From Unhealthy Habits to Helping Others Transform Their Health: Ben’s Story

It’s been a while since I’ve focused on writing about me as I am so use to helping others. But when Beni asked me to share my journey with the Beyond Best community, I thought why not?

That request got me thinking about how I actually ended up here, because I definitely wasn’t always the person you’d expect to become a nutritionist, personal trainer and health coach.

In fact, if you met me about 16 years ago, you probably wouldn’t have taken much health advice from me at all.

I Wasn't Always the "Health Guy"

Back then, I was partying too much, eating pretty terribly and barely exercising.

Health wasn't really something I gave much thought to. Like a lot of people, I knew I should probably eat better and exercise more, but knowing that while ordering another questionable late-night meal is one thing. Actually doing something about it is another.

There wasn't some dramatic movie moment where I woke up one morning, stared at myself in the mirror and decided to completely change my life. It was more gradual than that.

I started getting tired of feeling like I wasn't really looking after myself. I began paying a little more attention to what I was eating, started exercising more regularly and noticed something pretty quickly, I actually felt better. Nothing revolutionary, I know.

But that simple connection between what I was putting into my body, how I was moving and how I felt started to fascinate me. One question led to another. Why did certain foods make such a difference? What was actually happening inside the body? Why did exercise change not just how I looked, but my energy and the way I felt day to day?

And then I went down the rabbit hole.

What started as me trying to sort out my own health turned into a genuine fascination with nutritional biochemistry and understanding health beyond the usual "eat less, move more" advice.

That curiosity eventually led me to complete a Bachelor of Nutrition at Endeavour College in Melbourne.

Then I Started Helping Other People

Later, while living in London, I started InnerVision Nutrition.

Suddenly, all the things I'd spent years learning weren't just about improving my own health anymore. I was working with real people, with real goals, real frustrations and real lives outside whatever plan we put together. And that's where things became interesting…

Because knowing what someone should do is relatively straightforward. Getting it to work in their actual life is a completely different challenge.

You can tell someone exactly what to eat, but then work gets busy. You sleep terribly. Friday drinks happen. Someone brings cake into the office and apparently all nutritional goals cease to exist. That's life.

The longer I worked with people, the more I realised that simply handing someone a nutrition plan wasn't enough. Eventually, I moved into personal training as well, which gave me another piece of the puzzle.

I could work with what people were eating and how they were moving, but even then, there was always more going on. Sleep. Stress. Habits. Routine. Confidence. Accountability.

All the things that don't necessarily fit neatly under "nutrition" or "personal training", but can have a massive impact on someone's health.

And that changed how I saw my role.

I'm Not Just a PT or a Nutritionist

Technically, I'm both. They are very complimentary so it makes sense.

But these days, health coach is probably the best way to describe what I actually do.

Training and nutrition are incredibly important, but they're tools. What I'm really interested in is the person using them.

I don't just want someone to hit their macros for eight weeks or get through a training block and then go back to where they started.

I genuinely want to make an impact on people's health and their lives.

And that means different things for different people.

For one person, losing weight might mean finally feeling comfortable and confident in their body again.

For someone else, getting stronger might mean being able to keep up with their kids.

Another person might simply be sick of feeling tired all the time, or frustrated that they've spent years jumping between diets without ever finding something that sticks.

Those things matter to me far more than chasing a perfect number on a spreadsheet.

The training matters.

The nutrition matters.

But so does everything happening around them.

The Perfect Plan Is Usually Useless

After more than a decade working in health and fitness, I've become less interested in giving people the supposedly "perfect" diet or training program.

Because the perfect plan is useless if you hate it.

You can create the most nutritionally perfect meal plan imaginable, but if you're staring sadly at a container of chicken and broccoli by Wednesday wondering what you've done with your life, we're probably not getting very far. The same applies to training.

The best program isn't necessarily the hardest or most complicated one. It's the one you can actually do consistently. Your job matters. Your family matters. Your social life matters. The foods you enjoy matter.

Your life doesn't suddenly disappear because you've decided you want to get healthier.

Good coaching has to work within that reality, not against it.

Health Happens Outside the Gym Too

This is probably one of the biggest lessons I've learned over the years.

A couple of training sessions each week can make a huge difference, but there's a lot of life happening between those sessions.

How are you eating?
How are you sleeping?How much are you moving?
How stressed are you?
What happens when you've had a terrible week?

And can you get back into your routine without deciding you've "failed" and need to start again next Monday?

That's why I enjoy health coaching so much. Instead of looking at one small part of someone's life, I get to step back and understand the bigger picture.

It's also something I've really enjoyed bringing into my work at Beyond Best. Being around a team that works across different areas of health and fitness gives me the opportunity to do what I enjoy most, work with people, understand what they actually need and help them build something sustainable.

And that's probably all the Beyond Best plugging Beni is getting out of me in my personal blog.

Sixteen Years Later...

It's strange looking back.

Sixteen years ago, I was trying to figure out my own health.
Now I spend my days helping other people figure out theirs.

And despite all the study, qualifications and years I've spent working in the industry, I don't think health needs to be nearly as complicated as we've made it.

There isn't one magic diet.
There isn't one perfect workout.

And there definitely isn't one 30-day challenge that's going to fix your entire life.

Most of the time, it's about understanding yourself a little better, making better decisions more often and building habits you can keep doing when life isn't perfectly organised.

Of course I want the people I work with to get stronger, improve their nutrition and achieve the goals they came to me with.

But ultimately, I want to leave them in a better place than when we started.

Healthier, confident, knowledgeable and most importantly, capable of looking after themselves without needing someone to hold their hand forever. If I can genuinely make that kind of impact on someone's health and their life, that's why I do what I do.

I look forward to seeing you around the gym.