7 Daily Moves: The fitness app made in Singapore
She created an app at the age of 44.
And now, 7 Daily Moves, a fitness app created by Ms Sonam Mehra in October last year, has over 23,000 downloads.
Of this, 4,500 downloads are from Singapore.
The app provides users with workouts, along with verbal instructions and an animated character showing each move.
She spent between $100,000 and $150,000 of her own savings to create 7 Daily moves and another health app, WhatsMyMeal.
Ms Sonam Mehra, the creator of 7 Daily Moves, and the app on her phone. PHOTO: MAX PASAKORNWhen The New Paper spoke to Ms Mehra, her youthful looks and energetic demeanour clearly showed her passion for fitness.
A late starter to fitness, she became serious about it when she turned 30 and was diagnosed with hypothyroid - a condition which causes the body's metabolism to decrease greatly.
Recalled the mother of two children: "I became so fat. My energy levels were really low. How do I fix myself?"
That spurred her to become a personal trainer and then a fitness entrepreneur, a career switch from her previous job in the advertising industry.
She has since started two companies - Fitness 365, which focuses on personal training, and Small Spoon Pte Ltd, which creates health apps such as 7 Daily Moves.
The idea for the app came in February last year when Ms Mehra, a Singapore permanent resident, noticed that her phone was filled with workout plans for her clients.
App for all
She thought: "If I could do this for a hundred clients, what would it take to drive results for a million people?"
The app has been designed with everybody in mind - from people who have never stepped into a gym, to fitness gurus.
She said: "Some of my clients get intimidated by buff guys in the gym. They'll feel embarrassed to be working out."
Keeping that in mind, she thought that a cute animated character struggling to perform exercises would have a greater mass appeal.
And it has.
After she posted gifs of this animated character on the 7 Daily Moves Facebook page last November, they went viral.
These gifs and the app were even featured on the ABC News Network online news portal on Jan 1.
The app, which is available on both Android and iOS devices, currently offers 13 free workouts, with more available for purchase.
Each series of workouts can be bought for US$1.99 ( S$2.67) or US$2.79 depending on the level of difficulty of the workout.
Ms Mehra worked with India-based company Solute Technolabs, and a motion graphic designer from Denmark to bring 7 Daily Moves to life.
App user Sornamathi Ravishankar posted on the 7 Daily Moves Facebook page that the apps helped him "feel very refreshed".
7 Daily Moves will launch new workouts for mothers and couples in early May.
The new Fit Mom workout that will be released on 7 Daily Moves in early May. PHOTO: 7 DAILY MOVESMs Mehra is also working on Small Spoon Pte Ltd's second app, WhatsMyMeal, a subscription-based nutrition app where users can get personalised meal plans by nutritionists.
It is expected to be launched by the third quarter of the year.
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