How My Client Joe Lost 17 Pounds in 11 Weeks
What do a large watermelon, a small microwave, and a 9–12-month-old toddler have in common?
They all weigh about 17 pounds—the exact amount of weight my client Joe lost in just 11 weeks.
You might be thinking: “Who’s this guy Joe? Some schmoe??” If not a schmoe, probably some 20-something with a lightning-fast metabolism, perfect genes, and nothing to worry about except who to start in his flex spot in fantasy football, right?
Not so fast, bucko.
Joe is none of those things. He’s:
52 years old
A father of two, with a youth sports schedule that would make a logistics manager cry
Working an insanely high-stress job
Dealing with achy knees and shoulders from a past life of baseball and hard training
And like a lot of adults, he’s battled his weight for most of his life
In other words: he had every reason to let his health slide.
But he didn’t.
In mid-June, Joe took a chance—on a coach he found online, never met in person, and only spoke with for 45 minutes. That decision flipped the script on his health and transformed his summer of 2025.
Here’s exactly why it worked:
1. He Committed Ruthlessly to the Basics
To start, Joe needed simple, repeatable wins.
Here’s what he did:
10,000 steps a day, no matter what
Dumbbell-only workouts in his basement—33 of them over 11 weeks
High-protein, high-fiber meals on repeat
One workout with dumbbells in your basement? Not too impressive.
But thirty-three consistent sessions - without a miss - that hit the major movement patterns, challenged his muscles, and stayed pain-free?
That’s a game-changer—for body composition, metabolic health, and momentum.
His workouts focused on:
Squats and split squats for leg strength and knee health
Push and pull movements like DB bench presses and rows
Core and hinge work like plank variations and RDLs
All programmed around his shoulder and knee limitations so he could train hard without flaring anything up
No barbell PRs. No fancy equipment. Just consistent effort, progressive overload, and smart recovery.
And the food?
It wasn’t extreme or fancy. It was dialed-in and repeatable. Here’s a sample day of eating that helped him drop 17 pounds without losing muscle:
Breakfast (~240 cal)
1 cup Fage 0% Greek yogurt
½ tbsp half & half in coffee (gotta measure and track this too, folks!)
¾ cup blueberries
Joint health gel supplement
Lunch (~960 cal)
1.5 cups homemade turkey chili
1 C1 Nutrition protein bar
1 cup Greek yogurt + jalapeños
12 almonds (gotta make sure you eat 12 and not 112, folks!)
Dinner (~700 cal)
10 oz chicken thighs
Sweet potato
Arugula + olive oil (folks, gotta make sure you’re eating 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, and not 5-6!)
½ cup cottage cheese
Evening snack (~120 cal)
1 scoop whey protein (Optimum Nutrition)
Have yourself a day, Joe! He did, then repeated it - more or less - for three months. That’s how you lose about 20 pounds!
2. He Refused to Give Power to His Excuses
Joe had every valid reason to say: “Let me just survive these next 10 years until the kids are in college. Then I’ll focus on me.”
If he had, here’s what he’d be working against:
10 more years of ingrained poor habits
Even more fat to lose later
Higher risk of health issues from another decade of being overweight
But he didn’t wait.
Instead:
He has more energy right now
His health trajectory changed before life “settled down”
He built habits that’ll carry him through the next chapter, not just react to it
And guess what? Life never actually settles down. He just got ahead of it.
One of my favorite lectures of all time is The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.
In it, he says:
“The brick walls are there for a reason.
The brick walls are not there to keep us out.
The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”
Joe had brick walls everywhere. And he ran straight through them!
He had good reason, too. Because on the other side was more energy for the people who matter most, the confidence of feeling good in his own skin again, and setting a hell of an example for his kids.
In other words—things worth fighting for.
3. He Actually Asked for Help
I’ve been a personal trainer for 8 years. An online coach for 4+.
And I see the same pattern—every quarter:
5–8 people reach out asking about coaching
3–5 of them commit and sign on
90% of those people reach their goals
The rest? They hesitate—because of timing, price, fear, or self-doubt
Months (or years) later, many of them circle back… often still stuck
The difference?
Joe asked for help—and he did it before things got worse.
That takes guts. Especially in an area as vulnerable and personal as your health. Especially when you're used to being the one other people rely on.
But instead of trying to white-knuckle his way through another year of “I'll figure it out,” he chose a smarter path.
He got:
A clear plan
Real accountability
Guidance he could trust
And more importantly, he saved himself years of frustration, trial and error, and spinning his wheels. That one decision—asking for help—compressed his progress timeline by years.
Some gold from a Ramit Sethi email last week that speaks to this:
“I’ll ask you something I ask my readers all the time — and I want you to really think about this:
Do you avoid asking for help because you want your wins to look effortless?
It’s okay — most people do. We’ve been trained to believe that struggling in silence is somehow more noble than getting support.
But now you know: that mindset is a trap.
And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
You’re allowed to want more.
You’re allowed to ask for help.
You don’t have to white-knuckle your way through every challenge. You don’t need to figure it all out alone. In fact, that’s one of the fastest ways to stay stuck.”
No more guessing. Just doing the work and watching it pay off. Joe did - and it did.
Touchdown!! The Full-Circle Moment
Last Sunday, Joe watched the first NFL games of the season with friends he hadn’t seen in a while.
There was BBQ. There were beers. Many, many beers. And there was zero guilt. Because on Monday, he was back to the plan—a system he’s proven works.
No spirals.
No damage control.
Just the next meal and next rep.
By the time his fantasy team was down 50 points heading into Monday night, Joe was already back in the gym—17 pounds lighter, stronger, and more in control than he’s been in years.
Okay, I admit it! - that’s not all true. I might be confusing Joe’s fantasy team with my own :(
Want results like Joe?
If you're ready to stop winging it and finally follow a plan that fits your life—and actually works—I’m currently accepting a handful (3)* of new coaching clients.
👉 Click here to apply for coaching
(No pressure. Just a short form and then we’ll chat.)
Let’s make your next 3 months look a lot different than your last 3.
*Why only 3? Because I cap my roster at 20 to protect what matters: quality.
Right now, 17 spots are filled—which means I’ve got room for 3 more people who are ready to commit. At Solokas Focus, coaching isn’t mass-produced. It’s personalized, high-touch, and designed to get results.
Best,
John
P.S. Just look at Joe’s weight loss chart. A sight to behold!
Quit playing around on your goals - join the team!
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.
