How Business Owner and Dad of Three Neel Chandarana Lost 30kg, and Is Still 30kg Down 3 Years Later

Start: July 2023 - 90kg

Checkpoint: March 2024 - 60kg

Weight loss: 30kg lost (~66lbs)

3 years later (2026): Still maintaining and living in the sweet spot

Neel’s third child was born on a Thursday, and he started his RNT programme the following Monday.

His wife Serena wasn’t happy about the timing. “Why are you doing this without me? Can’t you wait until I’ve finished the first six months?”

His reasoning was practical. With a newborn in the house there would be no social plans or nights out, so fewer things would get in the way of a workout or a meal.

Turning 40 With Bad Numbers and a Third Kid on the Way

Neel had been going to the gym for most of his adult life, and for most of that time his cholesterol had been coming back high. As 40 got closer, those two facts started to bother him more than they used to.

“I’d always been someone who went to the gym, but it was a combination of those two things where I was like, do you know what, I need to do something which is different to what I’ve done before, because I’ve done so many things in the past, but nothing had been sustainable for me.”

He’d spent ten years in finance in the City before opening a small chain of beauty salons in Surrey. With a third child on the way, his reasons for wanting to change had become personal.

“I want to sort out my health, reduce my cholesterol. And the second thing was I wanna be alive when my kid is older. I wanna get in the best possible physical shape and maintain that for the rest of my life.”

“That’s basically been the story of the last 15 years of my life until I joined RNT.”

What Almost Held Him Back

Because he’d been training his whole life, Neel assumed a coaching programme wouldn’t have much to teach him.

“What almost kept me from joining, I think it’s thinking, oh, I know it all already, because I’ve always been to the gym. I can control what I eat, I’m the one putting it in my mouth. I’m still going to the gym. I’ve always been active my entire life. So it was like, what are they gonna do that’s different?”

He reckons it took him about two years to get past that way of thinking.

“That was the big obstacle, and it actually probably took me about two years to actually figure that out. The thing that probably made me do it was that nothing I was doing was working. So it was like, let’s try something new.”

Once he joined, some of what he thought he knew turned out to be wrong. He’d worked on Romanian deadlifts with a personal trainer for years and was still doing them incorrectly.

“Even now, the biggest thing has been my form on a lot of the exercises. Like RDLs, I had a personal trainer in the gym, I was still doing it wrong. It’s all about form and technique over what you’re lifting. You’re better off doing half that weight, but just doing it properly.”

The Monday After

Neel expected the newborn stage to take care of the social side. He also knew how easy it is to let nutrition and training slip when you’re short on sleep.

“I knew it was gonna be easier for me to do it then, because I wouldn’t have those social occasions. But the second thing for me was, when you’re tired, that’s when it’s very easy to kind of go off the rails on nutrition and go to the gym less. So for me, it was RNT that gave me the foundation to give myself that extra push.”

He didn’t meal prep at any point. Every meal was cooked fresh, usually in under fifteen minutes. A typical dinner was an air-fried jacket potato that tasted like it had been in the oven for two hours, with a fillet of cod or sea bass seasoned with black pepper and a little sriracha. The fish took about twelve minutes, and Serena ate the same meal.

Dinner was timed around the kids’ bedtimes.

“As soon as two kids are down, that’s when I’m out. I’ve gotta put the fish in the oven. By the time the third kid’s gone to sleep, I come down and it’s done.”

Late afternoon was harder. He’d often spend an hour or more in the kitchen with his kids while their snacks were out.

“The danger zone for me was always around four or five o’clock. That’s where I’d introduce the protein shake. It doesn’t fill me up because I just have it with water, but it kind of gets rid of that starving feeling. I’d have it 20 minutes before dinner, and I still do that now.”

Years later, his brother-in-law tried Neel’s cod on a visit. He’s a lifelong vegetarian who had always avoided fish because of the smell.

“How is it so moist? How is there no oil in this?”

The 90kg Brain in a 60kg Body

Neel reached checkpoint in March 2024, about eight months after starting and 30kg lighter. The following year was about learning to live at 60kg while many of his habits still belonged to someone at 90kg. Holidays showed it most clearly.

“The 90kg mentality for me was, I’m paying a hell of a lot of money for this all-inclusive, I need to get my money’s worth. I need to drink as much as I can, eat, make sure I’m eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and a couple of snacks in between.”

In the year after checkpoint, he chose healthier versions of the foods he wanted and had the real thing when it was worth it.

“If there’s something that you really, really want to have and it’s unbelievable, just eat it. You don’t need to eat the whole cake, have a slice. The first taste is always the best taste.”

It took about two years for that balance to become automatic. He now goes by how he feels to tell him when he’s drifting.

“I feel like I know my body now. If I am overeating and making bad choices, my body kind of tells me. I don’t feel myself, my energy’s more lethargic. If I have a chicken salad or a flatbread with some chicken, I feel normal. I wanna train the next day, I wanna wake up early and go to the gym.”

Pushing Further: The Photoshoot

His cholesterol was the reason he’d joined, and it was one of the first things to improve. His bloodwork was back under control within about three months.

“I came into this process really just to get my health. Blood’s a little bit better, that was sorted quite quickly, which was great. That was sorted in about three months.”

About a year and a half into the programme, he decided to keep going and aim for a photoshoot.

“I’ve been convinced to push myself a little bit more, go for the photo shoot and try and get that lean physique that I’ve always wanted but never really thought was possible.”

Three Years Later: What the Lifestyle Actually Looks Like Now

The Waitrose near Neel’s house is a seven-minute walk away. He used to drive there and can’t remember the last time he did.

“I never used to track my steps before, but I probably used to do maybe 3,000 a day, 4,000 a day maximum, whereas now, if I haven’t done 10,000 on average in the week, you feel guilty.”

His mum picked up on the change early.

“I remember my mum saying to me, oh my God, you never used to walk.”

He still does three weight sessions a week. On busy days he trains at 6:30am.

“That’s why, even if things are crazy busy, I’ve never not done those three sessions.”

Most of his steps now come from walking around the block with his AirPods in during work calls. The kids have become more active too. His daughters swim four times a week, where before it was only on holiday, and his older daughter has started running with him.

“I think kids look up to what your parents do. If they see you playing tennis or going for a swim, they’re like, can we come with you?”

The fitness he’d built with RNT was enough to get him up Kilimanjaro without any specific training.

“Everyone was like, did you train for it? And I was like, no, we just did it.”

He has also done the Three Peaks Challenge and got PADI certified in his 40s.

“If I can push myself to get to checkpoint, I can push myself to do Kilimanjaro, if I can push myself to do the Three Peaks, you can do anything you want. Nothing is impossible in life, and that’s what I say to my kids.”

His cholesterol still fluctuates, which he puts down to family genetics.

“No one can predict the future. All you can do is control what you can control. If I can eat healthily, exercise regularly, try and keep stress levels manageable, they’re the three things for me.”

The Physical Has Been the Vehicle

For Neel, the change went well beyond fat loss.

“It was massive because it was changing my entire lifestyle, changing how I train, the intensity of how I train, what I eat, being a lot more disciplined, and learning how to say no to things which have really pretty much just held me back my entire life.”

“The physical has literally been the vehicle to transform my life. Before, that was just all blurb and words. It didn’t really mean very much, but it truly has. I feel more energetic, my brain’s a lot sharper, I wake up a lot earlier in the morning, which my wife’s very happy about.”

He’s eating less and training harder than he used to, and he has more energy than before.

“You’re actually eating less, you’re actually training harder, so technically you’d feel you’ve got less energy, but it’s actually the complete opposite. You’ve actually got more energy. And that’s the vehicle that then enables you to make the right decisions in life, which is amazing.”

All-inclusive holidays are still a test.

“When I go to an all-inclusive and there’s food literally right in front of me, it’s hard to say no. You’re constantly learning, even now. There’s still times when I slip up, but sometimes it’s all right to slip up, you just gotta make sure you get back on the journey the next day.”

Why It Stuck This Time

When Neel explains why this attempt lasted, he talks about the daily check-in and focusing only on the day in front of him.

“Take it day by day at the beginning. Don’t look at what my weight is going to be like in a month or six months. It’s a bit like a football manager saying, just look at the next game. Focus on today, and then the long term will take care of itself.”

Three years on, he needs his coach much less than he did, but he still thinks the same way.

“Days turn to weeks, weeks then turn to months. Those months have now turned into three years.”

The community mattered as much as the structure. During his fat loss phase, he was in an RNT WhatsApp group with people he’d never met, and within weeks they felt like old friends.

“I’ve never even met these people before, but it’s like I already know them. Everyone’s trying to be positive, and I think that just kind of keeps you going.”

What’s Next

Neel hasn’t picked his next challenge yet. Everest is on the list if the logistics ever work out, and so is one more marathon if his knees allow it.

His advice for someone on day one is to find food they enjoy, take it one day at a time, and get involved in the community early.

“You’re paying money for this, so make use of it. Just get involved, because if you’re involved, you’re in the game and the rest will take care of itself.”

“I enjoyed every single stage. Even when I was on the grind, I loved it. You gotta keep smiling. Life’s too short.”

Want results like Neel’s? Book a call with our team to start your journey.

30 kg Down 3 Years Maintained