Age: 40 years

Weight Before: 102 kg

Weight Now: 82 kg

Lost 20 kg in 8 months

Narasimha Vedala will vouch for the fact that sitting for long hours in front of the computer can play havoc with your health. Although he always had a tendency to put on weight, he had managed to keep his BMI in check until he got married in 2002. “Then things just went out of control,” says Narasimha, an engineer working with a Bangalore-based MNC. “You could blame it all on my wife’s excellent cooking. Being a foodie, she introduced me to some exotic dishes from Kerala like fish fry. Little wonder then, over the years, my weight started shooting up.”

When he touched 102 kg in March, Narasimha became worried as he was also experiencing other health problems like slightly elevated blood pressure, sleeplessness and loud snoring. “No one wants any kind of health issues that are best avoided,” he adds.

‘Determination, will power and HealthifyMe’s features helped kick-start my weight loss journey’

A former runner, Narasimha thought of reviving this passion in a bid to lose weight. Around the same time that he started running, he downloaded the HealthifyMe app. Armed with “determination and willpower”, Narasimha first opted for the free version of the mobile app. “I diligently started following all its diktats related to consumption of food and changes in lifestyle, and within the first two weeks, I found I had lost a kilo,” he says. Over the next two months, he dropped another 4 to 5 kg using the app’s tracking features that help monitor calorie and water intake as well as calories burned through exercise.

Impressed that the app’s free features had helped him lose weight, Narasimha signed up for HealthifyMe’s premium services. He was assigned a nutritionist and personal trainer for customised diet and fitness advice. His diet coach reviewed his existing daily food plan and made revisions like swapping items with healthier options– multi-grain chapatis instead of plain atta chapatis. She also asked him to eat smaller portion sizes. “I was banned from eating chocolates and other rich goodies when I felt peckish through the day. Instead I was asked to eat fruit, dry fruits and other healthy snacks,” he says, adding that the tracking features on the app that helped monitor his calorie and fiber intake were a big help as they helped determine his daily food choices.

Narasimha’s HealthifyMe trainer put him on a core-strengthening exercise plan. “I was already running, so the exercise helped accelerate my weight loss,” he says. His energy levels shot through the roof because of his new diet and exercise plan. “I found myself doing small jobs around the house instead of getting my kids to do them for me,” he says.

His “strict, yet amazingly enjoyable regimen” feels even more worthwhile when Narasimha watches his friends’ reaction to his 20 kg weight loss. “They’re shell-shocked! Many of them have been inspired enough to sign up with HealthifyMe to achieve similar results,” says Narasimha, who would recommend the app to anyone looking for a fit and healthy makeover.

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