Sam's Total Transformation

How this pickleball champion resurrected his health—and his smile— with leptin pioneer Kat James’s Total Transformation program.

According to more than 25,000 studies, when the master hormone leptin is properly functioning, it regulates virtually all systems of the body. Yet the vast majority of people are leptin resistant. Wonder why you’ve barely heard about leptin? Well, no drug can fix leptin resistance, so your doctor may not even mention it. Only the right nutrients can correct this too-common condition.

Just ask 61-year-old pickleball champ Sam Middleton. On the day after Christmas 2020, he began a unique leptin-focused dietary protocol developed by bestselling author Kat James that he read about in this magazine. Although Sam was mainly interested in losing weight, he was in for some major surprises. We sat down with the newly transformed Sam just a few months after he began James’s program.

BN: Did you have any hesitancy before starting Kat’s protocol?

SAM: You always wonder if the success stories are too good to be true. I also wondered if I’d like the food or be able to cook it. But when I met Kat, it was clear she walks her talk. I like that she doesn’t rely on calorie counting and exercise for weight loss. I was exercising all the time and still had weight issues, so I was definitely intrigued when she said there’d be no going hungry and that the food would be simple.