Veronica reached out to me in June of 2022 with a lot on the line.

“My wedding is in 16 months, and I want to look and feel my best. I don’t care what it takes. This is probably the most important day of my life and I want to feel confident and beautiful in my own skin.”

As the words left her mouth, her eyes glittered with hope and excitement but also a twinge of fear.

“Let’s do it!” I replied back. Wondering about the fear, I went on, “First things first, what experience do you have with nutrition and fitness?”

This is where our Zoom meeting took a dark turn.

“Well…it’s a long story…”

It turns out Veronica had worked with a coach previously. To say she did not have a positive experience is the understatement of the century.

She was told to eat 1,000 calories/day and her food choices were limited to chicken, broccoli, tilapia, and prunes. Yes, prunes.

Overly restricting calories is not an effective strategy and can lead to a negative relationship with food.

Plus, research consistently shows that calories and protein are king when it comes to fat loss. There is never a need to eat only certain foods.

She was asked to take progress pictures on a consistent basis, even when she told her coach that it was bad for her mental health.

Your mental health should always be priority number one.

There are countless other markers of progress - performance in the gym, relationship with food, mood/energy, etc. If a coach insists you do something that makes you uncomfortable, run!

After telling her coach that tricep dips were causing her shoulders to hurt like heck, her coach's response was, "Well, you should still try to do them because they're really good."

This might be the most "facepalm" of them all. A good coach will modify based on the client response - especially if there's pain and it's an exercise as silly as tricep dips.

It's sad to see coaches, either due to inconsideration, ignorance, or a combination of the two, have such a negative impact on someone's physical and mental health.

Be aware of these red flags when assessing your options.

Despite Veronica's bad luck and rough start, she was able to change her life.

In just over a year, she:

Lost 10 pounds of fat while gaining muscle
Improved her relationship with food
Built the strength to do 6 pull ups
Looked and felt her best on her wedding day

Without a doubt, she’s earned her spot in the Hall of Fame of all-time best success stories.

Here’s how she did it.

Veronica’s Before and After

As soon as our Zoom meeting ended, Veronica and I got to work. That fateful day of our first meeting marked the “before” time of her transformation.

On day one, Veronica felt:

Unsure how to train to reach her strength goals
Confused about nutrition (in large part due to her awful coaching experience in the past)
Worried that she wouldn’t look or feel her best on her wedding day
Frustrated that her previous efforts hadn’t resulted in the progress she was hoping for

By her wedding day, she needed to be:

Strong (specifically, she wanted to do a pull up and a pistol squat)
Confident in her food choices
Feel beautiful and happy in her wedding dress
Self-sufficient to keep making progress on her own

With a before/after situation, I always think of the underpants-stealing gnomes from from South Park:

For Veronica to get in the best shape of her life, we just needed to figure out that middle step!

Simple in theory. Not easy in practice.

Interested in making a transformation similar to Veronica's? Or maybe you’re still wondering how she pulled off such an incredible feat?

Let’s dive a bit deeper into her 3 keys to success.

Veronica’s Keys to Success

Don’t get me wrong. I take zero credit for Veronica’s transformation. She worked her butt off and stayed consistent for over a year to earn her stellar transformation.

In addition to her hard work, consistency, and resiliency, she had three core keys to her success:

Playing the long game
Sacrificing short term pleasure for long term happiness
Embracing progress over perfection

I get it! These are vague clichés. And very overused (especially by me).

Bear with me - there’s a lot of truth in each. Here’s how each one applied practically to Veronica’s transformation.

Veronica’s Keys to Success - Playing the Long Game

A lot of people have the same goal and make the same mistake. Their goal is to lose fat and gain muscle definition. Their mistake is that they waffle between the two and never commit.

They feel fat and diet for a few weeks. Then, they get hungry and see their muscles shrinking, so they eat more to try to gain muscle.

After a few days or weeks, they feel bloated and try to lose fat. Back and forth they go, like Buridan’s ass.

Most fail to make any tangible progress because they fail to commit to a single goal for long enough.

Gaining muscle takes time. From what I’ve seen, most people get the best results by committing to a muscle gain phase for at least 6 weeks and up to 6-8 months at a time.

Veronica trusted the process and got strong. She set personal records on nearly every exercise, built plenty of muscle, and worked up to eating more calories than she ever had before.

That approach got us here (from June 2022 to February of 2023).

Hello, Boulder Shoulders!

She played the long game wonderfully. By working hard to build more muscle and a faster metabolism, she set herself up for a successful fat loss phase.

Important Side Note - How Many Calories Did She Eat?

When I sent over the first draft of this article to Veronica, her feedback was:

The only thing I would change would be when you’re describing how I changed my calories is actually putting the numbers in. Before I started with you I was eating about 1600 calories and the. You asked me to go up to 2200. For someone new to fitness that sounds absolutely terrifying (especially to women) because they think that they will only get fat. But that didn’t happen because we checked in weekly and worked together as a team.

Many of my female clients struggle with the same dilemma. They want to lose fat but they’re only eating 1400-1600 calories/day and feel hungry all the time.

If they cut calories further, they’ll lose a little fat but they’ll be even hungrier, suffer from poor energy, and have a tough time recovering from workouts and gaining strength. If they eat more calories, they’re afraid they’ll gain fat and be unhappy with their bodies.

On the surface, it’s a lose-lose situation.

My solution - and the exact strategy Veronica and I used:

Increase calories by 100-200/week until they reach a point where they feel, “Woah, this is too much food and I’m full all the time. How do I possibly eat this much?” For Veronica, this ended up being an 800 calorie increase (over 4-6 weeks) to 2,200 calories.
To calm fears of instantly gaining 20 pounds, we’ll usually set a “weight ceiling” that we won’t go over. In Veronica’s case, we set a ceiling at 140 pounds. On day 1, she was 128-129 pounds and she topped out at a high of 135 pounds in February. We were able to add 800+ calories with just 7 pounds of gain (likely half or more was water, glycogen, and muscle) without even approaching 140 pounds.
Once we reach the point where calories are high, hunger is low, and strength is improving, we know we’re in a good spot to start a successful fat loss phase.
For Veronica, we were able to drop calories to 1800 (above her previous maintenance) and she was able to lose between .5-1 pound/week consistently.

Veronica’s Keys to Success - Sacrificing Short Term Pleasure for Long Term Happiness

I haven’t yet mentioned the craziest part of Veronica’s journey -

She made all of this progress while working as a full time physical therapist, taking extra classes on the weekends, AND planning a wedding.

Is your mind blown?

Her amazing discipline and commitment to the process came in handy when things got tough. And they did get tough.

At times throughout her journey, she felt:

Tired
Hungry
NOT in the mood to work out
Stressed

See?

We did our best to make the process as painless as possible. We took a flexible approach to her diet and programmed workouts that she could fit into her busy schedule.

Even with the perfect plan, losing fat and gaining muscle is hard! It requires grit and sacrifice.

When it feels impossible, remember why you started. Veronica’s vision of herself on her wedding day fueled her through the hard days.

She was able to take it one day at a time and to stick to the plan. On the rare occasion she failed to meet her standards, she didn’t freak out - she got right back on track and trusted the process.

When stress and fatigue reached unmanageable levels, we adjusted her plan accordingly. Prioritizing progress instead of stressing out about imperfect days is huge for having success over the long run.

Veronica’s Keys to Success - Embracing Progress Over Perfection

Can I brag about my client roster for a second?

My clients include:

Lawyers
Physicians
Physical therapists
Tech workers
College vice presidents

People in these careers are hard working, successful, and - almost always - perfectionists.

They’re not accustomed to failure. A bad workout or unplanned cheat meal can feel devastating.

Here’s the deal - Perfection isn’t required to make progress. For my high achieving clients, this concept takes a while to sink in.

80% was Veronica’s perfect number. She knew she would make progress if she could complete 80% of her workouts and hit her nutrition targets 80% of the time.

This mindset reduced her stress on off days. It gave her the flexibility to enjoy some afternoon pick-me-up chocolate and weekend meals out with friends while staying on track.

And it worked perfectly. Just look at her weight loss trends over the three months leading up to her wedding:

It doesn’t get better than that. She lost weight at the perfect rate to lose fat while maintaining muscle. That’s how you win the game of “getting toned.”

Striving for perfection can lead to frustration when you make a small misstep. Take a lesson from Veronica - consistent “good enough” effort always trumps holding yourself to unreasonable standards.

Wrap Up - What Can You Take From Veronica’s Story?

Veronica was one of my most successful clients because she worked hard and stayed consistent. She wasn’t afraid to commit to a long term plan, embraced discomfort, and focused on 80% consistency rather than an all or nothing mentality.

By the end of our coaching program, she made a drastic physical transformation:

She improved her relationship with food, learning that nothing is off limits. Now, she can eat the foods she loves without feeling guilty or slowing down her progress.

She also gained the strength and stability to do six pull ups and a single leg body weight squat.

Most importantly, she felt and looked the best she has in her entire life on her wedding day.

She knocked it out of the park and I couldn’t be prouder of her efforts. Way to go, Veronica!

When it was all said it done, Veronica explained..

“In the past I have worked with some pretty bad coaches so I’m always a little skeptical when working with someone new. John worked with me through my biases, food insecurities, past injuries, form, and most importantly he lets ME lead my own strength journey. He is extremely knowledgeable and never shied away from my interrogations (sorry John <3) about body mechanics or progressions.

All I have ever heard from John is strict encouragement and support of my decisions and my progress. All of these reasons are why I continue to work with John. 100% recommend if you're serious about your goals because if you put in the effort John will work with you to make it happen.”

If you need a jump start toward your fitness goals, I’d like to invite you to learn more about my VIP Fitness Coaching.

I won’t lie to you. I can’t guarantee results as outstanding as Veronica’s (or Eshan’s, or Matt’s, or Scott’s). Making a life changing transformation requires a lot of discipline and determination. I haven’t met many people that work as hard as Veronica did.

Here’s what I can guarantee - You won’t regret signing up for a free consult to learn more. It’s a free, no pressure chat to talk through your goals.

I also guarantee that if you sign up to work with me, you’ll be gaining a lifelong partner to help you look your best, feel better, and improve your health.

If you’re interested, you can sign up below. See you on the other side.

Start today

3 Steps You Can Take

Apply for coaching - If you’re ready to start, you can sign up for a free chat with me here. Best case, you change your life. Worst case, we draw up a road map to get you 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.

Best,
John