Busy Dad, Real Results: Ben Bertram’s 18-Pound Transformation at 42
This father of three used early mornings, simple nutrition changes, and structured workouts to build lasting habits during one of the toughest stretches of his life.
Ben Bertram remembers the exact moment things had to change.
“It was a Sunday morning, October 20th, 2024,” he says. “I woke up hungover from the weekend and feeling terrible… I looked in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw.”
At 219 pounds—his heaviest ever—he wasn’t completely out of shape, but he knew he was slipping. More importantly, he didn’t like the example he was setting for his kids.
That same day, he made a decision…
A friend had introduced him to the JYM Army Facebook group months earlier, and after watching from the sidelines, Ben finally committed.
“I told Cory [his friend] I was going to do the Holiday Shred Challenge —and I was going all-in,” he says.
Starting When Life Was Chaotic
If there was ever a difficult time to start a transformation, this was it. Ben and his wife were running two businesses while raising three young kids. His mom was hospitalized with a life-threatening illness, and his father was nearing the end of a long battle with cancer.
“Things felt as if they were spiraling out of control,” Ben says.
Still, he started the Super-Man Remastered program (the featured workout in the Holiday Shred Challenge) on October 21.
“It was an extremely difficult time in my life,” he says. “But I do believe the gym helped me to get through it.”
By early November, his mom was home. But later that month, his father passed away. Through it all, Ben stayed consistent, dropping from 219 to around 211 pounds while locking in his routine.
“I knew that if I could continue to push through and put a priority on my health at a time like this, there would be no excuses later,” he says.
The Habits That Made It Work
For Ben, success came down to structure and showing up. He committed to early mornings, waking up at 4:15 a.m. to get to the gym by 5.
“Many mornings I sat on the edge of my bed and battled with myself,” he says. “I had to tell myself every day to just get through today.”
He fueled those sessions with a protein shake and Pre JYM , and he leaned heavily on accountability.
“I was fortunate enough to have a good friend who committed to meeting me at 5 a.m. several days a week,” Ben says. “That was the key to my success.”
Over time, the routine stuck. He trained three to five days per week and used the Jim Stoppani Workout App (on Apple / android ) to rotate through programs like Shortcut to Shred , HIIT 100 , and Full-Body Fire .
“The app has been critical to the success of my transformation,” he says.
At home, the impact carried over. His wife began prioritizing movement and better nutrition, and his son started joining him in the gym. “Being a role model for him was all the motivation I needed,” Ben says.
Breaking the Plateau and Finishing Strong
By January 2026, progress had slowed. “I had become a bit lax in my diet and plateaued,” he says.
So he tightened things up. He started prepping all of his meals on Sundays to eliminate guesswork during the week and implemented intermittent fasting , eating between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.
“I believe [meal prep] to be one of the most critical things to develop healthy habits,” Ben says.
His daily intake stayed around 1,900 calories, built around simple meals—eggs, oatmeal, venison, chicken, rice—along with Pro JYM and creatine .
He entered the next JimStoppani.com challenge (the New Year’s Challenge) at 211 pounds. Five weeks later, he was 201.
“I feel better and look better than I have at any point in the last 20 years,” he says.
More importantly, nothing about his approach was temporary.
“This was not a crash diet,” he says. “This was results that came from small incremental changes and most importantly, consistency over time.”
Today, Ben is still training four to five days per week, still prepping meals, and still showing up.
And if there’s one thing he’d pass on to anyone starting out, it’s simple: “Have someone there to help push you and hold you accountable,” he says. “That’s what gets you through the hard days.”
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