Former beauty queen and actress Gul Panag, who feels Bipasha Basu and Akshay Kumar are Bollywood’s fitness icons, says girls should stop running behind size zero and simply focus on being fit. 

“I don’t understand the relationship between size zero and a fit body. Fitness is that if your car breaks down and you can easily walk four to five km without tiring out, or if you can pick a heavy bag without complaining about your back … fitness is not necessarily about being skinny,” Gul told reporters here. 

The 32-year-old also gave out some fitness tips. 

“People should focus on strength and endurance, and shouldn’t run after size. The girls want to get smaller, the boys want to grow bigger but what’s important in fitness is that you have strength and stamina because there’s no fitness without it,” she added. 

While a lot of people rave about Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif’s slim waist, Gul said Bipasha was the fittest among all. 

“I think Bipasha is very fit. A lot of people feel being slim is being fit. But there is a big difference between being fit and being slim. Being fit means you should have endurance level and have stamina … and if in Bollywood, there are any two people who are genuinely fit, they are Bipasha Basu and Akshay Kumar,” she said.