Taapsee Pannu opens up on the obsession with a 'flat stomach', tells girls to stop comparing their bodies: 'It's important to have that bit of fat'

Taapsee Pannu, who was recently seen in Assi, has opened up about society’s fixation on achieving a perfectly flat stomach, urging women not to put themselves through unhealthy extremes in pursuit of unrealistic beauty standards.Taking to her Instagram Stories on Sunday, Taapsee reflected on her own struggles with body image and revealed how she once pushed herself excessively in an attempt to get rid of lower belly fat.She said, “I had to speak about this obsession of having a flat midriff. 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. I worked out intensely almost to an extent that I over pushed myself and rightly said over pushing rings an alarm in your brain that your body needs protection. So, instead of actually losing water retention the body starts retaining it and then that lower belly fat, which is actually might not just be fat, it’s also water retention, it stays and it increases by over working out which I really believe people should not do".The actress stressed that women’s bodies function differently and are constantly influenced by hormonal fluctuations, making it unrealistic to expect the same appearance every day.She continued, “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 it happens and there are some days it doesn’t happen. My nutritionist Munmun Ganeriwal explained it to me how it’s actually important to have that little bit of fat, a little bit of water retention under the belly because that’s where your reproductive organs are and they need protection and by virtue of being a woman you need that protection".Encouraging women to prioritise health over social media ideals, Taapsee emphasised that a small amount of fat and water retention around the lower abdomen serves an important purpose.“It is 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 bulge and to have that little bit of fat there. Please don’t torture yourself", she added.