ABOUT STUART GOODWIN, FOUNDER
I’m not a fitness influencer. i’ve just spent 35 years trying to figure this out.
U.S. COAST GUARD
SURF COACH
LIFT STUDIO CO-OWNER
FATHER OF THREE
35+ YEARS IN FITNESS
Coast Guard. Competitive surf coach. Fitness studio owner. Weight-loss group leader. I knew a lot about fitness, and for most of my adult life I was still the overweight gym guy. This is how I finally got inside, and why I built Reclaimed Men to bring you with me.
WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOU
Knowing about fitness and knowing how to control your body fat are two different worlds.
I lived in the first one for decades. I trained hard, read the books, tried the diets and coached other people. None of it taught me how to run fat loss on purpose. If you’ve worked hard and still don’t have the body you want, you’re probably standing where I stood. The five chapters below are how I crossed over.
Me today: a full-time career, a family of five, and still surfing. The process fits real life.
My story in five chapters ——
01 — MID-20S
Lean by environment, not by skill
I joined the Coast Guard and spent close to two years training as a rescue swimmer candidate. Running, swimming, pull-ups, push-ups, constantly. I was lean, but the structure around me was doing the work. My food, schedule and activity were all controlled for me.
I WAS LEAN. I HADN’T LEARNED HOW TO GET MYSELF THERE.
02 — THE COACHING YEARS
Helping others while stuck myself
Fitness became much bigger than my own training. I coached my daughter as a competitive surfer. My wife and I opened LIFT Studio in Panama, where I taught functional fitness and ran a weight-loss group. Decades of training, diets and books. And I was still struggling with my own weight.
KNOWING A LOT ABOUT FITNESS WASN’T THE SAME AS CONTROLLING MY BODY COMPOSITION.
03 — 2020 · FIRST TIME INSIDE
I finally learned the numbers
I was around 213 pounds. During the pandemic I started paying attention to what I’d never really understood. I measured my food, tracked what I actually ate, stopped trusting estimated exercise calories and watched how my body responded. I reached 173 pounds, the leanest I’d been at that point.
I WASN’T TRYING HARDER. I COULD SEE WHAT I WAS DOING AND WHAT HAPPENED NEXT.
04 — THE REGAIN
Getting in is not staying in
Then life changed. We moved to Santa Catalina, the beer crept back in, I was over-surfing and still lifting, but the structure slowly disappeared. Over about two years I climbed back to around 190 pounds.
LOSING FAT AND STAYING LEAN WHEN LIFE CHANGES ARE TWO DIFFERENT SKILLS.
05 — AGE 49 · LIVING IN FAT-LOSS MODE
I stopped looking for another diet
Months before turning 50, I put everything I’d learned together. I stopped drinking. Understood my calorie intake. Prioritized protein. Strength trained to protect muscle. Measured the response and adjusted when the evidence said so. I went from about 190 to 165 pounds, leaner than I’d ever been. The biggest change wasn’t how I looked.
FOR THE FIRST TIME, I KNEW HOW I GOT HERE AND HOW TO RUN THE PROCESS MYSELF.
THE NUMBERS, HONESTLY
2020
213 LBS
Starting point
lbs
2020
173 LBS
First time I learned the numbers
lbs
~2022
190 LBS
Two years of drift
lbs
AGE 49
165 LBS
Running the process
lbs
I'm showing you the regain on purpose. It's the reason Reclaimed Men teaches the skill of staying inside fat-loss mode, not just a way to get lean once.
WHAT I BUILT
The map I spent years looking for.
Reclaimed Men isn't another set of rules. It's an introduction to how men who manage their body fat actually think: the language, the numbers, the daily decisions and how to adjust.
I want you to understand what you're doing, why you're doing it, and how to run it yourself long after the program ends.
STUART GOODWIN
Founder, Reclaimed Men · Indian Harbour Beach, FL
THE RECLAIMED MEN MAP
Real principles. A clearer path.
Five stages, in the order the program takes you through them.
1
Mindset
Understanding + determination
You understand what you're doing, decide the goal matters, and commit to the process.
↓
2
Body composition
Food intake → body fat level
Food intake is the primary lever. It creates the energy deficit that drives fat loss.
Resistance training → muscle
Resistance training builds and protects the muscle you want to reveal.
↓
3
Fitness
Cardio → fitness & conditioning
Cardio develops fitness and health. It can add to the calorie deficit, but it isn't the foundation of the fat-loss strategy.
↓
4
Control system
Run it. Measure it. Adjust it.
Run the plan, measure the response, and adjust based on evidence, not feelings.
1. BASELINE
Know where you're starting.
2. TRACK
Measure what you're doing.
3. MEASURE
Look at the real trends.
4. EVALUATE
See what's working.
5. ADJUST
Make the right changes.
↓
5
Mastery
Maintain → adapt → repeat
You understand the system well enough to run it yourself as your goals, body and life change.
That is the map.
THIS IS FOR YOU IF
+ You’ve worked hard, tried the diets, maybe lost weight before, and you’re tired of starting over.
+ You’d rather understand the system than follow someone else’s rules.
+ You’re a busy man, often 40+, with a job and a family, who wants a process that fits real life.
IT’S NOT FOR YOU IF
– You want a 30-day shred, a pill, or a meal plan you never have to think about.
– You’re not willing to track, measure and learn for a few months.