Debarshi Das: How to Lose Weight and Lower Your Diabetes Risk as a South Asian

Kolkata, Brooklyn, and a Career Built Around Better Care

Debarshi, who goes by Dev, was born in Kolkata and moved to Brooklyn at two, where he grew up until he left for college at eighteen. He studied at Rochester and Emory University before earning his MBA at Cornell, and today he lives in Atlanta and works as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting.

His focus is healthcare. After watching his parents navigate a system that too often made things harder for them, Dev built a career around improving hospital processes so physicians can do their jobs well and patients get the care they came for. It is work rooted in looking after other people, and for a long time, that is where most of his energy went.

How 30 Pounds Crept In

The weight came during one of the most demanding stretches of his life. Dev spent a long period as a caregiver at home, and wrapped around it all was a job with frequent travel and a calendar full of meals eaten out. Airport food, client dinners, whatever was fastest. There was rarely time to think about what was on the plate, let alone plan it.

It wasn’t the first time his weight had moved around, either. For years Dev had cycled through the same loop of losing weight, gaining it back, and starting over, never able to keep his workouts or his eating steady long enough for anything to stick. By the time life at home began to settle, he was about 30 pounds heavier than the version of himself he remembered.

A Number on Paper, and a Longer List Behind It

When Dev signed up, his target was specific: get from 185 pounds down to 155, build muscle, and get lean. But the number was only the headline. Underneath it sat a list that read more like a health plan than a fitness goal.

“I want to get back to my former weight, make exercise a part of my daily routine, and look and feel good again.”

He wanted to get off the pre-diabetic track. He wanted his blood pressure back under control. He wanted to use training to manage his mood. And he wanted exercise to stop being something he started and abandoned, and become a fixed part of his day. After a long season of putting everyone else first, this was Dev deciding it was his turn to be looked after too.

Why KMAK Made the Shortlist

Dev didn’t find KMAK through an ad. He found it through people he knew. Friends of his had already gone through the program, and their results were hard to argue with.

What sealed it was the focus. KMAK is built around the South Asian community and the health risks that tend to show up there, like high cholesterol, diabetes, and stubborn fat around the stomach. For someone whose own lab results read like a checklist of those exact concerns, the appeal was obvious. When you need to lose weight and lower your diabetes risk, generic advice built for someone else’s body only gets you so far.

That matters more than most people realize. South Asians tend to develop insulin resistance earlier and store more fat around the midsection, often at a weight that looks perfectly healthy on paper. A plan that only chases a lower number on the scale can miss the things that actually drive the risk. Dev wanted a program that understood the difference.

He still had doubts. The price gave him sticker shock at first. And with the coaching team based in the United Kingdom and Dev in Atlanta, he wondered whether the time difference would leave him on his own when he needed answers.

What KMAK Coaching Changed

What Dev had been missing wasn’t information. He had done plenty of his own research over the years. What he lacked was someone to turn all of it into a plan and hold him accountable to it, especially when it came to nutrition.

That is what his coach, gave him. Instead of piecing together advice from different corners of the internet, Dev could have a direct conversation and get guidance built for his body, his schedule, and his goals. He learned proper meal prep. He got step-by-step direction on training and food, along with regular check-ins that kept him honest.

That structure changed how he handled the parts of his life that had always derailed him. Busy weeks and work trips stopped being automatic reasons to fall off. With meal prep as a habit and a clearer sense of what to choose when he did eat out, a hectic stretch no longer meant starting from zero. And when something went sideways, he didn’t have to wait weeks to course correct. He could talk it through and adjust right away.

The time zone worry never materialized. Dev was in touch with his coach every single day.

Fewer Restaurant Tables, More Walks

The changes reached well beyond the gym. Dev moved away from eating out as his default and started making better calls when he did. His social life changed shape too. Instead of plans built entirely around food, he started suggesting walks with friends, getting time with the people he cared about while staying active at the same time.

He took it one step at a time and trusted the process, even in the weeks when progress felt slow.

The Mental Shift He Didn’t See Coming

Mood management had been one of Dev’s reasons for joining. What he didn’t expect was how far the effect would spread.

As his physical health improved, his stress came down and his head cleared. The consistency he built in training started showing up in other places too. He found himself reading more regularly and sticking with learning a new language, habits that had always been easy to let slide before.

His biggest lesson is one he now shares freely. Setting your own goals and prioritizing your own wellbeing isn’t selfish. It is what allows you to show up better for your family, your friends, and your career.

50 Pounds Down and Past the Finish Line

Dev started the program somewhere between 190 and 193 pounds. He finished at 143.

That is 50 pounds gone, and 12 pounds below the 155 he had written down as his goal on day one. The target that once felt ambitious turned out to be a checkpoint along the way.

Why This Time Was Different

For most of his adult life, Dev’s weight had followed the same pattern. A burst of motivation, a few good months, then a busy stretch that undid most of it. He knew how to lose weight. What he had never managed was keeping it off long enough for it to become who he was.

This time, the structure didn’t disappear when motivation dipped. He had a plan he understood, a coach who knew his history, and someone checking in daily whether the week had gone well or not. Progress stopped depending on how he felt on a given morning, and that is what finally broke the cycle.

A Photo Shoot That Doubled as a Graduation

Dev had never done a shirtless photo shoot in his life, and he walked in nervous. The team made it easy, and he describes the environment as comfortable, kind, and professional from start to finish.

He also didn’t come alone. Dev brought his family along and treated the day as a graduation, a way to make everything he had worked toward real and visible to the people closest to him. He hoped that seeing it in person would encourage them to start building healthier habits of their own.

His Advice for Anyone Weighing It Up

“The proof is in the pudding.”

Dev understands the hesitation. He felt the sticker shock himself, and he worried about the distance. Looking back, he says the value he received far exceeded the cost, and the time difference never once got in the way.

For Dev, the math was simple once he saw the results. Years of trying on his own had cost him time, energy, and the frustration of watching the same pounds come back. A coach who could get him further in less time, and help him stay there, was worth the investment.

His advice is simple: jump in, set clear goals, and let the program show you what it can deliver.

Where Dev Goes From Here

Dev’s long-term vision was never just a number on a scale. It was a body he is proud of, blood pressure under control, and a life off the pre-diabetic track. With the weight gone and the routine locked in, the work now is protecting what he built, with the same daily habits that got him here and a close eye on the health markers that started this whole journey.

If you’re a South Asian man trying to lose weight and lower your diabetes risk, Dev’s story shows you don’t have to put your career or your family on hold to do it. You just need a plan built for the life you actually live.

Sound Like Somewhere You’ve Been?

Maybe it’s a lab result you have been trying not to think about. Maybe it’s years of losing the same weight over and over. Maybe you have spent so long looking after everyone else that your own health quietly slipped down the list.

Dev had all three. What changed things wasn’t more research or more willpower. It was a coach who checked in every day, a plan built around a busy, travel-heavy life, and a program that understands the health risks South Asians face.