What were the greatest challenges you faced?

Nutrition was the hardest aspect for me because I absolutely hate to cook. However, I was able to work out a plan that matched my lifestyle to my culinary ability and enthusiasm. I learned that regardless of your starting point you can make great improvements with nutrition and healthy food doesn’t have be bland and unappetising.

Did you find ATP’s D.N.A. coaching helped you to achieve your goals?

Yes. My daily routine is now set, I understand nutrition much better (still cheat sometimes), while I definitely keep activity level high!

My wife has observed that the biggest change is that I now plan my day such that I have time to get to the gym. Before I would fit everything else in to my day and inevitably I would end up skipping on training. Now it’s the first thing that goes in my diary. I feel better when I train, I’m more productive and I perform better at work. Exercise has moved from being a nice option to a non-negotiable.

Nutrition plays such a big role. We have at least 21 meals in a week, so I now make healthy meals the default choice, and restrict “cheat” meals to fewer than 3 per week. This allows me sustainable balance where I feel like I’m making great progress without making too many sacrifices.

What has surprised you most about the process of changing your body?

Motivation is the hardest part to sustain. Having a coach and buddy helps to maintain motivation at a high level. Having that accountability of someone checking in really helps to stay on track in the first month and after that it is much easier to rely on the systems you’ve created rather than needing consistently high levels of motivation.

I did not believe that this level of transformation was possible in just 10 weeks, but I have also never put in the consistent effort through the same sustained period.  Having my coach Hyun work with me throughout the process as a partner in transformation has been invaluable. I couldn’t have done it without his support and guidance.

What advice would you give to someone trying to improve their own health and body?

Nutrition plays a big role. If you have 21 meals in a week, make healthy meals the default choice, and restrict off-plan or cheat meals to just 3. That worked well for me.

Go easy on cheat days, cheat day doesn’t mean it doesn’t count. It is hard to burn the calories later and you want to lose that sense of chasing a calorie target with exercise.

Now that you’ve upgraded your body and health, what does the next stage ‘beyond transformation’ look like for you?

I now plan to get back into sports while maintaining my nutritional behaviours. Going to the gym regularly is now one of my favourite things and the first thing that goes into my diary.

Would you recommend this experience with ATP Personal Training to your friends?

Only if they want to look their best and be healthier!

I think that any beginner or intermediate level fitness enthusiast would benefit a lot from going through this process of becoming healthier and learning a lot along the way to make it easy to maintain.