Katrina does not believe in ‘fad diets’

Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif, fresh off the success of her movie ‘Bharat’, has been announced as the new brand ambassador of fitness label Reebok to India. A well-known fitness enthusiast, she is a strong proponent of a healthy lifestyle. Metrolife finds out her fitness regimen and more.

You’ll soon turn 36 and you are extremely fit. What’s the secret?
I think if you decide to make fitness a part of your life, it should be followed throughout your life. Whether or not you make changes, your fitness regime has to grow and evolve with you. For certain roles in my films, I push my body a lot. Then there are times when I go easy and do gentle forms of exercises, like yoga, pilates and swimming. So, it’s about listening to your body and trying to understand what it needs at that time.

Many people find it hard to be motivated to work out consistently. How do you do that?
You have to decide how important fitness is to you. Not just the physical look, fitness adds many things to my life including well-being, health, skin, moods, mental health and energy. I think it’s healthy to exercise discipline over yourself physically. It’s quite achievable to take five hours out of our whole week to train. It takes a little bit of determination; if you decide that this is just me and my time, you’ll do it.

How do you regulate your diet? Has that helped you stay healthy?
I follow simple dietary rules. I avoid refined sugar, dairy and deep fried, oily foods. I enjoy such a varied diet because we have all sorts of grains like bajra, millet, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, all forms of protein, and vegetables. I don’t like fad diets as I don’t believe they work for me. So, I try to follow a clean way of eating.

What would you like to say to the women about keeping themselves fit and healthy?
It’s not about chasing a body ideal; I don’t believe in an ideal body shape or an ideal body type. The most important thing is to love our bodies and ourselves. It’s a little time you spend with yourself doing any form of exercise that appeals to you. It’s that time we dedicate to ourselves in the middle of our busy lives. I think that is something we will all benefit from doing.

Tell us about your association with Reebok?
This is my first association with a fitness brand, and it feels wonderful.