Taapsee Pannu Says She 'Tortured' Herself To Get A Flat Belly: 'Healthy To Have Little Bit Of Bulge'

Taapsee Pannu has always been vocal about body positivity. She had always challenged the beauty standards that defined a "lead actress" and carved her own path despite her 'royal nose' and 'curly hair'.

However, recently she revealed her obsession with a flat midriff - the middle region of the torso, between the chest and the waist. If you ask women, most of them would confess to being guilty of obsessing over a flat belly or considering it the 'standard' of beauty.

Taapsee Pannu's Obsession With A Flat Belly

Taking to Instagram, the Blurr actor said, "I remember I had this obsession because while growing up, I was extremely fit, but I never understood why the lower belly fat always stayed."

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She shared that she worked out intensely, almost to the extent that she overpushed herself. "When you overpush yourself, it rings an alarm in your brain that your body needs protection," she said, adding, "So instead of actually losing water retention, the body starts retaining it and then that lower belly fat, which might actually not just be fat."

She explained that it is water retention, which stays and increases if someone pushes the boundaries of their workout. The actor advised against this obsession and said that people should not go out of their way to exercise beyond a healthy limit.

The Thappad star continued and said that every woman's body is different and each goes through so much, courtesy of hormonal fluctuations. Hence, it is unrealistic and harsh to expect it to look the same every day.

She added, "It cannot look like any other girl, so you need to accept this. I accepted it very late after really torturing myself, and then I realised that there are some days when it happens and some days when it doesn't happen."

The Pink actor spoke to her nutritionist, Munmun Ganeriwal, who explained to her that it is important for women to have a little bit of belly fat. A little bit of water retention under the belly protects the reproductive organs. "By virtue of being a woman, you need that protection," the expert told her.

"It's healthy for you. So just to get those picture-perfect Instagram pictures, please don't torture yourself. It's supposed to be healthy to have that little bit of bulge and have that fat there. Please don't torture yourself," Taapsee said, concluding.

Taapsee Pannu's Definition Of Beauty

Speaking to Cosmopolitan in 2022, Taapsee shared that the definition of beauty she grew up with was the opposite of everything she was.

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"I didn't have those big 'doe eyes'; I didn't have an elegant, small nose...I had this large, 'royal nose', as people call it. I did not have luscious lips or straight, silky hair-you know, the kind that actresses flipped around. I had curly hair, and I remember noticing that none of the actresses on television had hair that looked like mine," she said.

When she was in school, she visited a salon to get her curly hair chemically straightened. "I was sneaky about it, and did not tell my parents, and got my hair straightened twice, using those terrible chemical treatments that were available at the time. And that completely ruined my hair! At first, I was so frustrated to have limp ends with curly bits growing on the top, and then I was horrified when my hair began falling," she further shared.

She confessed that for many years, she tried to change herself and failed miserably at it, until finally she realised that she needed to live with - and love - what she had. "It took age and time to get to this point, but today, I understand how beautiful it is when you truly love the way you are," the actor added.

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