Parineeti Chopra on the importance of staying fit and the motivation behind running a marathon
Upala KBR (DNA; March 11, 2016)

Fitness, to me, means finding your healthiest self whatever the body type. A lot of people confuse fitness with being thin or being skinny; which to me is the exact opposite of fitness. I think it’s unhealthy as I have seen the thinnest of people to be very weak.

Find the balance
People who don’t have a healthy diet, don’t have enough stamina, are not able to work effectively or concentrate and are thin. And I have seen some people who have a bigger build or broader body type and yet, they are so fit and active. I have realised every human being can have a different body type but they could be at a different level of fitness which they need to find. They need to find that perfect balance of how much fat is there in their body which they must get rid of without making themselves unhealthy.

Eat, drink, sleep, repeat
The basic method of being fit is about taking care of what goes into your body so a lot of water, a healthy diet, a good amount of sleep and living in a clean environment that is directly related to your fitness. Which underlines my three principles of fitness: a good workout, a healthy amount of sleep, drinking lots of water and a healthy clean environment to live in.

To improve your stamina, flexibility, strength, core strength — for everything you need to put in little bit of a workout, so I make sure I work out without straining myself and basically try to live a healthy lifestyle.

Looking the part
I have adapted my physique to my roles. Right from my first film itself I have tried to look the part as much as I could. Ladies vs Ricky Bahl required an overweight actor, so I made sure I took no care of my fitness at that time. Ishaqzaade required me to be flexible and agile, so I took care of that. I think it’s very important for every actor to look the part that they are playing.

A women’s burden
It is an understatement to say that it extremely important for women to be as fit as men. It is absolutely crucial. Of course, women’s bodies are different from men’s bodies and the kind of workout and the levels of fitness they require are very different, but it’s very important as women have to take care of their health in a more sensitive way. We have periods to deal with and produce children so, obviously as that’s the kind of burden a women faces and they need to be very fit. I urge every single woman to go out there and do a little bit of exercise and take care of what she eats because having a healthy body is extremely important.

A little more love and respect!
I personally don’t believe in celebrating Women’s Day, Friendship Day or Valentine’s Day in particular, as I feel that these are commercial holidays. But if anybody were to take anything from them to use them I would thank our parents or women on that day. If all the men in our lives could just give us extra pampering, love and respect on that day, it would be enough.

Life goals
I think the dna iCan Women’s Half Marathon is a really cool thing. It won’t just motivate women, but hopefully, their children, husbands, brothers and boyfriends too, to just put in some kind of kind of physical activity in their day, however busy they may be. Marathons sound scary, but it could be a goal for somebody because if you really train and prepare for it and can do it, it could be a kind of motivation which could stay with you all your life. So I would urge people to just get inspired, go out there and try it.