Like most of us, Yusuf leads a very busy life. He is the father of two young children and is a successful entrepreneur running two thriving businesses apart from multiple other side projects. He plays 5 different sports, has a dedicated yoga practice and enjoys an active and busy social life. To say that he is time-strapped is a gross understatement!

However, despite his busy schedule he always tried to prioritise his health and well-being.

“I have always believed in the mental benefits of physical exercise, which is why I have always tried to fit exercise into my schedule no matter how busy my schedule is through the week.”

But things changed for Yusuf when his father had a stroke while on holiday in Spain.

“My father is the healthiest person I know! I truly believe that I get all my good habits from him. And when he had his brain attack I really began to question what it really means to live a good and healthy lifestyle.”

Yusuf thought that making sure he got enough exercise was all he needed to focus on. But he realised he was missing something when he also saw his wife struggle to lose her pregnancy weight after their second child was born.

“Rashida, my wife, was struggling to get back to her pre-pregnancy weight. She had tried all the celebrity fitness programs out there but nothing was working and she was feeling pretty frustrated.”

Yusuf had been aware of RNT since it was established in 2017 and had always been impressed with the transformations he had seen on social media but he never thought he needed to enrol as he thought he lived an active and healthy lifestyle.

“I had seen the RNT transformations and I had always been so amazed by the results. And when my father fell sick and seeing Rashida struggle to lose weight made me rethink and I decided to look into signing up with RNT more seriously!”

At first, Yusuf was keen for Rashida (his wife) to sign up as he knew that if she followed the RNT program she would definitely get the results she wanted. But she wasn’t convinced and instead put the ball in Yusuf’s court. She wanted to know why he wasn’t signing up for RNT when he was so convinced that it would work. (A fair shout!) After much debate and negotiations the two of them decided to sign up together.

Diving In

Not someone to do anything half-heartedly, Yusuf decided to prepare himself for what was to come when he started the program in Jan 2021.

“I started by reading Akash’s book - Transform Your Body, Transform Your Life, in fact I read it a few times! I also read all the articles and case studies on the website so I could be mentally prepared.”

While Yusuf had the discipline in terms of commitment to exercise, he realised that what was lacking was his knowledge about nutrition.

“I didn’t know much about nutrition. I used to eat healthily but I never knew why I was eating what I was eating. After signing up, Rashida and I worked together to figure out a system of planning our meals for the week. I realised that while the process in itself was simple, it wasn’t easy. As long as you follow the steps you can achieve your goals but it was quite difficult, especially in the beginning.”

Yusuf and Rashida took their time finding their feet but they both realised that the most important aspect of their fitness journey was their nutrition and the key lay in really solidifying their meal plans.

“After a couple of months we realised the importance of meal prep - without proper meal prep you can’t do RNT! Only if you meal prep will you be able to adhere to the plan. And I realised that I had to put in a system to automate the process.”

Automating The Process

Through and through a data man, Yusuf decided to flex his data organisation muscles to see how he could make the process of meal planning smoother. He realised that not knowing what he was going to eat at each meal time was a recipe for disaster.

“First, I calculated how much of each ingredient we needed per week for all four of us. Then I decided to price match the cost of all of them across all the major supermarkets to determine which one offered the best value for money. Once that was determined, at a click of a button all the groceries we needed were ordered and delivered ready for another week. Since we were eating the same things everyday week on week, there were very little additions that needed to be done to the shopping basket. Having all the ingredients ready at hand made it so much easier to adhere to the plan.”

The important thing to take away from Yusuf’s strategy is not that you need to try and copy his methodology, but to really introspect and understand what will work for you throughout your RNT journey. Nailing the 3Ss (structure, strategy and system) will help you stick to your plan and improve your adherence throughout your journey. It really is essential to find a strategy that is seamless, effortless and time efficient.

Navigating Social Events

Yusuf had nailed his nutrition plan and his training; his 3Ss were in place and he was making consistent progress - except when he was required to attend social events. It took him a while to figure out how to make better food choices so he wouldn’t completely go off his plan. But now he has a strategy in place whenever he needs to attend a social event.

Meal Hygiene

There are a few simple guidelines that RNTers use when out and about with friends or at a social event for work. Simple things like keeping to a one plate rule and portion sizes can really help.

“My RNT journey began during lockdown, and at that time it was easy. Then when things opened up and we started socialising more things got much more difficult. It took me a while to work out how to follow the meal hygiene practices. I slowly learnt to make sure that I had a ¼ plate of protein, ¼ plate veggies and ¼ plate carbs to stay as close to my calorie count as possible.”

Involving Friends And Family

At RNT we always recommend involving your friends and family and sharing with them your journey and the “why” behind your journey. It adds an extra layer of accountability and it makes it a lot easier to explain food choices. If they are also involved they are less likely to feel offended if you choose to refuse certain foods.

“I told all my close friends and family about my RNT journey and they were very supportive. So much so that even after I hit my Checkpoint and I finally had a few more calories in my plan they would by default not offer me any sweets and treats as they were so used to me not eating it!”

Managing Cravings

The biggest struggle most RNTers face is in managing their sweet and savoury treat cravings. Our habit of reaching for a biscuit or a bag of crisps is so innate that we find it hard to break out of those habits despite eating full meals that are nutritious and satisfying.

Through his journey Yusuf found that sticking to a routine and tweaking his meal plan a little bit helped him manage his cravings better.

Sticking to Meal Times

“I made sure I stuck to my meal times religiously. I found that even if I missed it by half an hour I had the tendency to eat something that was outside my plan. That’s when I started to bring my snacks and meals into my meetings. Instead of eating only after my meetings ended I had it ready by my side so I could eat it at the right time even if it was during my meeting. This really helped me manage my hunger levels better and control my cravings.”

Including High Volume Foods

During The Process Phase or the fat loss phase when steps are high, training is intense and calories are really low, cravings can really rear it’s tempting head. However, there are strategies that can be used to ensure you don’t succumb to cravings and you stay on the path.

On the advice of the RNT coaches, Yusuf decided to swap low volume but high calorie foods like peanut butter for something like avocado that is high volume with lesser calories.

“During The Grind Phase, when my calories were reduced, I just couldn’t feel full. I had things like peanut butter and dates in my meal plan which were delicious but which didn’t make me feel full. That’s when I decided to switch to high volume but low calorie foods and that really helped me! I also switched from having 3 large meals to 5 smaller meals a day. This really helped me feel more satisfied and it solved cravings and helped me manage my hunger better.”

The Consolidation Phase

The Process Phase or the fat loss phase while tough on the body it is a lot more simple than the next phase - The Consolidation Phase. This phase is a lot more tricky on the mind - your weight starts to go up in a controlled manner to a more sustainable weight and you have more calories which means you have more energy and more time as the number of steps per day is also reduced. However, it is hard to switch out of the fat loss goal and some RNTers find it hard to accept the increased weight while some others are so excited about the extra calories that they tend to miscalculate their calories and overshoot their calorie target.

Yusuf fell into the latter category. He was so excited about the extra calories that he thought he would go back to eating high calorie foods like peanut butter and dates.

“I was so excited about the increased calories that I ended up changing my entire meal plan! And my weight went all over the place! After a quick chat with the coaches, I realised that I had spent a good 4 months figuring out a meal plan and strategy that worked so well for me and I was undoing all that hard work by changing the plan. So instead I went back to my original meal plan and just increased the quantities. Things immediately settled and my weight gain went back on track!”

Playing The Long Game

It’s now about a year after Yusuf’s Checkpoint and he is now at the exact same body weight but looks completely different!

After consolidating successfully and entering the Investment Phase, Yusuf has dedicated his time and energy in building strength and growing muscle.

“Since I had read the book, “Transform Your Body, Transform Your Life”, I knew that the Checkpoint was just the first stage and I knew that I shouldn’t be too obsessed about how I looked at that time. But I also knew that the more effort I put into the first phase the more I would gain in the next stages of Consolidation and Investment.

And now I feel like a new person! I have always believed that any physical movement benefits the brain, after all our brain is housed in our bodies, so anything that benefits the body will benefit the brain as well!”

The Physical Is The Vehicle

At RNT we believe that focusing on the physical unlocks your full potential - you have the strength and energy to be a high-performer in all areas of your life. Yusuf couldn’t agree more.

“I never thought I would be able to run two start-ups simultaneously! My RNT journey has really helped me unlock peak performance both mentally and physically. I believe that my RNT journey has helped me create such a solid structure that I could evenly balance both my personal and my professional life.

Now I have more structure. I have more energy. I am able to operate at peak mental capacity throughout the day and I don’t even need stimulants like tea and coffee! I realise now that not eating the right food is like using diesel in a petrol engine! And not having the right strategy is like driving on the motorway in third gear - it’s just not optimal!”

Advice To New Members

Yusuf has played the long game and come out feeling like a completely new man; so when we asked him what tips he would like to share to new members he said:

“I really feel the new members should leverage the power of the new RNT Pro platform. All the information is presented in a way that is so easy to absorb and understand. The more you read the articles and listen to podcasts the better your results.

Trust the process and trust the coaches. They have done this many times for thousands of individuals, if you use the tools provided and follow the plan you will be well rewarded.

If you embrace the RNT journey it can really help you introspect and understand your own mind and motivations - it is truly eye-opening.”

Podcast

Tune into Episode 258 on RNT Fitness Radio to hear more about Yusuf’s incredible journey. He shares quite honestly the highlights and the struggles he faced throughout his journey as well as the strategies he set up to overcome the obstacles he faced as a busy entrepreneur and father.