How Nathan Cannon, a longtime CrossFit and high-intensity training athlete, stopped assuming he needed to eat more to perform — and lost 10.6kg in 12 weeks once nutrition, not training, became the focus, working with health coach Andre Obradovic.
10.6 kg
WEIGHT LOST
12 Weeks
PROGRAM DURATION
Nathan had struggled with his weight for a few years and hadn’t been able to get it back on track. He’d always trained hard – CrossFit, high-intensity workouts – and had built a career-long belief that performance meant eating more, not less. Weight loss was the single, clear goal he came in with.
“I probably struggled with it over the last few years and really haven’t been able to get it back on track to where I wanted it to be. So I just made the conscious decision that I needed some help and needed some accountability.”
Nathan’s training background worked against him before it worked for him. Years of CrossFit and high-intensity work had taught him that more food meant more energy meant better performance – and that instinct made the idea of eating less, or eating less often, feel wrong before he’d even tried it.
“I always thought I needed more food, more energy to perform at my optimal. And it’s funny – inherently, I think I knew I didn’t.”
He researched Andre before signing up and found the two-meals-a-day, fasting-based approach – and assumed straight away it wasn’t going to work for someone with his training load.
The shift wasn’t about training harder or longer. It was almost entirely about food – cutting the carb and sugar dependence Nathan hadn’t fully registered he had, and letting his body adapt to running on fat rather than a constant sugar top-up.
“I think I was very carb/sugar-dependent. The biggest thing I got out of it was really once I switched over to probably fat-burning mode, or being more metabolically flexible, as they call it – I actually felt great.”
Partway through the program, Andre introduced a further step: one meal a day, once a week, to see how Nathan’s body handled it. Nathan took that and made it his own, adjusting the frequency to what his week actually needed rather than following a fixed rule.
“There’s some weeks I do it three or four times a week, and other times I might only do it twice a week. I’m listening to my body more, and understanding that the type of foods I eat really make the big difference.”
The plan flexed around Nathan’s actual life, not the other way round – including small, practical adjustments made on the spot when something wasn’t working, like moving a supplement from before bed to lunchtime with work.
“You definitely were very good at customising it to me. Sometimes it’s just little things – like the conversation about supplementing differently, taking it to work and having it at lunch rather than forgetting about it an hour before bed. Just soundboarding it, getting those ideas on the fly that suit that individual or my lifestyle – it makes a lot of difference.”
One addition mattered more than the rest, by Nathan’s own account.
“The bone broth, mate, was probably the biggest tip of all. I think that’s been the best thing. I’ve got probably about five of my mates and family onto the same product.”
Nathan’s second conversation with Andre dug into the exact question a lot of CrossFit and gym-goers ask themselves: if I’m training this hard, why isn’t the weight coming off? His answer, once he’d been through it himself, was direct.
“I’m such a fan of CrossFit and I love it myself. And I think what it promotes, in general, is fitness. That’s what it does. It’s not weight loss, it’s fitness. People absolutely sign up to CrossFit, or any gym, with the intention to lose weight – but it’s definitely not the right program. You’re not on the right train.”
The reframe that made the difference for him was narrowing to one goal instead of chasing several at once.
He puts a number on how much of the result actually came from food versus training — and it’s a bigger split than the usual 80/20 people quote.
“You hear the 70-30 or 80-20 – it’s 80% of it, it’s your diet. For me it’s probably more like 95%. It’s really all about your diet. If anyone’s really focused on losing weight, that’s really what they need to focus on.”
10.6 kg
WEIGHT LOST
12 Weeks
PROGRAM DURATION
Twelve weeks after starting at 113.6kg, Nathan weighed in at 103kg – a 10.6kg drop. The change showed up in small, physical ways before he’d even processed the number: the suit pants loosening, then moving out of what he called his “fat man suits” back into his normal ones, and even those starting to loosen too.
“To see that little drop in the kilos each week’s been a really reassuring thing in my mind that I’m doing the right thing – and finding it quite easy to do. It’s a good feeling, mate. I’m quite happy with the results.”
Nathan’s biggest takeaway wasn’t a single tactic – it was that a customised, on-the-fly approach outperformed any fixed program, CrossFit included.
“There’s a lot of programs out there – I’m sure they’re okay, but they wouldn’t really work for everybody all the time. Where I think what you do, that’s the power in the main – it works well.”
When you start recognising the misinformation you’ve been fed, everything about your health begins to make sense. Gain the clarity and confidence to make choices that truly benefit your health.
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