My name is Paran, I am 28 years old from London and I work in the finance sector in the city. This means long working hours and a culture of drinking on a weekly basis: an unhealthy lifestyle that was going downhill fast.

I always enjoyed fitness and attempted to be healthy. I play a lot of sports – primarily 5-a-side and 7-a-side football once or twice a week. I even completed the workout routine ‘Insanity’ which helped me drop my weight to 72kg. On the other hand, my nutrition was atrocious. Not knowing how to cook would mean that I’d order takeaways 4+ times a week! I have a major sweet tooth and I loved to binge! When it came to food I would never know when to stop and would eat, not until satisfied but until I could barely breathe. Having low confidence and self-esteem, suffering from (social) anxiety and also being a chronic over-thinker, I’d always reach for things that would ‘make me feel better’, such as video games and alcohol. However, most often, I found comfort in overeating.

Things got worse when on three separate occasions I seriously damaged my ligaments in both ankles. This led me to being on crutches for a period of time, my activity levels fell but my eating habits stayed the same. I steadily kept putting on weight and before I knew it, I weighed 91.8kg. I realised I couldn’t keep playing football with the constant injuries to my ankle so started going to the gym instead. Progress was made, but at a very slow rate. I managed to drop about 7kg over the course of 11 months but felt like I wasn’t making enough progress.

Then I heard about RNT Fitness. My brother had been a part of RNT for a number of months and had lost a serious amount of weight. The results were great and after a lot of toing and froing, I finally decided I needed to be a part of it myself. My girlfriend, Suraj Sandhu and I both joined at the same time as we felt going through this journey together would make it easier and would add that extra layer of accountability. It definitely did and we’re so glad that we did it!

What a great company Akash and Co. at RNT have built! Everything about it makes it a much better environment to achieve your goals. Right from the beginning with the application, I felt that there was a personal touch to the whole process. A tailored weight training and nutritional plan was made for me, taking into account all aspects of my lifestyle including injuries and working life. The phasic nature of the process really impressed me and helped me learn and understand my body more than ever. The process has taught me many skills such as the importance of consistency, accountability, time management, focus (on what is really important and what matters to me) and has even helped me learn how to cook and understand what is healthy and what isn’t. The knowledge I’ve gained on nutrition has especially benefited me. The family-like community on Facebook is amazing and ensures that you always have the support from people going through the same thing as you who really understand. The extensive content available for reading and listening can always keep you busy and especially helped through all of the long walks I went on. Even the library of videos were a massive help whenever I needed it and are seriously beneficial for beginners who are just starting out in the gym. Most importantly, the relationship you build with the RNT team is great. Although you may not meet them, the ability to contact them at least once a week or whenever you have a problem or issue was a major factor in my journey.

There have been so many ups and downs over the past 5 months. Setbacks such as not having a working kitchen to cook and prep my meals (Suraj was a major help here), a two week all-inclusive holiday where I put on over 5kg, a minor procedure that meant I could not weight train for a month, all the comments you get from family and friends and the lapses in my will power where I went off plan when I was struggling with the diet. Still I pushed through because as soon as I started seeing the results, I was hooked, and I knew progress was being made.

At the end of the fat loss phase, I had lost over 21kg in 21 weeks, leaving me in the best shape I have ever been in my life. I’ll be honest, it is not easy by any means but definitely worth it! If it were easy, everyone would be doing it! I’ve come out with increased confidence in myself and as a changed man. I really feel like a new person and am in a better position both mentally and physically.

These coaches are professionals in their industry and know their stuff, so it made sense to employ their services for what they dedicate their lives to. It’s taken a lot of the thinking away for me but has enabled me to learn and grow over this period. It has been an absolute pleasure so far and I am looking forward to progressing through the next phases of building muscle to achieve the physique I’ve always wanted.

A massive thank you to Suraj Sandhu and everyone at RNT, without whom I would never have been able to achieve what I have!