The ‘wake-up call’ that inspired Housing.com CEO to lose 71 kg in 2 years

Dhruv Agarwala lost 71 kg over 2 years (Image credit: Dhruv Agarwala/Facebook)

Housing.com CEO Dhruv Agarwala has opened up about his weight loss journey, including the “wake up call” that inspired him to focus on his health. In an interview with South China Morning Post, the India-born, Singapore-based businessman said a visit to the emergency room inspired him to shed 71 kg over two years.

Agarwala told SCMP that he was at his heaviest in February 2021, when he weighed 151 kg. On a business trip to India in October that same year, he woke up feeling like he was having a heart attack.

“My heart was racing, I had palpitations. I felt I was going to die,” he recalled. Agarwala managed to check himself into a hospital, where he was diagnosed with heartburn, much to his relief. However, the incident inspired him to take stock of his health.

“I kept thinking ‘One day I will lose weight, one day I will become fit,’ until one day I landed in a hospital emergency room. I remember that moment clearly, lying in the hospital bed, when I resolved to take charge of my health,” he said.

“It was the wake-up call that I needed,” added Agarwala.

The CEO of Housing.com began a strict regime of exercise and diet. He started strength-training sessions under trainer Ahmad Zaki three times a week. At the same time, he took up walking – starting with 10,000 steps a day and gradually building up to 12,000. To build conditioning and muscle mass, he also used a prowler and later graduated to squats and leg and shoulder presses.

The journey from unfit to fit was not an easy one. Agarwala admits that there were days he did not feel like working out. “On those days I used visualisation to imagine what it would be like to be fit and the positive outcomes it would have on my life. I took my weight loss as a personal challenge and made ‘fixing my health’ my primary goal,” he explained.

It was not exercise alone that helped the Indian executive shed extra kilos, he also paid close attention to his diet. From samosas and cheese toast, he switched to healthier options and restricted his calories to 1,700 per day.

“I was used to eating unhealthy food which was hard to give up. I had tried the Atkins and South Beach diets and intermittent fasting in the past, but did not find them sustainable,” he said.

Later, the 53-year-old started relying on portion control to keep his weight in check. He also cut out fried and processed food from his diet. Today, he consumes at least 120 grams of protein a day and keeps his carbohydrate intake in check.