I've lost 90 pounds in my adult life.
And I was never more than 30 pounds overweight.
Because it was the same 30 pounds. THREE times.
Round one: got shredded, felt incredible, let it all come back.
Round two: same movie, same ending.
Round three started in a gym on an ordinary night. 20% body fat, tired all the time, going through the motions like a hundred nights before. And the thought that stopped me had nothing to do with the scale: I'm not showing up for myself in my life the way I need to as a man.
The Part I Got Wrong Twice
Getting lean was never the hard part for me. Keeping it was. I could white-knuckle my way to abs and then watch the whole thing undo itself.
And the reason is embarrassing to admit as a coach but at the time, I didn't know how food worked. I could follow a plan as hard as anyone. But every diet I ran was someone else's plan, and when the plan ended, the results left with it.
I have a name for this with clients now: nutritional illiteracy. School never taught it, and the diet industry gets paid every time you come back for another round.
So the third time, I stopped dieting and learned food for real. One time. The same way you'd learn the fundamentals of a business before running one.
The Three Things That Did Most of the Work
Protein at every meal, sized so hunger stops chasing you. For me that was roughly 50 grams, three times a day. The late-night pantry raids stopped on their own.
Knowing which foods cram big calories into small bites. A handful of granola has more calories than a full pound of strawberries. Once you see that math, you eat bigger plates and still lean out.
My favorite foods went IN the plan, on purpose. Pizza on the plan is just dinner. Pizza off the plan is a cheat meal, and cheat meals are how round four starts. That's the thing every guy is scared of, giving up the foods he loves. It's not even true. Your favorite foods stay. They just stop running the show.
One Season
You can't half-learn this. I gave it one season, all in. Three to six months. Every client over 40 I take on gets the same window.
And then you're done. Done the way you're done learning to drive. The skill is yours for the rest of your life.
Round four never came.
Hit reply and tell me which round you’re on? No judgment from the guy who took three.
Tell me the round and what pulled the weight back last time, and I'll tell you the first thing I'd focus on to break the cycle this time around. I read every reply.
In your corner,
Coach Zack
P.S. If you already know you don't want a round four, that's the work I do with clients: one season, 3 to 6 months, learning how food works inside your actual life until the skill is yours and you don't need me anymore. If you want to see whether it's a fit, grab a time and we'll talk it through.