How Justin Lost 40 Pounds
Feb 23, 2023
Justin knows what it means to take imperfect action.
He dropped 40 pounds of fat in 13 weeks in our Premium Fitness-and-Nutrition Coaching Program.
No pills or magical potions, just small changes each week.
In fact, he transformed by "acting small."
One of the most popular approaches when it comes to re-building your body is to suggest that someone create many "large changes" all at once.
But while I believe that creating a "large" vision is a good idea, making too many changes is a recipe for disaster.
Instead, on most days, you need to focus on acting small.
How Justin Lost 40 Pounds
Acting small is about staying calm and not getting overwhelmed by the enormity of things.
If you are currently losing zero pounds of bodyfat per week and you "think big," you might say you want to eventually lose one pound each week.
While I’m confident that you can achieve your goals if you're focused on them, you have to get to 1/2 pounds of fat-loss per week first.
Then 3/4 pounds per week.
Make sense?
Ever notice how some unsuccessful folks go from one mediocre workout per month to exercising every single day?
It's a very short-term strategy that will lead to burnout in about 10 days.
Heck, you'd be foolish to consider "training every day" as a long-term strategy.
It makes way more sense to focus on achieving four 45-minute workouts each week instead.
Why?
Smart workouts are the stimulus for change; however, you need recovery days (and especially deep, restorative sleep) for your body to re-build and get better.
Doing four workouts per week is actually a schedule you can keep for decades versus days.
That's why Justin trained on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for 45 minutes each session.
If you only think about the big target, you’ll almost always get overwhelmed.
So follow the same five-step approach Justin used to lose 40 pounds and transform his life:
1. Set your big goal
This is also known as your priority-one goal.
Aim high and develop a vision that inspires you.
Instead, boil one pot at a time.
2. Reverse engineer your goal
Work backward from where you want to be to where you are today.
If you need to lose 50 pounds of bodyfat to get healthy – decide how long it will take.
Let’s say you decide that it will take you 50 weeks.
That’s a loss of 4.3 pounds fat loss per month.
Let’s assume that you have a few-too-many beers and pizza slices once a month and also skip some workouts.
So maybe it actually takes you 18 months to lose 50 pounds.
If you use my basic one-pound-of-bodyfat-loss-per-week method that we teach at Arangio Athletic Fitness, your results are very predictable.
Our system is safe, fun, and effective. So much so that we guarantee your results.
3. Do the work
Technically "the work" is practicing mindful nutrition, training smart, getting a good night's sleep, and managing stress in constructive ways (think exercise).
Really, nobody's going to chew your food for you or lift your weights.
You can't hire someone to get deep sleep for you either.
So embrace the process and do the work.
That will ensure you're taking small steps towards your goal.
4. Stay accountable with your coach
You will course correct along the way.
Investing in an experienced coach ensures you're getting the minimum effective dose of everything.
I can't express how important it is to get strategic feedback from an experienced coach.
5. Rinse and repeat
Once again, you must break your big goals or tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces.
This "bite-sized" approach helps to eliminate procrastination and cut down significantly on stress.
So give "acting small" a try.
I think you’ll like it.
Something else.
My coach shared an interesting article, in Fast Company, about what the future of fitness might look like.
Gyms aren’t coming back. Here’s how you’ll work out in the future.
While the headline is catchy, truth is, it’s dead wrong.
The article mentioned some questionable statistics like 76% of people tried working out at home and 66% preferred it.
It also referenced that 59% don’t plan to return to their gym.
There are a few other statistics suggesting that in-person exercise is going the way of the horse-drawn carriage.
Not surprisingly, there are a host of quotes from executives of businesses that have a vested interest in home workouts winning out over in-person fitness.
Note how all expert input comes from people who are incentivized for gyms to fail.
Quotes come from executives from Zordic Trac, Jeloton, Nirror and more.
Heck, there was even a comparison to health clubs going the way of the arcade.
As a a fitness-and-nutrition coach, who actually coaches clients both online and in person, the article ignores a host of things that seem really obvious to me.
Home workouts without both human connection and accountability have a terrible track record.
How many people have unused treadmills, elliptical trainers, and all sorts of other fitness equipment sitting around, gathering dust?
Go to any yard sale and you can see that self-motivated home workouts aren’t an answer for all.
Obesity is a problem of epidemic proportions.
Loneliness, depression, and suicide are real problems too.
Did you know that Japan appointed a Minister of Loneliness?
People are social beings and simply watching some instructor on a screen doesn’t fill that void for most.
By the way, video coaching for home workouts isn’t new.
In the late 1980s, my mom and sisters had "Buns of Steel" VHS tapes.
Infomercials promising "60-second abs" have been selling millions of programs annually for years.
Great for some, but definitely not a solution for all.
Heck, I was interviewed on Fox Business News over a decade ago about our online personal trainer.
Anyone who has worked in fitness knows that expert coaching beats access to equipment any day.
Most people who join health clubs don’t use their membership with any consistency.
If you want to change your body, you must upgrade your habits and behaviors.
Entire books have been written on the concept of building "small habits."
Coaching and accountability is the game-changing "secret sauce" that all successful over-40 folks have been using for years.
Think about it, you could by a new treadmill every year; however, coaching and accountability is your secret weapon.
But timing is everything.
In the short term, people aren’t going back to gyms at the rate they once did.
But, if you haven’t noticed, people seem to be more comfortable with all sorts of things they weren’t comfortable with in 2020.
I’ve not seen people wearing rubber gloves at the grocery store or heard about people wiping down their mail packages and letting them sit for a week prior to opening.
Over time, the things people feel comfortable doing will evolve.
People want to leave their houses.
What's my point?
Gyms aren’t permanently going away. Restaurants aren’t permanently going away either.
COVID-19 has taught many lessons; however, the fitness industry has changed for the better.
We've always provided our fitness-and-nutrition coaching clients with a hybrid model.
You can choose to achieve your goal in person at our world-class facility or you can get to your goal remotely with 24/7/365 access from anywhere you have an internet connection.
Hybrid will be the path forward for all gyms.
Accountability will matter more.
Coaching will matter more.
Relationships will matter more.
Overall wellness will matter more.
A few more things will be changing and evolving too, like our 14-Day Fat Flush System.
Just know that if you want to win going forward, it won’t be by doing what you were doing in 2019.
Are you ready to finally get in the best shape of your life?
If yes, I can help as long as you're willing to eat the food, get the sleep, and bring the intensity to your workouts.
I'll give you the exact step-by-step blueprint to get to your goal.
To keep you accountable, I'll check in with you every single week.
We'll chat to ensure that you have everything you possibly need to make the most amazing transformation of your life.
If you're over 40 and feeling frustrated going about "weight loss" on your own, apply now to get leaner, strong, and happier.
And let's get to work on your transformation.
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 personal trainer, or you want to visit the best personal trainer in the Lehigh Valley, you can take a free 14-day trial.