At age 30, he transformed his fitness routine. It helped him launch his dream career in real estate.

For his 30th birthday, Dustin Chaveleh wanted to get in the best shape of his life

Late last year, the San Francisco resident was newly single and looking for a change. He had been spending long hours at a desk, building his career in tech roles at companies like Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs. His real dream job, though, was real estate, so his spare hours went to the extensive coursework for a residential sales license

The hustle left him in a vicious cycle, struggling to stick to a healthy routine. He couldn’t find the energy to hit the gym after work, but the less he went, the more he felt lethargic, unmotivated, and unhappy

“I didn’t want to just sit in a rut,” he told Business Insider. “I had lost sight of the gym, and I felt like I didn’t know where to start.”

In the autumn of 2025, he started working with a remote personal trainer from Enaz Fitness, hoping that by his birthday in late May, he could look and feel like a new man

Within a few months, Chaveleh said he was lifting heavier, feeling more energized, and liking what he saw in the mirror

Then a bigger change began to take shape: the networking connections from his new fitness routine helped Chaveleh kick-start his real estate career. He started to power through his real estate licensing process, buoyed by confidence and fresh contacts

In early June, less than a year after starting his fitness journey, he closed his first real estate deal

“Getting back into shape allowed me to say, ‘Hey, I can change the narrative.’ It’s part of the confidence boost, taking chances and trying stuff out,” he said

The simple changes he made to burn fat and build muscle have become a built-in part of his lifestyle. Here’s how he did it

A flexible diet for better focus and energy

One of the main problems Chaveleh wanted to fix was boosting his energy throughout the day. He wanted to build lean muscle and burn fat, but without feeling miserable from a strict diet

The move: setting a protein goal of eating about 1 gram per pound of body weight, along with a calorie goal

“You can go super restrictive, but that’s not sustainable,” he said. “I enjoy going out, so I didn’t want to cut out alcohol. It was about moderating it and being mindful if I’m going to drink, cutting back early, and focusing on more protein and less carbs.”

Chaveleh also found that being more mindful about eating protein throughout the day helped him stay consistently full, rather than skipping meals and then overeating later. He’s found that his energy and focus have improved, too

Turn expert insights into growth

Try a
Level Up action pack

Health & Wellness

Hydrate for Performance

Build a simple hydration routine to boost energy, focus, and daily performance

Explore BI Games

Take a smarter break in your day – and see how far you get

Play now

“I wake up earlier because diet makes me sleep better, makes me feel better, and I perform better. I can think more clearly, and I have less stress in my mind,” he said

Shorter workouts, better ROI

Chaveleh overhauled his gym sessions too, and said the biggest improvements came from working smarter, not harder, in the gym

Previously, he had been on and off with his workout routine for years. He’d sometimes spend massive amounts of time exercising, two hours a day or more, trying workouts or movements he saw on social media. The complicated workouts were exhausting and hard to maintain, making it difficult to see any progress

With the help of a personal trainer, Chaveleh started a more deliberate routine that included tracking his progress over time. He used a principle called progressive overload, gradually increasing the challenge to keep making gains

“Something they taught me was to go in every time and have the mindset of what you want to achieve, a goal of more volume, fixing technique, or going heavy,” Chaveleh said

Thanks to the more focused approach, Chaveleh cut his workout time in half, between 45 minutes and an hour. And he started seeing gains in both his strength and his physique. All of his major lifts have improved: he can bicep curl nearly twice as much, and added more than 40 pounds to his squat for sets of 12 reps

He also significantly lowered his resting heart rate, a key metric of longevity, from 68 to 58 beats per minute, a more athletic rate

“It’s the consistency and the tracking,” he said. “In the day-to-day, you don’t notice it, but because I had that log, I could see that the workout was working, I could see the work I put into it.”

Building muscle, confidence, and a new career

Chaveleh also learned he was making another common gym mistake: the “bro split.”

The bro split is typically a five-day weightlifting routine where you target different muscle groups each day, such as the shoulders, chest, and back

Chaveleh used to hate leg day, preferring to focus on building his upper body. Sometimes he would skip it altogether, going two weeks without a leg workout

He was missing out on a classic strategy for faster gains: compound exercises. Compound movements, like squats, presses, rows, and deadlifts, work multiple muscle groups at once, making for a more efficient workout

With a new approach, Chaveleh said he learned to love leg exercises because they engaged other muscle groups to torch calories. By switching to full-body sessions for every workout, he burned up to 400 calories in less than an hour using simple movements, which is crucial for getting lean

The downside: Chaveleh had to upgrade his wardrobe to fit his leaner physique

The more efficient workout plan helped Chaveleh free up more time and energy for his social life, too

“I run, I go out, and socialize more because I’m not dreading going to the gym,” he said

And in San Francisco, where fitness is social currency, it started to open up new pathways for networking. He connected with potential clients at parks, on hikes, and at run clubs

“A big part of that is the fitness, meeting like-minded people, ” he said. “It’s a hot topic in San Francisco, and it’s helped bring business.”

At one recent gathering, an acquaintance was so impressed with Chaveleh’s transformation that he insisted on re-introducing himself

His latest goals are all about building: growing his business and bulking up to put on some extra muscle in the coming months

The takeaway

Consistency is key to transforming fitness. If you hate your workouts and diet, you’re not going to stick to them long enough to see results

Start with the basics: a few days a week in the gym, no more than an hour at a time. Pick high-ROI, full-body exercises like squats, presses, and deadlifts. Rinse and repeat

Then, as you start to get comfortable with the routine, keep the intensity up. Add reps or weight so each set feels challenging, but doesn’t leave you crushed by the end

Don’t neglect nutrition. Try tracking what you eat for a few days to get a benchmark. From there, you can adjust so that your protein intake is on point and your calories aren’t over the top, while still enjoying whatever foods work best for you

Finally, lean into the lifestyle: fitness is a great networking tool, and it can translate into better performance in the office and beyond. The same habits that work in the gym (setting attainable goals and scaffolding small steps to reach them) are a great blueprint to build the life you want