Stuti Srivastava joined the Hauz Khas-based The Perfect 10 two years ago because she was depressed and desperate. "My boyfriend dumped me just because I was so overweight and I realised I had to do something before I sank into depression," she says.
In two years, she's lost 30 kilos and now sports short skirts, tubetops and a shoulder tattoo of a blue phoenix rising from the ashes. The symbolism is lost on her even as she chimes: "You know, losing weight has changed the way people treat me. Unlike earlier, they now make the effort to get to know me and I no longer feel like a loser everyone ignores," she says.
Ritu Priya, the manager of The Perfect 10, is quick to claim credit. "A combination of passive exercises, massages and nutritional advice helps clients lose weight very quickly," she says. What she fails to mention is that Srivastava also works out in a gym for an incredible four hours a day, six times a week. "Coming to the centre has helped me lose just 10 per cent of the weight, but I still visit the centre because I feel that I still need guidance to lose weight," says Srivastava candidly. "I feel that a single thing doesn't work. Exercise alone would have been futile, I need this support to help me look great."
Medical miracles
That just about sums up the role slimming centres play in the whole weight-loss business. It's a fact universally accepted that exercise, starvation and sobriety are the basics of weight loss. These factors are also the reasons that drive people to look for easier alternatives. Anything that promises to help you lose weight without resorting to semi-starvation or radical surgery makes people want to believe in medical miracles and stock up on all kinds of pills, powders and gadgets and sign up for bizarre-sounding slimming packages. They are ready try everything their neighbour and the guy in the advertisement has tried, simply because trying to sort out all of the competing claims - mostly misleading, unproven or false - is confusing and costly.
The weight-loss business is a booming industry, with people in the US spending an estimated $30 billion a year on diet programmes and products. India, too, is getting there, with more slimming centres sprouting up in the Capital than fast-food outlets.
It makes business sense too. Setting up a weight-loss clinic brings quick returns, more so if you throw in the promise of a "complete" image makeover for the client. It also transforms owners from smalltime entrepreneurs to semi-celebs. Take VLCC chairperson Vandana Luthra, who transformed from a women's polytechnic teacher to an entrepreneur in a remarkably short time. Barely 15 years after setting up her first centre in Safdarjung Enclave in 1989, Luthra's company now runs 19 centres in Delhi and 82 centres in India and abroad.
And in the best of Indian weight-loss tradition, all VLCC centres promise weight loss without dieting. "Diet" is a dirty word and employees look offended if you ask them if clients have to diet. "There's no dieting. We have a diet-based programme where clients are offered diet modifications to help them lose weight faster," says Shivani Popli, technical manager, VLCC, Greater Kailash-II. The so-called "diet modification" involves asking people to avoid eating fat, starches and sugar and limit their carbohydrate intake to three chapattis a day. The final calorific intake is less than 1,000 calories. Most people need a minimum of 800 calories to survive and on this diet, you just about survive.
Angelina Mishra, 42, a former schoolteacher from Lucknow, has modified her two-egg a day diet to three chapattis, fruits and salads. "I take no red meat, no fruit juice, no oil and one teaspoon of sugar with each of my two cups of tea," she says. From the sound of it, it's an 800 calorie diet, but she's not complaining. "I've lost just three kilos so far but I want to continue till I reach the five kg target," she says.
Passive activity
What Mishra says has really accelerated her weight loss is the passive exercise "machine sessions" she comes for three times a week. After 45 minutes trapped to a heat-generating machine, she loses 200-300 gms. "The German machines are really good. My counsellor says that if you lose weight in a session, you should try to maintain that before the next session in a couple of days, and I try hard to do that," says Mishra. Like Srivastava from the Perfect 10, Mishra has also been advised to go for daily 45-minute brisk walks, but she doesn't count that as exercise.
Most people peg their hopes on machines that promise to help them burn, block or flush fat from the body. Fraudulent weight-loss devices and machines range from those that are simply ineffective to those that are dangerous. At a minimum, they are a waste of your hard-earned money. "Electrical muscle stimulators have legitimate use in physical therapy treatment, but are not meant for weight loss and body toning. When used incorrectly, muscle stimulators can be dangerous, causing electrical shocks and burns," says Ishi Khosla, director, Whole Foods.
But proprietors of slimming centres disagree. "Passive exercises are effective and safe and are like lying down while jogging or running. They raise the basal metabolic rate and help a person lose 200-300 gm in less than an hour," says Neerja Roychowdhury, manager of The Body Care at Safdarjung Enclave. "The machine works on your body and mobilises the fat from problem areas like the arms and abdomen and reduces water retention." Most centres offer a choice of machines to assist fat loss and sculpt the body: you can choose from a body-firmer machine, the neuro muscular stimulator, muscle toner and heat therapy to push up the metabolic rate.
Most centres even have machines to boost a person's metabolism, which counsellors tell you slows down with age, leading to weight gain. The fact is that most men and women do suffer from creeping obesity with age, with an average person gaining two kilos of fat every five years after the age of 30 years till they turn 60. The reason, however, is not an ageing metabolism.
"Metabolism doesn't slow down with age or after childbearing. People gain weight with age simply because they are less active," says Khosla. In the book, Exercise Physiology (by William D McArdle, Frank I Katch and Victor L Katch), the authors confirm this. Increases in body fat, they explain, are more a function of activity than age. Inactivity results in loss of muscle. And loss of muscle, not an aging metabolism, is the primary cause of creeping obesity. The muscle that remains is as metabolically active as ever, so if you are as active at 50 as you were at 18, your body weight should not be much different. "Much of the loss of muscle as we age is preventable - and even reversible. Developing an old muscle is just like developing a young muscle. You may need to be more careful and progress slower, but it can be done."
The message: Your metabolism doesn't slow down if you don't. "It's all a waste of time as all you end up losing is water and money," says Sudeep Sharma, who lost weight and then gained it back after sessions both with VLCC and Personal Point.
Lie back and lose inches
The capital's new obsession with "spa therapy" -
an euphemism for being pampered silly for a steep price - has led to some centres offering massage packages. VLCC, for one, offers a "Get your curves in 10 hours package." Says Popli: "We have therapy-based massages such as anti-cellulite oil massages, detox therapies, relaxation massages and aroma oil massages for weight loss, figure correction, spot reduction and inch loss." Another form of passive exercises, these oil massages are claimed to bring many benefits. "Massages improve circulation and encourage lymphatic drainage (removal of non-essential water from the lymph nodes) while the G-5 massage machines vibrate and loosen fat from the problem area. Finally, a detox pack is used to tone and tighten the skin," says Popli. Whether these miracle massages are included in your package depends on "what you have signed up for," says Popli. In other words, such luxuries are available for an added cost.
But promise of effortless weight loss continues to drive people to these clinics in droves. Simrin Talukdar, 31, happily handed over a cheque - the whole amount has to be paid before joining any slimming programme - to Personal Point on being told that it was possible for her to lose weight without giving up on her pizzas. "I was looking for an easy way to lose weight and was told that the centre could help me do that without exercising or dieting. The fact that it is run by a doctor made me feel they would be doing it right," she says.
Talukdar went through the usual trappings of the passive exercises and massages and soon discovered that nothing was helping. "When they found I was continuing with my normal food along with the cereals, cookies and porridge they gave me, they asked me to subsist on the measly portions they handed out. I said no, so they asked me to stop eating rice, potatoes and pizzas, and also start walking daily," she says. Talukdar didn't, and she ended up paying Rs 15,000 to lose half a kilo over six months.
Sudeep Sharma has the distinction of losing money at two centres. "I lost five kilos at VLCC but gained it back within three months of going back to my usual diet. Personal Point helped me lose three kilos only for an advance payment of Rs 10,000 for 10 kilos," she says. In both cases, there was no refund. S M Sapru, general manager, Personal Point, turned out to be a serial appointment-avoider. After cancelling appointments twice, he said, "Don't call me, I'll call you."
The Personal Point centre in Hauz Khas, however, is more than welcoming if you are a prospective client. "Personal Point is run by a doctor and is very scientific, unlike other centres that are run by nobodies. You pay Rs 1,000 for every kilo lost but if you don't have money now, leave a small deposit and come back. Even Rs 500 will do," they persuade.
All centres, irrespective of price or popularity, offer the same combination: dieting, with placebos such as anti-cellulite massages and passive exercising thrown in if you're looking for a bargain. Neerja Roychowdhury of The Body Care is candid: "Weight loss can happen only when the input is less than the output. We have reasonably priced packages that offer passive exercises and lifestyle management like dieting and walking, things most people are too lazy to do on their own. When they join a slimming centre, they become motivated because they have paid money and want results."
Back to basics
The search for a simple cure for obesity is still on. Ask any expert, no matter how esoteric his specialty, for the best way to lose weight and he will reply, "Eat less and exercise more."
Most people have scrimped on food to shed flab at some time or the other. Most manage to lose a few kilos initially, but very few actually manage to keep them off. "Unrealistic diet plans are rarely sustainable as radical changes in your eating patterns are difficult to stick to over time. Most people on such diets gain weight as soon as they go back to their normal eating patterns," says Khosla. The only proven way to lose weight is either to reduce the number of calories you eat or to increase the number of calories you burn through exercise. "A combination of both is recommended but very low-calorie diets should be pursued only under medical supervision. Unsupervised very low-calorie diets can deprive you of important nutrients and are potentially dangerous," she adds.
Losing weight may not be effortless, but it doesn't have to be complicated. To achieve long-term results, it's best to avoid quick-fix schemes. Small changes in your diet and daily routine are a good way to start. Don't forget that no matter how disciplined you are, you'll occasionally eat foods that you should avoid. Rather than let a setback derail your efforts, accept that it happened and get back on track.
Although current wisdom on healthy eating is constantly evolving, here is a rough guide to losing weight:
Your Body Mass Index (BMI) is the most accurate indicator of healthy weight. It is calculated by dividing your weight in kilos by your height squared in metres. The World Health Organisation has set up international classifications for overweight (BMI between 25 and 29.9) and obesity (BMI over 30), but the average cut-offs are lower for Asians, including Indians. A realistic way to lose weight is to eat smaller portions and choose from a variety of foods. A modest reduction of 500 calories per day will achieve this goal, since a total reduction of 7,500 calories is needed to lose a kilogram of fat. Load up on foods naturally high in fibre: fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, and limit cheese, butter and whole milk; red meat; cakes, biscuits and namkeens.
Exercise for an hour at least three times a week. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association compared the effects of lifestyle activity (taking stairs instead of the lift) to a structured exercise programme - such as aerobics - and found that people in the lifestyle activity group had similar improvements in cardiovascular fitness, reduced blood pressure and reduced body fat percentage.
The message: you don't need to visit the gym five times a week for results. Take the stairs instead of the lift; walk to the store, don't drive; find the farthest parking spot instead of the closest. Thirty minutes of moderate exercise a day will cut the risk of heart disease in half, and slash the likelihood of other conditions such as obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis.
Unfortunately, fitness continues to be low on most people's agenda. "Most people want to look good and not to be fit, but I hope things will change soon," says Khosla. Going by the queues outside slimming centres, it doesn't appear to be happening in the near future. n
