Graeme Thomas Sanders had transformed his body in the past, but when he found himself out of shape at 46, he set out to find a programme that would stick. In his own words, here’s how the actor and teaching assistant in London and Sussex found a whole new approach and got ripped.

I had good results from previous body transformations; one when I was a 21-year-old student and the other when I was in my early 30s. Both happened when I had plenty of time with no work commitments. On both occasions, I achieved great results but couldn’t maintain the extreme diets I was on and soon went back to how I was before.

In 2022, I found myself looking for another challenge. I hadn’t trained for many months because my life felt too hectic. At the start of September 2022, I had Covid, which was followed by a demanding period in which I balanced full-time work as a teaching assistant and rehearsing for a number of plays that had been delayed by lockdown. I was also helping my mum care for my dad, who, for the past 17 years, has been bravely battling a series of ongoing mental health conditions. This left me too exhausted to train. However, my dad was finally offered a place in full-time residential care, which was a huge change for my parents and me. After a lot of adjustment, we all began to build new lives with more stable circumstances.

Although I was still busy, I found myself with more time than I’d had in a very long while. I knew that although I was in my 40s and somewhat out of shape, my body was still young enough to respond if I took things seriously. I knew I needed expertise to help me transform my physique and teach me how to maintain it.

The ‘lightbulb moment’ came when I started to search for personal trainers that also offered nutritional advice. I came across an online article from Men’s Health featuring an amazing transformation. I couldn’t believe the results this person had achieved. The article credited Ultimate Performance as the gym providing the expertise. I found there was a branch only five minutes’ walk from my work.

Ultimate Performance designed my training plan around my life, not the other way around. My trainer taught me how to change my body and, crucially, how to maintain that transformation as part of my everyday life. As a result, I am in the best shape of my life.

I gave myself a 15-week window. My trainer gave me all the structure I needed to reach and maintain my body transformation goals. As I have early starts and early finishes, my sessions were booked in the late afternoon or early evening. I trained three to four times a week doing basic push/pull exercises for the upper and lower body. Each session would last just under an hour.

I always preferred upper body training. Because of that, I found leg days psychologically tougher. So my trainer included an element of upper body work on leg days so I could work legs while still having some of the ‘reward’ of upper body work.

The 4 Biggest Lessons I Learnt

1. It’s Not AlwaysAbout How Much Weight You Move

Correct technique makes a huge difference to how your muscles work, and I understood early on how you can instantly feel the muscle working harder when you perform the exercise properly. Over time, it will make a massive difference to your gains.

2. Walking Is an Efficient Form of Cardio

It doesn’t tax the body nearly as much as running, for example. Also, walking is not exhausting, so it allows you to conserve energy for training.

3. Weigh Yourself Daily, but Measure Your Progress Weekly

Weighing yourself daily at the same time, while wearing the same amount of clothes, is key. It may seem obsessive, but it is vital to tracking your progress, monitoring the effects of your food intake and staying motivated. However, even while sticking to your macro/calorie budget, your body weight might fluctuate even though you’re doing everything ‘right’. It’s perfectly normal for your weight to fluctuate for a couple of days and even increase at certain points during the week. But it will drop consistently over time, so measure your progress weekly.

4. Keep the Mealtime, Change the Meals

My meals were structured in accordance with what worked best for me: I don’t usually have breakfast and don’t eat until around 11am or 12pm. So although my nutrition was overhauled, the mealtimes were kept in place. I was given plenty of meal plan ideas and, with a little bit of tweaking, I quickly found a couple of favourite meals I could prepare quickly.

During my transformation, I was given a calorie budget based on my body size, starting condition, end goal and the timeframe I had given myself to achieve these goals.

A typical day would be: a mid-morning snack of plain porridge oats with a protein shake; a lunch of four boiled eggs (eventually reduced to two over the transformation period) with a small portion of carbs and a lot of salad or veg and a dinner of what I call ‘healthy bolognese’ (lean ground beef with the excess fat drained, tomatoes, onion, garlic and a mountain of fresh salad to add bulk, with a teaspoon of soy sauce and a teaspoon of hot pepper sauce to add flavour).

Throughout the day, I would also drink three lean protein shakes and take some basic supplements with my evening meal. During my transformation, I cut out alcohol completely – except for a couple of special occasions.

My Results

I went from 172 pounds [78kg] to 138 pounds [63kg]. In the process, I maintained my lean mass while dropping my body fat from 30.5% to 12.2%. This was in line with the target my trainer set me at the end of my initial session. At the time, I didn’t think this was possible. But 15 weeks later, I was delighted to be proved wrong.

I feel more confident about my body and my fitness levels have improved significantly. My mental alertness also improved during the transformation, and my energy levels have remained higher. I’m more alert and efficient in day-to-day life since the transformation. Although I sleep about the same amount, the quality of my sleep has also improved, and I’m now more likely to wake up feeling alert and refreshed.

If you’re looking to start your own transformation, my advice to you is to have a clear goal and timeframe, keep committed, stay disciplined and be patient. If you already have the know-how, then just get back out there and make that start. If, like me, you need guidance from professionals, do some research and find a good trainer and nutritionist (ideally the same person) – it’s one of the best investments you’ll ever make. Get the right expertise to help you on your journey. Once you have this, stay focused, disciplined and patient. Believe in the process, because the results will come.

If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.

Ready to build muscle, burn fat and come out the other side looking, feeling and performing better? Click here to get 14 days of free access to the plan via the Men’s Health app.