How Jay Lost 30 Pounds And Fixed His Back Pain
Jay came to me last year with a problem.
He had 30 pounds to lose and didn't know where to start.
More specifically, he said, "I’d like to lose belly fat, lower body fat %, maintain a healthier weight and fitness level long-term. I want to live a healthier life and prioritize longevity."
But he had some barriers in the way.
He was dealing with high hunger and constant cravings for sweets. Cookies and gummy candies were his go-tos.
Additionally, he was a busy, stressed lawyer who sat at a desk most of the day.
He also had past workout-related injuries and wanted to stay injury-free.
And he traveled for work at least a few days every month.
Last but not least (I'm running out of adverbs here), he was in a plateau and the scale hadn't moved in months.
More than anything, here's what stood out to me from his application: "I want to feel less tired, weak, and hungry.”
220 lbs. 7/16/25
Tired, weak, and hungry is no way to go through life. We had to make a change.
Here's Jay about one year later:
190 lbs. 6/15/26. Looking great and feeling even better!
In his own words:
"I had a general idea about what works, and I'd successfully lost weight before.
But with John's help I felt much better during the process, maintained my strength and energy, and generally felt a lot better than I had during previous weight loss efforts. It was the little things that added up: exercises that worked around my minor injuries, adjustments to my diet, supplement recommendations, and a lot of small tweaks I wouldn't have figured out on my own.
What stood out most was how supportive he was. Encouraging, understanding, and he kept me on track. I liked the weekly personal check-ins. I've worked with a personal trainer before, but that was just about the exercises. This covered the diet, the training, AND the education. John explained things, sent articles, reviewed my form, and that education kept me motivated.
I met my expectations on weight loss, and my body composition and strength came out better than I expected. I've already recommended John's coaching to others."
By this point, I know what you're thinking: "Let's go, Jay!! That guy freakin crushed it. How did he do it? Ozempic? TRT? Sold his soul to the ghost of Hulk Hogan in exchange for the body of his dreams?"
No, no, and I made a rule long ago to never ask clients about their supernatural dealings.
Here are the 3 most important changes I helped Jay make, no soul-selling required:
1. I had him work out less and eat more (wait, wut?)
Jay had lost weight in the past, but he felt terrible doing it.
After his last cut, he was hungry all the time, his joints hurt, and he lost a ton of strength. Because he felt terrible, he was primed for a rebound. And he rebounded harder than Dwight Howard in his prime. He would lose 10-15 pounds, put back on 15-20, round and round on the miserable metabolic merry go round of suck.
This time around, we had to make sure he felt good (or at least tolerable) as he was losing the fat. We wanted it to stick this time.
People are shocked to hear that when I get a new client, I often tell them to train less and eat more.
Now now, I don't tell them to stop training hard or to eat whatever the heck they want. I design an efficient training routine so they get the most out of minimal time in the gym. And I help them swap calorie dense, ultra processed junk for tasty, high volume, high protein, filling meals.
Examples of the swaps we made:
Instead of deadlifting 1-2 reps shy of failure, we lightened the load a bit and added some single leg work. Less exhausting (a better stimulus to fatigue ratio for his goals), more balance, and his back felt better. A year later, the nagging back pain he came in with is basically gone, and he's lifting without babying it.
We added mobility work for his mid back and hips between sets of strength work, putting less strain on his low back.
Instead of running a few times a week, which he'd done in the past to lose fat but which also made his knees achy, we used walking as the primary form of cardio and brought in jog intervals sparingly. Jay didn't care about running, he just wanted to lose the fat.
Swapped his lunch sandwiches for high protein "mediterranean" bowls he prepped the weekend before.
Added an afternoon protein shake alongside his handful of candy, so he felt full instead of going back for 17 more handfuls.
Now Jay spends less time in the gym. He feels like he's eating more than he did 30 pounds ago, even though he's eating fewer calories. That's the power of the right swaps.
When the scale is going down, joints are feeling better, AND the client tells me these magic eleven words, "I don't know what's happening, I'm eating more but losing weight," I know we're on the right track.
2. We slowed down to speed up
A huge yet underrated reason my clients get life changing results: I help them get out of their own way.
Every week I talk to people who are unhappy with their rate of fat loss. They "only" lost 3 pounds last month. Or the scale hasn't budged in two weeks. Or their bench press hasn't gone up in a month.
What's the natural thing to do in this situation? PANIC! CODE RED!
Then most people do the exact wrong things. They slash 500 calories a day, add two extra hours of cardio, and change their entire workout routine. Maybe it works in the short term. But three weeks later they're starving, exhausted, and saying, “Frick this, I just want to enjoy my life.”
Really, 30% of my coaching calls are just me saying this in different ways: "You're doing everything you need to. It just takes longer than you think, and results are not linear. Keep putting in the work and give it time.”
Jay lost a life changing 30 pounds of fat in a year. In other words, "only" 2.5 pounds a month.” And the rate was intentional. Losing it over 12 months meant less hunger, less muscle lost, more flexibility with his diet, and never putting his whole life on hold just to drop fat.
The next time you "only" lose 2-4 pounds in a month, remember what that adds up to over a year. Or two!
Then put your head down and keep doing the boring work.
3. He showed up every single week, kept calm, and carried on
The least flashy part of Jay's transformation, but the most important: he didn't miss a single check-in call the entire year.
We spoke just about every week for nearly a year, and that speaks volumes about his recipe for success. Never perfect but ruthlessly consistent. He didn't have any weeks where he lost 5 pounds, ate perfectly, and worked out every day. But he also didn't have any weeks where he ghosted his check-ins, skipped the gym entirely, and went back to his old way of eating.
Put another way, he was consistently good enough.
Jay also never got too high or too low. He's one of the most flat affect guys I've ever coached, and early on I wasn't sure how to read him (I thought he hated me, to be honest 😂).
But it turned out to be his superpower. He didn't hop on the emotional roller coaster that derails so many people. A slow week didn't rattle him, he just kept showing up and doing the work.
And somewhere in those 12 months, something BIG shifted inside him.
At the start, he wrote "I want to feel less tired, weak, and hungry" on his application. With every new choice, he stopped being that guy. The scale started going down, his back stopped hurting, and he stopped white-knuckling his way past the candy jar.
The kicker: he didn't just lose 30 pounds by going carnivore for 3 months and living in the gym 10 hours a week. He rebuilt his habits and shifted his identity into someone who's healthy, lean, and strong year round. The 30 pounds is the headline, but the identity shift is the real story. That's the part that fires me up about what I do.
Here's where Jay landed after a year of that steady, boring, good-enough work:
Down 30 pounds, from 220 to 190
The back pain he walked in with, basically gone
Maintained 90% of his strength
Eating more food than he was 30 pounds ago
And most importantly, he’s feeling great and can see himself living this way for decades
How I Can Help You
Anyone can lose a little weight. Helping people lose it, keep it off, and feel good because the person underneath it changed, THAT’S the part that gets me going.
If you'd like your own version of Jay's year, here's how it works:
Click below and fill out a short application.
It takes about 5 minutes and tells me about your goals, your schedule, and what's been getting in your way.
If I think I can help you (and I only take people I'm confident I can), we'll hop on a quick call to map out what your highest-leverage spots look like.
You've seen what a year of consistent, boring, good-enough work did for Jay. Let's find out what it can do for you.
Best,
John
P.S. Beautiful weekend celebrating Kelly’s 29th bday! We got 19 pics of Mabel thrashing about and exactly one where she’s looking at the camera 😂
3 Steps You Can Take
Apply for coaching - If you’re ready to start, you can fill out a coaching application here (it takes 90 seconds or less). Best case, you change your life. Worst case, I’ll help you draw up a road map to get closer to your goals.
Sign up for my newsletter - If you’d like to hear more, sign up for my mailing list here.
Keep learning - You can check out my other articles here. Nobody asked me to, but I’ve spent a ton of time researching everything from artificial sweeteners to saturated fat to testosterone and more, so you don’t have to.
