Aamir Khan’s video tracking his fat to fit journey for Dangal gives a great insight into the process of losing weight.
Earlier this year, indianexpress.com got up, close and personal with Dangal actor Aamir Khan and his fabulous fat to fit story. Now, Bollywood’s Mr Perfectionist is out with a special video that documents his fitness journey. The 5-minute, 20-second video follows Khan from the time he had gained weight to play the elder Mahavir Singh Phogat to losing around 25kg to play the younger part.
The video introduces the many people intimately involved in the whole process, from his fitness trainer Rahul Bhatt to Rakesh Udiyar, bodybuilder and fitness trainer. They talk about how the actor mentally and physically worked on his body so as to get into shape. Of course, we all know how Khan insisted that the film be shot in reverse – his fat look first and then the bit with his lean look, so that he had the motivation to get back into shape in record time.
They opted for a customised diet plan in consultation with renowned dietitian Dr Nikhil Dhurandhar on calorific deficit for Khan, in which the diet would oscillate from 1,800 kCal to 2,500 kCal. To gain weight in the initial part, Khan indulged in everything, “from brownies to samosas, chocolates, ice creams and cakes everyday”, which sounds like a great plan for anyone. The tricky part came when he had to shed all that extra flab, which is where diet was key.
“People use new methods, different diets these days. I still stick to calorie count system. Fifty per cent is that of the diet when you reduce weight, 25 per cent depends on workout and the rest 25 per cent on taking rest,” Khan had said.
“The key is a balanced diet. Take 20 per cent of your calorie intake from healthy fats, 30 per cent of calorie is from proteins and 50 per cent of the calories consumed should be from carbohydrates,” explained Khan, negating the popular myth that carbohydrates should be avoided if someone wants to lose weight. He said it’s the carbohydrates that give the body energy and the brain glucose. Effectively, it’s about a balanced diet. “Now, if you want to lose weight, your calorie count should be lower. I used to consume around 2,500 kCal a day, but burnt a lot more,” said the actor.
“Diet is No. 1 in changing your body. You can exercise all you want, but if your diet is not right, you won’t get the desired result,” says Khan in the new video. He recently further clarified that he would eat 25g of Upma with 100g papaya. That would be followed with a protein shake and tuna sandwich of just a slice of bread. For lunch, there were rotis made of 30g of grains along with some vegetables.
Along with the diet, Khan had a strict exercise regimen that included a lot of weight lifting. At one point, Udiyar says when Khan would give up and say he couldn’t work out any more, he’d tell him to work out with less weight, but instead have him do more, only informing the actor of the feat once accomplished. You can see the glee on the actor’s face when he finds out that his body fat level is down to 9.6 per cent.
Though, those intending to follow in Khan’s footsteps should take care that the actor went through just a drastic weight loss because of of shortage of time. He has categorically advised that others should opt for a more slow and steady route that would not negatively impact the health.
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