Q: I am a 27-year-old male. Compared to my body, my facial muscles are flabby. Is there any specific exercise to tighten facial muscles?

Name and address withheld

To tighten facial muscles and double chin, tilt your head back till it rests on your neck. Taking your lower jaw out, start making a biting motion so that your lower jaw and teeth come in contact with the upper jaw. Repeat this process slowly till 50 counts.

Remove rings, if you are wearing any, and alternately slap your chin lightly with your hands at a moderate speed. Do this twice a day for 100 counts. It is best to perform these exercises after brushing teeth in the morning and in the night. It is a good way to exercise an area that gets little exercise as such.

Q: I am 14 years old. I am about five feet one inch tall weighing around 52 kg. I want to have an hourglass figure though I know I am overweight. I do not what has caused this. During periods, I have a heavy flow and do not feel energised. My food chart is as follows: Breakfast: two almonds soaked in water overnight, one chappati, milk and some light snacks; lunch: rice, dal and vegetable; snacks: biscuits; dinner: one-and-a-half chappati, vegetable, one sweet, sweetened rice, etc. Please suggest a simple vegetarian diet (minus fruits as these are not easily available where I live) and some simple exercises that I can do at home.

Ritika, Assam

The name of the game is consistency. Whatever routine one follows, spasmodic efforts will show no results.

To lose weight, try walking once daily at a medium pace for about 40 minutes. It doesn’t matter when you are going for the walk. You should also exercise for about half an hour daily. Warm up — spot jogging for 10 minutes — try to jog on a carpet or a rubber mat to protect the spine. Then you should about five minutes’ stretching, 10 minutes’ abs, consisting of crunches and leg-raising. Do keep an eye on the clock and devote full 10 minutes to this area. Then turn over and do some push-ups and five more minutes of leg exercises. Wind up with stretching.

Try getting hold of the 5BX book of air force exercises for men and women. In that, various grades of workout are given. Try doing their 12-minute capsule for 30 minutes.

Your daily diet could do without the ‘snacks’. Drink only skimmed milk, and not buffalo’s. Boil the milk at night and put in the refrigerator. Remove the cream next morning and then drink it.