Book review: Confessions of a Serial Dieter

Confessions of a Serial Dieter
By Kalli Purie
Harper Collins
Rs 250

Who doesn't want to lose some weight? Everyone, well, almost everyone, wants to be at least five kilos less than what they currently weigh! But most of us don't go to personal trainers and dietitians to achieve our weighty goals. We rely on the bits of information we have garnered from various sources and think we can lose weight on our own with disciplined eating and exercising. There is nothing wrong with that. It is expensive in terms of both money and time to hire professional help. Especially, if you are only slightly over-weight and not obese, you can certainly reduce that extra bit of weight it on your own, but still, some guidance helps.

The best place to turn to is to a book store or a library because the book industry is now teeming with diet and fitness tomes. These books written by experts, models, and also laymen, occasionally do help in the weight loss/management saga. All it takes is following them diligently for at least a few months, as if they are the trainers you have hired!

Rujutha Diwekar heralded this era of India-centric diet books. Diet and fitness, before Rujutha, was a genre that was mostly occupied by western writers from Atkins to Jane Fonda. Western writers put in a lot more research into their books, but there is nothing like following a diet book that prescribes foods that we are familiar with. Fortunately, after Rujutha's success, there have been a slew of books in this genre, and the latest entrant to the arena is Kalli Purie (chief operating officer of India Today Group Digital) with 'Confessions of a Serial Dieter'.

Let me confess, I loved reading this book. For the wit, honesty and the all-out information Kalli spares her readers. This book is about Kalli's journey from fat to thin, with many phases of ups and downs in between. What I liked best is that you get a glimpse into myriad diets that Kalli puts herself through. Keeping her dietician's names anonymous, Kalli gives out their diets in full detail.

This book reads like a racy chicklit. Kalli starts her story from her childhood when tall glasses of full fat milk with heaps of Bournvita scooped in, ice-creams, and chocolate-filled fridges contributed to her weight gain. She is a plump child and a plump youngster, but all the while her mother is attempting to get her on some or the other diet. But then comes a time when Kalli wants to shed all this weight to be that perfect bride. And she does! After a few really gruelling months of nariyal pani diets and Papaya and dahi diets. What makes her story real is, she puts all this weight back in just about eight months after her wedding! It is an inspiring story. How she loses more than 50 kilos and keeps that weight steady is an inspiring story.

Somewhere in the book Kalli states how each small indulgence showed on the scale. This in a way was an eye opener for me. I always thought a small piece of chocolate or a few fries stolen from my kids' meal was okay. It is most certainly okay, but not if you are trying to lose weight. All your hard work for the day vanishes with that one little bit of sin! When Kalli narrates her saga that took her from five Surya Namaskaras to hundred and eight or when she took to running a marathon in her mid-thirties, you can't but admire her verve.

Books by dieticians are like learning from a teacher. They know what they are saying and you want to follow them. But taking advice from someone who has gone through a weight-loss journey is like learning from a fellow student, problems are all the same but in varying degrees. Also, autobiographical accounts like Kalli's give you an 'if-she-can-I-can-too' perspective.

Source: Vani Mahesh/www.mdhil.com

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