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. He started his RNT programme the following Monday, three days later.

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?”

Neel had a reason for the timing. A newborn meant no social plans, no distractions, nothing pulling him away from a workout or a meal. It was the easiest moment to start, not the hardest.

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

Neel had always been a gym-goer. He just wasn’t ever in shape.

“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.”

The two things were turning 40 and a cholesterol reading that had been high for years. Neither was dramatic on its own. Together, they were enough.

“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.”

He runs a small chain of beauty salons in Surrey, after ten years in finance in the City. Three kids, a business, and a body he’d stopped trusting.

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

What Almost Held Him Back

Neel had been to the gym his whole life. That was exactly the problem.

“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?”

It took him roughly two years to get past that. What finally moved him wasn’t a new argument. It was the absence of results from everything he’d already tried.

“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.”

Even after joining, the gap between what he thought he knew and what he actually knew showed up fast. A personal trainer had worked with him on Romanian deadlifts for years. He was still doing them wrong.

“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

Most people wait for a quieter moment to start something like this. Neel did the opposite. He knew the newborn stage would strip out the social plans and free time that usually derail a new routine.

“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 never meal prepped. Not once. He built his whole system around cooking fresh, every day, in under fifteen minutes: an air-fried jacket potato that tasted like it had been in the oven for two hours, a fillet of cod or sea bass with black pepper and a little sriracha, twelve minutes, done. He cooked the same meal for Serena too.

With three kids to get down before dinner even starts, the timing became its own kind of routine.

“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.”

The one gap he had to solve was the stretch between lunch and dinner, when his kids’ snacks were sitting out and he was in the kitchen with them for an hour or more.

“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.”

His brother-in-law, a lifelong vegetarian who avoided fish because of the smell, tried Neel’s cod on a visit years later.

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

The 90kg Brain in a 60kg Body

Neel hit checkpoint in March 2024, roughly eight months after starting, 30kg down. That’s where most transformation stories end. His didn’t.

The hardest part wasn’t losing the weight. It was learning to live at 60kg while his instincts were still calibrated to 90kg.

“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.”

He describes the year after checkpoint as sitting somewhere in the middle. Not restrictive, not reverting. He gravitated toward healthier versions of what he wanted rather than cutting things out.

“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 stop feeling like a decision and start feeling automatic.

“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 bloodwork was one of the first things to shift. Cholesterol, the reason he’d joined in the first place, came 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.”

Around the same period, roughly a year and a half into the programme, he decided checkpoint wasn’t the finish line he’d assumed it was.

“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

Neel used to drive to his local Waitrose, a seven-minute walk from his house. He can’t remember the last time he parked there.

“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 own mother noticed the change before he’d registered it himself.

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

His three weekly weight sessions are non-negotiable, even three years in. If the day is packed, he trains at 6:30am instead of skipping.

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

His steps happen during work calls, walking laps around the block with his AirPods in rather than carving out separate time. His kids have been pulled into the same rhythm. His daughters swim four times a week now, where before it was only on holiday. 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 lifestyle shift has stretched into places Neel never expected. He completed Kilimanjaro with no dedicated training beforehand, relying on the baseline fitness RNT had already built.

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

He’s 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 moves around, something he puts down to family genetics rather than anything within his control.

“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

Neel put it in almost those exact words himself. It wasn’t just fat loss. It was learning to say no to things that had held him back his whole life.

“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 quick to point out the part that shouldn’t add up but does. He’s eating less and training harder, yet he has more energy, not less.

“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.”

He’s also honest that the obstacles never fully disappear. Even well into the programme, an all-inclusive holiday still tests him.

“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

What’s different about this attempt compared to the ones before it, Neel doesn’t point to willpower. He points to the daily check-in.

“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 still leans on that same mindset, even though he now needs his coach far less than he used to.

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

The RNT community mattered just as much as the structure. He remembers the WhatsApp group from his fat loss phase, strangers who felt like old friends within weeks.

“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 decided on the next challenge. Everest is on the list, if the logistics ever make sense. So is one more marathon, if his knees will let him get there.

And to someone starting on day one, his advice comes down to three things he’s tested for three years: find food you actually enjoy, take it day by day, and get into 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.”

His final word summed up the whole three years better than any number could.

“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.

🎧 Listen to Neel’s full story on RNT Fitness Radio: Ep 502 - Hall of Fame | Neel Chandarana: Business Owner & Dad Of Three 30 kg Down & Living in the Sweet Spot 3 Years Later