Inhibition was a word that never figured in serial-film actress Devi Chandana’s lexicon. She danced, sang and pranced about the stage, all of 90 kg, unmindful of the jibes darted at her, or the flab, tummy and double chin that clung to her. Though she was not the one who sang it, she was “confidence and confidence alone”. But her confidence paid. So did hard work.
Today, the sneers have turned to wows. It’s difficult to take in the transformed look of the actress. Devi Chandana is one svelte, chic woman today. But the fat to fit transformation came at the cost of hard work and perseverance. Devi has no regrets. She’s a woman with a stunning figure and matching good looks. How she went about it is the moot question. A recipe of determination and hard work should work wonders for all, says, Devi Chandana.
Devi Chandana has been quite a popular face on the mini as well as big screen. If viewers know her only as a comedienne, there’s more to come. Devi is a trained dancer too. Tough she was always on stage trying to tickle the funny bone; there lurked a sense of sadness at having to be the subject of trolls, all because of her body mass.
Her slim body today belies the 90 kg she carried not too long ago. Her secrets are out. Devi lost more than 25 kg, much to the shock of her trollers. The “from 90 kg -to-60 kg” young woman is not just an actress, but a fitness icon too, a role model for any youngster grappling with weighty issues. She was happy to share with Onmanorama the little tricks that worked for her.
The weight crept in because fat and flab hardly bothered her. She used to dance. She felt fine. Her fat never inhibited her creativity. But people looked uncomfortable. Their ill-timed advice, smirks and sniggers though bugging at times, failed to affect her. “My body is mine and I carry it around as best as I can, to the best of my advantage”, she said.
But somewhere down the line a spark was ignited, a desire to make a try. A lot of friends, relatives and well wishers asked her to cut down her fat as it was one factor that had put her career on hold. There was no looking back after that. She was at war with her flab. And there was no question of losing.
Devi's fitness mantra
Swimming was her first try, for she was told it was an excellent way of dealing with fat. More jibes poured in. Unfazed by the negativity building up around, she persevered. She was deaf to questions like: Swim? With this flab? She headed straight to a fitness club for lessons in swimming. As luck turned out, all the other swimmers happened to be kids who left her to herself.
From swimming, it was on to yoga, aerobics and the gym. For the last two years, she’s been alternating between all these fitness exercises and that’s what’s made Devi Chandana the charmer that she is today.
“I’ve heard of people dieting, living only on water to keep them trim. Not for me. Such things are not a part of my nature,” says the actress. However, the truth is that she went on a controlled diet plan. The first step was to say a ruthless bye to sweets, her one blind spot. This was effected by and by. Fast food used to be another bane, especially after her stage shows when she would gorge on them. “Say no to fast food” was rule No 2. The discipline started showing on her body. “My body stared responding to my orders”, said Devi.
Devi’s fitness secrets spilled out when she posted a video of her workouts on Facebook. She put it up in view of the popularity of the fitness challenge programme that’s been doing the rounds in the country.
Devi Chandana has been working out frenetically to meet the fitness challenge thrown by actor Rajesh Hebbar. While about it, she has pulled in her friends Subi Suresh, Paris Lakshmi and Krishna Prabha to accept her challenge and live up to her fitness call.
Read: Women Health News
