Shehnaaz Gill, the Indian actress who rose to fame with Bigg Boss 13, has inspired many with her dramatic weight loss transformation. Facing body shaming early in her career, Shehnaaz turned the challenge into an opportunity, losing 12 kg in just 6 months and later 55 kg overall by focusing on a balanced diet and simple lifestyle changes. Her journey proves that sustainable weight loss is achievable without fad diets or extreme workouts.
The Turning Point: Body Shaming and a Newfound Focus
According to a report from 2024 by The TOI, Shehnaaz faced body shaming when she was part of the TV reality show, Big Boss 13. Instead of letting it affect her confidence, she decided to use the lockdown period as an opportunity to work on herself. This experience motivated her to prioritize her health and well-being, leading to her remarkable transformation.
Shehnaaz Gill's Diet: A Balanced Approach
Shehnaaz's diet focuses on balance, portion control, and mindful eating. She revealed her weight loss secrets in an interview with Shilpa Shetty and Times Foodie, emphasizing that she ate everything she used to, but in smaller portions.
Morning Routine: Hydration and Immunity Boost
Shehnaaz starts her day by drinking 3-4 liters of water. The first thing Shehnaaz does on waking up is sipping on water. She also drinks turmeric water and tea along with apple cider vinegar. Drinking turmeric water in the morning boosts immunity, helps in digestion, supports weight management and gives glowing skin, while tea boosts metabolism and enhances brain function. Every morning she also eats pre-soaked dried fruits "for her skin." After her yoga session and 30 minutes before her breakfast, Shehnaaz sips on a glass of diluted apple cider vinegar.
Breakfast: Protein-Packed Start
After hydrating her body, Shehnaaz chooses protein-rich foods for breakfast. Her usual breakfast diet includes moong, dosa or methi paratha. Sometimes, the actress brings a change in her breakfast routine by including a tasty dish of poha filled with mostly veggies. She said that she commences her day with a protein-packed breakfast, which includes options like granola and veggie-loaded poha. Her poha recipe contains cumin, mustard seeds and veggies like broccoli, carrot and bell paper. With the poha, Shehnaaz loves to have a bowl of granola and curd. Calling it "mere style ka poha," she shares that she adds more veggies like broccoli and carrots, and lesser poha into the dish. Along with poha, she also eats yogurt topped with granola.
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Lunch: Nutritious and Balanced
For her lunch, Shehnaaz keeps everything healthy. Her lunch is highly nutritious and is packed with proteins, carbohydrates and fibre. Usually, her lunch includes dal, ghee-filled roti, salads comprising of sprouts, and tofu scramble. Her lunch focuses on a balanced meal with a mix of protein, fibre, and healthy carbs. This includes a bowl of tadka dal, paneer bhurji, roti (looks like ragi roti) with desi ghee smeared on it, and sprouts salad. She notes that her lunch has it all -- "protein, carbs, fibre, and healthy fat." She also included a bit of ghee for healthy fats.
Evening Snack: Healthy and Light
Nothing in Shehnaaz Gill’s diet goes unplanned. Just like her entire day, she takes good care of her evening diet as well. When it is a cheat diet for others, Shehnaaz chooses roasted makhana in ghee as her evening snack. Makhana which is a very good source of fibre and protein, helps in weight management and improves heart health. Being a low-calorie and low-fat content, makhana is the perfect snack item for the evening. She also carries her protein shake as she heads out in the evening. Before dinner, she drinks another glass of diluted apple cider vinegar.
Dinner: Light and Digestible
Planning your dinner is an important part of the strict diet that you follow to lose weight. There has been an old saying, “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” This saying still holds a grip till date. Now, looking at Shehnaaz’s dinner routine, it seems like she follows the old saying. For her dinner, Shehnaaz enjoys eating khichdi with curd and doodhi ka (lauki) soup. She kept her meals simple and light, with just soup or sautéed vegetables. Eating a light meal at dinner helps in digestion, improves sleep quality and body metabolism. For dinner, Shehnaaz eats a comforting bowl of vegetable khichdi with a big bowl of yogurt and another bowl of doodhi (lauki) soup.
Key Principles of Shehnaaz Gill's Diet
Portion Control
Shehnaaz Gill said that she ate everything she used to, but the big difference was the size of the portions she took. Portion control is considered one of the most effective ways to lose weight. A 2021 study published in the Obesity Research & Clinical Practice found that practising portion control can help in weight reduction.
Mindful Eating
This practice is all about using all physical and emotional senses to experience and enjoy the food choices you make. A 2021 study published in the British Medical Bulletin found that mindful eating helps change your eating behaviours and reduce stress.
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Consistency and Dedication
For Shehnaaz, this balanced diet, proper meal planning, time, portion control and lot of dedication and consistency helped her achieve her goal.
Other Important Takeaways
Limited Variety
In an interview with ET Times, Shehnaaz Gill shared, "Every day, I ate just one or two things. I wouldn't stuff too much variety in my daily consumption of food. For example, if I ate dal and moong for lunch, I would eat the same for dinner. And I reduced the portions. If I were hungry for two rotis, I ate only one… I lost 12 kg in less than 6 months, but without doing any exercise. Just my restricted food consumption did the trick."
Eliminated Unhealthy Foods
During the lockdown period, Shehnaaz tried to focus on a strict diet rather than doing intense workouts. The things that she eliminated from her diet were non-vegetarian foods, chocolates, and ice creams.
Shehnaaz Gill's Workout Routine
While Shehnaaz Gill did not follow a strict workout regimen initially, she incorporated light exercises and started walking. However, it was mostly her diet that she relied on for her weight loss but now the Thank You For Coming actor has incorporated yoga and other forms of fitness in her workout routine.
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