By: Chris Gates

My client, Matt, made an unbelievable transformation, and I want you to hear his story.

While he lost 35 pounds and dropped nearly 7 inches off his waistline during coaching, Matt also developed habits that are allowing him to avoid the yo-yo dieting struggles he experienced in the past.

“I’m no stranger to trying to lose weight or be healthier as it is something I’ve struggled with my whole life,” he said.  “As long as I can remember, I’ve always been a bigger guy and have tried so many times to change that. I’ve had dramatic weight loss in the past only to put it all back on plus a few more pounds within a short span.

“Going into this I needed to do something that would last me a lifetime. I didn’t want to drop 20 pounds overnight if it wasn’t being done the right way.”

Matt and I started working together in the fall of 2022. He had just turned 30 years old and felt like he was at a crossroads.

The pandemic led to some bad habits that caused Matt to gain more weight than he was comfortable with, and he was eager for a change.

“One day I had a revelation that if I didn’t get these issues in line soon, there was a good chance I may never,” he said. “While its never too late to make positive changes in your life, the best day to start is today.”

In his application, Matt indicated he was done making excuses and was ready to tackle his health and fitness goals together.

But Matt had some road blocks to overcome.

• For one, he needed to reverse some unhealthy habits.
• And he also needed to find a way to keep living his life, while sticking to his weight loss plan.
• In addition to having a full-time job and all of the responsibilities that come with a career, he also wanted to continue enjoying passions like tailgating, football season, alumni band activities, and more.

“The coaching, especially early on in the process, was invaluable,” Matt said. “Just having someone to not only hold you accountable, but to encourage you along the way makes all the difference. Every year life gets busier and busier and it can be so easy to put your health on the sideline thinking you’ll get back into it when things slow down. Making a program that is flexible is more important than ever, and for me I couldn’t get myself there on my own mentally.”

“Its been nice building out the mindset of its not one day that makes or breaks you, its what you do all the other days. So if you want to go have a few beers at the Pitt tailgate on Saturday, you just have to eat a little lighter a few days of the week leading up to it. You had to work late nights for a week so you weren’t able to get to the gym this week? Get back at it the following week when things calm down.

“Ultimately, I’ve been able to get myself in the mindset of, the road you were headed down may suddenly be closed, but there is always a detour that can get you to your destination — even if it takes a little bit longer.”

We navigated all of those situations together, and Matt did a phenomenal job of keeping his ultimate goal top of mind.

Yes, he indulged from time to time. Tailgating happened, and we won’t act like it didn’t!

But Matt was intentional with his decisions in every situation, and he indulged when it was something we planned for.

He also consistently showed up to the gym and put the necessary work into his strength training. And quite frankly, Matt got REALLY strong.

He had some lifting experience from his youth playing football, and all of that strength came rushing back when he hit the weights again.

And what’s great is, now Matt has all of the tools to continue managing his diet, exercise, and body composition goals moving forward.

“There certainly is a real sense of pride and accomplishment knowing where I was when I started this journey and where I am now,” he said. “That’s not to say there aren’t days where I lose sight of where I’ve come from and get too focused on what I haven’t achieved yet, but when I do I just think of Chris slapping a tape measure across his head to demonstrate how much I had really lost.

“Moving forward I hope to do what I’ve been doing this whole time — continue to make sustainable progress. What my ultimate goal is, I’m still not entirely sure. All I can tell you is that while I have no intentions on being on the cover of People Magazine for “sexiest man alive,” I do want to keep living in such a way that I continue to feel better every day and am happy with who I am when I look into the mirror.”