Flat stomach obsession is something Taapsee Pannu now openly admits once controlled how she looked at her own body.

The Bollywood actor, recently seen in Assi , has spoken about growing up "extremely fit" yet feeling fixated on the bit of lower belly fat that never seemed to go away.

In a recent Instagram Story, she said she worked out "intensely, almost to an extent that I overpushed myself", chasing a perfectly flat midriff that her body simply resisted.
She explained that the more she pushed, the more her body held on to water, making the lower belly bulge even more visible rather than less.

Pannu described this phase as "really torturing" herself just to meet an image she saw on screens and social media.
She urged young women to stop comparing their bodies with others and to recognise that every body responds differently to exercise, stress and hormones.

The actor said it was only after speaking to her nutritionist, Munmun Ganeriwal, that she understood why the lower belly area does not stay flat all the time.
According to Pannu, Ganeriwal told her it is "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".
She added that women's bodies shift with hormonal changes, so expecting the waistline to look identical every day is unrealistic.

Pannu now frames that much-feared bulge as a sign of a functioning, protected body rather than a flaw.
"It is healthy for you, so just to get those picture-perfect Instagram pictures, please don't torture yourself," she said, repeating that some lower belly fat is "supposed to be" there.