A quick lesson today if you've ever struggled to lose bodyfat.

There’s rarely a week that goes by that an over-40 man or woman doesn’t tell me how they "can't lose weight" in spite of having all the necessary components in place.

But one of the things that I learned, after coaching for 25+ years, is this:

A system isn’t a sum of the parts or the steps.

A system is how those things work together.

Now this is something that the late-night-TV-infomercial fitness "expert" will never tell you because it’s only really learned through real-world experience.

You can follow a shortsighted diet that helps you lose weight, but if that diet is not composed of sensible nutrition habits, that you can follow for decades versus days, you're just going to regain your "lost" weight once you go back to your old habits.

And you can have a workout plan in place; however, if you aren't following the principles of progression and overload, you'll get frustrated when you stop seeing progress.

In other words, you'll stop paying attention to the training plan.

And your stress-management strategies (aka a nightcap before bed) might be "relaxing."

Problem is, booze before bed is not solving the problem of de-frazzling your nerves because it prevents you from entering the deepest stages of sleep.

And when you get poor sleep, you feel even more stressed.

Make sense?

Really, unless your fitness-and-nutrition plan is helping you achieve the desires of your heart, you’re just replacing one quick-fix gimmick with another.

And you'll feel like you’ve been duped again.

If you want your fitness-and-nutrition program to be effective, you have to play the long game.

Every step along your journey must bring you closer to your final destination.

Otherwise you don’t have a system.

You’ve just got a bunch of disconnected tactics.

What's Your Bodyfat?

Bodyweight on the scale, or BMI at he doctor's office, provides an incomplete picture of your health.

Why?

Because you can have optimal bodyfat and still fall into the "obese" category when looking only at height-to-weight ratios.

You see, bodyweight alone is misleading.

Imagine two identical twins, Monique and Unique.

Both are five foot seven inches in height.

And both weigh 150 pounds; however, Monique has 20 percent bodyfat and Unique has 40 percent bodyfat.

So which twin is at a greater risk for diabetes, heart disease, and other obesity-related conditions?

If you guessed Unique, you're right.

So focus on bodyfat instead.

But you must embrace the math if you are not at your goal yet.

How you ask?

Well, you are going to approach fat loss in a very slow and methodical fashion.

Plan to lose 1-2 pounds of fat loss per week until you reach athletic levels of bodyfat.

Notice I'm not talking about body weight or body mass index (BMI).

The American Council on Exercise provides the following ranges for bodyfat.

I suggest you print this out and hang it up somewhere in plain sight.

FEMALES

😄Athletic bodyfat: 16-20%

🙂Acceptable: 21-31%

😢Obesity: 32% plus

MALES

😄Athletic bodyfat: 10-14%

🙂Acceptable: 15-25%

😢Obesity: 26% plus

By the way, everyone reading this falls into one of two categories:

1. You are working to achieve athletic bodyfat (not there quite yet)

2. You are working to maintain athletic bodyfat (working smarter, not harder, to maintain excellence for life)

Getting strong and lean has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence, as most folks who struggle with obesity are highly educated.

Good news is that this mindless mindset is often a temporary phenomenon.

As soon as you decide to take imperfect action, well, that's when you move one step closer to achieving your priority-one goal.

So if you are currently following a best-practice fitness-and-nutrition coaching program, you should expect to see progress every week, with no excuses.

Remember that slow progress is still motion in the right direction.

However if you don't make forward progress, you need to re-evaluate.

So here's my challenge for you.

I want you to re-focus over the next four weeks.

Set a short-term goal that's achievable within four weeks.

In case you are wondering, athletic bodyfat looks like this.

And this...

And this...

It's incredibly rewarding to see so many client-athletes realize their true potential.

Please remember that strength is a side effect of hard training; however, bodyfat is burned in the kitchen.

Let me say that in another way.

You can't out-train poor nutritional habits.

You must be mindful of portion size.

You can't build strength without following the principles of progression and overload in your strength-and-conditioning program (and then getting quality sleep every single night).

My client-athletes have heard me teach the formula for getting strong and lean dozens, if not hundreds, of times.

But I'll continue to share the research-proven approach to your "Ideal Body" for anyone who is coachable.

Okay, that's it for today.

Let's get to work.

To your success,

Coach Joe

Joseph Arangio helps 40+ men and women get leaner, stronger, and happier. He's delivered over 100,000 transformation programs to satisfied clients around the globe. If you want to lose weight from home, with the best online age-management personal trainer, or you want to visit the best longevity personal trainer in the Lehigh Valley, you can take a free 14-day trial.