My Story: From Obese GP to Someone Who's Actually Solved This

My name is Dr Dan Maggs.

Wind back 10 years.

You won't find many photos of me from back then because I used to absolutely hate seeing myself in photographs.

Before: 2015 - Avoiding photos

After: 2017 - 66lbs lighter

The Embarrassing Truth About Being An Obese Doctor

In 2015 I qualified as a GP.

I'd got through med school, tonnes of exams. I'd done lots of difficult stuff... outwardly a pretty successful guy.

Except no matter what I tried, I couldn't get a handle on my weight.

Here I was, giving patients advice about their weight while failing to manage my own. The irony wasn't lost on me – and I'm pretty sure it wasn't lost on them either.

And it wasn't through lack of trying. I'd tried everything.

Usually things would work for a while. Except the scales kept creeping up, year after year.

And to use the medical term... I was obese.

And honestly? I'd lost hope.

The Future I Was Staring Down

Thing is... as a doctor... you see what happens to men when they don't get this sorted.

I could see where I was heading.

In my surgery, I was seeing men in their 60s and 70s with diabetes, heart disease, mobility issues. Men who should have been enjoying retirement, travelling the world with everything they'd worked for.

Instead? They were being brought to appointments by their adult children. Couldn't play with grandchildren on the floor. Got breathless walking up stairs. Needed help with basic tasks.

And here's what really hit me...

Their adult children bringing them in? They were heading down the exact same path. Same weight issues. Same excuses. Same habits.

The patterns were being passed down like some twisted inheritance.

Looking at them, I could see my future – and my kids' future – playing out in real time.

The Turning Point That Changed Everything

In February 2016 I went on holiday to France, skiing.

We were sitting at breakfast one morning, and one of the guys opposite me started spooning butter into his coffee.

Butter. In his coffee.

The doctor in me was immediately concerned about this guy's cholesterol. But this impossibly fit 62-year-old man – visible abs, boundless energy – looked 15 years younger than me, despite being 15 years older.

That conversation led me to the ketogenic diet - the methodology that would help me lose 66lbs in just 6 months.

Following that holiday, I was a normal weight for the first time.

For the first time in my adult life.

Now that I look back... losing that weight, the thing that I'd struggled with for so long... was actually the easy part.

What was tricky? Sustaining it.

The Brutal Truth About Motivation

During those first 6 months... motivation was high... the weight was coming off rapidly, I felt great. I was focused.

But motivation wanes. It's never linear.

New things come into our life that require our focus.

And so I'd love to say that sustaining that weight loss for 10 years has been easy.

But it hasn't.

The Onion Layers No One Talks About

I like to say that the journey was like peeling an onion.

Every time you take a layer off... another one appears underneath.

Layer 1: The Exercise Problem

Turns out... after 35 years of not really being very active, I had collected a series of imbalances in my body caused by being desk bound.

Certain muscle groups in my body had basically gone to sleep because I just never used them.

I ended up getting a personal trainer called Sam to help me wake them back up, simply so I could exercise safely.

You see... we all know that we're supposed to exercise, and do strength training and all that good stuff...

But actually doing that when you're significantly overweight, or have knee injuries (like many of my clients have)... this is a problem I see all the time.

Layer 2: The Habit Formation Challenge

So I got that layer sorted... and the next layer conveniently revealed itself.

I wasn't exactly that good at developing the habit of exercising... quite a different thing.

So I went and consulted the habit bible that is Atomic Habits by James Clear.

A book that I'd owned, but hadn't really paid that much attention to...

Layer 3: The Stress-Alcohol Connection

And so I got that side of things sorted... and another layer appeared...

My relationship with alcohol, which needed addressing.

So I sorted that, which as it turns out... the reason I used alcohol was to manage stress...

So I had to look at my stress... and so on and so forth.

The Final Layer: The One That Nearly Beat Me

There was one layer that kept me stuck for longer than any of the others.

And honestly... I've only really got this sorted in the last couple of years...

Food addiction.

Why I'm Sharing All This With You

There are a couple of reasons...

First: I'm pretty confident that I'm through all the layers now. I'm now in a place where I feel completely in control of the situation.

Second: Working with other guys over the years coaching them... I've realised that many of the issues that I've had... are the same issues that they've had along the way.

And what I've also realised is... actually... this journey that took me the best part of a decade?

Well, it can be rapidly shortened with the right approach.

What took me 10 years to figure out through trial and error, I can help you achieve in months.

The Two-Part System Nobody Talks About

Here's what I discovered after all those layers...

There are actually two completely different phases to getting this sorted:

Phase 1: Rapid Weight Loss - Using tools like keto, fasting, whatever works to get the weight off quickly. This bit? It's actually straightforward once you know how.

Phase 2: Sustainable Transformation - This is where 95% of people fail. It's not about food or exercise anymore. It's about rewiring years of patterns, habits, and yes... the mental game that nobody wants to admit exists.

The biggest thing I learned?

It's not just about the physical. The real work is dealing with WHY you got here in the first place. The stress. The habits. The patterns you've built over decades.

That's what took me 10 years to figure out.

Here's The Truth Most People Won't Tell You

The weight loss bit is the easy part.

As long as you've got someone to be accountable to... who's going to help you stay on track when you encounter the inevitable obstacles, it's do-able.

Sure, the more weight you've got to lose, the longer it takes.

But I've seen guys lose 50% of their body weight in 18 months.

It's the keeping it off that is where things get interesting.

Time Isn't The Problem (And I Can Prove It)

Most of us think it's time that is the issue... but here's the thing...

I work with quite a few guys who have made it... and retired early...

Only to find themselves staring down their retirement years, significantly overweight, barely able to fit in a seat on a plane let alone travel the world like they dreamed they'd be doing when they retired.

Having more time to solve the "weight thing" doesn't solve the problem.

We're just more complicated than that...

The Hidden Danger of Quick Fixes

And you're in the same situation if you go on a ketogenic diet like I did... or if you go down the route of one of these newer fat jabs...

(Which by the way... up to 40% of the weight lost on those jabs? Muscle. Not fat. Muscle.)

Not a good thing when you realise that it was never about the weight...

It was about playing with your kids or your grandkids.

And now you can't get up off the floor and don't have the muscle mass to sustain your weight loss.

"But Can't I Just Do This Myself?"

I get it. You might be thinking you should be able to do this on your own.

But here's the thing... if it was that simple, you'd have cracked it by now.

It's called the Hawthorne Effect - we simply perform better when we know someone's watching.

As one of my clients put it:

"Just knowing you're there in the background means I'm consistently making better choices throughout the day - that's been huge for me."

Think about it.

Olympic athletes have coaches. Business leaders have mentors.

We do this when it's not something we want to leave to chance.

You're successful in your career precisely because you know when to bring in expertise.

This is no different.

The Bottom Line

You see, you've been looking around on YouTube... you've probably watched a few of my videos, and a few other people too.

You've probably got a good idea what you're talking about.

What you don't really need is much more information. You probably know almost as much as I do about this stuff.

What you need... is to actually implement this stuff.

For someone to hold you accountable.

And for someone to give you a kick up the arse when the going gets tough (and it will!)

As one of my clients said...

"If a doctor who has done it himself can't help me? Then no one can."