Liefs Coach · Men 40+ · 5 Spots Per Cohort
A 6-month, 1:1 body recomposition program for men 40 and up, built on a plant-based diet, structured weight training and daily steps.
Coached personally by Thomas Massink, MSc, MA. 12 years plant-based. Founder of awarded food & beverage concepts in Tulum. Made this exact transition the hard way so you don't have to.
Before
Fraternity days. Carnivore & alcoholic.
After
44 years old. 12 years plant-based.
This is my own transformation. Individual results vary based on starting point, adherence and health history. Not a guarantee of similar results.
The Problem
The workouts that used to work stopped working. The waistline crept up half an inch a year until it was four inches. The last blood panel came back with a note from the doctor about cholesterol, and maybe cortisol too, and a suggestion to "keep an eye on it."
Everywhere you look, the mainstream answer is a course of peptides. It works, and it also comes with muscle loss, a subscription for life, and a body that never learned how to do this on its own.
Doing it without peptides keeps the change yours. That shift, in your mindset before your body, is the most fundamental one this program asks of you.
This program is the other path. Food, training and sleep, applied with the same discipline you already bring to your work, for six months, with someone checking in on you every single week.
The Method
A whole-food, plant-based framework built from the same research behind Meals for Life, adapted to your goal.
Structured weight training, three sessions a week, 45 minutes each. No two-hour gym sessions required.
A daily walking target, tracked, not guessed at. Simple, sustainable, and backed by long-term mortality data.
Food, training and steps logged in one app, reviewed with you on your weekly call.
Who's Coaching You
I was not always the person in the "after" photo above. In college, and in corporate life after, I was the prime frat guy: carnivore and alcoholic, drinking too much and eating whatever contained the most 'masculinity. I worked in all positions in a French-cuisine restaurant, from dishes up to chef, and sat on my rugby club's board as the member responsible for food and beverage. Between the kitchen, the clubhouse and seven years on the pitch, I have probably eaten more meat than most men my age. Youth, Rugby & weight-training did keep me relatively fit and muscular during the frat years. Krav Maga during my four expat years in Houston sharpened it further. Both sports taught me how to take hits and push through, as much as ompetitive agressive in-line skating during my teens taught me how to break falls on concrete and steel.
Twelve years ago I went vegan, and not for a diet. I was working in fossil fuels at the time, corporate, secure, and completely disconnected from the world I actually wanted to help build. I quit, for the environment and for the animals. My wife Fem and I built Liefs Tulum from a VW van into an award-winning, zero-waste restaurant and ranch, and I run my own health the same way I run that business: disciplined and determined.
Two master's degrees, one in industrial design engineering, one in history. An engineer, historian, a former chef, a former carnivore, now a vegan business-owner and head of a plant-based family. Built on a mindset of ever increasing gratitude, patience, discipline & self-care.
I made this exact transition myself, from that fraternity table of beer and meat to the body in the "after" photo above. This program is that process, structured, tracked and applied to you.
Fifteen years of training. Still training today.
The Food
A vegan or vegetarian diet lowers total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein B compared to an omnivorous diet. That is the finding of a 2023 meta-analysis of 30 randomized trials in the European Heart Journal, covering over 2,300 adults. The reduction is not marginal. It moves the numbers a blood panel actually measures.
This program does not ask you to eat less. It asks you to eat differently. Whole plant foods, enough protein, enough fiber, tracked daily in FitHub so you see the pattern instead of guessing at it. The same framework behind Meals for Life, built from 178 peer-reviewed sources, adapted to a six-month body recomposition goal instead of a family meal plan.
Nutrition here is not about restriction. It is planned around food you actually want to eat again tomorrow, tropical fruit, colorful bowls, meals with texture and flavor, not a shake and a bar. Convenience matters as much as content. Meals are built to prep ahead, repeat with ease and travel with you, because a plan that only works at your own kitchen counter is not one you can keep for six months.
Source: Koch CA, Kjeldsen EW, Frikke-Schmidt R. Vegetarian or vegan diets and blood lipids: a meta-analysis of randomized trials. European Heart Journal, 2023. doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehad211
Convenience, color and enough of it, not a shake and a bar.
Tracked in FitHub, so the numbers are known, not guessed at.
This is the mechanism behind the 2023 meta-analysis above.
Sleep, Self-Care and Purpose
A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis in Endocrine Journal, and earlier work published in the journal Sleep, both show that insufficient sleep raises cortisol levels the following day. No training plan and no meal plan outruns a body that is not sleeping.
This program treats sleep as a metric, not an afterthought. Alongside the training and the food, you track it, and we adjust for it. The same applies to the walking target. A 2021 study in JAMA Network Open followed over 2,000 adults aged 38 to 65 for a decade and found that reaching 7,000 steps a day was associated with a 50 to 70 percent lower risk of death from any cause, regardless of pace.
Weight training is not optional here. Muscle is the tissue that lets you lift your kids with ease today, and lift your grandkids the same way in twenty years. More muscle also raises your resting metabolism, so more fat gets burned around the clock, not only during the 45 minutes of the session. And the same training keeps your bones dense enough that a fall at seventy is an inconvenience, not a hospital stay.
Strong enough to lift them with ease today. Strong enough to do it again in twenty years.
And underneath the numbers sits the harder question this program is actually built around. What are you doing this for. Not the mirror. The version of you that is still standing, still capable, still present, decades from now, still able to pick them up.
Sources: Chen Y, et al. The effect of acute sleep deprivation on cortisol level: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Endocrine Journal, 2024. doi.org/10.1507/endocrj.EJ23-0714 · Lee I, et al. Association of step volume and intensity with all-cause mortality. JAMA Network Open, 2021. jamanetwork.com · Massini DA, et al. The effect of resistance training on bone mineral density in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Healthcare, 2022. doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10061129
What To Expect
Month 1 to 2
Food, training and steps become routine. Energy shifts first, usually before the scale does.
Month 3 to 4
Body composition shifts become visible. This is typically when a follow-up blood panel shows movement.
Month 5 to 6
The habits stop requiring willpower. The goal is a body and a routine that hold without me.
Timeline is a general guide, not a guarantee. Results vary based on starting point, adherence and health history.
The Program
Every tier includes real accountability. I see your food, training, steps and sleep in FitHub every week. Nothing slips unnoticed, and you are never doing this alone.
Weekly 1:1 coaching, full tracking, and someone checking your numbers every 7 days.
2,700 dollars pay in full
or 500 dollars/month x 6 (3,000 total)
Everything in Reset, plus a plan built specifically for you and direct access to me between calls.
Revealed on your fit call
Starts from 4,590 dollars
Everything in Rebuild, plus private, in-person time with me at Rancho Verde, and a retreat pass on the house.
Revealed on your fit call
Starts from 8,100 dollars
Client Results
Thomas has guided me like no other towards a more plant-based and conscious lifestyle. Fitness and self-care have now become my second nature and I can't imagine ever not living like this anymore, all thanks to six months of stringent training and transformative pattern-breaking. I'll carry this newly disciplined and fit version of me for the rest of my life.
Shawn Karel T.
Utrecht, NLD
I came in skeptical that a plant-based diet could build muscle at 46. Six months later my LDL is down, my squat is up, and I finally sleep through the night. Thomas doesn't just hand you a plan, he checks the numbers with you every single week.
Marcus D. Whitfield
San Bernardino, CA, USA
The training and the food changed faster than I expected, and the weekly calls kept me honest even on the weeks I didn't want to show up. The only reason this isn't five stars is I wish the program ran longer than six months.
Bram Vissering
Amersfoort, NLD
Twenty pounds down, cortisol back in a normal range according to my own doctor, and I actually look forward to my Tuesday and Thursday sessions now. This is the first plan that fit around my job instead of fighting it.
Gregory A. Holt
Stephensville, VA, USA
Empecé este programa sin saber si podía cambiar mi dieta a los 43 años. Seis meses después bajé 9 kilos, mi colesterol bajó y entreno con más fuerza que en mis treintas. Thomas cumple lo que promete.
Translation: I started this program not knowing if I could change my diet at 43. Six months later I'm down 9 kilos, my cholesterol dropped, and I train stronger than I did in my thirties. Thomas delivers what he promises.
Rodrigo Peña Salcido
Cancún, MEX
How This Actually Works
Every week you see your own food, training, steps and sleep tracked in FitHub, the same data I see. Progress is measured on your blood panel and your logs, not on a testimonial.
Twelve years plant-based, still tracked, still training three times a week, at 44. I'm not asking you to do anything I don't already do myself, every week, right now.
Every client clears the program with their own physician first, especially given the cholesterol and cortisol focus. This is not a program that asks you to skip that step.
What's included, what isn't, and the refund policy are all in the FAQ below, before you pay anything. Built from 178 peer-reviewed sources behind Meals for Life, and seven years running an award-winning restaurant and ranch.
Questions
No. Most clients start fully omnivorous. The plan transitions you gradually, based on where you're starting from.
The training plan is built around your starting point and adjusted on our weekly call. No prior gym experience is required.
The program is designed around a phone, an app and a weekly call. It works from a hotel room as well as it works at home.
Yes. This program is not medical advice, and every client is asked to clear the program with their own physician before starting, especially given the cholesterol and cortisol focus.
No refund once your discovery call is complete and your spot is confirmed. If you have not engaged with the program by the end of week 2, a partial refund is available on request.
5 Spots Per Cohort
No pitch, no pressure. We'll look at where you're starting from, what's realistic in 6 months, and whether this is the right fit before any payment is discussed.
Book your call →This program is not medical advice. Thomas Massink is not a licensed physician or registered dietitian; he holds personal training certifications. Consult your own doctor before beginning any new exercise or diet program, particularly if you have an existing heart, metabolic or endocrine condition. Results vary by individual and are not guaranteed.
