Women, Shilpa Shetty Kundra wants you to feel proud about yourselves
Upala KBR (DNA; March 10, 2016)

When you are a sportsperson, you are automatically put into the regime of what you are doing. I used to be a volleyball player and I represented Mumbai district and Mumbai zone. I think the tryst with sports and fitness was always there. It also came from my father who was into sports, still remains a very fit man, touchwood. When I got into films I was 17-and-a-half-years old and I had no idea what I was doing here but at that time when there were all these buxom heroines, I looked very different. That didn’t come from the fact that I visited the gym or anything, but that I used to play vollyeball actively so I had the physique of a sportsperson.

Looking good = being fit
Other than when I had my baby and was 32 kgs overweight, I have always tried to not put on weight. I have never had supplements in my life, yes I have vitamins as supplements because after you are 35 you should, but other than that, I have never taken a single weight protein. It’s good for those who take it, but you don’t require it unless you are a bodybuilder. Eat the right foods as you will get it from the right foods. For me, fitness is a part of my life. Being synonymous with glamour, people might think that having a good body is primary and the rest is secondary for me it’s the other way round. For me, being fit is primary and looking good is secondary because looking good becomes part and parcel of being fit. When you are fit, your immunity is high, you are feeling better from inside so most people don’t get that.

I keep fit by doing yoga five times a week. I used to do yoga only thrice a week earlier but now I have made it a regime where I wake up, my mornings start with my son, once I drop him off to school, I go down, the garden sit on my yoga mat and do my yoga. I breathe. I have given up all my gym workouts and only do yoga for 45 minutes to an hour where I do 40 minutes of yoga and 10 minutes of breathing. Even if you do just a few stretches in yoga, they energise and oxygenate your body.

My dos and dont's
Even on days when I am really sapped of energy, as I travel a lot, those days I just breathe and I have so much gratitude in my heart that I have this wonderful life and that just energises me. People out there who don’t have time to work out, I want them to know it’s even more difficult for us as we don’t have time on our hands but if you are able to breathe right and have a regime for your food, you are sorted. More than a workout regime, it’s 70 per cent diet and 30 per cent some kind of metabolic activity. People just diet and diet and then they keep working out and then they start binging on food! What are you doing and that too eating all the wrong foods? I have some dos and dont’s in my life. I enjoy my life and have my priorities set.

The three essential fitness tips I follow are: not eating after 8 pm which can sometimes go up to 8.30 pm. I avoid desserts in the night unless it’s a Sunday which is my binge day or treat day and lastly, moderation, in terms of discipline in your life, is the key. With moderation you can accomplish anything. Never overdo anything. Those are the three things that I maintain.

Don’t feel guilty
I think women need to be mentally and physically stronger than men because they’re not just working in an office today, but also looking after the home and the children. Like my mother used to multi-task, go to work at 8 am, come back by 7.30 pm and cook food for all of us and barely had a life. It can take a toll on your health because you have no sense of importance for yourself. Everyone else comes before you. I think it’s very important to not feel apologetic about doing things for yourself. I think on weekends working women must take time out for themselves and just breathe and not feel guilty about being mothers. Guilt is the worst word to use as we are perpetually feeling that we are leaving our child. I feel terribly guilty even if I am going in for a spa massage for an hour. Then a friend of mine told me that’s the worst thing that I was doing as it’s affecting me internally so now I don’t feel guilty.

Celebrate yourself
I think it’s high time men celebrate women — period. You wouldn’t exist without us. I don’t think one should wait for a women’s day to celebrate it. I celebrate myself every day, whether a man celebrates me or not. I am fortunate enough to have a man who celebrates me so I think you don’t need a man to celebrate you. Feel very proud that you are a woman because we are capable of doing far more than what men are able to do and I really believe that and say that without any bias.

Knee problem
I have never run a marathon before. I have a problem with my knees. I have been a sportsperson, done so much yoga and dancing in my life that there’s a lot of wear and tear in my knees. I think to run the marathon you need some kind of training. I think the dna iCan Women’s Half Marathon is a great idea and the fact that they have taken this initiative to encourage women to do something for themselves and give women the strength to able to do it is wonderful and I congratulate dna in this.