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The High Performance Journal - June 11th, 2024

A few months ago, I had a 30-minute convo with a founder to help him get back on track with his body.

Bob (name withheld) used to be athletic in college but once he started his business his health went to crap (his words, not mine).

After working long hours and tons of stress led to gaining almost all his fat in the belly.

In the beginning, it wasn’t an issue. But as the years went by he started to notice lower levels of energy, affecting not only his business but his time with his family.

Bob was facing a challenge that other entrepreneurs faced: He was trading his business for his body.

In today’s issue, I will share our discussion, my recommendations, and his results.

Bob's 3 biggest challenges were:

• Letting work take over his exercise habits
• His diet was a mess. He could avoid eating through the day but tended to overeat at night.
• When the afternoon hit, he’d face an energy dip that caused him to drink more coffee, which later messed up his sleep.

His main goal was to drop 21 pounds and increase his energy levels while keeping up with his busy entrepreneurial schedule.

I asked him to walk me through his typical day so we could find some opportunities for improvement.

Morning: He wakes up, eats breakfast, and spends time with his family.

Once at work, he works on his 3 most important tasks of the day for the first half while doing important meetings for the second half.

Afternoon: Productive work, more meetings, and strategic planning.

Evening: Home for dinner at 6:30pm and when the kids went to bed he did more work.

When you look at that schedule it looks normal but it was chaotic.

Many emergency meetings are scheduled, which take up his time and throw him off course. It was hard to fit exercise or even eat into what he did.

But when we went through the schedule we also found some opportunities and tasks he was doing that were quite redundant.

First Recommendation: Trade Cardio For Weights

When Bob first tried to lose weight he did so using only cardio and dieting, which is probably the worst way to lose weight.

While it helped him drop pounds he gained it back just as fast because he lost muscle along the way, which affected his metabolism.

That's the biggest problem with his approach. Muscle is ​metabolically active tissue​ that you want to keep as you lose weight.

So we replaced doing cardio with lifting weights using ​progressive overload​.

This was a profound switch because it helped us not only lose weight it build muscle (see pic):

Bob's DEXA scan. The black line is body fat and magenta is lean mass (muscle)

When we're trying to get lean we want fat loss, not weight loss. This means keeping, if not building, more muscle as we drop pounds.

This is why we prioritize weights over cardio.

Heck, we don't recommend doing cardio either. ​We recommend walking 8-10k steps​.

This helps burn calories, improve recovery, de-stress our bodies, and amplify our brains.

Second Recommendation: Strategic Time Blocking

We put a time in his calendar for 1 hour each afternoon. This would be his recharge time.

We treated the time as if he was meeting with one of his most important clients of the day: HIM.

His assistant protected that time and we used it to hit the downstairs gym for a quick 30-minute workout.

If he was tight for time we’d have him do it in his office. If it wasn’t a workout day he’d go out for a walk.

We call it “recharge time” because for him to have more energy he needs to expend it with physical activity.

Once he started doing this he reported back increased amounts of focus and energy, which he used to crush the rest of the day.

Third Recommendation: Put High-Quality Meals On Autopilot

Part of the reason he was overeating at night was that he wasn’t eating enough during the day.

Not eating is a major stress. When you compound that on an already stressful day, it will lead to overeating or, in some cases, drinking.

We started his day with a quick protein shake with creatine and greens. He’d take this along with a few supplements.

After his workouts (or walks) he’d eat a ​quick low carb high protein lunch​ then be back to work. All liquids were in the form of water or coffee.

After doing this he found his nighttime munchies go away and felt less stressed as a result.

The Results: 23.8 pounds of pure fat loss in 2 months, 5 pounds of muscle gained, 6 inches off the waist, and massive amounts of energy gained.

We took advantage of what was working for him already: His commitment to schedule.

By putting his physical activity in the afternoon it acted as an energetic recharge for the rest of his day. We recruited support by asking his assistant to protect his recharge time.

When we put his eating on a schedule we minimized the threat of overeating at night. We also increased the ​quality of his foods to be nutrient dense​ and ​high protein​.

Since we switched his workouts from cardio to weights he dropped body fat, instead of losing muscle.

Since then Bob has not only dropped the pounds but is experiencing a level of energy he hasn't had since he was a college athlete.

He doesn't need an afternoon coffee anymore and that has helped him make significant improvements to his sleep.

Here's What He Had To Say About The Process:

The Lessons Here Are Powerful:

1. You need to block off time in your calendar for what matters. Remember, that you’re the most important client on the planet and the ship only runs as well as you do.
2. The more routine you can make your health the more freedom you’ll achieve. If your day is random find peace by incorporating a routine of eating and exercising.
3. Get help. You can’t keep on doing the same thing expecting a different result. If this has been an area of your life that you can’t get right then you need to invest in yourself with coaching.

Even though you may not be a founder you can still use these lessons to incorporate better health into your schedule.

If you’re interested in getting lean & boosting your energy levels like Bob, I’d recommend reading this ​article​ or this ​one​.

I hope you found this newsletter helpful.

Onwards and upwards 🚀

- Dan

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help:

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