You can see Rana Daggubati’s ripped avatar in Baahubali, but before becoming an actor, he used to have a big paunch & love handles. Here’s how he got rid of those love handles. Rana Daggubati shares his secrets of going from flabby to ripped.
- Height: 6 foot 3′
- Date of Birth: 14 December 1984
Health and Nutrition, a men’s health magazine, featured Rana Daggubati on their cover and tagged him “India’s Most Sensational Fitness Icon.”
Rana Daggubati’s Diet for Baahubali
Everybody in India is talking about the ripped bodies of Rana and Prabahas in the Bahaubali franchise. Here’s Rana Daggubati’s diet plan that helped him get the looks of Bhallala Deva for Baahubali:
- Ate breakfast of 40 half boiled egg whites blended with protein powder
- Rice was totally out from his diet.
- Ate 6-8 small meals in a day.
How Rana Transformed from Bhall to a Naval Officer
This diet, along with workout, helped Rana get into shape for his role of a naval officer.
Rana Daggubati’s Weight Loss Before Becoming an Actor
Here’s how Rana Daggubati got rid of his paunch & love handles before becoming an actor.
After watching Rana as Bhallaladeva in Bahubali, its difficult to imagine that he ever had a paunch. “But three years ago, I couldn’t even think of talking about fitness,” he says. Trudging through 125 kg, Daggubati was grappling with the unhealthy fallouts of a sedentary lifestyle (paunch, love handles, bingo wings). “I was so wary of my burgeoning tummy that I would conceal it by wearing very loose clothes,” he says.
“In December 2007, I sold my VFX company and took up acting. If I had to take my shirt off and do cool action scenes, I better be in fine shape. I took a year off to hone my personality — theatre class, dance class, stunt and working out.”
During those eight months of intense physical training, I did things I had never done before. I revisited boxing and got in touch with my martial arts trainers. I chalked out my diet plan and sweated out in the gym five days a week. This mostly worked on the principles of shocking your body — If you do things you have never done, your weight drops rapidly. I was on a strict diet for six days a week and on my ‘cheat’ day, I would pig out. Though I lost 20 kgs and looked fit, I wasn’t still muscular or ripped.
For seven months straight, I plunged into obscene amounts of training. I hit the gym twice a day. I get up at 6 am. For the next 45 minutes, on an empty stomach, I swing into a punishing ab routine and about 30 minutes of strength-building exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups and rigorous weight-training. For evening workouts, I work out two body parts; a big muscle and a small, like say the chest and the triceps. I lift crazy weights and take no breaks while I’m at it. Laxman, Mr India silver medalist, is my personal trainer who takes care of my laziness. From diet to work outs, he has helped me understand what’s right for me.
Hyderabad can be harsh to a foodie like me. The haleems and the biryanis are in your face. It’s hard to overcome temptations and harder not to binge. I never had a sweet tooth, always had a meat tooth. I would gorge like a man possessed. I am so scared of Ramzaan because of its delicacies that I never want to be in the city during the festival.
However, in these seven months, my diet has turned so strict that I have had only three cheat meals and alcohol on two occasions — once on New Year’s and once in Macau. After the morning workout, my breakfast is a heavy carb affair — a big bowl of oatmeal with nuts or five slices of brown bread, eight egg whites with some veggies and some watermelon or papaya. At 11.30 am, I have a protein shake and a fruit. Lunch is pretty heavy. I love fish and its protein suits my body well, I have lots of it with greens. Around 4 pm, I have a light snack and at around 6 pm, I have four brown bread slices and four bananas before heading for my second workout. Dinner, usually by 9 pm, is loaded with protein as the body goes into repair mode at night.
When I was on a high-protein diet, I would look tired and lose a lot of weight on my face, due to lack of carbs. I would exercise like a maniac but wouldn’t put on the muscle. Getting the right carbs at the right time is vital. Being on a high-protein diet can take a toll on my kidneys. So I take multivitamin pills.
I don’t drink or smoke, as drinking shows on your face and body the following day and smoking kills your endurance. While breaking habits is hard, we learn to make healthy choices once we start valuing our bodies.
You need to understand that your body structure is not like anybody else’s. For instance, I stopped lifting heavy weights for shoulders for four months now because they grow significantly more than any other body part. That’s how my body type is.
Ultimately, staying in top shape is about understanding your body and doing what’s right for you. Be it the postures you stand and sit in or just your breathing, fitness makes you conscious of your personality and disciplines you. Making it a part of your everyday routine is one certain way of living the best life you can.
Source: TOI
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