When James Wilson, a 43-year-old lawyer from Washington, D.C., was mired in post-Covid malaise, he found more than one way to get out of it and get in amazing shape. Here, he reveals what he did:
During the height of the Covid pandemic, I definitely let myself go. I certainly wasn’t a “gym rat” before—I’d done some exercise, thrown some weights around with with no idea what I was doing and with no real goal in mind—but when things started getting back to normal, I realized I was close to 230 pounds. My back hurt. I felt lethargic. It made me feel really old!
Knowing that I’d tried before and nothing had stuck, I decided this time I needed to really commit to something. I needed support and accountability. After looking around a bit, I signed up for a transformation with Ultimate Performance in Washington, DC.
I essentially went from eating and drinking whatever I wanted whenever I felt like to a very intentional diet. Pre-transformation, a typical day would be a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich for breakfast, a sandwich and chips for lunch, and pasta or something for dinner, usually followed by ice cream. Lots of snacking between meals, and a few bottles of wine a week.
A typical day during that 12-week period would be two eggs on toast for breakfast, grilled chicken and spinach for lunch, grilled salmon and asparagus for dinner, and non-fat yogurt and berries for dessert. I'd have a protein shake and a banana for a snack. By week 8 or so it was quite boring, but it was very easy to stick to and the unexpected part was that I never really felt hungry at all.
I also stopped drinking alcohol, which I thought was going to be a real challenge. After a couple of weeks, I found I didn’t even miss it.
I worked out 3 times a week; as a beginner, I basically just did what I was told. The first few workouts felt absolutely brutal. My body was so unused to doing anything like that, I was basically crawling out of the gym. One morning after a particularly heavy leg workout, I had to walk backward down the car park ramp back to my car so that my legs wouldn't buckle under me. It did get easier though!
The pendulum squat machine quickly became, and remains, my nemesis. Leg day filled me with dread until one of my trainers told me that the key was embracing the challenge of it. Since then I’ve tried to take on that mindset, and it’s slowly becoming a day to look forward to. On the other hand, I like a good pull-up—it's a great exercise for tracking your progress. When I first started I could barely do one, and 12 weeks later I was doing them with a weight belt. One good thing about pull-ups is that they get easier as you get leaner!
In 12 weeks, I went from 221 pounds to 196 pounds—so I lost 25 pounds, and went from 24 percent body fat to 11 percent. I hadn't been below 210 pounds since I was in college.
It felt great to build my confidence at the gym. I used to be intimidated by everyone there, and would go and do a few random movements and call it a day 15 minutes later. Now when I'm traveling for work, I can walk into a hotel gym and know exactly what I need to do to get a good workout. That confidence feels amazing.
I have tons more energy. Getting going in the morning used to be a real challenge; now when the kids wake me up in the morning I'm (generally!) ready to get on with the day, even if it's 6 am.
I have a lot of friends who are in pretty good shape; I’ve been the butt of a few jokes over the years for never saying no to an extra slice of pizza. The great thing was that they were all super-encouraging. It was great to have a team of supporters sending encouraging messages throughout.
The main goal now is to turn this transformation into a permanent mindset shift. Working out has become something that I do, and I need to make sure I stay in that routine indefinitely. It's easy to think of the transformation as “over,” but this is a process that doesn't end until you die!
Getting a trainer to keep me honest, and who was focused on nutrition as well as workouts, was huge for me. I am very fortunate that it was an option for me. That would be my advice to anyone looking to travel this same path: Put your trust in someone who knows what they are doing! Do what your trainer tells you to do, don't try to negotiate, and embrace the challenge (especially on leg day)!
