Preeti Jhangiani is delighted after having won the best actress award for her performance in Taawdo The Sunlight , a film that centres around the caste system in Rajasthan, at the recently concluded Rajasthan International Film Festival. Jhangiani made her mark when she debuted in the Rajshri music album Yeh Hai Prem , and then went on to wow audiences in Yash Chopra’s Mohabbatein .
Two kids later, she went up to a 36-inch-waist jeans size, from her earlier 24. But that’s changed now, with her new diet and fitness regimen. “I was always at the right weight, except that my cheeks were well rounded,” she laughs, as we settle down to chat at her Bandra residence over cups of adrak chai (with almond milk). “There was a time when I actually had to join the gymnasium to put on some weight. Then I had Jaiveer and Dev, (now 6 ½ and 2, respectively), and put on colossal amounts of weight during both my pregnancies, gaining 24 kg. Add to that the ageing process and the hormonal shift,” says the 37-year-old.
“One day, Parvin {her husband} and I watched this documentary on Netflix, called What the Health , that dwelt on the inside functioning of the meat industry. It changed my way of thinking.” She turned vegan overnight and that was the turning point.
More significant than the weight loss, it is the inch loss and much improved stamina levels she speaks about. “Now I happily slip into size 26,” she shares, realising that her body has changed. It has been a tough ride though. “I used to ridicule vegetarians, loved my Sindhi kadi, tuk, mutton. From being an absolute foodie, I have brought in a stoic approach to food. To start with, I never plan what I will eat for my next meal. Instructing the cook beforehand about the menu is half the problem, I believe. So if nothing is made, I rustle up a salad,” she says. She loves avocado, and that fills her up, so she’ll put it into the many-hued food.
“I started working out in earnest about eight months ago. For two months, I went completely vegan. It was challenging, undoubtedly, but I feel it resulted in bettering everything: from my dietary habits to my hair to my weight. So almond and soya milk have replaced cow milk, I have given up roti, bread and rice, and banned sugar. Though on a cheat moment, I do indulge in a piece of dark chocolate,” she confesses. At 58 kg now (she’s 5’6”), she can afford to.
“Honestly, I have tried everything. From the three-day doodhi juice diet plan to only juices every day to black coffee on an empty stomach in the morning to burn fat,” says Jhangiani. But she realised she had to get in her nutrients and the diet had to be sustainable, so she went back to eating some non-vegetarian food. A judicious mix was planned in conjunction with her dietician (see box). She eats only home-cooked food. Busy with their company Swen Entertainment, Jhangiani and her husband are out at events often. “I eat before leaving the house and indulge judiciously in non-fried snacks when I am out,” she says.
Jhangiani believes the route to her inch-loss was endurance training, with a mix of high-intensity cardio, Bollywood dance and free-hand exercises. “The idea is to shun machines. My trainer makes me crawl along the floor, climb walls, use my own body weight to train. I run, do functional training. My aim is to be able to run non-stop for 30 minutes. As of now, I can only run for 10 minutes,” she says, honestly. She’s in the gym four days a week, and does cardio three days. “I am planning to take up yoga next. What has probably worked for me is that I never worked out regularly earlier. When I finally got around to working out aggressively and consistently, my body got a shock, snapped out of the chub rut and my metabolic rate was jogged,” she says with a laugh. Some day, she wants washboard abs. Until then, she seems to be doing just fine.
