Thinly disguised II

　　Once rama went to o's house for lunch and was told that she ate too much. In response, she went straight t o the gym and worked out for a vigorous 40 minutes at h igh speed on the treadmill. Then she went home and crie d in frustration.

　　"There are times i have survived on just mint drops for the whole day. I have skipped meals, avoided food, sometimes even binged on food and purged myself afterwa rds in guilt. I've done all this because i want to be c onsidered thin", o says, "rama, who is actuallly not ov erweight at all."

　　As a result of her severe diet and exercise regimen , rama has suffered from anaemia, painful and prolonged menstrual periods and depression. At the moment, she's being forced to take a break from strenous exercise due to a knee injury. She's worried this will make her put on weight. Fiona and rama are not alone in equating thi nness with beauty, goodness and happiness. As several f itness instructors, nutritionists, general medical prac titioners, endocrinologists, and psychatrists testify, there's a growing generation of young urbansied middle generation of young urbanised middle and uppermiddle cl ass indian woman who are increasingly getting obsessed with calorie counting and over-exercising in varying de gress, and sometimes with devastating consequences.