Randy is 54. He reads this newsletter and writes back more than most — which is how I got his story.

He's an ER nurse pulling 12-hour overnights across four hospitals, with up to an hour of driving on either end.

Two years ago his wife asked if his life insurance was current (not a joke).

He's now down over 100 pounds now and off several medications. He got there on his own — which is exactly why his stack is worth your two minutes.

Move 1: A protein floor, not a protein goal.

He aimed for 200g a day. He lands at 150–180. A floor works like a mortgage payment. You don't have to love it, you just have to make it. He misses his target most weeks and still wins.

Here's what that floor looks like at breakfast: three eggs with turkey sausage, Greek yogurt with a scoop of protein powder stirred in, and a cup of berries. Some mornings it's overnight oats made with Greek yogurt and half a scoop of vanilla protein instead.

Call it 70 grams banked before the day starts swinging. Like auto-paying the mortgage on payday — the rest of the day is just small bills. His words, not mine: "The protein trick helped me lose over 100 pounds."

Move 2: Find out what it costs you to just exist.

His BMR is roughly 2,400 calories. He eats 2,000. That's the whole deficit — 400. Most guys guess at this number and miss by a thousand. Cutting 400 is driving five over instead of twenty over. You still get there. You just keep your license.

Move 3: Steps plus short lifts.

8–10k steps a day. 20–30 minutes of resistance work, three or four days a week. Not two-hour sessions. The lifting is what tells your body to burn fat instead of stripping your muscle for parts.

Here's the part I like most. Randy is a bread and pasta guy, and he started by swearing off carbs completely. Then he walked it back himself. Minimized instead of banned. That's why he's still at it two years later. Rules you can keep beat rules that sound impressive.

Protein floor. Small deficit off a real number. Steps and short lifts. A guy working overnights at four hospitals ran that for two years and rebuilt himself at 54.

Your schedule isn't worse than his.

You could do exactly what Randy did. He'd tell you to. But he found those three moves the long way — two years of guessing at his protein, guessing at his deficit, swearing off carbs and quietly walking it back.

That's the part the Lean Dad Recomp Playbook skips. Your protein floor, your calorie number, the lifts, and what to do in week one — worked out for you instead of by you.

It's $37. If it's not for you, email me and I'll refund it — no form, no questions asked. Get the Playbook

What food rule have you broken a hundred times and keep coming back to?

Rootin' for ya,

Jason from Dad OS

(Randy gave me permission to share this. If you've got a story like his, hit reply.)