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Summary
On episode 70 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with John, one of his coaching clients, to close out a 10 week program built around cutting added sugar and relearning how to eat.
John walks through his wins and challenges, from finally understanding how sugar affects his body to the social situations, like drinks and appetizers with friends, that still test him.
The conversation covers his measurements, his improving blood sugar numbers, and the one mindset shift he says made everything else possible.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Cutting added sugar was the core shift, not a temporary diet. John says he can now genuinely enjoy food without sugar in it, something he didn’t think was possible, and he’s learned his body handles very little of it well.
- Real change came from a decision, not from following a program. John describes the process as relearning what he already knew rather than being told something new, which is part of why it didn’t feel like the mental battle he expected.
- Body measurements told a fuller story than the scale. Over 10 weeks his waist dropped from 47 to 41.5 inches, his hips lost 3 inches, and each thigh lost about 3 inches, changes he could see and feel daily in ways the scale alone wouldn’t capture.
- His A1C dropped 2.1 points in the first five weeks alone. His doctor was surprised enough by the results to tell him there’s no reason he won’t be able to come off his diabetes medication, with John targeting being medicine-free within the year.
- He runs on an 80/20 approach, not strict perfection. Eating well 80 percent of the time still leaves room for social occasions like drinks or appetizers, as long as he plans for it beforehand and compensates afterward.
- Activity level went up alongside the diet changes. John built up to consistently hitting, and often exceeding, 10,000 steps a day, which Allan frames as a maintenance baseline rather than a ceiling.
- Having a supportive partner made consistency easier. John’s wife, Tammy, preps his meals and snacks daily, and he credits that steady support, along with her encouragement, with making the habit far more sustainable.
- His single biggest lesson: change starts with getting tired of being unhealthy. Once he made that decision and accepted he was in control of himself, John says the practical steps fell into place with far less struggle than he expected.
“The hardest part of this is making the decision that you’re tired of being unhealthy. Once you realize that you’re in control and take control of yourself, it all falls into place quite easily.”
John
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