This 40-Year-Old Dad Got a 6-Pack and Lost 20% of His Body Fat

Simon Khinda, a 40-year-old lawyer from Southern California, looked down and realized he had a “dad bod.” Looking for a reset, he went all out. Here, he tells Men’s Health how he did it.

I always thought I was in pretty okay shape. I would intermittently go to the gym, sometimes getting into fad workouts—my waist was at 31 inches and I figured I was doing fine. One day my daughter said to me, “I love you, papa, and you’re squishy!” I realized I had the infamous “dad bod.”

It was an eye-opening moment. I thought I was in generally good health. That said, I don’t really think I ever appreciated what “good health” meant, since I was not surrounding myself with people who were in excellent health. I’d never had obvious issues, and I didn’t lack confidence in myself. At the same time, my sleep was terrible; I had an overactive mind and I was constantly stressed out. So overall I hadn’t really been taking care of myself, even as I thought getting to the gym occasionally was enough.

I signed up for a transformation program with Ultimate Performance in Los Angeles. One of the first things that happened was meeting my trainer, Chris, who checked my body fat. I thought it would maybe be 20%. It was pretty crushing when Chris told me that actually, I was at 30.1%.

I’m from a big foodie family; I actually trained informally in Italian cuisine. Revamping my diet, then, meant cutting out all starchy carbs: no more rice, bread, pasta,…