The highs and lows of Anant Ambani’s incredible weight journey

Channa’s transformation

The personal trainer had his own demons to conquer. On his website, he said he used to be called “skinny” and it was this teasing that first triggered him. He said he was undernourished and used to skip meals because he felt “worthless” in his family.

Channa said he wasn’t contributing financially to his family and moved from job to job, he did housekeeping work, was a security guard and even had a desk job. Eventually he realised he had to work on his physique, his lifelong desire.

Enter the gym

By his own account, Channa joined a gym and trained at all hours so he could fit in his workout. He wanted to start bodybuilding and focused on the transformation of his body.

Through self-education, he learned he had to change his eating habits and started focusing on eating wholesome foods, determined to change his life through healthy living.

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The trainer started gaining a reputation for not only transforming his own body and life, but also for impacting those he worked with. No client has the same routine and needs, and his tailor-made programmes soon became a hit with his clients.

Anant’s staggering weight-loss

Even though Channa already had a reputation for being a celebrity trainer, it was his work with Anant Ambani that made him a household name. In 2016, the youngest son of Mukesh and Nita Ambani showed off his impressive transformation – having shed 108kg over 18 months.

In an interview with Business Insider, Channa said Anant was very dedicated and he structured a weight-loss programme in stages. Channa said he focused on Anant’s diet, which included protein, low carb and fibres. They started walking just 30 minutes a day and as Anant grew stronger, they started to incorporate other elements such as supporting equipment to do leg and chest presses. His diet only allowed him to eat 1,200 calories a day.

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Praise and weak moments

Channa is not a fan of overly praising his clients, and understands they can have good days and bad days. When it comes to Anant’s weight loss, he told Business Insider that the Ambani sibling had weak moments where he expected to lose more weight than he did.

The trainer had to explain to Anant that factors such as his lifestyle, late nights and hormonal changes and other factors all affects his journey, and weight loss doesn’t happen every day.

Channa said it was tough for Anant, who was used to overeating and loved junk food. Because of this, he designed breaks in his diet so Anant could feel more motivated for workouts.