Dr. Steve Leech signed up for Precision Nutrition Coaching after weighing in at 230 pounds. He was in the worst shape of his life.
After one year he lost 55 pounds, got into single-digit body fat, and lost 10 inches off his waist alone. Here’s his story.
Steve's Transformation
Lost 55 lbs and 9.6% body fat!
- Age: 31 years
- Weight Lost: 55 lbs (from 231 lbs to 176 lbs)
- % Body Fat Lost: 9.6% (from 25.6% to 16%)
- Waist Inches Lost: 7 inches (from 41 inches to 34 inches)
Not much surprises Steve Leech.
As an emergency room doctor, he’s seen it all: car crashes, heart attacks, broken bones. Most people’s worst fears are simply problems for him to solve.
He operates with precision and care. He’s quick. Nimble. Calm. He’s all the qualities you want in a doctor when you’re lying on the gurney, confused and bleeding.
Everything’s fine, he tells you after you’ve been stitched and stapled. Everything’s going to be just fine.
And how you can you not believe this man and his magic hands?
So you lie there in your room and drift to sleep, bandaged and safe, and Dr. Leech steps out the door and gently shuts it behind him.
He walks down the long hallway — his heels echoing in the empty silence of the early morning — and gets in his car. At home, he changes out of his scrubs, walks to the kitchen, opens a cabinet, grabs a box of crackers and starts eating. Then he opens another box and eats that too.
This behavior — this mindless eating of junk food — this is the only thing that surprises Steve Leech.
When the heck did he lose control over his body? Here he is, saving people’s lives on a daily basis, and he’s slowly killing himself with crap food.
He gets back in bed, determined to figure it all out.
But before he can self-analyze, he’s asleep.
Flash back six years earlier.
Steve and his wife Lori have just moved from Philly to Florida so Steve can accept a new job at a Level 1 Trauma Center, one of only six in the entire state. It’s an excellent career move with more pay, more hours, and more responsibility.
The atmosphere at the hospital is fast-paced and Steve quickly finds his groove. Every day is exciting. He has no idea what’s going to roll in the front doors or when. No idea what kind of problems he’s gonna have the chance to solve.
But while all the activity does wonders for his mind, his body begins to deteriorate. He doesn’t notice it as first. He’s always been fit — a trim 185 pounds — so he thinks he has some leeway.
He cancels mountain bike trips and skips hikes. His days in the gym drop from three per week to two to one to hardly at all. He starts eating out more, ordering whatever is quickest. He goes hours without eating then binges when he gets home.
“I didn’t realize I was off track until much later,” he says. “Like, a few years later.”
Then in December of 2009 he’s with his family back in Philly. Everyone’s there for the holidays. Food is everywhere. People are talking about the things people talk about when they’re home for the holidays and haven’t seen each other in months. There’s lots of catching up.
Cameras come out and capture everything.
A few days later, when he’s back home and wishing he’d never have to see another damn Christmas cookie again, Steve gets the photos in an email. He looks through them, one by one.
There he is sitting on the couch. There he is eating pie. There he is being fat.
“I was a slug,” he says. “I weighed 230 pounds. Those photos were the turning point.”
So that year for Christmas, instead of exchanging gifts, Steve and his wife gave each other Precision Nutrition Coaching.
In med school, they don’t teach you what kind of food to eat to feel good, look good, and live longer.
That’s because trauma surgeons aren’t in the preventative care business; they’re in the shit-just-hit-the-fan business.
In other words, they don’t tell you to eat an apple every day. They quickly remove the piece of apple that got lodged in your throat, cutting off your air supply. Then they send you the bill.
Dr. Leech is a few months into Precision Nutrition Coaching and is surprised at how much he’s learning about feeding himself. Something so simple and human as eating and he’d never really thought about it before.
“Precision Nutrition Coaching is so easy to follow that it really didn’t take long for me to start seeing results,” he says. “It’s amazing what happened when I started becoming aware of my lifestyle.”
Instead of mindlessly eating whatever is around, Dr. Leech and his wife spend a couple hours every week preparing and cooking healthy meals they can eat in a pinch. For someone as busy as Steve — who routinely works 12-hour days — this one small habit makes an incredible difference. Now he skips the vending machine between patients and sits down to a nice meal of chicken and fresh veggies.
While the weight loss is nice — it’s the changes no one else sees that make him feel proud.
When he’s operating on a patient, he’s more calm and focused. His mental acuity has increased. His hands are steadier.
“I felt like I was turning back the clock 15 years to my early twenties,” he says.
The Florida sun is hot, the air heavy with humidity, but the doctor is in session. Along with 30 other people.
There’s a park outside the hospital and twice per week they meet here — sometimes thirty, sometimes three, always Dr. Leech — to work out.
He stands like a conductor in front of them — a mix of friends, fresh med-school graduates, and colleagues, all dressed in shorts and t-shirts — and barks out orders. He points to stations. He demonstrates exercises. He keeps an eye on the clock and yells “Switch!” when the time is up. And he’s right there with them the whole time, sweating and breathing hard.
There are battling ropes, kettlebells, and TRX’s. There are monkey bars, benches, and sprint parachutes. There are heart rate monitors everywhere, for the vast majority are doctors and their analytical minds need to know stuff like that.
For forty minutes they sprint, jump, push, pull, swing, and sweat. And when it’s all done they load the equipment into Dr. Leech’s truck and promise to meet again in a few days.
And when they’re loading up the truck, a few of the bold ones ask Dr. Leech how. How has he lost over 50 pounds? They’ve seen him melt and tighten up before their eyes. They gotta know how he did it.
So now it seems like Dr. Leech is in the preventative medicine business, at least unofficially.
But he’s ready to help. Because not only is he a doctor, he’s also Precision Nutrition certified.
His wife Lori — who lost 30 pounds with Precision Nutrition Coaching — is preparing for a triathlon, so he’s taken a vacation to California with friends.
But he’s not there to relax in the sun. He’s there to climb Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the United States.
Round-trip, it’s 22 miles with an elevation gain of over 6,000 feet.
While most hikers do the trip in two days, Steve and his friends decide they’re in good enough shape to do it in one. They start early in the morning before the sun is up, their breath showing in the cool morning air. Steve, naturally, leads the pack.
They walk.
As the sun creeps over the mountain and hits his face, Steve has a thought: This is who he is. The guy who helps other people. The guy who saves lives. The guy who’s fit and active. The guy who enjoys challenges.
We all have our identity, he thinks. And whatever we tell ourselves we are, is what we usually become.
Now Steve’s fired up. His pace increases.
Eight hours later, he’s at the top. It’s windy up here. Refreshing.
He takes in the view. A year ago, he would have never made it. Not just to the top of this mountain but here, thinking the way he does, living the way he’s living.
When he gets down he’ll have celebratory beers with his friends who braved the climb. He’ll call his wife.
But mostly he’ll be grateful. For Precision Nutrition Coaching. For having the fortitude to stick with it. For his wife joining with him.
Yeah, there isn’t much that surprises Steve Leech any more. Except that he still has the ability to surprise himself.
Want to read more great stories like Steve’s? Then come meet a few other men, women, and couples who lost weight, started eating better, and took control of their health.
Want help finally getting the healthy, energetic body you’re after?
For many people, improved eating and lifestyle habits can seem impossible to sustain, especially when progress feels non-existent. What the experts know: Progress is always happening, you have to know what to look for.
That’s why we work closely with Precision Nutrition Coaching clients to help them stay energized and motivated, and get in the best shape of their lives… no matter what other challenges they’re dealing with.
It’s also why we work with health and fitness pros (through our Level 1 and Level 2 Certification programs) to teach them how to help their own clients recognize progress and stay motivated through the same challenges.
Interested in Precision Nutrition Coaching? Join the presale list; you’ll save up to 54% and secure a spot 24 hours early.
We’ll be opening up spots in our next Precision Nutrition Coaching on Tuesday, July 16th, 2024.
If you’re interested in coaching and want to find out more, I’d encourage you to join our presale list below. Being on the list gives you two special advantages.
- You’ll pay less than everyone else. At Precision Nutrition we like to reward the most interested and motivated people because they always make the best clients. Join the presale list and you’ll save up to 54% off the general public price, which is the lowest price we’ve ever offered.
- You’re more likely to get a spot. To give clients the personal care and attention they deserve, we only open up the program twice a year. Last time we opened registration, we sold out within minutes. By joining the presale list you’ll get the opportunity to register 24 hours before everyone else, increasing your chances of getting in.
If you’re ready to change your body, and your life, with help from the world’s best coaches, this is your chance.
[Note: If your health and fitness are already sorted out, but you’re interested in helping others, check out our Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification program].
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