I am 23 years old, 5'3'' and my weight is 68 kg. I am overweight. Will skipping rice help? Please suggest a diet plan. My periods are also irregular.

 The two main components of weight loss are diet and exercise. The best way to battle the bulge is by first assessing your normal food intake. Be honest with all the fatty foods you eat, why you eat them and what mood you are in when you consume these foods. Enter a one week recall into a food diary. Once you have identified your weak areas you can improve the quality of food you eat. Only skipping rice won’t help. Plan meals in such a manner that you include all food groups in your intake, emphasising on fruit and vegetable servings per day ( five-a-day rule). Whole grains (red rice, whole wheat flour, six-grain bread) are good options. Water is the most important nutrient and must be consumed regularly. Simultaneously, you should assess your physical activity. Do you devote atleast half an hour a day to an activity for 5 days a week? Once you keep up a regime that suits your lifestyle, other things like menstrual cycle, hormonal balance etc will fall into place.

I am 16 years old with a weight of 100 kg plus. I want to reduce my weight and also increase my height. Please help.

 I think this is a positive step towards weight loss. Atleast, you have realised that it’s time to act and get into shape. Better late than never. It is important to realise that you have to lose your fat weight and not the precious muscle that you have. So your first step will be to get a full body analysis (performed in Mallya/ Manipal hospital) of how much fat/ water/ bone and muscle weight you have. This will be a guide on what areas you need to work on. Work on your fitness than weight, which will fall into place on its own. Start with a walk, then a brisk walk, then a jog and then a run and then some football etc. Put aside two weeks for all activities and then go on to the next activity. Spend 45 minutes every day of the week performing the activity. 

Parul Dube, R.D
Health Professions Council, UK,
(uggoblin@hotmail.com)

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