Raghu didn’t have a “rock bottom”.

He was… fine.

Still going to the gym. Still busy. Still functioning.

Still telling himself the same comforting story lots of high performers tell: “I’m not that bad.”

And then, one day, a message came through that quietly wrecked that narrative.

A friend sent him photos from a photoshoot. Six-pack. Shredded. Unrecognisable.

This wasn’t a fitness influencer.

This was someone Raghu had known for nearly 20 years.

Someone he’d trained with hundreds of times and built a company with.

Raghu remembers exactly what made it sting:

He was sitting down eating pizza… while looking at proof that the “I’m fine” story was a lie.

And in that moment, a new question arrived sharp, simple, and impossible to ignore:

“Why can’t I be that person?”

A couple of weeks later, in January, Raghu signed up.

And before long… He was 40lb lighter.

Leaner than he’d been in years.

And feeling better in life as a dad, as a partner, and as a business owner.

This is how he did it.

Raghu is the kind of person who knows how to work.

He’s an entrepreneur, has two kids and spends time on calls that start when most people are still drooling into their pillows.

At one point in the interview, he casually mentions doing calls at 3 am because work stretches across Europe, India, and North America. Sometimes the trade-off was sleep.

And that’s the thing about “busy”: it doesn’t usually kick the door down.

It slips in through the side.

Raghu’s weight gain didn’t come from one bad month. It came from years of small compromises:

• Tracking macros less and less
• “Going to the gym” but not training with a plan
• A creeping five or ten pounds a year
• Stress piling up from life events (including divorce)
• A slow shift in priorities until being lean wasn’t even something he reached for anymore

Before he knew it, he was hovering around 170–185lb for years.

At 5’7, it wasn’t just “a bit of fluff”.

It was that feeling of knowing you’re not at your best while pretending you don’t care.

The irony is, he’d already done this once before.

Here’s what makes Raghu’s story even more interesting:

He’d had a full transformation 15 years earlier.

Back in 2010, he went from 185 to 140lbs.

So it wasn’t knowledge or genetics.

He wasn’t thinking, “I don’t know what to do”.

There was just no system.

“When you’re gaining, your mindset changes. You get a little sloppy. And then you look up one day and think, “How did I end up here again?”

This time, he was trying to make sure this never happened again.

The Plan That Worked

His resting heart rate went from the 60s down to 40s.

(That’s an internal change you can’t fake with lighting.)

The early months felt smooth because Raghu started at a weight where even 2,000 calories created fat loss.

Raghu picked a deadline and booked a photoshoot.

He worked backwards from it… and when things got hard (as they always do at the end), the deadline did the talking.

He even timed the shoot for two days before his 40th birthday.

Business, Fatherhood, and Identity

Raghu always saw entrepreneurs as being extreme: either all-in with systems or completely neglected.

And for years, he’d been in the neglected camp. He was still lifting, still “doing health things”, but without structure.

As he focused on his health journey, he noticed shifts that hit every part of his life as a business owner.

His improved energy and confidence had a direct correlation with business performance.

How you show up changes everything:

• your enthusiasm
• your optimism
• your presence
• the first impression you give on calls
• the consistency in your decision-making

He saw it reflected in his metrics: lower resting heart rate, better stress management, more awareness.

Staying lean and getting stronger

Raghu wants slow progress. Staying lean, gradually adding muscle, building strength.

Since the photoshoot, he’d gained about 4–5lb, intentionally.

He also has a real-life motivator now because he’s getting married next October!

He has a long runway to stay in a strong range, which is exactly how you prevent the rebound that gets so many people.

He’s even considering another photoshoot (maybe a couples one) because the formula he found works long term.

“Just get started. Don’t think about it too much. Sign up.”

Everything changed for Raghu at the moment he invested.

Raghu won because he built a structure that didn’t require motivation.

You can still build a body and a life you love. Book a call with our team if you want to achieve the same.