What this page is: a live, public record of my rebuild after a 3-month training break at 47: my body transformation after 40, week by week. Every Sunday morning I measure, fasted, same conditions. Every number lands here, good or bad. The full story and the 12-week plan are in the comeback post. The 10-week cut phase is detailed in the cutting after 40 plan.
The scoreboard (in priority order): waist under 94 cm (37 in), bodyweight toward 80-81 kg (176-179 lb) with every muscle measurement holding, heart rate at the scale trending down (overnight watch reading from October 4), 4 training sessions per week completed.
Weekly check-ins: my body transformation after 40, week by week
| Week | Weight | Waist | Chest | Arms R/L | Sessions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (Aug 9) | 84.6 kg | 96.3 cm | 111.1 cm | 34.1 / 33.4 cm | baseline |
| 1 (Aug 16) | 86.3 kg | 96.3 cm | 106.6 cm* | 35.2 / 35.4 cm | 4 of 4 ✓ |
| 2 (Aug 23) | 83.9 kg | 95.9 cm | 109.8 cm | 34.8 / 35.5 cm | 2 of 4 ✗ |
| 3 (Aug 30) | 82.9 kg | 94.2 cm | 108.3 cm | 34.8 / 35.0 cm | 4 of 4 ✓ |
| 4 (Sep 6) | 82.3 kg | 94.2 cm | 109.1 cm | 34.9 / 35.3 cm | 3 of 4 ✗ |
| 5 (Sep 14) | 83.7 kg | 93.6 cm | 109.6 cm | 34.8 / 35.1 cm | 4 of 4 ✓ |
| 6 (Sep 20) | 82.1 kg | 93.3 cm | 109.1 cm | 35.0 / 35.0 cm | 2 of 4 ✗ |
| 7 (Sep 27) | 81.7 kg | 92.5 cm | 108.0 cm | 35.0 / 34.0 cm | 3 of 4 ✗ |
| 8 (Oct 4) | No check-in: traveling, no scale | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Week 8: away, eating freely, no measurements. Next check-in when I’m home.
* Week 1 chest and shoulder readings are flagged as tape-placement errors, explained honestly in the week 1 post. Week 2’s chest reading converging back toward baseline confirms it. Single data points are noise; the trend is the signal.
Weekly tape protocol: shoulders, chest, both arms flexed, waist at navel, mid-thigh, calf. Full table lives in the comeback post. A week runs from one Sunday check-in to the following Saturday night, so the sessions count is what happened between two check-ins.
How I measure, every Sunday
The routine behind this body transformation after 40, week by week
Every number on this page comes from the same routine. On Sunday morning, fasted, I step on my Hume Pod scale and run a RENPHO smart tape around the same spots in the same order: shoulders, chest, both arms flexed, waist at the navel, mid-thigh and calf. Body composition scans go in the Scans table below.
A log week runs from one Sunday check-in to the following Saturday night, so the sessions column counts what happened between two check-ins. When a week goes off plan, the row says so rather than being skipped or filled in after the fact, as week 8 shows. Single readings are noise; the trend is the signal, and the waist comes before the scale.
Scans
| Date | Body fat | Skeletal muscle | Visceral index | Metabolic age | Heart rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 9, 2026 (baseline) | 16.2% | 43.7 kg | 7 | 35 yrs | 94 bpm |
| Aug 23, 2026 | 15.4% | 44.3 kg | 7 | 35 yrs | n/a |
| Sep 6, 2026 | 15.7% | 43.9 kg | 6 | 35 yrs | 88 bpm |
| Sep 14, 2026 | 15.6% | 44.0 kg | 6 | 35 yrs | n/a |
| Sep 20, 2026 | 15.4% | 44.0 kg | 6 | n/a | 80 bpm |
| Sep 27, 2026 | 15.1% | 44.1 kg | 6 | 35 yrs | 77 bpm |
Heart rate in the scan table is taken standing on the scale a few minutes after getting up, not lying down on waking, so it is not a resting heart rate in the textbook sense. From the October 4 check-in the overnight reading from the watch replaces it, and the change is noted in the row.
Next update: Sunday, October 11. If a week is missing, ask me why on the contact page. Public accountability only works if someone collects the debt.
Follow the comeback, weekly
One email per week. Real protocols, real numbers, no hype, written by a 47-year-old rebuilding in public. Plus: my free body transformation blueprint PDF.
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