Transforming My Body: The Journey from Overweight to Efficient with GLP-1 and Intentional Habits

Learning Split Jerks at Republic Fitness in Davis Square

It was January, 2025, and the anxiety was becoming too loud to ignore. I’m normally not an anxious person, but the recent election and pending inauguration of what has been one of the most anxiety (and rage) inducing political regimes of my lifetime were weighing on me heavily. At the same time, K and I were approaching our first IVF transfer. Some of you know that we’ve been on a fertility journey since before I went through chemotherapy. That has been a difficult journey; any of you who’ve gone through that process know that just getting to that “pre-transfer” point is a series of trials on its own.

We both were feeling like there was a lot that was outside of our control. I wanted to be able to do more to help K through this journey, but felt that there was only so much I could do.

What could I do — the world seemed to be spinning out of control, the fertility journey was a series of “hurry up and wait” steps over and over again, so really, what steps could I take to calm the waters of my inner sea?

Over the next nine months, I would discover a truth that I think we all eventually come to terms with — small, incremental changes can have a net effect, cascading off of each other to change your larger circumstances. I decided in January to get serious about my fitness, to focus on what I thought was a small, incremental change. It turned out to be a much larger change than I’d anticipated, but I knew if I could get that aspect of my life in control, I’d be able to influence other areas with more energy, more intent, more focus. Maybe I can’t solve the world or force a successful IVF transfer, but what I can do is be a better partner to K, a better and more energetic colleague, a more intentional friend. All of these things would grow out of my efforts to change the vehicle I’m moving through life in for the better.

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Critical Mass

One of the things driving my anxiety, and the one I knew I had the most power over, was my health. At this point, in January after returning from a company off-site in Montreal, I weighed 275 lbs — the heaviest I’ve been in my entire life. For those of you who don’t know me personally, I’m 5’10; 275 is a lot on my frame. Tying my shoes left me out of breath. I couldn’t put on socks without contorting into all kinds of different shapes. I was growing more and more frustrated looking in the mirror, feeling like I was out of control as the number on the scale kept going up and the waistband on my size 40 pants cut further and further into my flesh each time I put them on.

A major portion of the weight gain I experienced over the past few years came from the prednisone I had to take concurrently with my chemo regimen two years ago. They give you that so you’ll eat, which helps you keep up your strength and aids in ensuring a positive outcome of the treatment. I definitely ate. After that, my relationship with food was in a pretty unhealthy place. I was indulgent. To quote the comedian Nate Bargatze, “I would drive to donuts,” making an active choice to eat garbage in addition to indulging when donuts and the like would come to me.

So in January, one morning after a particularly low-feeling moment in the mirror, I decided to make a change. The problem was, even though I was still lifting three times a week, as I had been for the past eight years (including here and there during chemo), I just felt like I was so heavy I couldn’t work out as hard as I wanted to — as hard as I thought I needed to in order to start to reverse this trend. Running wasn’t an option; I’d tried that before and it resulted in a pretty gnarly stress fracture. That said, there really was no level of physical activity that would have compensated for the way I was eating. The old “you can’t outrun a bad diet” is incredibly true. I needed help, so I talked to my doctor about trying a GLP-1 again.

I had previously tried Wegovy and Ozempic; neither worked for me. I didn’t suffer any adverse effects like you hear about in some patients, but I didn’t lose any weight. The appetite reduction I experienced on them was minimal, and I plateaued on the Wegovy for so long my insurance actually stopped covering it.

My doctor recommended Zepbound. I did some research, agreed to give it a try, and off we went.

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Slow to Start, Long to Win

At first I didn’t change much about my routine. January and February are slow times, and while I had started the Zepbound, I was at such a low titration initially that not much was happening. I was in a routine of going to the gym three times a week and running programming that featured a heavy lift and some accessories/a metcon to round it out. It’s basically CrossFit without the insane “lift a tire over your head and scream” vibes (don’t come for me, CrossFitters — no disrespect, love that it works for you but it’s not my vibe).

I’ve been happy with my strength for years, always one of the biggest lifters in the class, and I had a solid foundation before the chemo that came back with a vengeance once I got back into the gym. I probably let myself lean on that strength as an indicator of my overall fitness a bit too hard, but it was satisfying! Deadlifting 465 lbs on a bar without throwing out your back feels like a special skill.

Over the first few months of 2025, it started to become clear to me that I would need to kick it up a notch if I wanted to achieve meaningful change. I was doing the same thing and expecting different results now that I had the Zepbound in my system, and that wasn’t going to cut it.

Around this time though, I did start to notice some appetite reduction. I started to get the sense that this time, the drug was actually going to help me, which brought up a new anxiety.

Tons of people are using GLP-1s these days. Lots of people are relying on them to bring the number on the scale down, and not thinking much more about it — not adding any meaningful exercise, not building healthy habits out of the opportunity to redefine their relationship with food, just shrinking. I’m not one to cast aspersions on anyone’s process — your journey is your journey. My journey needed to be focused on recomposition. I wanted to lose weight while maintaining strength, and I knew if I just relied on the drug itself without making any changes in my routine, I’d fail to do that.

So I started by making some choices the Zepbound was now allowing me to make. One thing that is consistently reported by patients who are prescribed these drugs is a reduction in “food noise.” Meaning, my body wasn’t shouting at me all the time to eat. The cravings for sugar were waning rapidly. I therefore was able to start being intentional with what I was eating.

I started small — replacing hearty cafeteria-style lunches with a salad. Next, I stopped having high-calorie smoothies for breakfast, replacing them with a protein bar, a banana, and coffee. I started making intentional snacking choices, focusing on protein.

Before long, I saw a change in the mirror. I was starting to reshape a bit, and the number on the scale, ever so slightly, was starting to descend.

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Kicking It Up a Notch

So I’ve mentioned the lifting a few times. I was at this point still going only three times a week. I have a Peloton bike we acquired during the pandemic that has been sitting in my office providing a rack for clothes and an excuse for not going to the gym more. For years I’d tell myself “I don’t need to do the more intense cardio classes; I can just get on the bike at home…” …but then I wouldn’t get on the bike.

I know that working out with a community is a foundational element in my motivation pyramid. Cursed with extroversion, I get a lot of energy from being around other people, and so the class structure just works for me. So I decided to start going five times a week. I also added in pre-workout and creatine to see if I would notice a difference.

Immediately things started to change — and fast. I was pushing harder on the big lift days from the creatine, and I was attending the full spread of classes now, so I was benefiting from programming on the days that didn’t feature a big lift, instead opting for more intense metabolic conditioning circuits (met-cons, for short) that drive your heart rate up and keep it elevated for about 45 minutes.

Around this time, I found myself looking for a new gym (long story, not for my blog). That’s when I found Republic in Davis Square, which has been one of the key elements in my success.

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The New Republic

Republic is similar in programming to my old gym. They offer a lifting-based class in the mornings that I attend six days per week. The programming features a focus lift like the big three (squats, bench press, deadlift), but differently from my old gym they also teach us some Olympic-style lifts which are incredibly fun and technical, keeping my brain engaged. The classes close out with a 15–20 minute met-con, so again getting that heart rate up.

But that’s about where the similarities end — they also offer tons of other classes: yoga, treadmill classes, Pilates, to name a few, and are part of a larger network of gyms within the Boston area called Healthworks.

The real sweetener in the Republic deal though is the spa.

They have a beautiful spa that you gain access to as part of the membership, featuring a hot tub, infrared sauna, cold plunges, and a steam room. The locker room facilities are very nice, and the gym itself features state-of-the-art equipment. I was able to access all of this for less than what I was previously paying, so I am feeling quite spoiled.

They also place a great focus on community, and I have been able to dive into some community building at the gym in really satisfying ways right away.

Why am I going on about this gym like I’m writing an ad for them? Well — I really like being there. Which means that I am going way more consistently than I’ve ever been able to. It’s been an incredible gift I’ve given myself.

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A Brief, Tough Interlude

Not long after I started at Republic, the pregnancy that resulted from the IVF transfer I had mentioned above started to miscarry. If you’ve experienced this, you know how hard this is, and K and I have experienced it a few times. I may at some point write about all of it, but we’re very much still in it, so for now I’ll keep it to the details relevant to the story I’m telling here.

After K’s body had recovered from the ensuing procedure enough that she could comfortably exercise again, she joined me at Republic, at first doing programming that is designed for women going through the body changes associated with pregnancy, and after a few months joining me in the classes again.

For both of us, Republic has been a place that allowed us to focus on positive choices, to engage in a therapy of movement with intention. It’s also brought us new friends and community who we are rapidly becoming close to, so while we are certainly not done healing from the most recent difficulty (I think in some ways, you never are), we certainly have been able to find a peace we wouldn’t have without this gym.

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Getting Technical

One side effect of becoming a sales leader is that I have become obsessive about stats and data. Republic has a machine called an “InBody” that gives you a pretty decent estimate of a lot of different fitness-related data points. Obvious things like total weight, BMI, etc., but then it goes further and gives you visceral fat, body water percentage, skeletal muscle mass, and most importantly, it estimates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) — which is the measurement of how much energy your body burns at rest in a day. This is where calorie targets in fitness trackers come from. When I started my journey, my BMR was around 2,032 kcal. Meaning that I needed to eat about that much in order to avoid losing muscle, which if you remember was a serious goal of mine in this project. From the BMR you can also get macronutrient targets — protein, carbohydrates, and fat. I started out looking for about 160 grams of protein per day.

Using this information, I set up a profile on a new health tracker app called “Joy Health Tracker.” It’s very similar to MyFitnessPal, but a little less expensive and integrates a training tracking feature that allows me to log my lifts as I do them and create a journal of the weights I’m putting on the various exercises in the class. Useful info over time. They also have a really responsive dev team who is actively engaged in soliciting user feedback. Highly recommend giving them a download/try.

Tracking the numbers eased my mind in a way I didn’t expect. Every scan, every log-in was proof that effort works — that something in my life was measurable, knowable, and moving forward when so much else wasn’t.

I found right away that hitting 160 grams of protein per day is hard, but I had also reached a titration on the Zepbound that was starting to really show results, which meant that I was able to be even more intentional about what food I was choosing. I have become one of those protein-obsessed monsters you hear about, but friends… let me tell you — I have never felt better.

I have energy all day. I am always satiated. I feel strong when I work out, sharp when I go about my professional tasks, present in my day-to-day with K — just better. It’s incredible. I also now have the benefit of a very clear journal of what I’m eating — so I can see with crystal clarity what foods arrest my weight loss, or even cause a slight gain back, and I can create patterns that allow me to indulge occasionally when I want to, while maintaining a downward trend in weight, and not sacrificing muscle growth.

I take an InBody reading every month and consistently have been trimming fat and adding muscle. Exactly what I want. Even better — I have seen that BMR (remember, the measure of how much my body burns at rest, how much fuel it takes just to live in my body) has increased from 2,032 to 2,240. That’s significant, and means I have to eat more in order to continue not sacrificing muscle while losing weight. Oh darn. It also means I have to hit 200 grams of Protein/day… that’s tough. I feel full all. The. Time. Shoutout to Barebells and RX bars, I don’t know how I’d be doing it without you.

This for me is the real crux of why I’ve been able to achieve what I have — tracking the numbers has helped me understand the impact of not only the GLP-1 but the lifting and the diet choices as well. I have real-world, verifiable data that validates the work I’m doing, and I can literally feel it reflected in how I exist within my body.

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Oh Yeah, Skincare

So the other thing I’ve been focusing on for the first time in my life is skincare. I’ve posted about this on Instagram, but if you haven’t seen those posts, I’ll fill you in here.

I’m pushing 40 and starting to see it in my face. The chemo definitely left its mark on me, and back in January I was seeing heavy dark circles under my eyes and wrinkles starting to spread more than I’d ever seen before.

The all-seeing algorithm knew this and hit me with a targeted ad for Caldera + Lab products. I ordered their regimen and started working it into my morning and evening ritual diligently. The results speak for themselves. Here’s me in May:

May, 2025

And here’s me a few weeks ago:

Maybe this sounds silly, but it was a little luxury I gave myself — something that I looked forward to as part of my routine — and that little luxury kept me motivated to continue using the products, which downstreams to my motivation to go to the gym. It’s all part of the same picture right now — taking care of my body head to toe.

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Today

I’m writing this on a plane, flying back from a week in Chicago where I was massively busy the entire time.

I noticed a few things on this trip, different from previous ones.

First — the heavy travel backpack I use when I travel doesn’t tax my shoulders and back the way it used to. I can stand straight up and down without having a strained posture. That’s new.

Second — walking around long distances is incredibly easy now. It doesn’t even feel like I have to do it with intention; I can just do it. And enjoy it. What a breath of fresh air.

Third — I’m even more comfortable in a middle airline seat than I’ve been in ages.

And lastly — one night I treated myself to an architecture river tour, which happened to embark from a pier right near the Ghirardelli store in the Wrigley Building. I thought, “Why not, you’ve been good,” and bought myself a sundae.

I had three bites and had to stop. Too much sugar. I easily could have eaten the whole thing a few months ago.

So what I’ve achieved is a total reinvention of my relationship with food and my body. I no longer feel like I need to have giant portion sizes. I no longer feel like I can eat two donuts and still have room for a breakfast sandwich on a bagel (yes, that is a thing I’ve done before, I wish I could say it was just once). I feel full and sated longer, due to the GLP-1 and the focus on protein. I feel energized, efficient, due to the added muscle mass from the gym and my increased BMR. I feel strong, capable of walking for miles without feeling fatigued, stepping up off the ground without struggle, lifting heavy objects without straining my back or arms. Oh and I can put my socks on with ease.

Bottom line — I feel more “in” my body than I have maybe ever, definitely at least since college, and I feel like I’ve made adjustments that are healthy and sustainable for the long term. I am very proud of the fact that I’ve been able to achieve recomposition, not just weight loss.

Because I can't get through this post without posting a progress picture, here it is. This is again, May to basically today Be warned, I am fully shirtless, and wearing underwear only in this picture (though cropped from the waist down). Click the tiny photo below to expand it, but don't click the photo to reveal unless you're comfortable with that, and don't say I didn't warn you.

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You Can Do It, Too…

…whatever “it” is for you. For me — I needed to focus on recomposition, and I’ve found my rhythm. I’m not done, but I’m more than halfway there, which is a gift. Maybe your journey is just becoming more active. Maybe you’re perfectly trim, but you want to build strength. Maybe you’re crazy strong, but you want to learn how to fuel your body better. You can figure this out — it’s all about taking small, incremental steps forward. Focus on one thing that you know you can achieve, and build from there.

For me, it started with increasing that frequency at the gym. Then the GLP-1. Then experiments with creatine and pre-workout. Then changing gyms. Then consistency like I’d never before achieved. Now I’m addicted in the best way.

Pick one thing and attack it. Then when it feels good, grab another thing and go after that.

I’m not done — probably never will be. But I’ve built a system that holds even when the rest of the world doesn’t. For now, that’s enough.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Next time on my blog: Why travel is healthy, and how you can come with me to Greece (Crete and Santorini) this May (if you're lucky enough to snag one of my 9 remaining seats!)