Divya had been struggling to lose her pregnancy weight after her 2nd child was born. 

After joining a gym and trying to control her dieting she made some progress. However, she found it hard to sustain when she was away on holiday or during celebrations like festivals and birthdays. 

Knowing she needed more guidance if she hoped to reach and maintain her fitness goals, she joined RNT. 

1. What were the series of moments that led to your “trigger” moment to begin your journey with RNT? 

In March 2020, my second son was born.  During this pregnancy I gained a significant amount of weight. Balancing two young children under the age of 2 made it difficult for me to find time to work out and lose the baby weight. 

Prior to having kids, I maintained a weight of around 52-54 kgs. But post-baby, I found myself at 65kgs. In July 2020, I started working out more regularly. But I took it easy due to SI joint issues during and after pregnancy. By then, I had managed to bring my weight down to about 63kgs.

Unfortunately, my motivation to stick to a strict exercise routine waned when my mom passed away in December 2020. 

It wasn’t until July 2021, when I realised my son was already a year old, that I decided

to take action. I joined F45 and aimed to go to the gym at least 3-4 times a week. By December 2021, my weight had only slightly decreased to around 61kgs, despite consistent exercise and minimal changes in my nutrition.

As my son’s second birthday approached, I began feeling frustrated that I hadn’t made significant progress and the weight could no longer be attributed solely to “baby weight.” 

Disheartened by the fact that my clothes didn’t fit, I intentionally refrained from buying new ones, not wanting to accept this new size. Eventually, I ended up wearing the same outfits repeatedly. It was then that I made the decision to start meal prepping and maintain a consistent schedule at F45.

From January to August 2022, I managed to go from around 61kgs to 53kgs through my own dedication and discipline. 

I initially followed a strict nutrition plan from January to March, which resulted in more rapid weight loss. However, after my son’s second birthday in March and with the arrival of summer, I eased up a bit. In August 2022, I went on a 10-day all-inclusive trip and allowed myself to indulge without restraint. While I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I returned home about 2kgs heavier and maintained that weight afterwards.

During the fall, with Halloween, Diwali, and Thanksgiving, my weight slowly increased from around 55kgs to 57kgs. I realised that this was becoming my new baseline weight and it prompted me to seek a different approach. 

I had previously heard about RNT and had initially considered it for my husband’s birthday in November. However, since he had injured his shoulder at that time, I decided it would be right for me.

2. What were your biggest problems before starting RNT?

I realised that my baseline eating habits are generally fine for maintaining weight as I’m not really an overeater. However, when travelling or during indulgent times (like the holidays, etc) I give myself a pass and this is when I tend to put on weight. 

And given that we travel reasonably often, this was becoming problematic since after having kids we are not as physically active during our travel as we previously used to be when we travelled without them. 

I also realised that I did not push myself during workouts. I was going to F45 consistently but I was certainly not pushing myself to the limits in terms of the weights I was using. 

3. What has the process been like, and the biggest challenges and obstacles? 

The process phase has been gruelling. On some level I still feel slightly like I didn’t fully accomplish it as I never fully realised the 108 goal and ended up stopping at 110. 

So I think that constant feeling of not being good enough with adherence was challenging as I have a type A personality and want to check off all the boxes. But sometimes I could not check off certain boxes because I just couldn’t stay away from snacking. 

Reducing the snacking for me was the hardest for sure. I think also having family members not quite fully understand what I was trying to achieve and why I was doing it as well was really hard. To continue to hear the same, “Oh! you should be done by now!” and my father becoming concerned that I was developing an eating disorder, made it harder still! 

I love my food and I would never have an actual eating disorder but there were moments when I felt like maybe I am taking this too far. 

But I realised this is not the way I would ever live long term and was really just for me to be able to feel like I achieved this difficult feat. 

Another obstacle was also not having my husband always understand the importance of keeping stuff out of the house to help me to avoid the snacking given that was one of my biggest vices. 

4. How has the physical been the vehicle?

Feeling physically fit and looking good has certainly helped me feel more confident in my appearance. When we went on vacation I felt good in my swimsuits which I never generally do and I didn’t always feel the need to be in my cover ups. I also had my husband take a picture of me in my swimsuit every day to remember that I once did look like this! Which again I would never normally do because I generally did not love the way my body looked. So to feel so confident in my appearance is definitely new for me. 

5. What almost kept you from joining? 

The cost to be honest. It’s certainly something that we can afford but it didn’t seem like something that was “worth” that much money. But now of course I recognize that the consistency, guidance, and high level of commitment demanded by the coaches really is worth the money.