Dustin Chaveleh transformed his fitness with a combination of shorter, simpler workouts, more full-body exercises, and smart dieting.Carolyn Fong for BIFor 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. This is part of Business Insider's new longevity series, The Long-Term Investment, where we profile ambitious people who've mastered smart habits to live long lives.See more:She's 80 with the fitness level of a 60-year-old. Her routine is surprisingly simple. 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 energyOne 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.By hitting those targets about 70% of the time, Chaveleh said he lost fat without depriving himself of dining out with friends.Basic tips, like eating enough protein, can make healthy eating easier.Carolyn Fong for BI"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."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 ROIChaveleh 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.Chaveleh said it's easier to stay consistent in the gym by keeping sessions short.Carolyn Fong for BIWith 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. Do you have a story to share about how you've optimized your fitness or nutrition? Get in touch with Gabby Landsverk. 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
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