I interviewed a friend of mine, Dr. Ray Benedetto.

And I must admit, our conversation really was a home run.

Ray is just an incredible person and one that we know everybody loves to have around.

He's encouraging, positive, and an all-around cool guy.

I like to surround myself with positive, like-minded folks, and without a doubt, Ray is a great influence with a powerful message to share.

In his practice, Benedetto Chiropractic Health Center, he and his wife, Dr. Alison Benedetto, specialize in treating patients suffering from autoimmune disorders with hard-to-pronounce names like systemic lupus erythematosus.

My co-pilot and wife, Coach Sharon Arangio, is one of Dr. Ray's patients.

Check out some of the challenges Ray's patients experience.

Maybe you've felt some of these things too?

• Fatigue, tiredness, or sluggishness
• Cold feet and/or hands
• Require excessive amounts of sleep to function
• Gain weight easily
• Have difficult or infrequent bowel movements
• Depression
• Lack of motivation
• Morning headaches that wear off as the day progresses
• Thinning hair or excessive hair loss
• Dryness of the skin and/or scalp
• Mental sluggishness
• Heart palpitations
• Inward trembling
• Increased pulse (even at rest)
• Nervous and emotional
• Insomnia
• Night sweats

Ray is also a client-athlete of mine who felt that it was time to make a change and prioritize his own health.

Watching him perform in our fitness-and-nutrition coaching program is inspiring and his work ethic sets the tone for everyone.

How Ray Lost 20 Pounds

He's leaner and stronger than he's ever been.

More energy too.

We are so fortunate to have him on the team. 

Learn more about Ray below.

1. What have you accomplished in your life that you're most proud of?

Raising three independent, free-thinking, goal-setting and goal-achieving children.

2. If you could take three months off and do whatever you wanted, what would that time look like?

A decent amount of golf. LOL. I'd also like to buy a run-down house and rehab it.

3. Before finding Coach Joe, what was your struggle? What were your biggest frustrations?

Consistency and accountability. Consistency in my workouts, sleep and daily habits. Accountability to someone other than my wife.

Anyone who is married knows that spouses will let each other 'slide' much more so than a coach.

4. How did your struggle and frustrations affect your life?

I was fatigued. My work suffered, I wasn't the best husband or father I could have been. I was being hypocritical asking the best from my children and my patients and not giving it myself.

5. How did Coach Joe help you?

By helping solve the above frustrations and struggles. By asking and challenging me to be a better version of myself that he knew I could be.

6. How is your everyday life different now?

I wake up and go about my day with more energy and clarity than ever before.

My wife comments all the time on the changes she sees in my body and my patients comment about my appearance but more importantly they see the change in my attitude, commitment to helping them and the energy I bring to the office every day.

7. What is one unexpected result you have had since you began working with Coach Joe?

I never expected to get to the body weight and body fat levels that I have reached. And had NO IDEA I would feel this good once I got there.

I'm 41 and have been athletic and 'worked out' my whole life. I can honestly say that I've NEVER been in better health than right now thanks to Coach Joe. Not even close.

8. Moving forward, what are your goals... personal, professional, family?

Maintenance of my health as I age so I am physically and mentally able to enjoy whatever is in store.

9. What's your favorite band?

Counting Crows

10. Best place to travel that you've ever been?

St. Andrew's Scotland. Bucket-list golf trip.

11. What do your kids remind you that’s okay to do?

Ride bikes. Play more kick ball.

12. What has failure taught you about success?

Fail. Forward. Faster. The faster I can fail at something and keep moving forward to eventually succeed, the better.

13. Best piece of advice you've ever received?

Your ACTIONS speak so loudly, I can hardly hear what you are SAYING

14. Words to live by or favorite quote?

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy" ~Martin Luther King Jr.

15. What adventure do you plan to have in the future?

Italy.15th Wedding anniversary.

16. Favorite book and why?

"Think and Grow Rich" And not because it is timeless advice on how to obtain more money. But because it is timeless advice on how to obtain ANY goal.

17. Something interesting we don't know about you?

I played Div. 3 collegiate baseball. Not very well but I love the game...

18. What do you like most about being a part of the Arangio Athletic Fitness Family?

Being lean and strong. For probably the first time in my life. And then keeping it that way!

👏👏👏 Congrats Dr. Benedetto for losing 20 pounds of bodyfat and leading by example.

One more thing.

Over the past couple of years I've come to embrace a unique concept that makes losing bodyfat and boosting strength so much easier.

But when I tell you what it is, there's probably a 10% chance you'll take action.

Are you ready?

Focus on being the best.

Too simple, right?

Well, after delivering over 100,000 workouts over 25+ years, it's become crystal clear that folks who struggle are the ones who try to achieve success by doing everything else but this one thing.

But first, here's the most common things the unsuccessful folks do:

• Unsuccessful folks never take the time to measure meals.
• Unsuccessful folks bounce from one diet shortcut to the next, afflicted with the "shiny object syndrome," never bothering to follow a sensible nutrition plan long enough to see measurable progress.
• Unsuccessful folks start something and don't get immediate results so they move on, never committing to make something work.

What I'm suggesting is that you do a few things extraordinarily well and it will fast-track your progress.

My logic is simple:

No one wants to work harder with nothing to show for it. And nobody wants to invest time and money without measurable results.

So commit to being the best at the things you do.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if you can't master all of the nutrition habits I teach, choose to master just one at a time.

This is actually much easier than it sounds, because each habit builds off of the previous habit.

I teach these habits in the award-winning fitness-and-nutrition coaching program.

(Read to the bottom to learn how you can get instant access to everything you need to lose bodyfat.)

Now you'll see some people that succeed without "counting calories" or "measuring anything" because there are exceptions to every rule.

Perhaps they just "eyeball" their food portions and get within 5% of exactly what they need to maintain healthy bodyfat levels.

And, I bet, at one point in time, these "exceptions" indeed spent the time measuring food and calculating calories.

But, odds are, you're not an exception to the rule.

Perhaps you want to drop that dangerous abdominal fat, which hangs over your pants and belt, and is linked to preventable diseases like diabetes and heart troubles.

To do this you must to know how many calories you need, each week, to hit your goal.

Believe it or not, even if you goal is to maintain athletic levels of bodyfat, you must still practice mindful nutrition.

Because you can't manage what you don't measure.

Make sense?

You don't need to do marathon treadmill cardio sessions like a hamster on a wheel.

That's only something a hamster does, since it doesn't know any better.

Successful folks, like Dr. Ray Benedetto, train their heart and lungs, with short-duration conditioning drills (think 30 seconds of sprinting followed by a 90-second break).

Not all of the time, but most of the time.

I see it all to often, in commercial gyms and health clubs, but mostly during the free FaceTock and InstaTube workouts you see everywhere nowadays.

People doing random exercises, maybe breaking a sweat, but not committing to training with a purpose.

Or maybe they're training with a purpose; however, being completely mindless when it comes to nutrition.

You probably know a dedicated gym goer, never missing a workout, who is still struggling with being overweight or obese.

So if you are frustrated in your current situation, and ready to recommit to getting leaner and stronger, here's what I suggest:

🎯Recommit to your priority-one goal.

Maybe that's losing 30 pounds of bodyfat.

Or 20 or 10 or whatever you need to lose to get to achieve athletic bodyfat (under 20% for women and around 12% for men).

🎯Choose a realistic deadline to accomplish your goal.

Let's say lose 30 pounds of fat in 30 weeks.

You could be extra conservative and forecast losing 30 pounds of fat over 60 weeks.

If you follow a proven blueprint, anyone can lose a half-pound, or even a quarter-pound, of fat per week.

🎯 Train four days a week.

Do resistance training and interval-style conditioning.

Your brain recognizes movement patterns, not individual muscles, so that's the way you should organize your workout sessions.

Train with intent, while following the principles of progression and overload.

🎯Calculate exactly how many calories you need to consume, for the week, based on your goal.

Divide your weekly total by 7 (days in a week), to get your daily total.

Drill down even further to determine what your average meal should look like.

Maybe it's a 3-ounce grilled chicken breast (200 calories and 50 grams of protein) and 4 ounces of sweet potatoes (100 calories and 25 grams of carbohydrates).

In other words, you do some grade-school arithmetic to figure out what a simple 300-calorie meal looks like.

🎯Get eight hours of quality sleep nightly.

If you want to sleep better, make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, relaxing, and at a comfortable temperature.

🎯Surround yourself with folks who have already achieved what you're after.

Ditch the naysayers and surround yourself with a positive-minded team of supporters.

There's no need to waste any more time with the trial-and-error method. 

Hire an experienced coach who has a track record of success. 

And instead of bouncing from shortcut to shortcut, work daily on following a few proven habits of health.

Do simple things better.

You'll be amazed at the result.

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.