According to reports, Fitness & Slimming services sector is $ 2 Bn market which is growing at 25-30% YoY CAGR. The rising incomes with western lifestyle have led to numerous weight issues that people face. The research reports states that there are over 150M overweight Indians out of which 40% of urban India is overweight and as per predictions, by 2017, 50% of urban India & 20% of rural India will be overweight.
After struggling from weight management issues at some point of life, Prachi Gupta and Dhruv realized that for anyone looking to lose weight, finding a good solution that was convenient, affordable, and one that works around their lifestyle wasn’t easy. And there is no doubt that rising disposable incomes, sedentary lifestyle, is coupled with growing awareness of health & fitness & internet/mobile penetration.
Having a look at all this, and coupling it with their background in the digital industry, the two saw an opportunity for digital weight management services which made them launch Fitho. Fitho is a technology based weight management service, that provides its member a personalized program with nutrition & exercise and helps them manage their weight, or lifestyle disorders like diabetes, heart health, etc
How is it different from Gyms and other offline services which help people in losing weight?
As per the company, the convenience that it offers for users to work out at their choice of location, which could be the gym or your home or the park is what makes it different from the other offline services. “Similarly, with your diet, you could be eating out, and still be on the Fitho plan. Our service integrates well with gym goers. In fact, we have tie ups with many gyms, who offer this service to their members,” adds Prachi.
The Weight Loss Program
The Weight loss program is customized based on each person’s health, medical, lifestyle conditions, along with their goals. Weight loss is then customized to individual medical history, health goal: lose belly fat or be healthy, and food preference. Each diet and exercise plan is created by trained dietitians/nutritionists after considering over 18 plus lifestyle parameters.
It also offers tools like meal tracking, weight tracking & other interactive tools like calorie trackers. Further each exercise program comes with videos, so members can see how to perform them.
As per the company, it has grown 4x in the last year, and is targeting a similar growth this year.
The website & mobile site are getting over 2 – 2.5 Mn visitors per year, and already has 72000 members who have joined the program from over 1200 cities/towns.
Founder Prachi Gupta, has also written a book “Losing it: Make Weight Loss Simple”, which was a by-product of her efforts to create awareness around healthy living. “The goal of the book was to simplify weight loss, and help people practically apply it in their life. We didn’t do any marketing like bringing a celebrity, etc. It sold because of the content and word of mouth. The book sales have helped build awareness & credibility for the Fitho brand. And are still growing. “The most unexpected outcome, is when readers reached out, telling us how the book has profoundly impacted their lives. It’s very humbling,” she said.
Bootstrapped by now, Fitho is working with a team of 21 people, with a mix of full time & part time/consultants, of this 14 are nutritionists. For future, the startup is planning of launching the Fitho mobile app in the next few weeks.
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