I wasn't always starting over.
For most of my adult life — through my twenties, thirties, forties, and into my early fifties — I was an athlete. I ran 6 to 8 miles a day. I lifted weights regularly. I kept my body at 201 to 205 pounds for over twenty years.
Health wasn't something I thought about much. It was just who I was.
I had 30 years in sales and marketing, a strong network, and a body that did what I asked it to. I felt invincible in the way that healthy, active people sometimes do — like the rules of aging didn't quite apply to me.
Then my hip started to go.
The arthritis came on gradually, then all at once. The pain became severe enough that I couldn't run. Couldn't lift. Couldn't do the things that had defined me for decades.
I white-knuckled it longer than I should have. In 2018, I had my hip replaced.
In the years of limited movement — before the surgery and in the long recovery after — I gained nearly 100 pounds. The man who had weighed 203 pounds for twenty straight years crossed 300.
"The athlete who prided himself on discipline woke up one day at over 300 lbs. Pain had taken everything — and I had let it."
I'm telling you this not because it's comfortable to say. I'm telling you because it's true — and because it's probably not that different from your story, or the story of someone you love.
Pain changes things. Life changes things. And somewhere along the way, a lot of us stopped treating our bodies like they matter.
I'm 69 now.
I'm rebuilding.
I'm at 275 pounds with a goal of 220. I'm not there yet. I'm in the work — applying the same protocols I'm developing here, tracking what works, and sharing the journey without editing out the hard parts.
Over the past two years, I've been selling Sunlighten infrared saunas — and in that process, I discovered firsthand what daily infrared therapy can do for recovery, inflammation, and well-being. I now use mine every single day. The improvements have been measurable and real.
I track my recovery and sleep data daily with a Whoop band. I've studied the longevity research — the work being done on healthspan, cellular health, strength as we age, metabolic function. And I've started building the system that integrates all of it.
"I'm not a before-and-after success story. I am in the middle of this — building the protocol that will get me there. That honesty is the brand."
Jeff Motter · Founder, Temple ProtocolThe conviction that changed everything.
Through this journey, I've come to believe that the scientific research and my faith are pointing at the same thing:
"Your body is not an accident. It is entrusted to you."
That conviction — that stewardship is the right frame for health — is the foundation of Temple Protocol. Whether you come to it from faith, from philosophy, or simply from the recognition that your body is the vehicle for everything you care about — the response is the same.
This is not a church fitness program. It is a longevity system for people who believe their body deserves the same intentionality they bring to their work, their relationships, and their faith.
This is what I'm building for both of us.
Temple Protocol was built for people like me — and like you — who know they have ground to reclaim and are ready to build a real system to do it.
Not a diet. Not a 30-day challenge. Not motivational content. A protocol — grounded in science, anchored in purpose, built by someone who has lived both sides of this and is still in the work.
If you're 45, 55, 65 — if your body has been through something and you're ready to fight back — you're in the right place.
Let's build this together.