My body is far from perfect but I love it. Therefore, I love working on it. But since my schedule keeps varying with each day’s work, it often leaves me with no time to have a good workout. It is convenient for me to exercise at home. I work out with the help of my personal trainer Rashmi and my yoga teacher Sagar.

With Rashmi, I focus on increasing stamina and strengthening muscle groups, concentrating, during each session, on any one muscle group. Sagar’s classes are more to do with increasing concentration, flexibility and endurance. The best thing about my yoga experience is that it has taught me to relax. That is very important. We often compromise on relaxation, which is a big mistake.

While it’s difficult to accommodate my workout time in my day-to-day schedule, what I love most about yoga is that you can do it anywhere, anytime. You don’t need any equipment, any set-up. Just five to 10 minutes of yoga a day ?and you can say goodbye to all your stress.

So much for the psychological part of my fitness regime. For the physical part, I mostly do cardiovascular exercises. I try to keep at least three sessions of the cardio and weights in a week. I live close to the sea in Mumbai. This gives me an excuse (an excuse I love making) to take long walks, which is also an excellent form of cardiovascular exercise. When I don’t get time to walk by the sea, I do it on the treadmill (which is not half as much fun as strolling on the beach).

Then and now

There are some things you’ve always loved doing. Then there are some that you grow used to and then enjoy. I think my fitness programme comes into the second category. I can’t say I loved every minute of my workouts. Initially, I found it boring. But then, I started playing with weights and even liked it. I think I was fascinated with the knowledge of how weights affect the development of muscles. Now, I actually look forward to weight training.

There are, however, some activities that I’ve always enjoyed. Playing badminton is one of them. I also loved riding my bike. I wish I had more time for these things. Though I was never a fitness freak, I was always the sporty kind. I guess that’s why I didn’t take too much time to get used to a fitness schedule.

I am quite lucky that my fitness programme suits me. And I think it has worked wonders for me. I take special care to see that I do not sustain injuries during workouts. I can’t afford to be out of action ever, and workout injuries are often the most difficult to heal.

Signing off

• It’s not enough to be physically fit. Keep some time for yourself. Work on your mind.

• Don’t push yourself too hard. A little discretion is advised when deciding how much you can get done.

• Don’t follow any extreme diets. Most of them are just fads anyway, and even risky.

• Addiction of any kind is bad news. Even too much coffee can ruin your health.

• Two last things ? sleep well and drink lots of water.

If wishes were dishes

I’m too big a foodie to ever go on a restrictive diet. Mercifully, I’ve got good taste in food. I like to eat healthy stuff — fruits, fish, lentils, vegetables and wholegrains.

I have certain food fetishes. I don’t have a sweet tooth but I can’t say no to chocolate or nolen gur. I can’t resist puchkas or jhal muri. Talk about raw mangoes or ripe tamarind and my mouth begins to water. Add a pinch of salt and a spoon of mustard oil to them and they’re heavenly.

Water is the first thing I have in the morning. This is followed by some apple juice. Breakfast is usually sprouted moong and a fruit (pomegranate is a favourite). While I am reading the paper I take a cup of coffee. I don’t take eggs very often. When I do, I take only fried eggs, sunny side up or fluffy egg-white omelettes.

Lunch is always a heavy meal for me. I eat some rice (I love the taste of unpolished brown or red rice), dal, vegetables (usually shukto or saag), machher jhol and salad.

I also drink daaber jol late in the afternoon. Occasionally, I take some tea with chocolate cookies (can’t resist them when they’re around).

If I’m taking dinner at home, it mostly consists of roti, dal, chicken and salad.

Chinese and Italian cuisine are my favourites. When I’m dining out I stick to these two varieties. I love olive oil in my food. I also love stir-fried items.