Right, let’s do this.

I’m Razvan. I’m a dad of two girls — a 4-year-old who has more energy than any pre-workout ever gave me, and a 1-year-old who thinks sleep is optional. I work full time. I live in Horsham, UK. And I have a Personal Trainer qualification that I got a few years back when I actually had my act together.

Why now?

We’ve got a family trip to Romania planned for the end of July. That gives me roughly 4 months to go from where I am now — carrying more body fat than I’d like, inconsistent with nutrition, relying on junk food as a coping mechanism — to lean, confident, and actually looking like someone who knows what they’re doing in a gym.

I’ve been training consistently. 3 sessions a week, no excuses. That part’s fine — I genuinely enjoy it. What’s been missing is the nutrition. I know exactly what to do (PT qualification, remember?), but knowing and doing are two very different things when you’re mentally drained by 7pm and the biscuit tin is right there.

The plan

Training: 3x per week. Already happening. Strength-focused with some conditioning.

Nutrition: 1,800-2,000 calories per day. Meal prepping at least lunch and dinner. 10-20% of calories saved for treats because I’m not a robot. Weekly batch cooking on Sundays — simple stuff like chicken and rice, beef chilli, turkey burrito bowls.

Tracking: Daily weigh-ins (weekly average is what matters), progress photos every 2 weeks, measurements monthly. Logging meals in MyFitnessPal — but keeping it simple by eating the same rotation of meals and saving them as one-tap entries.

Why document it publicly?

Two reasons.

Accountability. I’ve tried doing this privately and I always fall off. If someone out there is actually reading this, maybe that’s enough to make me think twice before ordering a Domino’s on a Tuesday night.

Relatability. The fitness internet is dominated by 22-year-olds with no kids, no mortgage, and 3 hours a day to train. That’s not real life for most of us. I want to show what getting in shape actually looks like when you’ve got a full-time job, two small children, a limited budget, and about 45 minutes of free time a day if you’re lucky.

What to expect from this blog

Every week, I’ll post an honest update. What I ate. How training went. What the scale says. What I struggled with. No sugar-coating.

Some weeks will be good. Some weeks I’ll have demolished a family-size bag of Maltesers. Both get documented.

4 months. Let’s see what happens.