Planning to lose weight Ramazan Female graduate student,

Karachi:Came the holy of Ramazan and the high avowals of ‘coming back to shape’ flooded Facebook and the Twittershpere. As Haya Iqbal, a 24-year-old female graduate student at NYC, updates her Facebook status: “Hello Ramadan, please note that I mean serious business this year: 1. losing weight 2. Gaining extreme amounts of sawaab. Project deadline: 30 days.”

Nowadays, Ramazan has earned to its name an added pizzazz that appeals to the dynamic, diet-conscious young lot who refrain from food for more than spiritual reasons –the holy month has veritably become a vigorous crash programme in dieting.

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that the primary motive that drives these young people to fast in Ramazan is purely to trim some added pounds. So they take Ramazan too seriously. More seriously than those who are fasting for the actual purpose. They would die to avoid Pakoras, Samosas and the other mouth-watering fried items, which for the majority of us are a ‘must-have’ for Iftar.

However, Atiya Abbas, a 21-year-old, believes Ramazan diet plans don’t work. “Before Ramazan we all vow and vow hard that we will limit our Iftar to salad or fruit chat, do a little bit of walking, if possible exercise, but once the month begins, we all get lazy. There are parties to attend; then sometimes your family makes some really heavy Iftar. After a few tight days, you let it go. ”

Hassan Qureshi, an ACCA student, agrees. “I eat like crazy weeks before Ramazan, with the view to start a crash-diet course in Ramazan. But, to be honest, the day my mom makes some really out-of-the-ordinary Iftar, I give up. Then I imagine, it’s only once in the year that we get to eat these Pakoras and Samosas, there is no point in avoiding them, and I vow to begin afresh after Ramazan which basically means I never do anything.”

But a private nutritionist, Ruqqaiya Hasan, believes that it’s wrong to assume that fasting can help lose weight. “When you fast, your body slows down, your metabolism get really low. The whole day you sit and wait for ‘the moment’ and when you break your fast in the evening, you go vulture over Iftar and stuff yourself with needless calories. No matter how fatless you eat, losing weight is all about burning calories.

“And for that you have to be active, which is very difficult while fasting. So Ramazan or no Ramazan you can always control your weight being active and eating less. It’s basically about self-restraint. That should continue around the year, not a single month in the year.”

However, there are some who believe a certain level of carefulness during Ramazan can make a difference in weight. “Ramazan helps in diet control. The month teaches us the lesson of self-restraint,” says Zainab Atif, an A Level student. “So if we avoid some of the fried stuff and be as active as you remain in usual days, fasting helps.”

According to the nutritionist, weight loss is “all about self-restraint”. If this is so, why do we spend time counting calories? Won’t it be better to focus on the very essences of Ramazan that teaches self-restraint and discipline, rather than being finicky about the oil in Pakoras?

Maybe a more holistic approach to fasting in the month of Ramazan can help develop our will-power which will aid our efforts to lose weight or do anything for our sake which requires discipline and self-restraint The news.