Simple Diet Challenges Helped This Guy Lose 50 Pounds and Get Ripped
Not long after he turned 56, Glen Shultz found himself overweight and facing a likely pre-diabetes diagnosis. He couldn’t keep up with his teenage tons, couldn’t socialize like he used to, and couldn’t move around the way he wanted. He knew the time to make a change was long overdue. “A lot of obstacles derailed me in the past,” he says. “I never really stuck to a long-term vision.”
Shultz had gained weight steadily over the years, which made it hard to notice. Some of the usual culprits were to blame: He wasn’t eating healthy enough, and wasn’t staying active—and so the scale continued to creep up, topping out at 255 pounds.
On top of everything else, Shultz was tasked with caring for his parents—a process that forced him to confront some hard truths. “I had some somber moments with my parents,” he says. One day, while taking his mother and father to visit a potential retirement home, he was struck by just how differently people aged. “It’s a very sobering experience to see the difference between people who move versus people who don’t,” he says.
Shortly after that retirement home visit, Shultz made a long overdue doctor’s appointment, where he was promptly diagnosed with pre-diabetes. “The discussion with my doctor was the cherry on top,” he says. With his diagnosis fresh on his mind, Shultz made a second appointment—this time, with a nutrition expert at Precision Nutrition, an online consultancy that helps coach people to eat healthier and safely lose weight.
The program required a year-long commitment, and when Shultz signed on, he joined a thriving community of about 300 other people across the country who were also trying to lose weight and get back in shape. Working with a nutrition and health coach, Scott Quick, Shultz was able to quickly identify some of the biggest obstacles getting in the way of his weight loss. Quick also worked with Shultz to set up a series of two-week challenges—small things like “drink more water” and “make time to meal prep” that helped him develop healthier habits.
His workouts required a slow transition, too: Shultz, a one-time avid rower, began crewing his vessel once more. He paired those water sessions with biking to work. Then he added lengthy walks on the weekends with his wife and two boys. He started shooting hoops with his kids, too. “It sounds simple, but those small challenges were a real epiphany for me,” he says.
As a result, Shultz developed a new appreciation for serving sizes and a better understanding of nutritional labels. He quickly started seeing results—and not just on the scale, though he was steadily losing about five pounds a month. He also saw it in his habits, cravings, and the way he felt about himself. “I tend to be solitary, but the group [aspect] got me to reach out more,” he says, “It showed me that what I was facing wasn’t unusual.”
Glen Shwartz
Month by month, Shultz continued to challenge himself, eventually reaching his goal weight of 185 pounds—a total loss of more than 50 pounds overall. His transformation proved so dramatic, in fact, that Precision Nutrition picked him as its $25,000 Grand Prize Winner—given out to the member who has the most “incredible and inspiring body transformation.” Better yet, his doctor gave him a clean bill of health.
As for others who are still considering making a change, Shultz prefers to keep his advice simple: Start small, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. “It took me 57 years,” he says. “There’s a plethora of advice out there. Get it from people that are smarter than you, and you’ll carry these tools with you forever.”
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