Now a startup lets you eat your way through weight loss

Photo credit: Truweight

Most people in India join gyms to lose weight. But did you know that exercising contributes only a small percentage to weight loss?

Former McKinsey colleagues Megha More and Vishnu Saraf discovered this after running a fitness club for women for a couple of years. Most clients would turn up for weight loss, not fitness.

“Exercise contributes only 20 percent to your weight loss. So we were offering only 20 percent of the solution. What was the other 80 percent? The answer was food,” says Megha.

That is how Truweight was born. The Bangalore-based weight loss startup combines personalized nutrition counseling with a range of superfoods to help people manage their weight.

Superfoods are nutrient-rich foods like barley grass, acacia gum, quinoa, and foxtail millet that are considered especially beneficial for health and well-being.

“We are trying to create a digital dietitian which people can refer to whenever they want to eat healthy,” Megha tells Tech in Asia.  Launched in November 2013, it has benefited 8,000 people across India so far.

Eating to shed weight

Photo credit: Lwp Kommunikáció

India is said to have the third highest number of obese and overweight people in the world after the US and China. At least 11 percent of its adolescents and 20 percent of its adults fall in this category. So weight loss companies find themselves in the right space.

But the weight loss market is dominated by slimming centers, pills and supplements, which means focusing on artificial ways to lose weight. Trouble is, many of these techniques will get you there fast but the effects may not last.

Some are trying to step in with healthier options. Obino stresses healthy food, exercise, and a personal coach. HealthifyMe similarly works out a diet plan, an exercise routine, and gives you a fitness advisor.

But Truweight differentiates itself here too.

“A client does not just get a diet plan to follow, they also get the exclusive foods they are supposed to eat,” says Megha. It has developed over 35 food products that combine superfoods from all over the world.

Going big on weight loss