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Summary
On episode 37 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with John and Tammy, two of his coaching clients, for a progress check-in on their health and fitness journey.
John shares that his A1C dropped more than two full points in five weeks after cutting sugar, enough to surprise his own doctor, while both John and Tammy report new inches lost off their measurements.
The conversation turns into a lesson on why patience, perseverance, and progression matter more than the number on the scale, and how to protect good food choices when willpower runs thin.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Measurements tell a truer story than the scale. When a muscle is repairing from work like push-ups, it retains extra water as part of that repair, so the scale (or even a chest measurement) can hold steady or rise even while fat loss is real progress.
- Cutting sugar dropped John's A1C dramatically. His doctor was stunned that John's A1C fell 2.1 to 2.2 points in five weeks, calling it more progress than he had seen from any patient, and told John he could be off his medication within three to six months if he kept it up.
- Fat loss slows as you go. The first 10 pounds come off fastest; each subsequent 10 pounds gets slower, and the last 10 can take up to two years, which is why patience, perseverance, and progression have to work together.
- Big goals need to be broken into milestones. A target like moving from 246 pounds to 180, roughly a third of John's body weight, is hard to picture all at once, so smaller, defined steps make the change feel achievable.
- Willpower is a limited resource that runs out. Fatigue and a long string of decisions over the day can wear willpower down, which is exactly when food choices get harder to hold to.
- Planning removes the need for willpower in the moment. Packing a cooler with nuts, fruit, and other known foods before a trip means the hard decision gets made once, in advance, instead of at every gas station.
- A good trainer works toward not being needed. Allan frames his job as teaching clients enough about food, training, and progression that they can eventually run their own program.
- Tammy's chest measurement went up for the same reason as John's. It reflects water retention from muscle repair after push-up work, not fat gain, which is why she and Allan keep the real focus on waist, stomach, and hip measurements.
“The keys are consistently working through this: patience, perseverance, and progression.”
Coach Allan