Read this 16 week journey to getting into the shape of her life
When Anand first approached RNT, he had just recovered from fracturing his foot and had decided to set himself the challenge of getting into the best shape possible. At the same time, he persuaded his wife Gita to join the challenge too. By embarking on the transformation together, they could keep each other motivated, accountable and hopefully get fit together!
They had ambitious goals.
Anand told me he wanted to be in the best shape of his life at 43 and obtain a physique similar to Brad Pitt in ‘Fight Club’.
Gita said she wanted to get fitter, stronger, and leaner, and ideally have a ‘6 pack’ after having two kids – if that was at all possible!
At the same time, neither wanted a ‘quick fix’. They wanted to become educated in not only how to get results, but how to sustain them for life.
As ever in typical RNT fashion, we’re going to break these transformations down and dissect what exactly we did to get Anand and Gita into the shape of their lives.
In part one, we’re going to start with Gita…
Starting Point
Since giving birth to her two children, Gita had been unable to completely regain her previous shape, while balancing raising her children and working a busy job.
Over the past three years, she had tried various changes to her diet as well as different workouts but struggled to find something that 1) she could stay consistent with, 2) would get her complete results and 3) provide a long term solution.
Prior to starting at RNT, here’s what she was following:
Training – On average 4 times a week of different home DVD workout routines, which were mainly cardio based (e.g. T25, Insanity Max 30, 21 Day Fix Extreme etc.)
Cardio – As detailed above
Diet – Her diet wasn’t too bad on paper, but where she was going wrong was improper portion control and a few too many sweet snacks!
Starting Bodyweight – 114lbs
Starting Umbilicus Measurement – 78cm
“I was persuaded by my husband Anand to embark on this transformation program with RNT and I accepted the challenge! Although I had lost most of my ‘baby weight’ since having my second child, I hadn’t been able to regain my previous toned and leaner shape and I never actually thought it would be possible to really do so after having kids. This was despite working out with home DVD programs at least 3-4 times a week and eating a relatively ‘clean’ diet about 70% of the time. I’d seen the case studies and testimonials on the RNT website and decided I would take the challenge to see if I could get these results too. My goals were to get fitter, stronger and leaner (and a 6-pack or close enough would be a bonus too!).”
Initial Changes
To start Gita off, here’s what we did:
Training – We started with 3 days a week of weight training, using full body workouts. Gita wanted to train at home to save time, so the workouts were all dumbbell and barbell based (she also had an adjustable bench, bands & a pull-up bar). The focus for these sessions was to get strong!
Diet – Her starting macros were as follows:
| Protein | 120g |
| Fat | 60g |
| Carbs | 100g |
They wanted something they could follow without thinking for 80-90% of the time, and then use the RNT tracker to make small changes when they fancied something different. The meal plan was similar for both Anand and Gita (with different amounts of course!), so they could batch cook meals together and be prepared ahead of time.
Here’s an example of one of their batch cooks:
Meal prep is often synonymous with boring, tasteless food, but Gita used a variety of recipes to keep her food interesting on a weekly basis.
| Meal 1 | 2 Large Whole Eggs, 40g Oats with Unsweetened Almond Milk |
| Meal 2 | 20g Whey, 20g Almond Butter, 2 Rice Cakes |
| Meal 3 | 100g Chicken Breast, 30g Rice, 2 Teaspoons E-V Olive Oil, Greens |
| Meal 4 | 20g Whey, 20g Almond Butter, 2 Rice Cakes |
| Meal 5 | 100g Chicken Breast, 30g Rice, 2 Teaspoons E-V Olive Oil, Greens |
Gita doesn’t eat lamb or beef, and wasn’t a big fan of fish, so we used chicken as our main source of ‘solid’ protein. By using similar protein and sources, it makes meal prep super simple too.
Supplements – Here’s what we used to begin with:
| Whey Protein | (Reflex) | As per meal plan |
| Vitamin D3 | (Reflex) | 2000IU with breakfast |
| Creatine Monohydrate | (Reflex) | 5g with any shake |
| Fish Oil | (Aliment) | 1 tbsp with breakfast |
If you’re a woman reading this wondering why creatine, check this article out here.
Cardio – At the end of each workout, there was 5-10 minutes of HIITT using exercises like mountain climbers and thrusters on a 30 second on/ 30 second off protocol.
There was no traditional cardio, just a daily step target of 10,000 everyday. This was from general day to day activity – for example, walking instead of taking a bus, taking the stairs instead of an elevator etc. To read more strategies on how to drive your step count up, read this.
Week 1 – 113lbs
1lbs dropped in the first week – a good start.
No changes to training, diet, supplementation or cardio.
Week 2 – 112lb
Another pound dropped this week
No changes to training, diet, supplementation or cardio.
Week 3 – 109lbs
Big drop in bodyweight this week – Gita’s metabolism was kicking into gear, and the progressive weight training combined with the 100% consistency with the diet was paying off.
Gita had quite a few socials in week 2 and 3, but made simple ‘buffers’ in her day to make sure that her calorie intake was correct. For example, reducing fats from almond butter during the day in anticipation of higher fats at dinner.
No changes to training, diet, supplementation or cardio.
Week 4 – 108lbs
Another pound down!
At this point both Anand and Gita had a trip to Bournemouth for 3 days. While out there, we dropped their meal frequency to 3 times a day, and focused on making good choices, and using the principles of travelling outlined here.
No changes to training, diet, supplementation or cardio.
Week 5 – 109lbs
After the trip to Bournemouth, Gita was up a pound. Not a disaster, and I suspect it was because of different food choices affecting scale weight.
This week we made two changes.
The first was to increase the step target to 12,000 a day.
The second was to introduce some quick 10 minute abs circuits 2-3 days per week on her current days off weight training.
Changes to be implemented: Steps up to 12,000 a day, 2-3 abs circuits per week.
No changes to diet or supplementation.
Week 6 – 108lbs
Back to pre-Bournemouth weight, and back on track!
No changes to training, diet, supplementation or cardio.
“So this week had been much harder than previous weeks – I’d been feeling really hungry and tired. I think this had been partly due to a few nights of really poor and disturbed sleep (it’s not always easy to get enough sleep with young kids!). Also I don’t think it helped that it was my ‘time of the month’ last week so I was feeling achy, drained and just craving sugar (especially chocolate!). I was therefore pretty knackered by Sunday (which unfortunately was reflected in the fact that it was the first time in the process that I didn’t meet my step target!)”
Week 7 – 107lbs
After a difficult previous week, Gita was feeling much better the following week. Despite celebrating Anand’s birthday with a meal out, she was still making progress and another pound down.
She was doing well but we still wanted to start pushing a little harder now. Across all days, fats were dropped by 10g, and on the days she wasn’t weight training, we dropped the morning oats (25g carbs). These became her new macro targets:
| Training day | Rest day | |
| Protein | 120g | 120g |
| Fat | 50g | 50g |
| Carbs | 100g | 75g (-25g) |
We also pushed the steps up to 14,000 a day.
Changes to be implemented: Drop fats by 10g everyday, introduce carb cycling with 120P, 50F, 100C on training days, and 120P, 50F, 75C on rest days. Increase steps to 14K.
No changes to training or supplementation.
Week 8 – 106lbs
Things were really starting to tighten up now, as Gita was down 8lbs in 8 weeks.
At the same time, hunger was beginning to pick up on rest days, and those dark chocolate cravings were beginning to appear!
But the focus was as high as ever, and we were heading in the right direction!
The only change this week was to push steps up another 1000 so she was now targeting 15,000 steps a day.
Changes to be implemented: Increase steps to 15K.
No changes to training, diet or supplementation.
“I was really surprised at how quickly the first 8 weeks had passed. It took us a couple of weeks initially to get organised with the meal prepping and to get into the rhythm of planning our meals etc. It also took me a few weeks to get familiar with the resistance training since I wasn’t used to this type of training and it was all very new to me! But after this initial stage, we were really enjoying the process and starting to see real results by the end of week 8, which really helped keep motivation up!”
Week 9 – 106lbs
Pictures were looking better and better each week now.
We made one change this week, dropping carbs by 25g every day – these drops were spread across the day.
| Training day | Rest day | |
| Protein | 120g | 120g |
| Fat | 50g | 50g |
| Carbs | 75g (-25g) | 50g (-25g) |
Changes to be implemented: Reduce carbs by 25g everyday.
No changes to training, supplementation or cardio.
Week 10 – 105lbs
Another pound down, and the carb reduction last week was paying dividends. Motivation was sky high, and results were beginning to really show now.
Social events were picking up with Diwali around the corner, but with buffers in place and strategic tweaks to the diet, we planned to continue making progress throughout.
Week 11 – 105lbs
Weight held steady this week, but with loads of Diwali events over the week, this was a win. Anyone who knows the amount of food that goes around here knows that maintaining weight is progress!
Both Anand and Gita started to consider booking in a photoshoot, taking their results to the next level.
Gita was looking great, but we wanted to push hard and see if we could get the abs out, and look into possibly beginning to embrace the #VaghelaGrind!
Gita also wanted to start working towards achieving her first chin-up, so we changed the training to specialise on this, using principles outlined here.
Training was still at home, and at three days a week.
Changes to be implemented: New chin up specialisation split
No changes to diet, supplementation or cardio.
Week 12 – 104lbs
Another pound down, and Gita’s focus and motivation was still super high, despite hunger fluctuations becoming more prevalent.
At this point I wanted to add more focused steady state cardio into the mix, and while Gita couldn’t leave the house in the morning or late evening (because of young kids), I suggested some ‘home LISS’. This would involve walking up and down the stairs for 20 minutes 3 times a week after her 10-minute ab circuits.
In addition to this, we pushed the daily step target to 16,000 a day. We also made pushes on the diet by dropping fats by 5g everyday.
Her diet was now as follows:
| Training day | Rest day | |
| Protein | 120g | 120g |
| Fat | 45g (-5g) | 45g (-5g) |
| Carbs | 75g | 50g |
Changes to be implemented: Dropped fats by 5g everyday, increase steps to 16K, in addition to three 20 minute LISS sessions on rest days.
No changes to training or supplementation.
Week 13 – 103lbs
I was happy with how things were progressing, so kept everything the same this week.
No changes to training, diet, supplementation or cardio.
Week 14 – 104lbs
Toughest week by far for Gita. No slip ups at all but with the weather changing for the worse, time of the month, and overall grinding of the diet, it was getting tough!
We didn’t make any changes this week, and instead told Gita to email RNT daily with updates on both body weight and mood to keep an eye on her.
Three days later she sent us an email - she’d dropped 2lbs and could now see her abs without having to tense them!
The appeal of a photoshoot was beginning to grow too…
No changes to training, diet, supplementation or cardio.
Week 15 – 102lbs
No changes to training, diet, supplementation or cardio.
Week 16 – 103lbs
Gita picked up an illness this week so weight was bouncing up and down a little. Photos were looking great though, and she was almost at peak condition to jump in on Anand’s shoot!
For one final diet push before the shoot, fats dropped a further 5g and carbs came down by 25g everyday. We kept steps and cardio the same.
| Training day | Rest day | |
| Protein | 120g | 120g |
| Fat | 40g (-5g) | 40g (-5g) |
| Carbs | 50g (-25g) | 25g (-25g) |
Changes to be implemented: Dropped fats by 5g everyday, and reduced carbs everyday by 25g.
No changes to training, supplementation or cardio.
Final Week
We didn’t do anything fancy in the final week, as there was no need to.
With the shoot on Wednesday, this is what we did:
Diet: Kept this the same from Thursday to Monday, as per above guidelines. On the day before (Tuesday), we increased calories to 120P, 55F, 100C.
Training: Kept as normal till the shoot, with a rest day placed on Tuesday
Cardio: From Saturday, we dropped the LISS and HIIT, and began to taper steps from 16K to 10K.
On Wednesday morning, we just rolled with the same breakfast as Tuesday, no special tricks needed.
Final Stats / Testimonial
Final Bodyweight: 100lbs
Final Umbilicus Measurement: 70cm
Gita continued to drop during the final week and ended up at an all time low of 100lbs.
These were her final comparison pictures:
Next Plan?
Get strong! She’s closing in on her first chin-up, and the aim is to get to 5 reps by her 40th birthday in a few month’s time!
Here’s what Gita has to say about his overall experience with RNT Fitness:
“So having been persuaded by my husband to embark on a fitness program with RNT (couples that train together stay together lol!) I must admit I’ve been blown away at how much you can really achieve with the RNT’s coaching and guidance. My goals were to get fitter, stronger and leaner and I definitely feel RNT has helped me achieve all those things and more. I have gone beyond what I hoped and achieved what I felt was impossible (e.g. toned abs after having children!).
RNT created an individually tailored program consisting of resistance training, cardio, nutrition and supplementation – the level of detail was far beyond what I expected and everything was backed up by scientific knowledge and their extensive experience. They were always available for any questions. Within weeks, I felt fitter and stronger and was starting to look leaner.
The journey hasn’t been easy by any means – it’s taken dedication, a lot of organisation and hard work but it’s definitely been worth it. It’s been tough juggling family life, work, socials etc but by being organised and making some lifestyle changes (e.g. getting up at 6am to fit in a workout before the kids get up or walking to work to get my steps in), I’ve been able to stay consistent and stick to the program as much as possible.
I’m hoping to continue the RNT journey, to get even fitter and stronger and be in the best shape of my life when I hit the big 4-0 in a few months!
If you’re looking to improve your physique and get results, look no further than RNT. I can’t recommend them highly enough.”
