Q: I am a male of 45 years, my height is 69 inches and weight is 75 kg. I have breakfast at 10.15 am and then snack at 5.45 p.m. I go to play badminton at 6.45 p.m. and I play for almost 2 hours very rigorously. I come home and have dinner at 9 p.m. and go to sleep at 10.30 p.m. Please suggest whether this is the right way or not. I am following this practice since 7 years. I was 72 kg since 15 years but now I have gained 4 kg.

A:If you have been following the same exercise routine for the last 7 years, your body will get accustomed to the regimen and eventually not respond. You can shake the body out of this by regularly changing your exercise routine. So, for one month you follow one routine, another month change it drastically. Also including interval training in your cardio workouts, help in giving that extra boost. And although BMI, BMR and numbers on the scales are very fair indicators of your health, they should be looked at in relation to your age. Along with that, keeping a tab on the other numbers like your Resting Heart Rate, Recovery Rate, your total lipid profile, your body composition (fat to lean ratio) and your waist measurements (not more than 40" for men and 37" for women), waist-to-hip ratio and your BP also helps to keep your goal realistic. There seems to be a very large gap in your meal times between breakfast which you say is at 10.15 am and a snack at 5.45 pm. Do try and eat 4 to 6 small meals in a day to keep the metabolism going.