The winner of the 2010 Biggest Loser Asia competition, Viveganandam Deveraj, or Raj as he is known, says he always knew he could do it.
A confident and good looking young man, Raj now weighs a slender 77kg, down from a very unhealthy 144kg starting point. That’s a massive 67kg weight loss in six months, which is undeniably a huge achievement for this self-confessed former recluse who had suffered from obesity for most of his life.
“I knew I had it in me to win but even so, it felt awesome when I realised I had actually done it,” he says. “My best moment was in the final weigh-in. Pulling a 5kg weight loss and seeing the grins on Nai and Gengis’s faces just disappear was priceless.”
A difficult journey
Despite this good-natured cockiness, Raj concedes his weight loss journey was far from easy. The gruelling exercise program combined with a strict and unfamiliar diet meant that every day brought new challenges, which is why the continual support and encouragement from trainers, Dave and Kristy was so important to him.
An appreciative winner
In fact, Raj attributes much of his success to these two inspiring and super-fit individuals who he describes as “awesome and professional”, along with the support of the Blue Team.
“I doubt I would have been able to achieve this without their belief in me. I owe Dave, Kristy and the Blue Team so much. I can’t take all the credit. And, to be honest, I never knew it would be this tough to lose weight.”
Toughest moment
Raj admits the hardest time in the mansion was when his friend Leonardo (Leo) from Indonesia was eliminated, explaining that he found it hard to come to terms with the fact that he was the last person standing from his team.
“For the entire week ahead I knew I was going to be alone and have no one to compete with. That was hard to accept, especially because Leo was my friend.”
Click to enlarge photos
Raj before
Raj after
At the finale
Enjoying life as a slim person
While Raj is enjoying life as a slim person, he is realistic about the challenges of maintaining his weight in the long term. Even so, he can’t help rejoicing over life’s simple pleasures like being able to buy clothes off the rack and going out with his girlfriend without feeling self-conscious about his size.
“Now I can actually concentrate on life instead of thinking about how others might view me. For the first time I can walk around Singapore feeling confident about myself.”
Good times ahead
Conscious of the fact that he will need to continue exercising and eating well for the rest of his life, Raj plans to compete in marathons and is even talking about doing a triathlon in the near future.
“I plan to take part in the OCBC 2011 90km cycling marathon and the Vertical Challenge in Singapore,” he says. “I would also like to be able to finish a 21km half marathon with a time of under three hours.”
Raj’s new-found enthusiasm is so powerful it is palpable, making it hard to believe that he wasn’t always this ambitious or positive about life. Yet, it was less than a year ago that he would avoid any type of exercise or social activity, preferring instead to stay inside and sit in front of a screen playing games.
“When you are overweight in Singapore, people not only stare at you but they treat you differently,” he says.
Sticking to the diary
Today Raj stands proud, but even so, he logs on regularly to his Biggest Loser Club diary, which helps him keep track of his calories and stay within his set limits. Meanwhile, he enjoys experimenting with the healthy recipes he accesses from The Club website.
Despite having come such a long way in a relatively short space of time, Raj admits he still has some work to do to get his body in the best possible shape.
“My biggest challenge is getting my six-pack to show, with all the excess skin in the way. It might take a while, but I’ll get there. In fact, my abs would already be there but you just can’t quite see them yet,” he laughs.
Helping others
With Asia’s growing interest in Raj’s new life and new body, he is keen to shift the focus a bit and talk about his altruistic side, because next on his busy agenda is the formation of a charity primarily for those who need help losing weight.
Meanwhile, he intends to keep in touch with his former housemates, attend two daily gym classes at Fitness First and adhere to a healthy, but delicious diet.
After all, at just 24 years old, Raj has a lot of living to do.