I’ll start going to the gym in January

After an entire year, during which you failed to mobilize, the Holy Trinity of holidays (Christmas, New Year's Eve and St. John's Feast) will motivate you to pay 600 EUR for a gym membership.

✅ A BIT PRICEY

600 EUR is a bit pricey for a 30 days subscription, isn’t it?

"No, Valentin, you don't understand: it's 600 EUR per year."

I know what you're saying, but statistics confirm what is actually happening in practice.

90% of those who sign up for a gym membership in January will go to the gym for a maximum of 3-4 weeks. After that, they will never set foot in there anymore.

A big percentage of those above sign up and NEVER go. (Yes, you read that right.)

Gym owners are now rubbing their hands with happiness because 80% of their sales happen in January.

✅ I’M NOT TELLING YOU NOT TO GO TO THE GYM

All I want is for you to have a more active life, lift weights and get in the best physical shape you can. But you know the truth very well.

You will go to the gym a few times, you will eat less (maybe some salads), you’ll get massive muscle fever, you won’t see any progress on the scale, then you will get busy with work, and, eventually, give up.

Ladies, doing classes when you are tens of kilos overweight will increase the risk of injuries.

In the past 10 years, I have heard hundreds of stories with gym classes ending in months of physiotherapy after injuries.

If you have the habit of going to the gym, then renew your subscription. Every penny invested in your health will bring you back tenfold.

✅ HARDCORE

January is the month in which you will want to start taking bigger steps to look better.

Those who are overweight simply exercised less and ate more often. They likely ate foods with a higher calorie count over a longer period of time.

Consequently, those who want to lose weight will automatically have to move more and eat fewer calories.

🏆 Pro Tip: eating fewer calories does not mean eating less food.

✅ THE MISTAKE

The mistake I used to make for decades was that in January...

…in my desire to have results as quickly as possible, I pressed both “pedals” too brutally at the same time:

• I suddenly started to exercise too much;

• I suddenly started to eat too little.

This aggressive behavior did bring quick results. However, after 8-10 weeks I used to slowly return to my regular diet and give up intense exercise. Because this sequence was not sustainable.

Then the pounds would come right back.

That's pretty much what I did from 3rd grade until 14 years ago. I was a professional yo-yo.

✅ MY MISSION

The solution I came up with has helped me successfully maintain my ever since 2010.

I suspect you've already managed to lose weight dozens of times. I hope your ultimate goal is to keep your figure for life, not just "lose the weight".

The difference between you and me is that I've managed to keep my figure for 14 years.

My mission is to help you take action to reach a good weight and keep it there until your 100th birthday.

There are a lot of studies that show that maintaining a normal weight increases life expectancy.

My mission is to help you make the right choices in order for you to live longer and better.

All without paying a single dime - when possible. The goal is for you to get everything as close to FREE as possible.

✅ SUBSTACK

I would like it to be your choice to support my publication with 8 EUR per month because you appreciate my work. I don’t want you to feel pressured because I somehow keep precious information under lock and key.

I guess you noticed that most of the articles contain product and service recommendations after the paywall. Those are products and services I actually use; I have no affiliations with those companies (i.e. not vital information).

I have never hidden anything that could help you regain your health.

I still have more than 1000 articles on my Facebook page. I am talking about over 1,000 public, complete and 100% free articles.

Here, on Substack, I just collect "the cream of the crop". I rewrite articles, constantly update them with the latest studies and what I have learned in the meantime.

✅ THE SOLUTION

If you are a bit like me, I know that your ultimate goal is to maintain your figure for life, not just temporarily lose weight.

Do you know what are the 3 conditions that must be simultaneously met by any health & wellness program in order for it to become sustainable for life?

That program must:

• be simple;

• be pleasant

• bring results.

This is exactly the core of the Body Engineering philosophy.

Each approach / pillar / piece of advice must lead to an action that is simple, enjoyable and effective.

✅ EXAMPLES

Here are some examples of advice I offer in our program that simultaneously meet those 3 conditions:

• Only eat when you are hungry and eat until you are full.

• Eat in the evening, between 20:00 - 21:00, with the whole family.

• You don't have to eat breakfast if you are not hungry.

• You don't have to eat 3 meals and have 2 snacks every day. Two or 3 meals are ok.

• If you wake up at night and you feel hungry, have something to eat so that you can immediately go back to sleep.

• Walk for at least an hour every day, stand as much as possible, use the stairs as much as possible.

• Do 1 physical exercise every day (4 sets of 25 reps). It takes 10 minutes maximum. See here: CLICK.

✅ SOMETHING DECENT

If you’ve been following us for some time, then you know what we recommend: eating eggs, omelets, soups and a main course consisting of meat or fish plus lots of vegetables.

Basically, we recommend having a regular diet without high-calorie foods such as bread, French fries, rice, mayonnaise, lard, bacon. It's not rocket science.

The complete nutritional guide is here: CLICK.

In addition, we advocate for the Big Clean-Up (throwing away all junk food): CLICK.

Here's what Elon Musk has to say: CLICK.

One more thing; anyone who wants to look good, be healthy and have a good chance to reach 100 years of age should stay away from alcohol, sugar, flour and oil.

This is some common-sense advice, isn't it?

✅ I ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE

If you don't want to give up junk food, then you should accept your condition as an obese person. You should also accept the consequences.

Not changing anything and keeping on living in the quagmire is also a choice.

But if you want to do your job like a pro, do what Bea says (in that Arnold Schwarzenegger voice): "Come with me if you want to live." (longer).

✅ EXERCISE

I like to finish my "exercise routine" before I finish work.

I don't have the time, nor the mood or the energy to go to the gym or go out exercising at 7:00 PM.

Who will pick up the kids from school? Next comes food, washing, reading. What do you mean? Me, going to the gym in the evening? Forget about it.

In addition, exercising in the evening increases cortisol levels, which in turn inhibit the release of melatonin.

I want to go to sleep at 9:00 PM, not stare at the walls until 2 AM.

I haven't exercised in the evening for almost 10 years. I NEVER DO IT.

✅ I WRITE IN MY “JOURNAL”

If I go to bed at 9:00 PM, then at 4:00 AM I wake up fresh and perform the most important task of my day: I write and then publish at 6:00 AM.

The first thing I do every day is to give you a little bit of my experience because you also help me keep my kids in a better school, buy them food and put clothes on their backs.

Every time I go out with my kids to have some sushi or steak, I tell them:

"We have to thank the members in our program for this steak."

I want you to know that I am very grateful for your support, and I want to thank you again.

✅ EXERCISING AT 40 YEARS OLD

Exercising when you’re 40 is not the same as when you were 20. And I'm not talking about intensity - I didn't become decrepit or anything.

At the 2023 Sky Tower competition I shaved 5 minutes off my time from one decade ago. I actually came in 65^th place out of 460 participants: CLICK.

When you're 20 years old, you have all the time in the world to exercise and you still have an excellent recovery capacity.

When you're 40 years old, 1-2 kids and working 1-2 jobs, the going gets tougher.

You have to wake up, get the kids dressed and fed and pack their school lunches. And then take them to school.

Then you quickly have to go to work. You have to get your tasks done 5 PM because you then have to pick up the kids from school.

Then there is the kids’ homework, setting and clearing the table for dinner, showering, reading to the kids. You then put them to at 9 PM and your day is over.

Those people who do not have children should honestly stop stating unsolicited opinions about how fat people are fat because they don't move or exercise enough.

Dare to believe that many people SIMPLY DON'T HAVE THE TIME for "exercising" because they simply don't have it.

And if they do have a little time, believe me that after 4-5 years tending to 2 young children and hundreds of sleepless nights, all you want is to sleep.

Maybe you can find time, but lack the energy. Do you know what recharges you best?

You guessed it right. I wrote about sleep here: CLICK & CLICK.

✅ A VICIOUS CYCLE

You don't have the time, you lack the energy, you are overweight, you get frustrated and you turn to an easy escape, like sweets or worse: a glass of wine.

Do you think I don't know what it's like? Someone asked me:

"But Valentin, why do you still have 5 kg of extra weight to lose if you're such an expert?"

Because I'm just like you. When I get stressed, I eat. When I'm bored, I eat. When I'm happy, I eat. When I'm sad or angry, I eat. When I'm in a bad mood (i.e. most of the time), I eat.

The truth is that I very rarely eat because I'm hungry.

I don't want to promise you the world – like the Body Engineering program turning you into a supermodel - because it's simply not true.

I think my program will help you organize yourself a little better, eat a little better, sleep a little better, be a little more active, have a better weight and have more energy.

Let's say you are 40 kg overweight and that the program helps you lose only 20 of those kilograms and maintain your weight it there. That’s far from perfect but…

…with 20 kg less you will have better medical test results, you will sleep better, you will move easier, you will have more energy and your quality of life will exponentially increase.

✅ EXERCISE FOR FREE

I wrote above, but I digressed: I like to finish "exercising" before I finish work.

The 4 sport disciplines that I recommend and that strictly respect the “holy trinity” principle (be simple, enjoyable and effective) are the following:

1. Climbing into bed;

2. Skipping over meals;

3. Standing;

4. Walking.

Oh, and these cost absolutely nothing. In fact, they’ll help you save thousands of euros annually and tens of thousands of euros per decade.

Climbing into bed (early) is the first sport discipline that enables weight loss.

Simply put, women in the Body Engineering program who go to bed before 10:00 PM lose weight 2x faster than those who go to bed closer to midnight.

Skipping meals is easy. If you're not hungry, simply don't eat. Not eating means you create an energy deficit, and that helps you lose weight.

Skipping over meals means you will simply wait until you get hungry enough to eat.

You don't have to eat breakfast simply because you heard somewhere that it is "the most important meal of the day".

✅ STANDING

Ladies, 6 hours of standing burns as many calories as 1 hour of walking.

6 hours of working while standing will burn:

• 200 calories (if you weigh 60 kg);

• 230 calories (if you weigh 70 kg);

• 260 calories (if you weigh 80 kg);

• 300 calories (if you weigh 90 kg).

You may say it's stupid, but multiply 230 calories daily by 365 days.

The habit of working while standing can help you eat 84000 extra calories in 2025 without gaining weight.

🏆 PRO Tip: the habit of working while standing up can help you lose 10 kilos in 2025 without any effort, without sweating, without making any changes to your diet.

All you have to do is set a box on your desk or kitchen counter and put your laptop on it. 100% free.

If you want to invest some money into something that will bring you back tenfold benefits, then you can buy a custom-made stand desk or a ready-made one that is height-adjustable.

Don't forget what we say here at Body Engineering:

"Those who look for solutions can't find excuses."

We have hundreds of members from all over the world who have gone from "Sitting is the new smoking" to..

…"This is incredible: since I've started working while standing up, I've lost 1 kg / week, I have more energy and my back doesn't hurt anymore."

✅ WALKING

Ladies, an hour of walking at a speed of 4.5 km/h will burn:

• 200 calories (at a weight of 60 kg);

• 230 calories (at a weight of 70 kg);

• 260 calories (at a weight of 80 kg);

• 300 calories (at a weight of 90 kg).

That missing hour of daily walking ( walking to the car, to the office, to the restaurant for lunch break, and back home) caused most people to gain 10-12 kg during the first year of the pandemic. It wasn’t their diet.

Read again what I wrote above.

The habit of walking for an hour every day (in addition to what you’re already doing now) can help you eat 84000 extra calories without gaining weight in 2025.

🏆 PRO Tip: the habit of walking for 1 hour can help you lose 10 kilos in 2025 without making any effort, without sweating, without making any changes to your diet.

All you have to do is park further away from your office, take the subway, and walk somewhere every day – to the office, to the shop, government buildings, etc.

You don't have to allocate an hour of your time specifically for walking. You can take the kids to kindergarten, and you can walk with them home. That's it.

This way you get to exercise together, you have time to talk to them instead of just cursing in traffic while driving them home.

You have no idea how much a few small adjustments to your daily routine can change your life for the better.

✅ DO YOU WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST?

If you are dozens of kilos overweight, what's stopping you from walking 3 hours a day on the weekends?

🏆 MEMO: it's 10 degrees outside, it's sunny(-ish). Why are you still inside?

Walking is FREE. I invite you to take advantage of that.

It is very likely that after 90 minutes of walking you will feel incredibly good.

✅ SUSTAINABLE

I don't think there is anything more sustainable, simpler and more enjoyable than standing for a few hours when you have to make or take calls and taking 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening to walk a little.

I like to finish "exercising" before I finish the workday.

That is, to incorporate walking, standing, going up and down stairs (I compete with the children) and 10-15 minutes of exercising with weights into my daily routine.

I can already hear people complain:

"But Valentin (boo-hoo), I live outside the city, in the suburbs, and have to commute daily in order to drive the children to and from school. I don't have the time to do anything."

Then move back to the city. Or accept that your extremely static lifestyle will end your life sooner.

Or put a Brompton bike in your trunk like Sensei does.

You can drive the kids to school, leave the car there and then get on your bike and go to the office.

Then cycle from the office to school and that's it for your daily exercise.

There are always solutions – that is if you really, really want to find them.

✅ JUST IMAGINE

Do you realize that simply by walking and standing you can create an energy deficit of 500 calories a day - without doing anything else?

Do you realize that by implementing these 2 simple and enjoyable habits you can lose up to maybe 20 kg in 2025 - without changing ANYTHING in your diet?

Just imagine for a second how you could look by this time next year. And that is just by standing more, walking a little bit more and paying a little more attention to your diet.

30 - 40 - 50 kg LESS in one year. All 100% free. Or almost free if you want to support my publication.

I know you don't believe me, but we have hundreds of members in our program who did exactly what I wrote above. From January to December 2024. They lost 20, 30, 40 or some of them even 50 kilos.

Everything "on the go", just by walking, without going hungry, without counting calories, without weighing food or exercising as if they were training for the Olympics.

All without paying for nutritional plans, trainers, gyms, protein powder, supplements.

No body treatments, massages, LPG or other nonsense.

After you reach a decent weight, you can go climbing, horseback riding, rollerblading, cycling, whatever you want.

Now while you are overweight, prioritize your safety and just melt the fat like a pro, safely, by walking.

Would you be open to supporting my publication for just 0.2 EUR per day? Click the Start Trial to see exactly what you’ll get.