“You need to lose weight.”
Jim Khoury, a member of Beyond Strength, heard those words on Valentine’s Day, 2018. Normally Valentine’s Day is about love and happiness, but for Jim, that day was anything but.
He glanced around the sterile room. There was the swivel stool the doctor sat upon. Across from her was the vinyl examination chair where he sat, which had a sheet of white tissue paper draped over it. The sheet crinkled as he shifted his weight side to side, feeling uneasy after hearing her words.
The doctor went on to say that he had elevated blood pressure and was prediabetic. Jim’s heart rate spiked and his eyes widened.
Jim had always been healthy. But suddenly—bam!—he wasn’t. The doctor’s words hit him like a brick through a glass window; it shattered his belief that he was healthy.
44 years. He went that long with no health concerns, but, for the first time, he felt his health was in jeopardy.
He was scared.
The doctors words were still bouncing around in his head—bonk bonk bonk—distracting him, as he tried to pay attention to what she said next.
The doctor asked Jim about his diet and how much he exercised.
Jim informed her that he ate McDonalds and pizza frequently, and rarely exercised.
Thankfully, after hearing this, her suggestion was not to hop on some medication. Instead, they chatted about making healthy changes to his lifestyle. And, understanding that Jim typically thought in black in white—that he could either choose a really bad food or really good food—she made a suggestion.
“Instead of getting a burger at McDonalds,” she said, “you could opt for getting the salad.”
Jim thanked her for her suggestions and then left—feeling a little better, but still scared. Still worried. Still uneasy.
But also determined, determined to make a sustainable change in his life.
Before we get to that change though, to Jim signing up at Beyond Strength Performance NOVA (BSP NOVA) in 2018, I failed to mention something: this wouldn’t be Jim’s first time training at BSP NOVA.
Jim’s First Three Years At BSP NOVA
During Jim’s first stint at BSP NOVA, he failed. He didn’t reach his goals.
Okay, that’s not fair. He didn’t reach his goals because, well, he didn’t really have any.
Jim joined the gym because he had been hearing about BSP NOVA for months from his friend, Rob, who had been having success training with us. He figured that, if it worked for Rob, it would work for him.
The first two years at BSP went well enough for Jim. It was a positive experience in a lot of ways: he got stronger, enjoyed workouts, and made new friends.
Jim came consistently for a while: exercises were learned, weights were lifted, calories were burned, workouts were completed—until they weren’t.
2016 was a sporadic year for Jim’s attendance to the gym. Consistency slowly disappeared. Habits slipped away. Health declined.
Jim often thought, “I can only make Saturday this week, so what’s the point?” He failed to make a transformation, and ultimately failed to continue on with his time at the gym.
This happened because—and I know Jim would agree with this—he wasn’t committed to his health. He didn’t make it a priority. So, when the time came, he chose to cancel his membership.
Now, let’s fast forward back to what the doctor said: “You need to lose weight.”
A switch had flipped.
Click!
In that moment at the doctor’s office, Jim knew he needed to do something. That a change was needed. Before getting home that morning, he reached out to the founder of BSP NOVA, Chris Merritt, to rejoin.
Philosophy And Training
Jim swung the door to BSP NOVA open and stepped into a familiar place. A place where he had been unsuccessful before, but now, was determined to make a change that would last. A sustainable change.
He glanced to his left and saw something—or, rather, didn’t see something: there was no “sea of machines.”
When Jim had belonged to other gyms, he disliked how many machines they had. The treadmills. Pec flies. Leg Presses.
Here though, at BSP NOVA, we primarily have free weights: barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, and other “bells.” We don’t have the machines Jim was referring to and he loved that.
To Jim, a machine means he doesn’t have to work. Not much at least. The way he saw them was that you could just plop down and mindlessly do reps. At BSP NOVA though, with free weights, you had to focus, to pay attention to your form, to move with intent.
While this stuck out to Jim right away, this wasn’t what he loved most about being back. And, it also wasn’t what led to him losing 55 pounds, to going from 235 to 180. Because what he loved about BSP NOVA wasn’t tangible.
Jim loved the philosophy.
Now, before you run off thinking I’m going to start talking about Plato or Aristole, about the meaning of life, I don’t mean philosophy like that. He was referring to what we teach to our members. Our approach to nutrition. Our approach to training. Our approach to coaching.
He loved how we spoke about training being challenging, but not going to the point of failure every time where you leave feeling like crap. How we would mention a bright spot in regard to his exercise—that he kept his knees out during the squat, for example—before mentioning something he could improve.
Most of all, he loved how we spoke about mindset; more specifically, about beliefs that get in the way of being successful. This is what helped him the most on his fat loss journey.
Jim said it this way:
“I didn’t struggle to lose weight physically. It was a mental struggle.”
To fully appreciate the mindset shifts Jim made, let me give you context to better understand Jim’s mindset back in 2018.
He thought in black and white—foods are good or bad. That, if he had a donut in the morning for example, he would feel guilt that the whole day was ruined.
He believed fat loss would be linear—that is, that he would start losing fat and it would consistently come off until he hit his goal. That there were no bumps in the road ahead.
Let me pause here.
You may be wondering how all this mindset and philosophy stuff helped him lose 55 pounds. Well, it’s simple: like many, he already knew what he had to do with regard to his nutrition.
He just wasn’t doing it.
For example, Jim had been successful doing Keto in the past, but he knew he couldn’t do that forever. So, diets were off the table. Jim understood the importance of eating better portion sizes so he would consume fewer calories each day. And to eat balanced meals.
No, the knowledge of what to do wasn’t the issue. He had a good grasp of what was going to help him. That wasn’t his struggle.
His struggle was getting out of his own way.
Getting In His Own Head
Over time Jim adopted several unhelpful beliefs regarding nutrition and training—the ones mentioned above. These beliefs matter because they influenced how Jim acted. And how he felt.
Here’s what a common day looked like: he ate a healthy breakfast, then got done what he needed to do at work.
Until he saw them, that is.
In the break room at Michael and Son Services where he worked—there they were: donuts.
“It’s only one donut,” he would think to himself. And sometimes that was true. Other times it was multiple.
Either way, the end result was the same: he felt guilt wash over him after eating the donut.
His knuckles would turn white from making a fist and he’d reprimand himself for having the donut. Later, he would have a hard workout to punish himself for having the donut—to burn the donut’s calories off.
He knew—deep down he knew—that the day had been ruined by the donut. So, why bother eating a healthy meal later that day? It wouldn’t matter. No. He would just start again the next day since this day was lost.
Sometimes though, the next day would repeat the cycle. It started great. Then it went poorly. It was a vicious cycle because his mindset about nutrition kept getting in the way.
So, what did Jim do? How did he shift his mindset to something more helpful?
The Rule That Kicked Off Jim’s Fat Loss Journey
Jim’s shift in mindset took time—day after day, week after week, for months, he came to the gym consistently before his mindset shifted.
He took a concept that he used at work and used it in the context of fat loss.
That concept was this: the pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. Let me break it down if you aren’t familiar with it. It states that 80% of the output come from 20% of the input.
Jim had used this principle, this rule, at his work to achieve success. He focused on the most important things—the 20%–and saw the 80% was taken care of.
But it hadn’t occurred to him that he could apply it to his nutrition.
For Jim, the 20% started with calorie counting, because it gave him two things: awareness and flexibility. By tracking his calories, he was able to create awareness around how much food he was eating each day.
With that awareness, he was more flexible too. He was able to make an informed decision on if he could have the donut or not. There was less guilt attached to the decision because he knew he could eat it and be okay.
He also knew that, if he got the calorie counting down—if he nailed the 20%—then the 80% would be achieved.
The 20% didn’t stop there though; it transformed into meal prepping. Now, instead of counting calories, Jim preps his food each week. He preps the amount of food he knows he needs to manage his portion sizes.
Most importantly though, the 80/20 and meal prepping is sustainable for Jim.
Sustainable Change Is Key
Jim knew when he started back at BSP in 2018 that he would fail again if he didn’t find a sustainable way to eat. Eating McDonalds and pizza each week wouldn’t work after all, nor would doing keto again. No, something more sustainable was needed.
To illustrate the importance of sustainable change, Jim said the following a few weeks ago:
“Sustainability is key. I would never do this if I was on a diet. You can’t diet your whole life.”
That’s the beauty of the 80/20 and meal prepping. During the week, when it would be so easy to say screw it and head to McDonalds, he has a healthy meal already prepped. It’s ready. It’s done. He just has to eat it.
The urge still hits him at times to eat a donut. To have some ice cream. To go out for Korean BBQ. But, do you know what happens in many of those instances?
Jim enjoys the food.
He’s no longer flooded with guilt after having some sweets—because the 20% is taken care of. This new way of eating is sustainable because he didn’t have to get rid of all the foods he loves. He just takes care of the 20%.
After that fateful day at the doctor’s office, Jim’s health was in jeopardy. Now though, Jim is the healthiest and strongest he’s ever been.
And do you want to know the best part about his health? It’s what he does with it now.
Always Willing To Help
When Jim first joined BSP back in 2014, he scheduled the gym around his life. He chose work over the gym, and hanging with friends over the gym. His health was rarely a priority.
Now though?
Jim schedules his life around the gym. He does what he must to be consistent at the gym. The only thing that might get in the way is having to travel for work but, even if he must travel, he gets in a body weight workout while at his hotel.
His health is his priority.
Jim shows up consistently to train. He shows up consistently with his nutrition—he nails the 20% that leads to the 80% he desires.
But this commitment allows Jim to fully show up consistently where it matters most: to the people in his life.
Because if you have the pleasure of knowing Jim Khoury, then I think you’d agree he’s someone who’s always willing to lend a hand; someone who is generous with his time; someone who is reliable.
Jim’s healthier lifestyle not only helps ensure he’ll be around longer—because it certainly increases the quantity of years he’ll have—but the quality of them as well.
Jim is the type of man who lives to make other people’s life better, not just his own. He can fulfill this purpose better now because of his better health. He can do this better because he’s stronger. He can do this better because he puts himself first.
Those words from his doctor, that he needed to lose weight, started Jim’s journey to better health. What sustains him though is the person he strives to be. To be someone who is reliable, generous, and always willing to help. To have the health needed to be there for those he cares about.
At the end of the day, Jim rests peacefully, because his health helps him achieve one of his deepest wishes:
“I don’t want anyone to be able to say, ‘I called Jim when I needed him, and he wasn’t there.’ I want to be there.”
