Smitha didn’t look like someone who needed to change.

She was slim. Active. By most people’s measure, fine. But she knew what was underneath the surface. Energy that crashed by mid-morning. A diet held together by toast, sugar, and willpower that dissolved under stress. A body that looked okay in clothes but didn’t feel strong, capable, or like hers.

She’d been doing cardio for years: 5km runs three times a week, tennis, cycling around London. None of it had ever given her what she was actually looking for.

“I was a novice to strength training and gyms, and more importantly, my nutritional habits were just really erratic and unhealthy. I had absolutely zero structure, no systems in place.”

The Cycle She Couldn’t Break

Smitha’s relationship with food before RNT followed a predictable pattern.

Breakfast was a slice of toast with margarine and honey. By 11am, she was ravenous. Then came the crash: reaching for biscuits, cookies, chocolate, whatever was nearby. Eat the whole packet. Feel sluggish. Skip the meal she’d meant to have. Start again tomorrow.

“Once I started on the sugary food binges, I just couldn’t rein it in. I couldn’t stop. And then I wouldn’t have enough room to eat a healthy meal and I’d get the energy slumps. The whole thing was a vicious cycle.”

It wasn’t just hunger. Stress eating was part of it. Boredom eating too. Netflix meant snacks. A spontaneous drink on a walk could easily turn into stopping off en route for a couple of glasses of wine. Dinners out became occasions to show up starving and overconsume.

“How often, when I look back, did I taste something and it wasn’t even that good, but I’d finish the dish anyway because I’d ordered it.”

She’d built years of associations between food, enjoyment, and social connection. The idea of changing any of it felt like a trade-off she wasn’t sure she could make.

Why She Decided to Go All In

The prompt came from an unexpected place. Smitha was on an entrepreneurship course, surrounded by high performers. Several of them had done RNT or were on it at the time. She heard it directly from them. She looked into it herself. And when she decided to go, she didn’t want to wait.

“I blagged myself onto an earlier cohort, even though that month had already started. I thought, the more you hesitate, the more reasons you might find not to do it.”

She liked that RNT wasn’t a 12-week fix. It was a year. A whole programme: training, nutrition, mindset, accountability together. That’s what she wanted. Not a quick fix, but the kind of knowledge and tools that would serve her for life.

She joined in March 2024.

Two months later, she found out she was pregnant.

Pregnancy, a Pause, and a Return

The pregnancy changed the goal. There was no fat loss to pursue, no physique to chase. Smitha shifted into maintenance: kept training, kept eating well, kept moving. The strength training she’d started helped carry her through. No aches or pains until late in the pregnancy. A healthy outcome at the end.

She paused her membership at six months pregnant and planned to return when the time was right.

The first six months postpartum were survival mode. Breastfeeding, broken sleep, a newborn with all its demands, and a relocation. After 20 years in London, Smitha and her husband had moved to the northwest of England. New city. No network. Identity in flux.

She’d expected the weight to come off naturally while breastfeeding. It didn’t.

“I looked in the mirror. I didn’t really like what I saw. None of my old clothes fit still. I was walking around in leggings and baggy t-shirts. I was less active, my physical stamina had reduced. I’d try and go on a 5km run which I’d done all the time before, but I could only manage two thirds of the distance.”

The worry wasn’t just physical. Smitha could feel herself drifting. The structure she’d built before pregnancy had disappeared. And she didn’t want this version of herself to become permanent.

“I just worried that this postpartum version of myself would be the new normal. I didn’t want to settle into this version of myself that felt overwhelmed, drained, and stuck in a cycle I couldn’t easily get out of.”

She rejoined RNT at nine months postpartum. Still breastfeeding. Still figuring out life in a new city. A return to work looming on the horizon.

Training in the Gaps

This time, the logistics were different. No gym membership. Her husband travelled for work two or three days a week. The baby wasn’t walking yet, but she needed constant attention.

Smitha bought a workout bench and a pair of adjustable dumbbells. That was it. She trained in her home office, with the baby in the background. She trained during nap windows. She got her daughter used to sleeping in the pushchair with blackout blinds so she could walk without being stuck indoors.

Coaching calls got listened to during her steps. Meal prep happened on work-from-home days. Workout windows were protected like appointments.

“Everything else was quite chaotic. But this just forced me to carve out and protect time for myself, which in turn made me so much more present and available for my daughter.”

She was back at her pre-pregnancy weight within weeks.

Then she decided to keep going.

Getting Photoshoot Lean

The photoshoot wasn’t part of the original plan. It emerged from momentum. Once she realised how quickly her body was responding, she thought: why not complete the transformation she’d originally come to do?

Her coach pushed her further than she expected. She’d hit what she thought was her goal weight. Then the message came back: you need to go lower for the muscle definition to show. Photoshoot lean is a different target.

“My heart just sank when I thought I’d done it and then it was like, now you’ve got to do more and you’ve got to keep going. I was so hangry. Absolute hats off to my husband for putting up with me, and to my coach for just getting me through it.”

The day itself was tough. Cold studio, no food, sleep deprivation, a baby in tow. She felt flat. Spaced out. Ready for it to be over.

Then she saw the pictures.

“Is that actually me? Are those my muscles?”

What 10.9kg Lost and a Year of Graft Actually Changed

The numbers: 10.9kg lost. Photoshoot lean. Muscle built from scratch, home workouts and adjustable dumbbells, to the point where she’s now pressing 20kg dumbbells.

The physical result was always the vehicle for something bigger.

“That prioritisation overspills into everything else: work, business, relationships, the projects I choose to take on. There’s a lot less dead time. It’s given me so much headspace.”

Smitha describes intentionality as the real shift. Having to decide what she said yes and no to. Realising that choosing fitness meant choosing energy, presence, and clarity everywhere else.

“Self belief that I can do hard things even in chaotic times. I can set a goal and follow through. I can channel the self discipline and the resilience and the persistence, despite life otherwise being quite chaotic.”