I work in Tech and my lifestyle for the past 20 odd years has been the stereotypical sedentary one - largely sat in front of my laptop for 8+ hours a day, very little exercising, and nothing that can be described as a balanced diet. I also used to pride myself on being something of a foodie, whatever that means. Having worked in London for many years, I used to relish the prospect of eating out every lunchtime and exploring the many many options London has to offer. The first thing I normally do when I book a holiday is to look for the best rated restaurants around the area. I also used to be partial to weekly rounds of beers with friends or work colleagues.

It is this lifestyle that has caused a few issues, some physical (digestive issues, big “beer belly”, etc.) and some related to self-esteem. I used to look at photos of myself and ask them to be retaken so that I could suck my tummy in and look slimmer. Somehow, it never occurred to me that I should do something about it. All of that changed when my young kids (8 year old daughter and 4 year old son) started playfully patting my stomach and joking that my tummy looked like Daddy Pig (from Peppa Pig). I realised that I couldn’t go on like this and that I wasn’t setting a good example for them.

Coincidentally, a good friend of mine, Dr. Manish Maheshwari, was about to run the London marathon around the same time and had undergone the RNT transformation. I took RNT’s contact info from him and after another round of my kids calling me Daddy Pig, I sent out the email asking if I could sign up.

I am happy to say that RNT has helped me over the past 6 months in completely transforming not just the way I look but also made me more active and more disciplined in my habits. I have learnt how to manage my relationship with food but also occasionally indulged, which is the exact opposite of what I used to do before - indulge almost every day and occasionally manage my relationship with food. He helped me understand the process of buffering in order to be able to eat out once in a while, but also educated me to not rely on it too much.

I don’t particularly like gyms and, having secured a job closer to where I live, I wanted to spend more time with my family. I spoke about this with the RNT team he set me up with a home training plan, which I have almost religiously followed for the past 6 months - long before everyone was forced to train from home due to the Coronavirus. I did finally decide to sign up for a gym a few weeks ago - mainly to add more variety to my training - but that lasted all of 2 weeks before the UK-wide lockdown made me go back to training from home. I’ll be honest, there is something very satisfying about the situation where your kids come up to where you are training and not only watch you but also help you count your reps! That coupled with them asking about why I keep eating so many green vegetables gives me a sense of hope that I am finally instilling the foundations of some good habits in them.

The other great thing about RNT is its community. I am not very active on Facebook (I do have an account but deleted the app from my phone a couple of years ago). However, I have visited the RNT community page a few times sneakily to get inspiration from the wonderful community and the occasional recipe tip. I believe that part of what makes RNT truly worthwhile is the community that they’ve managed to grow and retain.

In just 6 months, RNT has helped me lose around 16.5kgs in weight and 9 inches in umbilical measurement. I have gone from wearing size 36 jeans to size 30. The results have been so good that I extended my initial 6-month commitment to RNT because I cannot wait to see what I can achieve next.