Gabe Pluguez

"I stopped deadlifting becasue it's bad for your back."

You're underestimating the pay off.

5'6" — 183 → 147
5'7" — 189 → 152
5'8" — 194 → 156
5'9" — 200 → 161
5'10" — 205 → 165
5'11" — 211 → 170
6'0" — 217 → 175
6'1" — 223 → 180
6'2" — 229 → 185
6'3" — 235 → 189
6'4" — 241 → 194
6'5" — 248 → 200

I asked chat GPT to generate this - but look below for some of my actual clients.

Top left - 6'7" --- 248 lbs --> 206 lbs
Top right - 5'10" --- 245 lbs --> 164 lbs
Bottom left - 5'10" --- 201 lbs --> 178 lbs
Bottom right - 6" --- 235 lbs --> 185 lbs

Dads: Nothing in the world is better than being a dad.

Kids: Nothing in the world is better than having a dad who is living like the man God called him to be.

Fatherhood is not a privilege.
It's a responsibility.

Christian man.
Let's talk about abs.

Your wife will find them sexy.

And the process required will strengthen your discipline, walk with Christ, and the example you set for your kids.

So first let's address the biggest problem.

Not "what exercises do I do".
But the reason your abs are hidden in the first place:

Work stress.
Comfort eating.

Reality is - you're turning to food for comfort instead of turning to the Holy Spirit for comfort.

So there's spurts of success when you finally feel too fat.

But nothing lasts.

You still end up eating the emotional support burger after a stressful business day.

And this isn't just nutritional, it's spiritual.

So you need to break that cycle - and here's the immediate fix:

Lamentation:

The spiritual tool God gave us to kill stress faster than any antidepressant.

Paul explains it in Philippians 4:6-7: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

It starts with a command: "Do not be anxious about anything."

Yes. Even the thing you're thinking about right now that feels impossible to not worry about.

Then, the instruction on how to follow the command:

"but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

This means ask God for help, and follow it with Thanksgiving.

"Lord, give the me wisdom to handle this according to your will - and thank you in advance for working it out for good."

And finally, the promise.

The "spiritual anti-depressant."

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

The peace won't make sense.
It will be supernatural.

You'll feel peace before the circumstance changes.

The stress will dissipate.

And instead of turning to food for comfort, you'll have gone to the Holy Spirit for comfort.

And pro tip - be totally honest.

Be raw.
Be guttural.

If you're pi**ed.
If you're scared.
If you feel like you're going to die.

Present it to God.

He already know's how you feel.

But don't stop there.

Follow it with thanksgiving.
Follow it with praise.

Thank Him for what He's done.
Thank Him for who He is.

Thank Him in advance for what He will do.

And... the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This will supernaturally dissipate your urge to stress eat.

Try it.

Next - how do you stay motivated to day after day?
How do you make this your new normal?

Here's the mindset: Fitness as leadership.

You're a dad, husband, business owner - whether you like it or not, you've been called to set the example for your wife, kids, and team.

And your body tells a story to everyone you lead.

They watch your habits.
They see when you break.

And your results either discredit or reinforce the credibility of your words.

Preach hard work and discipline while your kids watch you hover between 20 and 30% body fat for years on end?

No bueno.

Wife hears you in the kitchen numbing yourself with food instead of going to the Holy Spirit for comfort?

No bueno.

Puffy face taking up the zoom screen on team meeting while you talk about "a standard of excellence"?

No bueno.

For your brain to stop sabotaging this - fitness has to be something you're doing as part of your God given mission and calling as a leader.

And if that stupid cycle just replayed in your head:

"I can't take away time from my family."

And ask yourself this...

How would your wife really react if you took more time to take care of you?

And more over:

What would it teach your kids if they observed a father who didn't numb himself with food?

And how would it impact your team if your actions aligned with your words?

Fitness as leadership - not something you're doing for selfish gain.

And practically here - go into my fitness pal, set calorie goal at 500 below "maintenance", eat 1g protein per lb of body weight.

Eat any foods you want to hit those 2 goals.

Optimizing fullness, taste, speed will take time and would be faster with help (Check out my full week of eating video on Youtube, will link below).

In fact all of this would be faster with help.

Proverbs 4:7 says this:

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

It's just dumb to go this alone.
And you're not dumb - so don't go it alone.

Investing into help from someone you trust will compress 20 years of learning into 6 months. They've seen lives play out. They know what's relevant.

Investing into mentorship is the ultimate super power.

Separates the winners in business, marriage, and its the exact same thing here too.

Hope this blesses you.

- Gabe

The reason fit friends aren't enough to keep you accountable to fitness:

It's not their freaking job.

This is deeply personal.

It requires you to let God work in your heart in a major way.

And a team who's actual job is to keep you accountable.

Not obese, but a body that clearly demonstrates lack of discipline.

This is a dangerous place to be.

No fear of death.
No one calls you out.

Just comfortable mediocrity.

Breaking your leadership cred, once small decision at a time.

There's a word we in the business world for guys who are stuck for multiple years but still refuse to invest in mentorship: Stupid.

If you think it's any different in health - Proverbs 4:7

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

A stronger body creates:

- better decisions
- more patience
- more confidence
- more capacity

That's why fitness is a leadership issue.

Free training below

The reason most Christian business owners struggle with their weight is not that they have a lack access to information they know about macros, they know they need to lift, but it’s more often that they don’t truly apply a biblically sound mindset to how they think and operate in used to charge for this, but I put together a mini course called the Biblical Fitness Reset Protocol that covers biblical mindset shifts for physical stewardship, includes workout programs for building muscle and losing fat at the same time, and covers sustainable nutrition for busy Christian entrepreneurs.

Comment “BFR” and I’ll send it your way.

Flew out to Dallas 5 days after a client signed up to visit his home.

Goal was an “in person family meal prep consult” since him and wife are super busy. 2 kids sports and stuff. Consulting job. They were taking care of sick parents too.

Both emotionally eating due to high stress but also just straight up breaking streaks due to crazy schedule.

Got there ~ 9 am Saturday, sat down with wife and him.

Talked through meal preferences but realized underlying issues were a ton of limiting beliefs around food.

Ton of past attempts at other unsustainable diets.

Food decision making process was clouded with info overwhelm so stripped everything down to basics.

Only things that mattered were cals and protein. Could eating “anything” within those goals.

We walked through Costco to talk through decision making process with what to keep on stock.

Everything was optimized around “protein to calorie ratio.” foods with at least 10 g of protein per hundred calories. Or foods that would allow them to create meals with 10 g of protein per hundred calories. Good rule of thumb that sounds simple but makes huge difference.

Then came home and prepped some food for the week.

All throughout we talked through the importance of how this impacts their fam and the parents they are to their kids.

They placed a huge value on impacting their kids felt it was part of their God-given mission.

That’s why they sacrificed themselves so much in the first place- to give to their children.

Reframed this as a give to their children and it seemed to hit home.

Had steak dinner with the fam and left Dallas that night.

6 weeks later Dads down 15 lbs.

Hopped on a call with him and the Mrs and the Mrs says his belly noticeably smaller.

They even went on vacation to celebrate 20th wedding anniversary at a resort in Mexico - we game planned, he still lost weight through out.

Off to a hot start down 15 pounds in 16 weeks.

You can see a ton of a-ha moments.

Coolest part of seeing him and his wife on the same page.

Something totally changes in the family dynamic when Dad just decides that something is being done.

No longer an option or something that gets done if convenient, but an absolute nonnegotiable way the family is now living their lives.

Huge respect for what he’s done.