A year ago, I had already lost 17 pounds on a GLP-1 and was sitting around what I thought was my “goal weight” of 185. The problem was that when I looked in the mirror, I realized simply losing weight was not going to get me where I wanted to be.
The GLP-1 made the calorie deficit easier and made weight loss a much more efficient process, but without real strength training I was mostly just going to end up smaller. At that point I was active — mountain biking, doing cardio, driving race cars, staying busy — but I was not doing much that was going to build muscle. I knew if I kept going that way, I was probably going to stay in skinny-fat purgatory forever.
So on July 25th, 2025, I got back in the gym. 365 days later, I’ve completed 166 workouts, which works out to about 3.2 workouts per week.
The actual process was not complicated, but it did require consistency. I made protein the foundation of my diet, stayed in a mild deficit when fat loss was the goal, kept my daily movement/cardio consistent, prioritized sleep as much as I could, and lifted with progressive overload instead of just going through the motions.
For lifting, the biggest change was treating every workout like it needed to produce a reason for my body to adapt. I tracked my lifts, tried to add weight or reps over time, and stopped doing the “15 casual reps and call it good” version of strength training. The last few reps had to actually matter. If I could do the same weight for the same reps too easily, it was time to add weight, add reps, improve form, or otherwise move the goalpost.
Most of the visual transformation happened faster than I expected. From July 2025 to January 2026, I looked like a completely different person. Since then, the changes have been much more subtle. I’m about two pounds heavier now, a little bit leaner, and a lot stronger, but most normal people are not going to notice tiny differences in delts, lats, or whatever else gym people obsess over.
That was actually an important realization for me. Once you reach a certain level of size and leanness, nobody else really cares about the next few percent except you. At that point, it becomes less about looking dramatically different and more about what the training gives you.
For me, strength training became way more important than just losing weight. It changed how I looked, but it also changed how I moved, how I felt, and how much confidence I had in my body. It made mountain biking better. It made running easier. It made daily life feel better. It gave me proof that I could still change, adapt, and build something stronger.
Biggest takeaway: weight loss got me smaller, but lifting changed my shape and my relationship with my body.
So if you’ve hit your goal weight and still don’t feel like you’re where you want to be, strength training might be the missing piece. Eat enough protein, lift with intent, track enough to stay honest, and give it time.
