We’ve Failed Every Diet Too
We’re not doctors in lab coats or fitness influencers with six-packs and meal preps. We’re just two guys who got tired of starting over. We tried it all — starving, training, tracking.
Nothing stuck. So we built something that did. Now, we’re helping other South African men do the same — with real food, real structure, and a community that doesn’t let you quit.
I lost 26kgs, took my life back and helped others do the same…
I spent years carrying weight I couldn’t shake. From the outside, life looked good – business was booming, my family life was good but at the same time something was missing, Inside I felt drained. I’d avoid mirrors, skip photos and brush off comments with a joke while silently wishing I looked and felt better.
I eventually got to a breaking point, a point I had been at many times in my life and I decided I needed to change.
This was a realisation that I had found myself at many times before. What was different this time is that I committed to doing things differently.
Time-and-time again I would get into what felt like the same crash diet with a different name, I was constantly met with: “count your calories”, “gym long and hard”, “don’t eat this and eat more of that” and best believe the “NO ALCOHOL AT ALL” as if you couldn’t enjoy a cold beer with your friends and family and have a healthy body…
Basically just change everything about yourself and your life as fast as possible and hope for the best…
But time-and-time again, no matter how hard I tried I found myself right back where I was just worse off when all the cravings inevitably kicked in again. I remember feeling like a failure. I questioned my discipline and hated myself for not seeing it through.
One night I came across a video that resonated deeply with me that spoke to the role the hormonal balance plays in weight loss and, more importantly, how your body functions on the daily. It was almost a moment of “this is what has been missing in my life” and it resonated so deeply that I dropped everything and started researching.
For the first time, I understood why I thought that my previous diets had let me down.
Off the backdrop of this discovery, I researched A LOT and developed a very simple systematic approach to losing weight, one that actually worked with me and not against me.
And what do you know, I started losing weight. And I didn’t have to change everything about myself to do it. In fact, I was losing weight and I wasn’t even going to the gym which was a first in a very long time.
Nothing was forced, but rather by implementing changes day-by-day I had knock-on effects where contrary to my traditional attempts to dieting where I was feeling worse and worse, I was actually feeling better and better and by sticking to the basics so much more came from it.
I effortlessly stuck to it and my newfound energy, mood and mindset did the rest.
The most surprising part about losing my first 10kgs that stayed off since? It was A LOT easier than any plan I had tried to date.
The results started to show for themselves – I looked better, I had more energy, I woke up excited to cease the day and so, naturally, my friends and family started asking questions which led me to my first “student.”
Vivian, now co-founder of Last Cycle, was a business associate and good friend of mine who was similarly trying to lose weight. After he saw my transformation, he took me up on a conversation where I put my learnings on the table, he followed suite and rebuilt not only his body but his confidence in a matter of months!
And so, little did I know, the idea of Last Cycle was born… An idea that would progress into something that has transformed hundreds of South Africa men’s lives since!
I rebuilt my body and my confidence:
Hey guys, Viv here! I’ve always been the guy people came to for advice, for guidance and for strength. But quietly, behind all of that, I was struggling, I was running my software business and showing up for my family but somewhere along the way, I stopped showing up for myself.
I’d look in the mirror and barely recognise the man staring back.
I tried it all but nothing worked and even where it did it was only temporary.
I’d start strong but then life would hit. Work stress, family commitments, exhaustion and next thing you knew I had fallen off again.
This happened to be the time that I saw Eli’s transformation first-hand and when I reached out to see what he did, I was very surprised to hear him respond with the very simple solution of “you’ve got to balance your hormones.” Nothing about gym, counting calories or completely cutting out your favourite food or drinks. In fact, he said leave all of that for now and start with this.
I was intrigued.
He wrote me up a very simple crash course on everything he learnt and I followed it day-by-day and what did you know? I started losing weight.
And when I started losing weight that’s when things got really easy. I wanted to go to the gym, I wanted to skip that extra can of cold drink, I wanted to keep my body hydrated not because Eli was telling me to do this but rather because I felt darn good and the more I did, the better I felt.
After the first couple of weeks, it all came so naturally that it felt effortless and it’s the simplicity in the approach that I believe helped me keep that weight off where nothing else did.
After undergoing a full transformation myself, I reflected on the journey with Eli and we came to the conclusion that losing weight and leading a healthy life has never been about willpower, discipline, hours of hard work and commitment. It was never about having strict rules that changed your life completely and made you feel guilty every time you strayed from the plan. But rather about knowing how your body works and working with it rather than against it.
It wasn’t us. It was the systems we were following.
And it was off the backdrop of this realisation that Last Cycle was born, something that has snowballed into something so much bigger than us and our stories as it has similarly changed the lives of hundreds of South African men at this point.
And our goal now? To touch the lives of as many South African men as we can.
This Was Never Just About Weight
Dear Hardworking Men,
We know what you’re carrying. You wake up each day, hit the ground running, doing what needs to be done. Providing. Protecting. Performing. You don’t complain. You don’t ask for help. You just push through — day after day — because that’s what men like us do.
But somewhere in that grind, something started slipping. First, it was the energy. Then, the motivation. Then, the sense of control. You used to feel sharp. Capable. Proud. Now… you’re just trying to make it through the day without snapping at your kids or passing out on the couch before 9PM.
You’ve probably blamed yourself a hundred times.
“If I just had more willpower…”
“If I could just get back to the gym…”
“If I wasn’t so weak, so tired, so undisciplined…”
But here’s the truth no one’s told you:
You are not broken. The system is.
You’ve been fed the same recycled advice your whole life:
Eat less. Move more. Punish yourself. Sacrifice everything.
And when it doesn’t work, the world shrugs and says: “You just didn’t want it bad enough.”
That’s bullsh*t.
This isn’t about motivation. This is about metabolism, hormones, stress, psychology — and the silent burnout that comes from being everything for everyone except yourself.
We created the Last Cycle because we’ve lived this.
Eli tried every plan out there and still carried 26kg of extra weight and shame for 20 years.
Vivian buried his fire under years of frustration, watching his health decline while trying to keep a business and family afloat.
We hit our breaking points. And we swore we’d never let another man suffer in silence again.
This isn’t just a program. This is a lifeline. A proven framework that gets real results for real men — men with jobs, kids, stress, responsibility — and zero time to waste.
If you’ve tried everything and nothing’s stuck…
If you’ve lost hope but can’t afford to give up…
If you want to lead your family not just in finances, but in health, strength, and discipline…
Then this is for you.
This is your Last Cycle.
Not because it’s another shot in the dark — but because it’s the first thing that finally makes sense.
We’re not promising abs.
We’re promising transformation.
Physically. Mentally. Emotionally.
So you can look your kids in the eye and say:
“This is who I am. This is who I chose to become.”
We’ll see you inside.
— Eli & Vivian