This is me, out of shape

Evan Belogiannis
4 min readOct 30, 2017

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I used to be a personal trainer and have recently taken the steps to pursue a dream of mine. Starting my own company.

I have been dreading some of the challenges that I was to face. Longer hours, less personal time and the biggest of all, chained to a desk. It is a standing desk at least, but I am nowhere near the peak fitness and shape I used to be in, and I achieve only a small fraction of exercise that I used to do every day.

My step count from Fitbit from October 2016. On my quiet days I would still hit approx 10K steps.

I still lift weights in the gym between 3–5 times a week, but am no longer jogging and no longer have the advantage of busting out into a spontaneous workout between clients, let alone all the incidental exercise I was doing as a personal trainer. Doing push-ups with my clients, loading weights, racing them on a rower or bike, boxing sessions and pad-holding, you name it. Along with all that, came the responsibility to be a shining example for my clients. Meal prep with no exceptions, daily exercise, constant and never ending improvement in everything that I do.

October 2017 step count. I’m using a Samsung S3 now and barely breaking 6K steps. It’s looking grim. My incidental exercise now consists of walking to get coffee, or walking to get food.

I still hold my health and fitness values dear to me, and always feel infinitely better after I have a great workout, but my priorities have shifted. I have literally thrust myself into a completely different lifestyle and I constantly let convenience dictate what I am eating and prioritising my work before myself. As a result, I’m totally out of shape.

No longer having my own clients and colleagues keeping me accountable has led to some pretty poor food choices and lack of exercise. I mean, what else are you supposed to eat after no food prep at midnight? And who exactly is going to say anything about the extra weight I put on?

So, considering I am building a company dedicated to solving this exact problem, I have decided to turn myself back into a human guinea pig again. (Yes, I have done this before!)

The results I achieved once I first started experimenting and supplementing my meals with the earliest versions of Nu Pods coupled with weight training 3x per week. I also had more hair on my head back then. 2015.

The goal:

Get back to my ‘fighting weight’. Around the 73kg mark I feel at my fittest and my current DEXA scan has measured me at 76.9kg. That may not seem like much, but considering I have also lost 1.5kg of lean mass (muscle) since my peak fitness, (March 2015) it means my body fat percentage has jacked up to over 18%.

Total Body % Fat Results and Total Lean Mass Results are the two areas I will need to track and improve in.

Time Frame:

6 weeks from the day of writing. Which gets us to the 11th of December, 2017. In between these dates, I have some big events on, such as my Dad’s birthday, my birthday, big football matches and weekends away camping and boozing up. So I already know that there will be days where I will be socialising, but that is all part of the experiment.

Method:

To literally replace only the meals I would usually resort to fast food for with Nu Pods sample packs. The meals I eat at my desk, or on my own whilst grinding away at work. All I am replacing are those fast food and convenience food moments. I don’t have any more time to increase my exercise regime so I will continue my 3–5 times per week weights/cardio for the duration of the 6 weeks. I will still go out for social meals with friends and family. Yes, I will still drink a few beers here and there. Basically, I will be using the Nu Pods formula exactly how it was intended for. Replace just the meals you have to eat, usually on your own or would normally skip, never social meals.

Measurement:

I will provide the complete DEXA scans and be measuring my food intake, specifically the meals that I replace with Nu Pods. I will also be measuring fitness changes with a basic fitness test and tracking any improvements of major lifts. I’ll be aiming to eat approximately 2000 Calories per day.

Fitness Test as of 31st October 2017 (Video on it’s way)

Max distance rowed in 1 minute: 326 metres

Push-ups until failure, 2 second count: 34

Wide grip chin ups until failure: 8

500m cycle on resistance 10: 1:26

30–10–2017 Dexa body weight — 76.9kg

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Evan Belogiannis

Co-founder & creator of Nū pods. Creating single serve meal replacements & supplements in biodegradable pods that focus on our health & environment.