How Indian entrepreneur lost 27 kg in four months at the age of 53: From brain fog and breathlessness to stability and strength, Ritesh Bawri's radical health reset

“The number on the scale was never the real story.” That is the first thing Ritesh Bawri says, looking back on his transformation journey. At 53, the founder and Chief Science Officer of nirā balance went from 87 kg to 60 kg in four months in 2015. More importantly, he has maintained that weight since. But as Bawri says, this change had little to do with weight loss and was more about repairing the damage years of neglect had done to his metabolism.“I needed to acknowledge what excessive weight gain was doing to my well-being. You can chase the numbers on a scale all you want, but you will only be chasing a shadow unless you address the root cause. A person can lose weight yet remain metabolically unhealthy. The solution I was looking for had to be holistic, realistic, and sustainable,” says Bawri.Until 2015, he admits he had been careless with his health. Exercise was absent for nearly 25 years. Most days were sedentary with minimal movement, and convenience dictated his food choices. Processed carbohydrates, pizzas, sandwiches, irregular meals, and excessive coffee had quietly become part of his diet.The turning point came during a meeting with Professor Ravi Rajan in Palo Alto, where he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. But long before the diagnosis, his body had already been sending warning signs.“Climbing a single flight of stairs left me breathless. I had wheezing, chronic fatigue, poor sleep, unpredictable digestion, and constant brain fog in the afternoons,” he recalls. He adds, “I had convinced myself that feeling this way was a normal part of getting older. It was not. My body had been trying to get my attention for years. The diagnosis forced me to confront a difficult truth. I asked myself a simple question: If I had been running my business this badly, would I not have fixed it by now? Why was I treating my body so carelessly?” That introspective question changed everything. Interestingly, Bawri says the harshest criticism never came from others. It came from within every time he struggled to tie his shoelaces comfortably, felt breathless climbing a staircase, or avoided being photographed.One line from his medical report stayed etched in his mind: ‘HbA1c, 6.7. Type 2 diabetes.’ That line made the reality impossible to ignore, he adds. Even after starting treatment, progress felt slow. That was when he realized medication alone would not solve the problem.“I was approaching health like a short-term project. What mattered was consistency across sleep, movement, nutrition, hydration, and stress management.” Bawri now believes lasting change comes from a structured regimen rather than extreme diets. His mornings start with a drink of turmeric, ginger, black pepper, and lemon. He avoids coffee for at least 90 minutes after waking to let cortisol levels stabilize naturally.His first meal is usually around 8 am and includes protein-rich foods, such as Greek yoghurt with soaked nuts and seeds. Lunch is his largest meal. It typically includes lean protein, vegetables eaten first, fermented foods like yoghurt or kefir, and controlled portions of complex carbohydrates such as millet or brown rice. He also increased his daily fiber intake from about 15 g to nearly 40 g.He has significantly reduced evening snacking and, when hungry, chooses almonds or walnuts. Dinner is light and usually finished by 5:30 pm. It often includes paneer, soup, or cooked vegetables. Apart from water or herbal tea, he avoids eating after dinner.He also regularly takes supplements, including Vitamin D3 with K2 and magnesium glycinate.Discussing his workout regimen, Bawri says his fitness journey evolved gradually and avoided punishing workouts. “Walking was where I began because at that stage, it was all my body could comfortably handle. The idea was not to burn calories. It was to teach my body that movement was now part of daily life,” he recalls.Over time, he progressed to cycling, bodyweight exercises, resistance bands, and eventually strength training. Today, he follows a push-pull split six days a week, with workouts lasting 60 to 75 minutes. Daily walking remains non-negotiable, and he considers 10,000 steps a baseline rather than a target.Alongside strength training, he also includes short Zone 2 cardio sessions and a structured morning breathwork routine, which he says have significantly helped regulate his nervous system. “For me, the greatest achievement was feeling stable and consistent every single day,” he says.While compliments followed his transformation, Bawri insists the real reward was quieter and far more meaningful.“Waking up without an alarm and thinking clearly in the morning, and walking upstairs without counting floors. My body no longer felt like it was in a crisis mode. That sense of steadiness changed me more than compliments ever could,” he says.Today, he says his Type 2 diabetes is in remission, he has remained asthma-free for over 11 years, and his blood pressure stays around 110/70.When asked for weight loss advice, he says, “Most people approach weight loss incorrectly because they focus only on changing their appearance instead of striving to achieve overall health. Weight gain is often the body’s way of indicating that something internally is not functioning properly. Sleep, stress, food quality, movement, and consistency all play a major role in how the body functions on a daily basis.”“A daily routine where individuals consistently make healthier choices and avoid unhealthy ones works best,” he says and concludes, “The human body naturally seeks ways to return to a state of balance. Our job is to stop working against it simply.”