Gaining Weight

Hello, i'm 18 and i'm a belly dancer, i perform in a lot of shows in my country, that is Mauritius. My problem is that, i'm a student and now in the exams period i don't have time to do my daily trainings. The problem is that i'm becoming more and more fatter and my daily joggings won't do. I'm desperate, i really don't have time for all dancing.

I sympathize and empathize with your feelings, but sometimes life intrudes on dancing and this is one of those times for you. So you gain weight during exams because you can't keep up your dance schedule- that's a pretty normal thing for your body to do. When your attention returns to dancing (if it does), you will likely lose the weight as soon as you go back to your daily trainings.

Obsessing about a weight gain is more damaging in the long run than the weight gain itself.

Not only is Shanazel dead on, you also gain less if you don't worry about it and know that your body is going to do this at exam time due to your schedule. Let it go and not only will you have more energy to devote to your studies, you'll feel better too.

You can make some simple changes to your regular meals without a lot of trouble that will make a big difference almost right away.

Try substituting non-breaded fish and seafood for meat and chicken. If you're really craving meat and fowl, chop up about half the amount you'd normally eat and do it with a lot of vegetables and spices. Have a big salad for at least one meal of the day (avoid a lot of dressing and stuff like croutons), limit your snacks to veggies and fruit, avoid alcohol and don't eat after 8 p.m. if you can help it (your metabolism tends to slow down at night).

Get some great spices and natural flavorings like vanilla so that you can add even more flavor to your food when it seems not very exciting.

Drink lots of water so your body won't retain more than it needs, and will feel full. Add a balanced vitamin/mineral supplement a couple times a day to fill in any nutritional gaps, and get a full night's rest whenever you can because that actually helps you to lose weight, too.

All of this will improve your digestion (so you're not hauling around a lot of food that's slow to go, if you know what I mean!), flush out toxins and make everything run along smoothly. You'll also feel more alert and energetic, which should help you in your exams. Good luck!