Sukh’s 18kg Weight Loss Changed His Life as a New Dad

Sukh’s dream body seemed a million miles away before he started at Ultimate Performance.

Stag parties and a year of indulgence had seen his weight creep up and he was shocked with what he saw in the mirror.

Then becoming a dad for the first time really took a toll on his health with the sleepless nights and exhaustion.

His diet was out of control, he was eating junk food and he felt fat and bloated.

Sukh had tried every fad diet going, but nothing had worked. He wanted a drastic change but he felt it would be impossible to make the kind of body transformation UP is famous for.

But just 12 weeks later and Sukh achieved the physique he never thought was possible.

His remarkable transformation saw him lose 18kg and melt off the layers of body fat to reveal a physique he feels happy and proud of.

“I tell anybody – this is possible, you’ve just got to put the time in. If you’ve got three hours a week, I would recommend it – big time.

“If you’re unhappy with the way you look, or unhappy with anything in your life, I would hugely recommend coming here and giving it a go. You see the results for yourself.”

Sukh is over the moon with the physical changes – but it’s the impact on other areas of his life which have been the most surprising.

“Confidence is the biggest thing I’ve gained from this. It’s a huge thing for me.

“I never knew that I was lacking it before. But I clearly was, because the way I am now I feel so much more proud of my actual physique and the way I am.”

Here Sukh explains how he made his incredible transformation…

What first motivated you to start your transformation?

“I had my first baby in January. That was quite taxing. It was just bad habits and bad eating. Looking at myself in the mirror, I thought, you know what? I need to do something. I thought to myself I just can’t do this to myself anymore.”

I needed some help and I needed to change and do a transformation, top to bottom.

What was your diet and lifestyle like before?

“Diet beforehand was really bad. Breakfast would be like cereal and coco pops. I have a really bad sweet tooth and maybe one or two chocolates a day – that’s on a bad day.

Carbs – I would be having loads of them. I would be eating lots of junk food and I wasn’t really moving about.

I just didn’t exercise either. I had just lost motivation. My diet was bad – that was the worst thing.”

How did having your first child affect you?

“This was my first child – so knowing whether it was day or night, I just didn’t have a clue.

I would try and do feeds at night, then sleep for two hours of broken sleep.”

You feel exhausted to the point where you almost feel out of your body.

“That’s how it was for the first few months.

You need that kind of shock. I looked at myself in the mirror one day and I thought ‘woah! Where did this come from?’ Because I didn’t previously look that bad. But because it’s such a gradual change I just looked at myself and thought ‘this doesn’t seem gradual. It seems overnight.’

‘How have I got so big? And how am I in such bad shape?”

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What shape were you in when you came through the doors?

I was just all-round fat. That’s just politely putting it.

“I was just bloated, heavy. Last year I had a heavy drinking year; loads of stags and loads of parties; that doesn’t help.

I was just in really bad shape. Loads of tub everywhere. I needed to get rid of it all.”

What attracted you to UP?

“The thing that got me attracted to UP; I read through the website thoroughly and it seemed hard. I think if it seemed easy, I don’t think I would have came here.

The fact that it seemed extremely hard, I thought ‘this must be something that will work’. I also had a look at the transformations.”

They had so many transformations – and positive transformations. That I thought to myself ‘this is the one! It has to be!’

How did you feel walking in on day one?

“When I first came in, I really didn’t think it was going to be so tough.

I’ve never done any track work before – that killed me.

I had been to the gym and done weights – but it just seemed different to how I’d trained before. It just seemed so much harder.

Even though the weights seemed lighter than what I’d been doing previously. It’s the technique and the constant intense pressure and it absolutely killed me the first session.

“I felt exhausted and broken at the end of the first session. I remember I threw up.”

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How quickly did things change?

With the diet, I think in the first week I lost over 2kg.

“But I don’t think you see that physically. I think it was about a month before I noticed I had lost quite a lot. I’d lost about 8kg in the first month.

My diet had been changed because I was so big and needed to lose all the fat I had.

It took about a month for the diet to show on my physique.

In terms of the training, I wasn’t used to it and it took almost two weeks before I stopped throwing up and I got used to the intensity (then they would bump it up again).

So you don’t really get used to it really, you just learn to live with the pain.”

Did you enjoy the training and pushing yourself?

“When I’m here, I know it’s going to be torture. But when I’m in the changing rooms after, I know that I’m so pleased that I’ve gone through it. I know it’s the best thing I’ve done in my day.

In terms of preparing myself, I’ve always got to think of the end game – what is it that I want to achieve.

“Because if I start thinking ‘I don’t want to go through the pain’ or ‘I’m going to be exhausted’ or ‘I’m scared of falling down and not get up again’ you’re not going to get anywhere.

You’ve just got to keep thinking of the end game and that’s how it was for me.

I had an idea of what I wanted to look like or where I wanted to be and that’s what got me through.”

How did it compare to anything you’d done before?

“I’ve never actually done PT before. I’ve trained with friends before, but we’re all absolutely clueless compared to what I’ve seen and learnt here.”

The training here is unbelievable. You just learn so much.

“I’ve learned that every exercise I’d been doing was wrong. My form was pretty bad for most of them.

It’s the intensity too – even though you’ve just had an hour, it feels like you’ve done much more. I think that’s why it works. It’s because you’re working at such an intense pace that you know your heart rate is always elevated.”

How does it feel when you’ve walked out of the gym having, got stronger, hit a new PB or lost weight?

“It’s definitely motivating.

For me, I lost the weight so quickly, and I had been losing it all the way through the 12 weeks, so I hadn’t had any standstill weeks and my diet remained the same. I hadn’t decreased any of my food.”

Every day I’d be losing weight. I’d be losing maybe 300-400g a day. That’s a lot over a week.

“I knew that was it – I’m working towards that goal, I have a target in mind, and you do get motivated, especially when you’re in the gym when you do those PBs in the gym.

Throughout the weeks I noticed I got stronger and I was hitting PBs. You feel boosted and you start thinking ‘yes. It’s worth coming here’. You feel great.”

What was the change in diet like? Did it make a difference to the way that you felt and the way that you performed?

The change in diet was horrible. I had gone from having loads of sweets, loads of ice cream. I went from having loads of ice cream to pretty much having no carbs. I was on protein, veg and loads of water.

That was another think I used to lack on, because I had loads of sugary drinks. The diet wa hard – for the first three or four days I just felt tired.

What made it worse was training here, you feel tired even more. You don’t think you can pick yourself up.

But after a week I noticed a huge difference in my sleep. Because I’d had a baby, my sleep was broken. But I had great strides in my sleep. I slept unbroken for six or seven hours and it was great. I’d never had that since January.

That doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re in one or two hours a day.

After a week I noticed huge differences with the diet. That’s when I felt more comfortable with the diet because you feel it’s working so you carry on doing it.

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Is it encouraging to see that what you were doing was working? 

I’ve seen guys train for 10 or 15 years and they’re in good shape, so I knew I needed to do something dramatic. I knew I needed to do something hard.

But this is achievable. You can do it. I’ve done it. The pictures are there.

The fact that we take pictures every few weeks, we see the progress, we do the measurements. Not only could I see in the pictures, but I could see in the measurements too.

I lost inches off my waist, off my chest, off my arms, off my belly. It was more than satisfying.

When your family and friends are saying ‘wow you’re looking great!’ You start thinking ‘this feels good. I’m glad I’m doing this.’

All the times when you come in at the start of the session and think ‘oh god, I’m going to have to do another hour’s training.’

You’ve just got to keep thinking of those positive things. People notice – that’s the best thing. You get the best feedback off people.

Day by day you might not notice, but if someone’s not seen you for a few weeks, they will notice. It boosts you.

Is it surprising how much change you can make from week 1 to week 12?

“I’ll be honest. I saw the pictures on the website. I thought to myself ‘this can’t be real’. I was thinking ‘why doesn’t everyone do this?’

Surely how someone’s gone from A to B and it’s a dramatic transformation, but then I realised 12 weeks is a long time.

Once you’ve been through the process it makes sense that you can do it in 12 weeks.

At the start you think ‘12 weeks? No, that’s impossible. In three months I’m going to be looking in the best shape of my life? I don’t think so!’

But when you actually get here you understand why.”

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What changes have you noticed in yourself?

“Confidence. Huge. I’m almost confident in my own body. Before, I’d go on holiday and never take my t-shirt off even if it was 100 degrees outside. I’d wear a jumper. The first day I came in here, it was March and I was wearing a shirt, a jumper and a coat on top. I just felt like I needed to cover myself.”

But after this, I’m just wearing t-shirts now. Confidence is the biggest thing I’ve gained from this.

“It’s a huge thing for me.

I never knew that I was lacking it before. But I clearly was, because the way I am now I feel so much more proud of my actual physique and the way I am.

My wife has been saying I seem more energetic. I think it has taken a bit of time before I felt the energy.

I don’t know if it was a kickback from the diet, the first couple of weeks was like a bootcamp for me.

But I felt energetic, I felt confident and I felt happier. I think it was because of the confidence and the way I was looking.”

I started to notice changes and you automatically start to feel mentally happy. You start to think ‘yes you can achieve things!’

“The other thing is. Your mind gets stronger.  Even though you think ‘you’re only lifting weights or going to the gym’, it is hard.

Then when you push yourself through those mental barriers, you know you can achieve it.

It sets you up. You get that mental focus. That focus is a big thing here otherwise you will struggle through the hour.

But, for me, there were loads of aspects in my life. Mentally I felt happier. Emotionally I was happier. Physically I felt I was in great shape. I haven’t been this good ever!

It’s crazy. It just seems like living a few weights every week, but it makes a huge difference.”

How much of an education has it been?

“The biggest thing I’ve learned here is having balance. That’s important for life anyway in general.”

In terms of learning and knowledge, it’s just unbelievable how much you learn here.

“The majority of the exercises I was doing, my form was wrong. It was awful. It maybe explains why I wasn’t getting the results.”

But you learn so much. When you question the trainers about why you’re doing things, or what’s the purpose of things, they tell you everything.

“That’s the great thing about it. They’ve obviously got the knowledge and they pass it on to you and that stays with you. That’s the biggest thing here.

Some of my friends will ask me what I’m doing or how is the training any different, because they all go to their own regular gyms. They think ‘I’m pumping some weights, why am I not getting the same results?’

But it’s the knowledge behind it. I can guarantee it that the majority of them will be doing the wrong exercises, how I was before.”

What are the key things you’ve learned?

“Nutrition has been a big thing. Looking after what you eat determines how your body is going to perform.

I’ve learned that you’ve got to be consistent. You’ve got to be consistent with your training, consistent with your meals and consistent with your life.

The other thing was that before I almost wanted to see the results straight away. Like almost overnight.”

I’ve been on these fads previously where you have these diets where you try and lose a lot of weight quickly, because you haven’t got the patience. But it doesn’t work, because you just rebound and you just get even bigger.

“Here I’ve learned you need to have that patience.

I’ve been through 12 weeks so I’ve learned to understand how going to the gym, you’re not going to get results overnight, especially the best results, and that’s a big thing here.”

Do you think you’ve got control over your diet and the way you look?

“After going through such a rigorous process, you start to pick up on these things in terms of training and nutrition.

When you’re having to write good diaries day in, day out, it almost becomes second nature. When you start to weigh food that also become second nature.”

During the second phase of my transformation, I had to start weighing my protein. That’s something I now carry on doing, because it becomes a habit. A good habit. And that’s what you get instilled with here – good habits.

“Once you start getting used to it, it just becomes second nature. It just becomes part of your life. To stay in shape, it shouldn’t really be that difficult.

For me, the training, I need a kick up the arse, because I know I won’t train.

That’s the reason why I’m here. I get that kick up the arse, I get told what I’m doing wrong.

When I push myself, I know I’m not going to push myself all the way.

I know when there’s someone else shouting at me, saying that I’ve got another two reps where I might only have done one, all these small details make a big difference.”

What’s the secret ingredient here that makes the process so effective?

“I’ve tried to think about it. After being in here, people always say ‘oh, you must know why or how it all happens. How do all these transformations occur?’

But as I’ve mentioned, it’s the training. They keep upping the intensity. So you can try and get used to the training, but you never do.

The nutrition too. It depends on your goal, but my goal was to shred down. But because I kept losing weight I didn’t have to take anything away from my nutrition.

In regards the training, I think it’s the consistency and the knowledge that these guys have.”

They know how your body reacts. They’ve seen it all before – it’s from the experience.

“Everyone is different, but they will see how your body reacts to the diet and training.”

They will guide you. I really truly believe it’s the individuals here that really make the difference.

What would you say to people that say these results are impossible?

I’ve had people say to me ‘that’s not possible!’ I’m sitting there thinking ‘I’m just an average guy who has done three hours of training a week, had chicken and veg and loads of water, and that’s it!’

“Anybody thinks it’s impossible, this is a true transformation. You look at the pictures and you never know the person behind it, but I know the person behind this transformation – it’s me!

I tell anybody – this is possible, you’ve just got to put the time in.  If you’ve got three hours a week, I would recommend it – big time.”

If you’re unhappy with the way you look, or unhappy with anything in your life, I would hugely recommend coming here and giving it a go.

“You see the results for yourself.”

What’s been the best thing about doing this whole thing?

“For me personally, as vain as it sounds, it’s just getting that feedback from people. Because, for me, as much as I’ve done this whole transformation for myself, I guess the second thing was that other people were always going to notice.”

When you’ve gone from 85kg down to 67kg, people are going to notice a big difference.

“The thing that really helped my happiness was the people that I really cared about – my friends and family – they were noticing and they were making positive comments about it.

They were saying ‘you look great! You look much better than you did before’. Those are the things that really drive you on.

That’s the reason why I’ve come back again. It’s the positivity that’s around here. It’s all because of UP that I get all these positive comments.

People that ask me ‘you must go to the gym?’ Or ‘you must train, what do you do?’”

Or I even had one ask what I was doing in the gym. I told him I only did three hours in the gym and he said ‘No! Come on, just let me know!’

“When I explained about it, he almost stopped asking. He thought I was joking.”

What has working with UP given you?

It’s given me happiness. Huge amounts of it. I know people who are in the same position as me in March when I started. Those people are still in that same position.

I look back and I’m so happy that I’ve made the choice that I did to come here, do 12 weeks and be in a better place than I was.

I feel I’ve moved on with my life. That’s what you want in life. You want to progress. You want to look back in a year’s time and think ‘I’m better than I was last year’. Year upon year, I’d always had the same physique. Yeah upon year, I’d always felt I hadn’t progressed.

But I know now, in a year’s time I’ll look back and be in even better shape.

I’ve seen people who just stay the same. They’re at a standstill.  For me, happiness is the biggest thing I’ve got. I’ve lost 18kg in my first 12-week transformation.

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