Obesity is a global problem. A Ministry of Health and Family Welfare study of 2021, says that around 40% of Indians are obese. Obesity can lead to many chronic health diseases like heart problems, spine problems and more. 

In 2014, Mehakdeep Singh met with an accident that pushed him to an immobile state. Being bedridden caused him to gain extra kilos. He decided to understand nutrition and so he enrolled for MSc in fitness and nutrition from Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi. Previously, he had done his MBA and worked in an auto company.

His childhood friend, Sahil Bansal, too suffered from being overweight. While studying his MBA at Xavier Institute of Management in 2010, he learned psychology and the importance of habit formation in fitness. He had worked at companies like Infosys, Reuters, HCL and Genpact. He had also tried to build an ed-tech startup.

By learning their lessons, Singh was able to reduce 60 kgs while Bansal lost 30 kgs. The childhood friends then reconnected in 2019 and decided to start a habit-based fitness platform - Fitelo. Fitelo is a fitness app that helps reduce weight and manage disease by offering a lifestyle model that created a personalised healthy lifestyle for its consumers using AI.

Along with customised nutrition and lifestyle modification plan, the Chandigarh-based startup offers regular counselling sessions from nutritionists and fitness coaches. The venture only offers a natural way to reduce ways that don’t include going to the gym or eating supplements. They believe that long-term fitness can be only achieved by building habits and lifestyle modification.

They are bootstrapped with an initial investment of Rs 1-2 lakh per head per founder. They claim to have grown every quarter since its inception. They plan to close FY22 at Rs 9-10 crore in revenue. Currently, they are used by 15000+ clients in 15 countries. In the next 3 years, they plan to impact the lives of 10 million people. In the next 5 years, they want to transform into a single-stop shop for all sustainable and natural fitness. Will their ‘Slow and Steady tackles Obesity’ policy help obese Indians?