Before

After

Five months ago, when Sandeep Sachdev stood in front of the mirror, he saw an ungainly shape weighing 124.9 kilos. But now as he walks out of the Biggest Loser house in Aamby Valley, the world sees a hot bod standing 6.2 ft tall and weighing 74.2 kg.

“I want to add 6kg of muscles now,” says the bank employee, inspecting the result of four months of sweat with some satisfaction. “Who knew I’d be talking so much about health one day!” he then blurts out.

Sandeep has aced Biggest Loser Jeetega, the fitness-based reality show on SaharaOne, defeating 15 other heavyweights on the weighing scale. “I was a slim child,” the Delhi lad insists, when asked about life up the obese lane. “It was around Class IX that I started putting on more weight than others in the family,” he says, admitting a fondness for Butter Chicken and Butter Naan. “I also had a sweet tooth. Whatever came my way, went in.” It didn’t help that his mother was a “brilliant cook”.

But Sandeep did not notice his girth himself till much later, when friends and relatives started saying: “Patla ho ja (Lose wight, man).” If he did not know how to help himself then, the change post-Biggest Loser has been marked. “Others at the gym now ask me for help,” he smiles. Moreover, he knows exactly how to control his weight. “I can lose as well as gain as I want now.”

If the weight-loss regimen at Aamby Valley took place under the supervision of a battery of dieticians, fitness instructors and trainers, who left him with a host of fitness tips, he takes a great deal of pride in the fact that in the one month of the contest the three finalists had to spend at home, he lost another 8-9 kg. “I am grateful to my mother who cooked the way I asked her to and my friends who never tempted me out for drinks and parties,” the 25-year-old says.

After four months on television, Sandeep is now a familiar face. He has also gained proximity to action star Suniel Shetty, who anchored the show. But such thoughts do not cross his mind. “My biggest gain has been the confidence that I can do what I want. As a contestant I needed to be mentally tough to survive. This show was not based on public voting. One had to actually achieve results.”

Sandeep has won a booty of Rs 50.7 lakh, which he plans to invest in property, but he treasures his lost kilos more. And why not? He has already received offers from SaharaOne Motion Pictures and Shetty’s Popcorn Entertainment. The elder brother of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi actor Sumeet Sachdev (Gomsi) might well be on his way to a longer innings on the screen.