GymHippie

This was pretty much rock bottom for me

It was 2020, towards the end of the first lockdown

I’d barely moved for months, partly because we were stuck at home, but also because I was recovering from a herniated disc 😖

My activity had fallen through the floor, but my calorie intake hadn’t

I knew I needed to eat less, but my body dysmorphia brain had other ideas 🧠😂

“Eat less = get skinny” 😱

So I carried on eating as before

And honestly, food had become a coping mechanism too

I was worried about GymHippie going under, supporting my family, unable to train and managing chronic pain

Eating felt like one of the few pleasures I had left 🍕😂

I quickly gained 30kg

But here’s the interesting bit 👇

Even though I REALLY didn’t like what I saw in this photo, I knew I’d be okay 💚

I remember thinking:

“This isn’t who I am”

Not from shame, but from knowing:

“This isn’t where my story ends”

I didn’t know HOW I’d turn things around

I just knew I would

Maybe you’ve caught yourself in a photo and thought “bloody hell, is that really me?” 😬

Maybe you’ve spent so long prioritising work, kids and everyone else that somewhere along the way…

you’ve drifted away from yourself

I’ve learned you don’t need to hate yourself to decide you want something different 💚

As my back improved, I took action

I hired a coach, invested in myself and put myself in the right room with the right people 🤝

Things changed slowly

Not through a heroic 30-day transformation or extreme diet

Through small actions repeated over time 🌱

I rebuilt my training, improved my nutrition, worked on my mindset and created better habits and routines

Most importantly, I became a better version of myself

New Luke knows things Old Luke didn’t 🤓

That’s what makes change sustainable

💚 Great things take time

💚 Small steps = giant gains

💚 Remember why you started

💚 Setbacks are opportunities to learn

💚 Working on yourself is a way of life

If you’re ready to move forwards but don’t know where to start, drop me a message 👋

P.S. My new FREE eBook Fat Loss That Lasts 📖 explores the mindset, habits and systems that make progress sustainable

Free download - link in bio 👆

When was the last time you put your health at the bottom of the to-do list? 🤔

If you’re juggling a demanding job, family, deadlines and everyone else’s needs…

I get it 💚

You tell yourself…

“Once work calms down”

“Once this project finishes”

“Next month I’ll get back into the gym”

But somehow… that time never comes 😕

Weeks become months

Months become years

And before you know it, you’ve drifted away from the person you want to be

I’ve been there 🙋‍♂️

Before becoming a PT, I worked as a financial auditor

I know, crazy times 😂

Every week I was travelling to different clients

Early starts 🚗

Hours in traffic 🚦

Long days 😮‍💨

By the time I got home…

The gym felt impossible

Cooking felt impossible

So I started winging it

Service station food 🍔

Takeaways 🍕

No routine

No training

Very little energy

I remember looking around the office thinking…

“Is this what my future looks like?”

When I left, I realised I’d been chasing one form of success whilst neglecting another

Because what’s the point of building a great career…

If you don’t have the health or energy to enjoy the life it’s supposed to create? 💚

Ironically, looking after yourself often makes you better at your job too

⚡ More energy

🧠 Better focus

💪 Greater resilience

😊 More confidence

As the old saying goes…

“People spend their health to gain wealth… then spend their wealth trying to regain their health”

If this resonates…

You’re not alone 💚

Maybe work has become all-consuming

Maybe you’re constantly putting everyone else first

Maybe you’re simply exhausted

Whatever the reason…

You don’t need another short-term fix

You need a lifestyle that fits around your life 🌱

One you can still stick to when work gets busy

If you’re struggling to prioritise your health alongside your career, drop me a DM 💚

⸻

P.S. My free eBook Fat Loss That Lasts explores this idea in much more depth 📖

Inside, I share the mindset shifts and practical systems that have helped hundreds of busy people build healthier habits that actually last

Link in bio 👊

One of my favourite quotes is:

“We don’t rise to the level of our intentions… we fall to the level of our systems”

I think it perfectly explains why so many people struggle with health & fitness 💚

Between 18 and 22, I toured the UK & Europe in a metal band

The biggest challenge wasn’t the late nights, the alcohol or the service station food…

It was the lack of routine 😅

Every day was different

Different town

Different venue

Different schedule

I had all the right intentions…

🥗 Eat well

💪 Train

😴 Get an early night

🍻 Drink less

🍟 Avoid McDonald’s

(I even bought a pair of dumbbells to keep in the van 😂 They spent more time rolling around taking people’s ankles out than they did being lifted)

But good intentions weren’t enough

My environment kept dictating my behaviour

Not because I was lazy

Not because I didn’t care

Because I had no systems to support the person I wanted to become

I see the same thing with clients all the time

Most people intend to eat better

Exercise more

Sleep more

Drink more water

Manage stress better

But when work gets busy…

The kids need you…

Or life throws you a curveball…

Those intentions disappear

If we’re serious about changing our behaviour, we need more than good intentions

We need systems

We need structure

We need a few non-negotiable habits that anchor our weeks

Because consistency isn’t something you find…

It’s something you design 🌱

For most people, the problem isn’t motivation

It isn’t knowledge

It’s trying to build a healthier life whilst winging it

And in my experience…

Intentions without systems are often just wishes 💚

P.S. If this resonated, my free eBook Fat Loss That Lasts explores this idea in much more depth 📖

Stop relying on motivation, build habits that fit around real life, and finally create results that actually last

Link in bio 👊💚

One of my proudest moments as a coach happened this week

Not because Emma hit a personal best

Not because the scales had gone down

But because, for the first time…

She stayed in the game when life got messy 💚

Maybe you know this pattern…

Life gets busy

Motivation disappears

Nutrition slips

The gym becomes less frequent

Then comes that little voice…

“I’ve ruined it”

“I’ll start again Monday”

That’s exactly where Emma used to be

For two years we’ve worked on improving her relationship with food, fitness and herself

Then life threw everything at her and we had to take a coaching break:

Work stress

Family stress

Money worries

A failed house move

A broken-down car

She was even assaulted in the street

When I saw her again after a couple of months, I was preparing for the worst

Historically, this would’ve meant binge eating

Crash dieting

Feeling completely out of control

Instead…

She smiled 😊

She’d still been eating well

Not perfectly

But consistently

No bingeing

No “sod it”

She’d actually stayed in the game ❤️

That was the moment I knew she’d changed

Not because she’d become perfect

Because she’d become resilient

She’d gone from “all or NOTHING”

To “all or SOMETHING” 🌱

One bad meal no longer became a bad week

A setback no longer meant weeks of spiralling

This is why I care so much about mindset

Most people think they need a better meal plan

Or a tougher workout

In my experience…

What they really need is the ability to navigate real life without abandoning themselves

That’s the difference between losing weight…

And becoming the sort of person who can keep it off 💚

If this resonated, my free ebook Fat Loss That Lasts dives deeper into the psychology behind sustainable fat loss 📖

Inside, I share the mindset shifts that help you build a healthier relationship with food & fitness

Link in bio 👊

I’m not proud of it

Especially considering I was one of his best men 😬

The day before the wedding, he challenged me about the shirt I was wearing

To him, it wasn’t the cowboy shirt he’d been asking us all to wear for months

To me, it was a shirt I knew would fit and wouldn’t trigger my body dysmorphia

I’ve got a long history of finding smart clothes incredibly difficult

Sometimes it’s stopped me going to events altogether

Other times I’ve turned up underdressed because it was simply the best I could manage

This time, I genuinely thought the shirt was close enough

Looking back, I completely understand why he was angry

But in a moment of madness…

I reacted

I said what I said

Adam was furious

And I regretted it immediately 😔

For years, I thought resilience meant never behaving emotionally

I don’t believe that anymore

Resilience isn’t about never getting triggered

It’s about knowing what to do when you are

Instead of becoming defensive, I apologised

Then I got curious

What had actually happened in my head?

Being challenged about clothes in front of other people had touched years of body dysmorphia, embarrassment and insecurity

I felt attacked

Humiliated

Ashamed

I’d put so much effort into trying to show up for him, only to feel like I’d failed

That wasn’t the reality

It was my reality

Once I understood that…

I could explain it to Adam

It wasn’t that I didn’t care about him or his wedding

It was years of hurt that had been accidentally poked

The conversation changed almost instantly ❤️

Not because either of us had “won”

But because we understood each other a little better

24 hours later we had one of the best days of our lives 🍻

It reminded me of one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned…

You can’t change a thought pattern you don’t understand

The better you become at recognising your emotional triggers…

The easier it becomes to respond instead of react

That’s true in relationships…

And in health & fitness too 💚

P.S. If this resonated, my free ebook Fat Loss That Lasts dives deeper into this 📖

Link in bio 👊💚

For years, I had a terrible relationship with the bathroom scales

Maybe you did too

I grew up in the era of Weight Watchers and The Biggest Loser

We were taught

⬇️ Losing weight = success
⬆️ Gaining weight = failure

After enough failed diets, many of us started believing something even worse

That WE were the failure

I hear this all the time from new clients

“I avoid the scales because they’re bad for my mental health”

I get it

I’ve been there

But in my experience, the problem isn’t the scales

It’s that most of us were never taught how to use them properly

Most people think stepping on the scales tells them how much body fat they’ve gained or lost

It doesn’t

It only tells you how heavy you are right now

Your weight naturally fluctuates because of

💧 Hydration
🧂 Salt intake
🍞 Carbs
😴 Sleep
😩 Stress
🌸 Hormones
🥗 Food volume
🚽 Bowel movements

That’s why your weight can easily change by 1-3kg without gaining any body fat

Those daily changes create an emotional rollercoaster

📈 “I’ve ruined everything”
📉 “I’m smashing it”

Usually

Neither is true

To gain 1kg of body fat, you’d need to eat roughly 7,700 calories above maintenance

You almost certainly didn’t do that overnight

Instead, here’s how I recommend using the scales

✅ Weigh every AM after the loo and before eating or drinking

✅ Ignore the daily number

✅ Take a weekly average

Then compare this week’s average to last week’s

That’s where the real story is

If the trend is slowly coming down, you’re in a calorie deficit

If it isn’t

That’s not failure

It’s feedback

Maybe you need to

🥗 Eat slightly fewer calories
🍗 Increase protein
🥦 Eat more fibre
🚶 Move a little more
😴 Improve sleep
🧘 Manage stress

One of my favourite coaching moments is when someone finally says

“Ohhh… that’s why my weight went up after that takeaway”

Suddenly the scales stop being a judge

They become a tool

And tools are what sustainable fat loss is built on

⸻

If you’re considering starting your journey, I’ve just released a free ebook

📖 Fat Loss That Lasts

Link in bio

P.S. Yes, that’s me holding a machine gun in Vegas

No, it has nothing to do with this post 😂

Ever feel like you’re making solid progress...

Like things are finally moving in the right direction 😊

And then life hits you with something completely unexpected 🤦‍♂️

Last week, that was me

For years I’ve battled chronic sciatic nerve pain and lower back issues 😔

I’ve spent thousands of pounds trying to find answers

Physios

Chiropractors

Osteopaths

Consultants

Scans

You name it...

The last 12 weeks had actually been pretty positive 💚

Pilates rehab was helping

I was squatting and deadlifting again

Making progress

Feeling more capable

Less broken

For the first time in a long time, I genuinely felt like I was moving forwards

Then last Wednesday...

One rushed decision in the gym

One moment of not paying attention

💥 9/10 nerve pain

No training since

Barely able to walk for days

The physical pain has been tough

But the mental side has been tougher

The negative chatter

“What if this never gets better?”

“Maybe I’m back to square one”

“Maybe all that progress was for nothing”

-

Perhaps you can relate?

Because I see similar patterns on so many health and fitness journeys

A holiday

A stressful period at work

An injury

A setback nobody saw coming

And suddenly it feels like everything is ruined

Motivation drops off a cliff

Action stops

The towel gets thrown in

Not because progress is impossible...

But because the setback gets mistaken for failure

-

The reminder I’ve needed this week is simple:

Just because one area of my journey isn’t going to plan...

Doesn’t mean I abandon the rest 💚

I can’t train right now

But I can still eat well 🍎

Prioritise sleep 😴

Manage stress 🧘

Take care of myself

Move forwards

That’s resilience

Not pretending everything is okay

Just continuing to do what I can with the situation I’m in

Life will always get messy

The real question is:

How will you respond when it does?

All-or-nothing?

Or imperfect action?

-

If you’re struggling to stay on track when life gets difficult, I’ve just released a free ebook:

📖 Fat Loss That Lasts

A practical guide to building sustainable habits, developing resilience and creating results that actually stick 💚

Free download

Link in bio

3 YEARS LATER... SHE’S 3KG HEAVIER 💚

Most people would look at the scales and assume we’ve gone backwards

📸 Photo one: 67kg

📸 Photo two: 70kg

That’s 3kg heavier

And for a long time, I think she thought exactly the same 😂

Then we compared these photos 👀

Suddenly the story looked very different

✅ Smaller waist

✅ Flatter stomach

✅ Better posture

✅ More muscle

✅ Less body fat

✅ In much better shape, more energy & more confidence at 70kg than she was at 67kg

And that’s the problem with relying on the scales alone

The scales can tell you how heavy you are

But they can’t tell you how much muscle you’ve built, how much fat you’ve lost, how your clothes fit or how confident you feel

Over the last 3 years, this GymHippie has lost fat and built muscle

That’s why she looks and feels better at 70kg than she did at 67kg 💪

But here’s my favourite part...

This wasn’t built through extreme diets

It wasn’t built through endless gym sessions

She’s a busy mum with a career and a full life

So “optimal” was never the goal

Continuity was 🌱

For the last 3 years she’s strength trained once per week

Her nutrition and lifestyle habits have quietly ticked along in the background

No life overhaul

No all-or-nothing thinking

Just small actions repeated consistently for long enough to compound

The thing I’m most proud of isn’t the physical transformation

It’s something she said:

“Old me would have given in much sooner”

That’s the real win 💚

Because sustainable fat loss isn’t about going all-in for a few months

It’s about building a lifestyle that still works 3 years later

-

If you’re tired of the lose-weight-regain-weight cycle, I’ve just released a free ebook: Fat Loss That Lasts

Free download

Link in bio 👊💚