From Avoiding the Scale to 7.7% Body Fat.

I started losing weight on my own, with no coach and no consistent tracking. It worked, slowly, and it was inconsistent. Weekends wrecked progress more times than I can count.

Even with weight coming off, I still wasn't comfortable in my own skin. The moment that sticks with me: a beach day over 100 degrees, everyone in the water, and me keeping my shirt on the whole time.

In September 2023 I finally got scanned. That first InBody was a gut punch and a relief at the same time: still heavy, but with real muscle already there under the fat.

This is where it clicked: a real plan for what I'd eat, and a training schedule I actually followed. Less willpower, more system.

In January 2024 the scale read under 200 for the first time. By March I was scanned at about 12% body fat.

Then everything stalled. Five more months of effort and my August 2024 DXA came back slightly worse than March.

So I hired a coach for an eight-week push. That's where I learned what tight structure and honest adjustments look like from the other side, and it's a big part of how I coach now.

By October 2024 I was the leanest I'd been up to that point. No scan that day, so the photo is the only record, and I won't put a number on it.

After that I ran a bulk to build more muscle. It got away from me. Too much food, too little structure, and weight I didn't want came back. Lesson learned: the same planning that gets you lean has to stay on when you're eating more.

Then in May 2026 I tore my bicep. That was a big setback, and it's a big part of why my lean mass on the August 2026 scan came in lower than it was in 2024. But I recovered and rebounded. The plan bent around the injury instead of breaking.

So I cut again, with everything I'd learned: a planned deficit, meals prepped for the week, and adjustments driven by data instead of mood.

In August 2026, a DXA had me at 9.9%. Six weeks later, at 40 years old, it measured 7.7%. The scale only moved 1.3 pounds in those six weeks, but measured fat mass dropped 4 pounds. (DXA lean mass went up 2.6 pounds too, but that includes water and glycogen, so I don't count it as new muscle.)

I'm in better shape now than I was when I was younger. And I take my shirt off in public without thinking twice.