This couple put in all their effort and lost a combined weight of 80lbs

The greatest gift you can give to yourself and everyone closest around you is the power of health.

The benefits are life long, and transcend far beyond the physical improvements in your body. Through acquiring improved body composition and health, you’re unlocking higher levels of clarity, confidence and in the case of the Rabheru’s: closeness as a family.

It can be life changing when you embark on a transformation journey and enjoy the fruits of your labour. It can be life changing on a generational level when you go on the same journey as a family.

That’s what the Rabheru’s did in the second half of 2018. They achieved what they thought was impossible: they got into the shape of their lives, reclaimed their health, and did it as a family.

It all started with Harps, who as a full-time studying mother of two, was looking into becoming a personal trainer. She wanted to fulfill her passion for health and fitness, and to be able to work around the kids.

Ever since giving birth to her second child (they are three years apart in age) ), she’d struggled to lose her excess baby weight (especially after two C-sections). She’d tried everything. She was jumping from program to program in search of the right solution for her busy lifestyle, but kept falling short on her progress. She admired women with lean and athletic physiques and aspired to be like them. But she didn’t quite believe she could ever get there herself.

In order to show her future clientele as a personal trainer that she could walk the walk, she decided to take the plunge with us as a last ditch effort. She’d been following us for a while but was still quite sceptical, when she saw a friend transform with us, she was convinced and bit the bullet.

Harps said afterwards: “I am a full time mother to two girls, aged 3 and 6 years old. I am constantly in and out of the house dropping and picking my girls up from school and nursery and taking them to various after school activities as well as studying to become a personal trainer!

I have always been a very active person from a very young age and continued this into my adult life by going to the gym, running and doing yoga.

After having my second daughter I struggled to lose the baby fat and I tried various different training and eating programmes such as P90X and The Body Coach. Although I lost weight, it wasn’t enough of a weight loss for me and I didn’t get the results I was after. I have always admired those ladies that have a lean and muscular (not too muscular, but enough so it still looks feminine) physique and this is what I was aspiring to.

Having followed RNT for a while and doing a lot of research on becoming a personal trainer, it was a no brainer. I believe you have to walk the walk before you can talk the talk. Having said this, I was sceptical about RNT, could they really transform my body like the testimonials I was reading on their website?! I wasn’t initially convinced but decided to take this last plunge with my husband to see if I could achieve one of my goals and that was to achieve a lean and muscular physique.”

Harps managed to rope in her husband, Anand, although he was initially quite reluctant.

“I didn’t want to sign up but thought it would be good to go on this ride alongside my wife so signed us both up on the 3 month plan, I will be honest, I thought what a waste of money but something my wife wants to try so I may as well too but after 3 months I will cancel our plans and I will give up on trying to lose weight! Wow, how wrong was I?!?!”

Why was Anand so hesitant?

He’d had enough of trying. His own struggles stemmed from his injury history. In 2012, he had back surgery, this meant he stopped being active. His sedentary life coupled with lacklustre nutrition habits caused a significant slip in his body composition.

Ever since then, he’d been bouncing between various cookie cutter plans with no results at all. He was enjoying these plans, but the generic nature of them meant he kept tweaking his back, which would then lead to bingeing and poor dietary habits creeping in again. It was a vicious cycle.

Anand was craving accountability, a personalised plan and a lifestyle solution that addressed his biggest struggles. But it wasn’t until Harps pushed him that he jumped in, and realised how much he needed it.

And so the journey began.

In this case study, we’re going to dive deep into the Rabheru’s story, and how over the course of 6 months, they created life changing transformations to cultivate true generational health in their family.

Starting Points

Before starting with RNT, their stats were as follows:

Harps’ Starting Bodyweight & Waist: 53kg & 33 inches

Anand’s Starting Bodyweight & Waist: 92kg & 41 inches

They were both eating healthy recipes and foods 80% of the time, and for the other 20%, it was whatever they liked. This 20% was their downfall, which isn’t surprising. What they really wanted was an education, and to learn how to navigate around social occasions while still maintaining a healthy and lean body composition. In their previous efforts, they’d typically hide from the world in an effort to lose body fat, which never proved sustainable for them. The problem with cookie cutter plans is there’s no scope for real life, or the ability to be coached through your individual busy lifestyle in order to create a blueprint that works for you. The Rabheru’s were on the right path now!

Laying the Foundation

We know that for effective coaching, you need strategy, communication and understanding with our members. This will always triumph over the new shiny object, the fancy workout, or the latest fad diet. Which is why the initial set up for Anand and Harps was simple. It was designed to create maximum return on investment, and enable them to implement it immediately. Execution is king when starting the journey, which is why phase one is coined ‘Cleaning The Palate’. When your goal is a lifestyle solution with a foundation of education, the best way to begin is through limiting decision fatigue, instilling habits and structure, and seeing initial results.

Anand - “From day one they were great. They gave us so much information and guided us along the way. RNT gave us an easy to follow meal plan and workout plan, they answered any questions we had quickly and efficiently.

I honestly started seeing results in week one. I was losing weight! Hold on, it’s not meant to work like this! I’m not meant to lose weight from week one!

Anyways, the weeks went on and the weight kept dropping! I was waking up ‪_at 5am daily to go to the gym before work! I didn’t think that would last one week but the results kept me motivated and this was becoming a routine, a good routine!”

Before adding lots of variety and being experimental with food, this phase of Cleaning The Palate is critical. It helps build the foundation through minimising decisions, and setting you up to unlock the next stage of the journey, the process phase.

Earning Your Stripes with the 3Ss

Over time the results kept on coming, although they had to face the daily challenges that life invariably throws up. During this period, Anand and Harps moved from a strict meal plan to our RNT Interactive Meal Planner to build more flexibility and variety into their day. They’d earned their stripes from phase one with structure, strategy and stability, which are the big 3Ss that allow you to be more flexible with your meal plan, while making sure you stay on the path. At this point, they had an all-inclusive holiday booked, which they said they wanted to enjoy. In most cases, this would cause alarm bells: would they be able to maintain their gains so far. In fact, had this come at an earlier part of their journey, it may not have been able to stay consistent. Their well defined 3Ss meant it was no longer an obstacle.

The Rabheru’s were learning more and more about food. They were beginning to develop an education from the RNT Interactive Meal Planner and were able to make strategic decisions when the time called for it. They smashed it. Harps maintained her bodyweight, and Anand only gained 1kg, which was quickly followed up with a 2kg loss the week after.

Weathering the Storm

Unfortunately for the Rabheru family, the trivial struggle of what to eat at the all-inclusive holiday was the least of the family’s challenges. Anand received some terrible news about a close family member which in most cases, would be enough to totally derail any type of transformation and zap all headspace.

Their reaction was completely the opposite. They doubled down on the strategy and the process, and made plans that would help them navigate this trying period. We made some flexibility calls regarding calories while still ensuring our overall goal was heading towards the results we wanted. During this time, we decided that slowing down the rate of fat loss in the coming weeks would be easier for Anand. It’s very important that in situations that are high in emotional decision making, we don’t run in the opposite direction to appease our emotional mindset. Food and alcohol will never appease the emotions you feel. Overcoming those feelings by going through the storm will result in acceptance and understanding, rather than feeding your emotional mindset by pacifying the issue through escapism.

Harps said, “It hasn’t been all easy from my side, especially when we’ve had family and social gatherings and you just want to indulge. The key thing for me was to continuously remind myself what my ultimate goal was, and also to use two critical motivators in the process: my two daughters. I wanted to show them that your dreams can become a reality, and nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it.”

This is powerful, and it’s during the storm that it’s so critical you know your why, and more importantly, the why behind your why. Whether it’s a personal challenge, to set an example for your children, to excel in a professional environment, or whatever it may be, if it’s strong enough, nothing will throw you off course.

Tough situations can be testing, which is also why their fat loss phase stretched out to 30 weeks. That may seem a long time for some, but a non-negotiable for both Anand and Harps was ensuring this was a lifestyle change, and not just a quick fix where they’d end up wasting their money and reverting back to the norm. As a result, the phasic approach we used was ever more critical, and several structured ‘diet breaks’ were introduced to tackle and ride through the storm of outside challenges.

Social Stigmas

Arguably the most frustrating aspect of adopting a healthier lifestyle whereby you spend time improving your body composition is the social backlash that often comes with it. Unfortunately, a healthier lifestyle is still frowned upon by the masses, and while we hope we can start to create a shift here, there’s still a way to go.

This can be testing when you’re on the receiving end of snarky remarks and comments. Harps went through this, and she said after: “I had to keep reminding myself that this is not a diet but a lifestyle change, which many people don’t understand. I have a lot of people now asking me ‘when are you going to come off your diet?’ or telling me to ‘stop dieting now’, and I feel like I have to educate them. I tell them it’s not a diet but a real lifestyle change for me.”

It’s all about education, and through creating transformation in more people like the Rabheru’s, we hope they can use their results to help educate and inspire those around them.

Embracing Generational Health

In order to adopt a ‘crisis proof’ lifestyle approach to a transformation, and creating what we like to call at RNT ‘Generational Health’, being an example and setting up habits and strategies that include your children and/or family around you will cause a positive change in the environment you find yourself in.

We know that who we surround ourselves with and in which environment will play an important aspect of the decisions we make and the feelings we experience. This is even more so for children. By doing what the Rabheru’s have done, their two children will continue growing up seeing their parents look after themselves through healthy lifestyle habits of being more active, training and making good food choices. Even something as simple as having a fruit bowl in the house instead of a cupboard of biscuits, and then understanding the difference between the consumption of the two on a regular basis, can play a critical part in behavioural development and choices in the future.

On a more subconscious level with benefits they may not see, children will learn the benefits of exercise on mental health for their parents, the ability of their parents to age better with more mobility, and for them to reduce risks of any type of cardiovascular disease. This only skims the surface of what could be different in a family that doesn’t embrace healthy habits.

As Harps made clear, one of their key motivators was their children, and this was something they didn’t just do for themselves, but for their family.

Key Lessons to Learn

If there was one takeaway from the Rabheru’s story, it’d be to really understand why you want to transform. It all started with a dream for Harps to fulfil a personal goal, and to inspire her children. Her vision was always clear, and this carried everyone through the ups and downs that life can bring with it. Anand’s reason initially was very different, it was merely to support his wife in her journey. But what it evolved into was something similar to Harps. He wanted to learn how to build a lifestyle solution for his family to live healthier, and to push himself to achieve something he’d never done, all the while staying injury free. It all culminated in a photoshoot which was never planned until the very end, but ended up marking a significant victory for the family, and a base of foundation to build the next phase from.

Next plan?

After getting into awesome condition, the goal is to now go through the Consolidation phase to really crystallise the lifestyle habits, before shifting into the Investment phase, otherwise known as a lengthy muscle building period!

Stats & Pictures

Harps’ Leanest Bodyweight & Waist: 43kg & 26 inches

Anand’s Leanest Bodyweight & Waist: 66kg & 32 inches

Harps’ testimonial:

“I only ever dreamt of achieving this lean and athletic physique. I worked so hard to get here while working around my kids, studying and home life. It’s all been about being organised and prepping your meals in advance. It also helps that both me and my husband tend to have the same meal plan so that I am not cooking 3 different meals (the kids, my own and my husbands!)

I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be able to transform my physique to where I have, let alone do a photo shoot for any fitness company. So for me, this is a massive dream come true…and my journey has only just begun.

A big thank you to RNT for proving me wrong and believing in me If you’re looking to transform your body, I highly recommend RNT!”

Anand’s testimonial:

“I’ve always been into sports, playing and watching them ever since I can remember. But at the same time, I am someone who loves his food! I loved eating and I loved sports. Having a big belly has never really bothered me, but I didn’t like that my fitness wasn’t great. I wasn’t ever really into exercise as such, as in working out at the gym or running.

But 15 years ago, when I was 24 during a football match, I twisted my back and that pretty much ended sports for me for a long time! The rest of my 20s, I could barely play, sometimes barely walk! This was a real blow to me and those who knew me couldn’t believe that I didn’t play consistently anymore. I could play for a few weeks but then be out injured for a few months.

You name all the treatments for my back, I’ve had them. At the same time though, my appetite hadn’t gone down! I ended up having back surgery in 2012 and thought fantastic, I can get back onto the footy pitch! But the recovery wasn’t as quick and easy as that!

It took me a couple of years until I was back into the swing of things and enjoying the exercise side of life more. I had become a dad in this time and wanted to try and improve myself.

So I signed up to a couple of other exercise plans and I enjoyed them, I really did. But as these plans were off the shelf, I didn’t have any support or encouragement, and more importantly, any advice to help my back! So even though my back was still improving, I would have lapses that would keep me out of exercise for a few weeks, and then my binge eating and poor diet habits would creep back in.

During this time, I had been following RNT on Facebook but with no intention to join as I had wasted money on other plans and failed due to lack of results and poor discipline. But then I saw a friend of mine on RNT and the results he achieved. I thought to myself this could actually work. But I still didn’t sign up.

At the same time, my wife, after having had two kids, started exploring the idea of becoming a PT herself. She wanted to sign up to a plan to help her, 1) lose her excess mummy tummy and 2) allow her to see from the clients’ side how it feels. Whilst studying to become a PT, this could help her. As I had seen RNT had worked for a friend, I decided I would enquire about them for her. Akash gave me some information but also informed me there were just two more clients they were taking on for that period. I decided to sign my wife up but as I was doing that, I thought about me. I didn’t want to sign up but thought it would be good to go on this ride alongside my wife so signed us both up on the 3 month plan.

I will be honest, I thought to myself, ‘what a waste of money; it was something my wife wanted to try so I may as well too, but after 3 months I will cancel our plans and I will give up on trying to lose weight!’ Wow, how wrong was I?!?!

I honestly started seeing results in week one, losing weight! Hold on, it’s not meant to work like this! I’m not meant to lose weight from week one!

Anyway, the weeks went on and the weight kept dropping! I was waking up ‪at 5am daily to go to the gym before work! I didn’t think that would last 1 week but the results kept me motivated and this was becoming a routine, a good routine!_

We even had an all inclusive holiday booked prior to signing up with RNT but with the help, support and the education RNT gave us, we enjoyed our holiday to the max and I only came back 1kg heavier! After that, I was dropping 2kg a week for many weeks!!!

30 weeks into this plan and wow! 1st Jan 2018 I was over 15 stone. June 2018 I signed up with RNT and was just over 14 and a half stone! My photoshoot ‪was on 22nd December 2018 and I weigh less than 10 and a half stone! That is incredible! Friends and family don’t even recognise me!_

If you want a training programme where you are going to get support, get results, and what was really important for me - get an education. Look no further - RNT knows their stuff.

My back feels stronger, my energy levels are fantastic, I feel great, and my kids are loving how I look! So much for me looking to cancel my membership after 3 months! I can’t wait to see what the next year brings my way working with RNT!

But one negative point to note as I end my comments! Be warned, you will end up having to spend a lot of money on new clothes!!!! Nothing fits me anymore, but I will accept that and bow out by saying thank you RNT!”