Sai’s 22kg transformation burned through fat to build muscle and strength

“My body composition really changed. People noticed and started asking me, “how did you do it? What are you doing?”

Sai’s taken his muscle, strength and fitness to a whole other level at the age of 40.

He’d always led an active lifestyle – doing CrossFit, hiking, and playing sports like squash and racketball.

But a niggling ankle injury put a stop to that, and doctors advised him to take complete rest for a month to allow it to heal.

While he was out of action, computer software professional Sai lived off takeaways and junk food and his weight spiralled out of control.

Coming to Ultimate Performance helped him fix the one thing he’d always struggled with – his diet – and he went on to lose 22kg (50lbs).

Now he understands the science of nutrition and how to eat the right way his body composition and his fitness have completely transformed.

Here Sai talks about the process he’s been through and the learnings he’s picked up about nutrition that have helped him get results his friends can barely believe…

What was your motivation for starting your transformation with U.P.?

The motivation? It has a little bit of a backstory…

I had a pretty active lifestyle. I was doing CrossFit, and maybe some sports like squash or racketball, swimming and hiking. And one day, I injured my ankle while working out, so that set me back. And then I tried to get back into working out again after a month without realising that the injury was still not completely back to normal. So it became bad over time.

I got in touch with the doctor and a boot was put on my ankle. I had to take rest for around a couple of months, complete rest. So that completely changed my lifestyle suddenly from being very active to being very sedentary.

It changed my social life and everything. It was kind of a low point in a way. And I got into some really bad food habits, eating junk food because I wasn’t able to make anything for myself. I was just ordering everything online or buying some other kind of processed food.

After I got the boot off, I realised that I had put on a lot of bad weight. And I couldn’t just get back into whatever active lifestyle I used to have, just like that in a day. I had to ease into it.

So I took this opportunity to push myself and make a better version of myself. And I started optimising my diet and everything as per my knowledge, but I slowly realised that maybe that was not enough. I needed a professional to help. I started looking for different options.

First, I tried out someone who was closer to where I live, but it wasn’t working out. So then I started searching online and found some information about Ultimate Performance. I came in to meet Jeff and I had a lot of questions. They were very patient and answered everything for me, and they were also mindful about my recovery from the injury. So they were very planned with the workouts and everything around that.

How would you describe your lifestyle before you started at U.P. and how was that making you feel?

Before, even though I was working out, and I had a pretty active lifestyle, my food was not under control because I wasn’t being conscious about the kind of food that I was taking in.

After joining U.P. is when I realised how important the source of your food is, the kind of food that you eat, the amount you eat, and the kind of macronutrients in your diet.

I had a lot of questions, so I was always chatting on the U.P. app with my trainer. It took me around a month or so to internalise the nutrition process and then streamline my meals. So now it feels like I don’t put that much thought into it. It is becoming second nature.

What was your diet like before you began your transformation at U.P.?

When it came to my diet, I wasn’t conscious about what I was eating or how much I was eating. It was not under control in a way.

Everyone knows of the simple formula of ‘energy in versus energy out’ – how many calories you’re taking in and how many calories you’re burning. But that is a very high-level framework of thought.

But actually breaking down a little deeper into it is more important. And really understanding where you are getting your energy from is more important, depending on the kind of activities that you’re doing. So that helped me, because I had to go through different phases during the transformation. So the calorie deficit, low-carb, high-fat phase. And then once I reached a certain milestone, we switched up the diet and the macros and the calories increased, the carbs increased, and the fats came down.

I learned it. I was always asking, “okay, why are we making these changes? How is this going to impact the transformation or the body composition?” So what I learned is you’re teaching your body to burn fat during the first phase. And then as you move on to the second phase, even though you’re increasing the carbs now your body is getting used to burning fat.

Your body has built up over the time. So things like that, there are so many other nuances that go into it. There’s a lot of knowledge that I was able to pick up.

What were the most powerful lessons you’ve learned about training and nutrition since being here?

The programming of the workouts is very different from what I was used to. For instance, in CrossFit we are moving between stations. It’s a little fast-paced and the tempo is different in terms of doing the repetitions. But also the nutrition is different because (CrossFit) is a high-energy, high-intensity workout. Knowingly or unknowingly, I was eating more carbs because I needed that extra boost. But I didn’t realise how to monitor my macronutrients. Because macros are very important in different phases of the transformation. Those are some of the things that I really learned about nutrition (at U.P.). And also the tempo and the programming is very different too. So that hit the muscles and the overall strength building in a totally different way. It was a revelation and a good learning for me.

How has the training and diet improved your life outside of the gym?

So the training, I could see a couple of differences. One is how my body composition really changed, and also my cardiovascular health has improved. I track a couple of health metrics using health bands. So for instance, my heart rate variability has improved, my resting heart rate has improved for the same activity which would increase my heart rate to up around 120 or so. Now it feels very normal; it’s in the 80s or 90s. Also, my aesthetics have improved a lot. So people noticed and started asking me, “how did you do it? What are you doing?”

What does it feel like being stronger, fitter and leaner than ever and also being in control of your diet?

Yeah, it feels good because I’m working towards my goal and then I’m getting closer every day with every set and every rep that I’m doing. And also when people are noticing, I feel happy that I’m able to put in that kind of effort and inspire them to make a better version of themselves. So that feels good.

How did you find the transformation process and how does your strength and fitness compare to when you started on Day 1?

I went through ups and downs because it needs a lot of mental strength. You’re constantly questioning yourself – “Am I doing it right? Am I doing enough? Will I achieve the milestones?”

I would say it’s not easy, but it’s worth putting in all that effort because today what I’ve achieved after all these weeks and months of work, there is a day and night kind of difference.

And when it comes to fitness, as I was saying, my cardio strength has improved and my muscular strength has also gone up. So now in the current phase that I’m in, I’m getting back all the strength that I used to have, which is really good while I am still fit in terms of cardio and aesthetically much better than where I was when I started.

Do you want a proven formula to transform your body, overhaul your diet, and build muscle and strength like Sai? Start your own transformation journey and we’ll give you a blueprint to stay in shape for life. Enquire now.

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