Fit into that Christmas/NYE dress

You’ve bought a figure-hugging cocktail dress to wear on Christmas/New Year eve. But now you’re wondering whether you’ll fit into it again? Worry not, help is at hand. Here are some easy tips on how you can fill up that dress beautifully. 

You don’t have to go on some crazy diet like Hollywood celebrities. Just follow these simple tips till D-Day (and beyond) and you’ll be ready to wow your man.

Increase your water intake

The best and the easiest way to lose some extra curves on your body is to drink as much water as you can throughout the day. Water reduces fluid retention naturally and helps release toxins from the body that in turn results in weight loss. It will also help you feel less hungry. But the side effect is that you’ll need to have easy access to loos at all times.

Start exercising

If you want any weight-loss plan to be successful, it is essential that you do some kind of physical activity. You needn’t break your back at the gym; all you have to ensure that the blood starts flowing through body. Even a daily brisk walk for about 45 minutes does the trick. Dancing and sex are other more entertaining options.

Eat small

Most people tend to have two to three large meals in a day. This causes the body’s metabolism to stall as it’s forced to process a higher number of calories at one go. What works better for your body (and you) is to have four to six smaller meals. This jumpstarts your body into processing smaller amounts of food more frequently, thereby taking the pressure off it.

Most importantly though, never eat late. Eating early and on time allows complete digestion of your last meal before your body goes into sleep mode.

Eat slow

This is such a simple and basic technique to avoid putting on weight that most people don’t even know of it, or just plain ignore it. When you eat slow, you enjoy your food more, you chew better which helps your stomach in breaking it down for digestion, and you eat less.

Say no to junk food

We all know how difficult it is to suppress our junk food pangs, which is the root cause of instant weight gain. So, control you cravings for some of the most tempting items that are blacklisted as junk food. They are high on calories and have low nutritional value. Processed food is a strict ‘NO’.

Enjoy home food

It is important that you enjoy your food. So when you are eating at home, make sure you like what you eat. As we all know, when it comes to eating out, we all forget about our diet plans. Most restaurant meals include twice the number of calories than a home-cooked meal. For your weight-loss plan to be successful, you must be able to control your cravings and turns towards healthy home food. Dining out occasionally is acceptable.

Avoid sugary drinks

To make your weight-loss plan more effective, you need to cut down on drinks laden with sugar right away. This includes colas, ‘fresh’ packaged juices, sherbets, and the like. You will be happy to know that if we replace sugared drinks with a no-calorie substitute, you can lose about a pound per week without any efforts. Amazing isn’t it?

Drink Green Tea

Call it a trend but drinking green tea is one of the easiest ways to control your weight. It is said that drinking tea, especially the less processed green teas, boosts metabolism even while you’re resting and specifically targets the release of stored fat.

Control your sweet cravings

It is quite possible that in the middle on the day or after your meals, you might crave for something sweet. Chocolates and desserts for that matter will make you lose your focus towards your controlled eating habits very easily. Don’t let that happen. Eat desserts, but in small amounts.

A blissful day @ Spa

One more name has been added to the list of international spa chains that are rapidly coming up in India. Here is my own experience that will tell you if international spa brand Chavana Spa is worth a visit.

Located in Four Points by Sheraton, Vashi, Chavana Spa is Steiner Leisure’s newest spa brand in India. Managed by Malaysian chain Mandara Spa Company, it currently has only one outlet in India.

The atmosphere at Chavana Spa is relaxed and you feel become less and less tense from the moment you step inside. Perhaps its distinct floral aroma, a warm welcome from friendly staff and beautiful wood furniture is to be credited for this.

I was welcomed by an Indonesian girl who offered me some tea. They have two types of tea on offer: Jasmine and citrus. I chose the former. While having your chilled tea, you can browse through their products on display. They have customised bath salts that can also double up as a great gift. The packs are priced according to the order and range from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500.

The spa has three sections: two single-treatment rooms with attached bathrooms, one single-treatment room with a sunken Jacuzzi, bathroom and a steam room‎. The third section is for mani-pedi.

They offer six types of massages: The Chavana Massage (50 mins), Heaven & Earth (1 hr 20 mins), Warm Stone (50 mins), Traditional Balinese Massage (50 mins), Asian Foot Massage (50 mins) and Journey Of The Senses (2 hrs 20 mins). They also have three facials: Pevonia Botanica Brightening Facial (1 hr), Pevonia Botanica Rejuvenating Facial (1hr) and Purity Facial (50 min) and mani-pedi.

 I opted for a Traditional Balinese Massage at Rs 2,500. It helps loosen tight muscles and improves energy flow through the body.  I was directed to the single-treatment room and asked to change into a gown.  The room is spacious with dim lights and light instrumental music playing in the background. According to the, all masseuse are trained in Indonesia for two months before they can join.

The 50-minute massage was truly blissful. The minute she started, her soft, trained hands moved over my body like sponge with the help of oil, giving proper pressure to loosen the tight muscles. She started from toe while giving stimulating the pressure points. The highlight of the massage was the back massage that included the head and neck as well.

After the massage, she rubbed some scrub over my body and directed me to the bathroom for a shower. The glass-walled shower cubicle has all their customised toiletries for your use. All in all my experience was truly relaxing and totally worth it!

Really Fiery?

Hot and zesty, the newly-introduced KFC Fiery Grilled Chicken stays true to its name. Read what's my verdict about it. 

I noticed a new entrant in KFC’s menu when I visited its Oberoi Mall outlet after a long time. ‘Fiery Grilled Chicken’ sounded promising and looked it too. Its photograph looked delicious and tempting suggested that it will be high on spice. So we gave it a try.

You can buy a box with four pieces, six pieces, eight pieces or 12. It was lunch hour so we opted for the eight-piece bucket (Rs 459 + taxes) and two medium Pepsis. It took them nearly 20 minutes to get our order.

The first glimpse of it was promising – it smelt delicious and looked totally appetising. The portions were generous with four leg pieces and four wings. The minute we dug our teeth into it, we realised that these guys weren’t kidding when they put ‘Fiery’ in the name. Word of caution: Order it only if you like your food very spicy.

The chicken was perfectly grilled and hot. The spices used in marinating had blended properly and coated the chicken well and we finished the first piece in no time. It’s only while we were nibbling on the second one that we found the flaws.

Though the marination was well done, it had not seeped through the meat. The outer coating was good, flavourful, crispy and hot. But the meat inside was tasteless. We couldn’t finish the rest simply because it felt like we are eating boiled, salted flesh.

Either way, it’s worth a try. The good part is that they serve really huge portions. KFC Fiery Grilled Chicken is an ideal snack to order in as chakna while enjoying your chilled beer at home with friends.