Approaching fifty, struggling with his mental health and wildly overweight, Skip Boyce knew he had to take drastic action for the sake of his health – and sanity.
But while most middle aged men would join a gym or ask their GP about the possibility of taking a GLP-1 medication or entering therapy, Skip has decided that the best solution for him is to lock himself in a room for an entire year.
And amazingly, his wife and their four grown-up children not only agree, but are fully supportive of his plan – which is useful because they will all remain living under the same roof.
Skip, 49, of St George, Utah, has commandeered the marital bedroom and transformed it into a self-contained living space where he plans to spend the next twelve months focusing solely on self-improvement in all its forms.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘If I walk out of this room with a healthy lifestyle and good habits I’ll be a very happy guy.
‘When I was thinking about this journey, I realised that there are so many things that I haven’t done in my life that I want to do.
‘I don’t want just a physical transformation, because, from what I’ve seen, often you transform back again and that’s not what this is about.’
Skip currently weighs 315lbs (22 stone 7lbs / 142kg) and hopes that his year locked in a room will get him to his goal weight of 205lbs (14 stone 6lbs / 92kg).
Skip Boyce has repurposed the marital bedroom to become his ‘isolation room’ where he will sleep, eat, work out and livestream for the next year
But that’s not the only goal he wants to achieve before January 12 2027.
He also hopes to tick off some other dreams – including learning a language and mastering pull-ups – during his year of self-confinement, and acknowledges that either of these challenges can be done without being locked in a room, being free of the pressures of modern life will give him more opportunity to be successful.
‘People say, “hey, you could do a pull up in just a few months”, and they’re correct,’ he said.
‘When they say, “you can learn a language without isolating, you can improve your memory without isolating”, and they are correct.
‘But I am doing ten things at once, not one. I never have the time to focus on bettering myself.
‘I don’t read much, I haven’t ever kept on learning.
‘That’s why I’m trying to cram so much into this year, to push myself as hard as I possibly can.
‘Then, when I walk out of this room a year from now, I will have accomplished something.’
Skip was inspired to take on the challenge of mental, emotional and physical endurance after finding himself in a ‘funk’ after quitting his 13-year career working in oil fields.
He originally worked a 28 days on 28 days off shift pattern at a site in his home state of Alaska, before working eight months stretches from 2018 until 2021 – and giving it up took its toll.
‘For the last couple of years, I’ve been struggling a little bit with my mental health,’ he said.
‘I stopped my job out on the oil field, which I loved, to come and live full-time at home, and that was a hard move for me.
‘I was respected out there, I loved the job, I loved what I did, and then I’ve just been in this funk for the last couple years.’
So having successfully conducted their marriage over a distance of 3,670 miles for over a decade, it’s unsurprising that Skip and his wife are not concerned by being separated by just a few inches of door.
‘I’m working, but not to my full potential, and she can see that I’m not my usual self,’ he said.
‘Usually I am active and focused, but she could see that I’m just dragging my feet and I’ve been moping.
Skip has a simple set up in his ‘isolation room’, which is being streamed live on YouTube
He also has an area dedicated to exercise, with weights, walking pad and resistance bands
‘I texted her what I wanted to do when she was at work, and originally she laughed it off and said “No way”.
‘But after I explained it to her in person, she was like, “I could see how this would work for you”.’
Skip describes his wife as his ‘rock, she’s my best friend’, but she has also been integral to his decision to livestream his year locked away 24/7 on YouTube, as well as share regular updates and lives on his Instagram channel @theisolationyear.
‘I’ve foregone some personal comforts, but I’m going to make sure that it’s documented really well – I have a $100 bed, but I got $1,500 worth of cameras,’ he said.
‘My wife believes people will be interested and that my challenge could resonate in a lot of ways.’
As Skip worked on his isolation room – which features an en suite bathroom (away from the livestream), bed, desk, designated work out area with walking pad, free weights, resistance bands, and a basic food preparation zone, his wife busied herself turning a spare room into her new bedroom.
But the couple has set some ground rules, agreeing that should either of them begin to struggle with the challenge it will be terminated, ‘no questions asked’.
‘I think that what makes it work with me and my wife, is that we love to be together but we’re also good at just loving each other just the same, even when we’re not,’ he said.
Skip and his wife, who is fully supportive of his endeavours
‘I think it’s important to have daily contact, but it will be short and to the point.
‘Obviously I still own a home, I still have to manage some finances and things like that. So I’ll have to talk to her periodically.’
He will also rely on his wife to bring supplies to his isolation room – groceries he has ordered online – which she will leave near his door before making herself scarce.
‘I’m going to be eating a lot of rice and a lot of lean meat. I have an electric griddle, toaster oven and a rice cooker, and I’ll cook everything myself in here,’ he said.
For structure, and to make sure that he does leave the room in better physical shape than he entered, Skip has called upon the expertise of a local PT who has written him a diet and exercise plan.
He hopes that a 12-month regimen will create more lasting and meaningful change than one he follows for just three or even six months.
Skip made sure to get a clean bill of health from his GP, who checked his heart, lungs, cholesterol and blood pressure ‘to make sure that I have a clean bill of health before I go in.’
And, after the birth of his first grandchild last June, he has new impetus to get – and stay – physically healthy.
Skip currently weighs 22 stone 7lbs and hopes that his year locked in a room will get him to his goal weight of 14 stone 6lbs
‘He’s my biggest motivation because the way that I look at this, I’m trying to make a generational change with my family,’ he explained.
‘I turn 50 in May, and I look at my parents and my side of the family, and they’re just getting older, they’re not staying healthy, they’re just sitting there.
‘They’re getting more and more out of shape – and I’m going down the same path.
‘I can feel myself getting weaker, especially my arms. I’ve always had muscular arms, but now they’re covered in fat.
‘I got scared that I’m going to do the same thing as my parents, and my kids are going to do the same thing as me.
‘And there’s a lot of life to live after the age of 50.’
However, one expert warned the Daily Mail that taking such extreme measures could be detrimental to Skip’s mental health, or simply hard to maintain once he opens the door back to real life.
Sally Baker, Senior therapist and author of The Getting of Resilience from the Inside Out, said: ‘Some of his ideas for promoting better mental health and losing weight can be effective.
‘Given his experience working on oil rigs for months at a time, I don’t think his self-imposed isolation will be unnecessarily burdensome.
‘However, one of the key elements of mental well-being is social connection. It’s been proven that loneliness can shorten one’s life, so living with little human contact is a definite challenge that could impact one’s mental health.
‘People have frequently tried extreme methods to lose weight, from replacing real food with only consuming nutritious meal-replacement drinks to having their jaw wired together for months at a time. These methods do work to a degree. The challenge is maintaining these changes with reintegration into a fuller life.
‘Resilience isn’t built in a locked isolation room; it’s built in the midst of real life, when we’re able to create healthy boundaries and learn to honour them even when the world creates distractions and obstacles. Then anything becomes possible.’
