Seven days to that fab figure

An important event is round the corner and you feel you are out of shape... Here’s how to tone up in seven days flat!

Swap tea...
...for something else. If you want to get in shape fast, ditch your regular cup of tea and go for a fat-burning one instead. Studies show that green tea revs up your metabolism, so aim for several cups a day.

Take some supplement
Fish oil supplements are a great way to shed pounds. A recent study found that volunteers who took them lost, on an average, two kilos over three months without changing their diet or exercise habits. Fish oils are great for helping your body burn fat more efficiently.

Avoid salt
That’s the advice most weight-loss experts give. When people cut down the salt in their diet, they instantly look slimmer and less bloated. Too much salt makes your body retain water, which makes you puffy around your face and stomach. Go for low-salt breakfast options such as a khichdi .

Also, don’t add tablesalt to your food or cooking, avoid salty snacks such as crisps and go easy on processed sauces which are often packed with salt.

As a guide, avoid foods that contain more than 0.5g of sodium per 100gm on the label (sodium is just another way of describing the salt content). The fresher your food, the less salt it’s likely to contain. And be very careful about take-aways – Chinese food, in particular, is loaded with salt because of the sauces.

Ditch sugar
Like salt, sugar is a diet baddie. Even though sugary foods – such as boiled sweets and mousses – are often labelled ‘low-fat’, they’re incredibly high in calories. And if you don’t work off the calories by exercising, that sugar gets stored as fat – usually around your stomach and waist. Sugar also increases your hunger. So, ditch the sugar in your tea and also the colas that you gulp down every day.

Eat low-sugar snacks instead. Chopped vegetables, for example are rich in fibre, so they’ll keep you fuller for longer and will aid your digestion, which helps to reduce bloating. Alcohol is practically pure sugar, so give that a miss, too. If you drink regularly, you’ll notice the difference after giving it up for a week.

Relax
If it is day seven already, don’t worry. You can still lose weight! Stress really does make you fat. It causes hormones to be released into your body that encourage fat deposits around your waist and stomach.

Scientists have found that those with the biggest waist measurements (though not necessarily the heaviest) had the highest stress levels. The hormones secreted during times of stress are instrumental in causing more fat to be stored, particularly around the abdomen.