02/03/2026
"𝐃𝐨 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?"
The short answer? No.
Fat loss comes down to calories in vs. calories out.
If you reduce your calories enough or increase how much you move each day, you'll lose weight. It’s not always easy to do, but that's the math of it.
But here's the secret most trainers and coaches won't tell you:
The most overlooked strategy for keeping weight off is muscle.
Not bodybuilder muscle. That's incredibly hard to build, even for pros.
𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟.
Here's what I mean.
19 years ago, I started coaching my wife Lauren.
Several of her church friends were running and doing cardio constantly and eating as little as possible. You know how dieting goes, right?
The scale was dropping fast for them—8,10, sometimes 15 pounds in just a few weeks.
Lauren was lifting weights three times a week and eating quite a bit more food than any of them.
I had her doing things that would build muscle while she lost fat.
She was still a bit focused on the scale.
Six weeks in, we did her first check-in.
Her clothes fit better. She could tell something was changing. She was pretty excited.
𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞…
She'd lost only about 6 lbs while her friends were losing as much as 15.
She cried.
She asked me if maybe she should just run and eat less like everyone else.
I told her to trust the process. Her friends would plateau soon if they kept doing what they were doing and she would, too, if she did their way.
She agreed that she didn’t want that, but I could tell she was a bit skeptical, but she agreed to trust the process.
Six more weeks went by.
A few friends hit the 25 pound mark and they were pretty stoked.
Lauren was hopeful she’d have some great results this week. She stepped on the scale.
She lost more, but nothing like she had hoped.
She cried again.
“I worked so hard.”, she told me through tears. “I really felt like my clothes were fitting way better.”
I told her that we were only partway through her results and that the scale doesn’t tell the whole story.
Then we took her body fat measurement and I showed her the photos side by side.
She cried for the third time.
I was prepared to console her, but then I could see these were different tears.
𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠.
Her waist was smaller. Her arms had shape. Her legs were strong and lean.
She looked fit. She was now in a healthy body fat range and I could see the confidence growing.
“𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞! 𝐌𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧!”, she shouted. She was elated.
After week 12, Lauren kept making progress.
Stronger. Leaner. Eating more food than she ever had while losing fat on her hips, thighs and belly.
Her friends were complaining to each other that they plateaued and felt like smaller versions of their old bodies. Still uncomfortable. Still unhappy.
Some started gaining weight back.
And, then they started asking her what she was doing differently.
That's when it hit her.
Their way was faster at first. But it didn't lead where she actually wanted to go.
She wanted to be fit and stay fit for life.
𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫.
And 19 years later, she’s still going and still healthy and fit.
Here's why working out like she did changed everything:
When you build muscle, your metabolism stays high—not just during workouts, but all day.
Sitting at your desk. Watching TV. Sleeping.
Your body burns more calories doing nothing.
So you get to eat more food and still lose fat.
You look lean and defined instead of just smaller.
You even slow aging.
And when life gets crazy, the muscle protects you. It keeps your metabolism from crashing so you don't regain everything the second you stop being perfect.
That's the difference.
Weight-loss chasers drop pounds fast, plateau, and gain it back.
Longterm results chasers transform their mindset, habits and bodies and keep the results.
This is a bit part of what we teach in JoyfullyFit 365.
𝐖𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞.
We build muscle, restore metabolism and learn to steward our bodies so we get a permanent transformation instead of another temporary makeover.
If you're tired of losing weight only to regain it, check out our JoyfullyFit method in the comments below.
