How Business Analyst and Mum of Two Anila Pandian Lost 30kg and Put Her Type 2 Diabetes Into Remission

“Weight loss has always been a challenge and mind block which I would like to remove. I would like to embrace and be comfortable with healthy food choices and not diet all my life. And be an example for my kids and friends around.” - Anila Pandian

She’d been carrying extra weight since she was 20, when she started working an office job in IT and spent most of her day sitting. Twenty years later, she was still stuck in the same cycle. She’d make progress for a few months, lose momentum, and end up back where she started.

Start: May 2022 - 93.6kg

Checkpoint: August 2025 - 63kg

30kg lost

20 Years of Knowing and Not Knowing What to Do

Anila had never had the knowledge to go with the intention. She’d walk in the mornings and assume the exercise would cancel out whatever she was eating. She had no idea what a macro was, no sense of calories, no structure. In her mind, being active was the same thing as being on track.

“I didn’t have the knowledge of it,” she says of that period. “I would try to do something and I thought that would compensate for whatever I’m eating.”

During her first pregnancy, she was diagnosed as type 2 diabetic. She went on medication, but the numbers never really moved. During COVID, she tried to piece together a diet from what little she knew, lost some weight, and came off medication after reaching the pre-diabetic range. It felt like a win, but she knew it wasn’t a fix.

Her second pregnancy, in 2021, was complicated. Her sugar levels meant she had to go on insulin, and her daughter was born premature. Anila spent the months after recovering from the birth and the health scares that came with it, but the decision had already planted itself.

“I knew that when she was growing up, I shouldn’t, I should have the energy to cope with her. I just had to do something about it.”

She’d heard about RNT through her friend and colleague Shwetha, whose own transformation had been, in Anila’s words, phenomenal. She didn’t doubt the programme. She doubted herself.

“I didn’t doubt the program, but I doubted myself when I started.”

What Almost Held Her Back

Two fears nearly stopped her from signing up. The first was the familiar one, whether she’d actually stay consistent this time or drop off like every other attempt before it. The second was about timing.

“I always had this thing, or is it too late to start a fitness journey? I’m already in my 40s. What am I going to gain by starting in my 40s?”

She joined anyway, in May 2022.

Finding Out She Was Already Eating Enough

The first surprise wasn’t the food itself, but how much of it there was.

“I was pleasantly surprised that I was on so many calories to start with,” she says. The difference wasn’t the amount. It was the structure behind it. “The calories could look like more, but it is the right thing I’m eating.”

Rather than fixate on an end goal, Anila kept her sights close. At 95kg, she didn’t let herself think beyond the next marker.

“All I thought was, I am at 95 kgs now. Let me at least get to the 80s. I didn’t think that I would be able to reach my ideal weight. In a way, that kind of helped me to move on with the journey.”

Two Years of Nearly All In

The first two years weren’t a straight line. Anila describes constant ups and downs, old habits she hadn’t fully let go of, and a running joke with herself about the sweet corn she’d convinced herself was still “on plan.”

“I did take a few things for granted,” she says. Evenings were the hardest. Snacking after putting her kids to bed, in front of the TV, became a pattern she couldn’t quite break.

Partway through, her father passed away from cancer. She travelled to India, and her plan slipped for a period while she was there.

“My dad passed away due to cancer, so I was in India for some time, and then the food and plan was not on track.”

Her husband, Pandian, also an RNT member, reached his own checkpoint before she did and went on to win a transformation award. Once he moved into consolidation, he became a source of guidance for her too, warning her about the phase before she got anywhere near it herself.

“He told me what are the things you should be wary of when you come into consolidation stage, because it’s quite a dangerous state to be in, which I’m going through right now.”

Watching him find that level of consistency became part of what pushed her to change her own approach. Toward the end of her third year, something shifted.

“It took two years, but that’s when I realized the actual meaning of all in. We say all in when we join RNT, but that’s the point I realized. I have to be 100% adherent to everything.”

Her coach asked her what had changed.

“I’ve had enough of me being inconsistent. I need to change myself, change my ways, and give myself that chance.”

The Photoshoot She Didn’t Think She’d Earned

With a family trip to India on the calendar, Anila set herself a deadline to complete her fat loss phase and book a photoshoot beforehand. The trip gave her something concrete to work backward from, and once it was booked, it became its own kind of accountability.

“That was kind of an extra motivation thing. I think booking in that photo shoot really helps me to stay on track.”

Even after doing everything asked of her, the self-doubt didn’t disappear.

“I was happy. I’ve come a long way. I have lost 30 kgs of weight. But I wasn’t sure if I’m going to look good in a photo, or if I’m good enough for a photo shoot. So I kept doubting myself on that.”

She’d seen the photographer’s usual portfolio beforehand, mostly fitness models and physique competitors, and worried she wouldn’t measure up. On the day, that worry didn’t hold.

“The photographer really made me feel comfortable. It didn’t treat me differently from the six-pack people.”

What got her through the nerves beforehand was knowing she’d held up her end.

“I felt, yeah, I’ve done 100% of what my coach has said, so that’s always in my hands.”

30kg Down, and a Diagnosis in Reverse

Anila’s type 2 diabetes, something she’d lived with for over a decade, is now in remission. No medication.

A blood test taken at her checkpoint confirmed it in numbers. Her HbA1c came back at 37 mmol/mol, comfortably inside the normal, non-diabetic range of 20 to 41, down a further 2 points from her previous test at the start of the year.

“I am also pleased to see my HBA1C count have reduced further by 2 points as compared to my previous test in Jan 2025, keeping me in remission with my Diabetes. Another kudos to you and RNT for helping me overcome this without any medication at all.”

But the bigger shift, in her own words, wasn’t the number on the scale.

“Earlier I felt like my body was bringing me down. But now I can rely on it.”

She went back to classical dance after leaving it behind for decades. She took on challenges she’d have written off before, climbing both Snowdon and Scafell Pike. She started planning weekends around hikes with friends instead of avoiding them. And the mindset spilled into places that had nothing to do with food.

“I could see a buffet with a hundred dishes. Earlier I would have thought I wanted to try every single dish. But now I just feel, no, it’s just five minutes of happiness. You don’t need to eat what is there.”

Her review, posted three years into her journey, put it simply:

“I have reached a peak condition in my health at 45 and never have felt or seen myself this way even in my 20s… For anyone contemplating joining RNT, whatever your goal is, I can with full confidence say that this programme will not just get you there but you will also experience a change inside out.”

Showing Up Differently as a Mum

Anila used to believe being a good mother meant being physically present every hour of the day. Having her second child changed that.

“Unless I prioritize myself, I’m not going to be able to do my best for her,” she says. “I thought, how am I going to fit my gym schedule? But then I realized I have to fit her schedule around my gym schedules.”

Her daughter, now four, tells everyone at nursery that she goes to the gym with her mum. She doesn’t. But she thinks she does, which says something about what she’s grown up watching.

What’s Next

Her husband’s warning about consolidation being “a dangerous state” has turned out to be accurate. Anila is currently focused on strength training rather than fat loss, working toward specific performance goals rather than a number on the scale.

“By next year this time I should look much more toned, much stronger, and be able to lift more on various exercises.”

She’s also working to build more flexibility into how she eats day to day.

“I want to get out of the measuring food.”

Staying consistent with nutrition remains her biggest ongoing challenge without a photoshoot or a trip forcing the pace, and she’s leaning on the same performance-goal approach that carried her through the final year of her fat loss phase.

Asked what she’d say to someone in the position she was in three years ago, her advice comes in two parts. Break the goal down rather than fixating on the total, and surround yourself with the right input along the way.

“What helped me was to break it down. Think about losing the first 5 kgs and then we’ll see what we do next.”

“Reading all those articles, listening to all these podcasts, all of that kind of helps and feeds you in the right direction.”

“I think all I have to say is if I can do it, anybody can do it. So anybody doubting themselves, I think you should just start this journey, whatever age you’re in and not have any of those mind blocks.”