Get Your Lean On with Coach Tony

10/16/2026

Did you know that over 50% of all your daily calories in the Standard American Diet (SAD) come from just three sources: sugar, grains and industrialized seed oils

10/15/2026

When we talk about cutting carbs, we need to be clear about which ones we’re talking about. Fiber is a carbohydrate, yet it often gets overlooked in the debate over whether carbs are good or bad. In this article, I explain why fiber deserves more attention and why putting every carbohydrate in the same category misses the bigger picture.

Most people associate fiber with digestion and keeping you regular, but that’s only part of the story. Fiber is actually a type of carbohydrate, but unlike sugars and starches, it isn’t digested and absorbed in the small intestine in the same way. Depending on the type, it moves through the dige...

10/14/2026

THE 3 KEY INGREDIENTS TO CHANGE

After more than 4 decades of coaching people to become the healthiest versions of themselves possible, I’ve learned that there are 3 key ingredients that can make what seems impossible, possible. (PATIENCE, PERSISTENCE, and WILL) When you apply them consistently, with a sound plan and the right support, the possibilities can reach far beyond what you ever could have imagined. You can build a stronger, healthier body, regain confidence in yourself, and carry that momentum into your relationships, your career, and the goals you once thought were out of reach. These three words can help change the trajectory of your life in every aspect.

PATIENCE means understanding that your body doesn’t operate on the deadline you’ve set in your head. Building strength, reducing body fat, improving your health, and replacing years of habits takes time. You may want immediate results, but wanting them faster doesn’t make the process move faster. PATIENCE allows you to recognize progress beyond the scale and give a sound plan a fair chance to work.

PERSISTENCE means continuing to make the choices that move you toward your goals, even when the excitement wears off or life gets in the way. It doesn’t mean being perfect, and it doesn’t mean repeating an approach that isn’t working. It means learning, making adjustments, and returning to the habits that support your health. One difficult day doesn’t erase your progress, but allowing it to become your reason to quit can keep you from discovering what you’re capable of.

WILL is your willingness to take action, especially when that action is uncomfortable. It’s deciding that your health deserves your attention, asking for help when you need it, and following through on the changes you can make. You won’t feel motivated every day, which is why you need habits, structure, and support that help you carry out that decision. WILL gets expressed through what you repeatedly choose to do.

These same ingredients matter in your relationships, your career, your emotional well-being, and the goals you’ve put off for years. They don’t guarantee that everything will go your way, but they help you work through setbacks and keep moving toward a better outcome. Whether you’re working to lose weight, rebuild your health, or change another part of your life, bring PATIENCE to the process, PERSISTENCE to your efforts, and the WILL to take the next step. Your past has shaped where you are, but the choices you make today can help change where you go from here.

10/13/2026

GIVE PROTEIN A PLACE AT EVERY MEAL

When people want to lose weight, they often focus on what to eliminate before considering what their body needs. Make protein the foundation of every meal because it supports muscle maintenance, recovery and fullness, all of which matter when you’re working to improve body composition. Protein sources also differ in their amino acid content and how easily your body digests them. Build your meal around a quality protein source such as eggs, chicken, turkey, beef, pork or seafood, then add vegetables and other foods that fit your needs. You’re feeding a body you want to make leaner and stronger, so give it the right materials to do that.

10/12/2026

STOP THROWING AWAY THE YOLK
For decades, we were told to limit how many eggs we ate each week, and many of us were encouraged to discard the yolks because of their cholesterol and saturated fat content. That blanket advice was ridiculously simplistic, and following it meant throwing away nearly half the egg’s protein along with all of the valuable nutrients contained in the yolk, including choline, vitamins A and D, and iron. Eggs are undoubtedly one of the most amazingly healthy foods on the planet, so before you toss the yolk, understand the nutrition you’re actually throwing away.

10/11/2026

With all the attention surrounding GLP-1 medications, how much do you know about the hormone your body already produces? In this article, I explain what GLP-1 does, why appetite involves far more than willpower, and how nutrition, muscle, movement and sleep fit into the conversation. Understanding that biology gives us more to work with than simply telling people to eat less and try harder.

After finishing my third book, Diets: Think Outside the Box, I started working on what I thought might become my next book, The Appetite Switch. But after the time and energy that went into finishing that third book, I was honestly a little burned out, so eventually I put this one away. Lately, I’...

10/09/2026

Eight glasses a day, half your body weight in ounces or an entire gallon, you’ve probably heard them all. But how much water do you actually need, and where do these recommendations come from? In this article, I explain what the science says, why our fluid needs differ and how to recognize whether you’re getting enough.

Hydration seems like it should be one of the simplest aspects of nutrition, yet somehow, we’ve managed to make it incredibly confusing. Depending on where you get your information, you may have been told to drink eight glasses of water a day, 100 ounces, half your body weight in ounces or even a g...

10/07/2026

As I reflect on my 45 years as a Fitness & Nutrition Coach and Metabolic Health Specialist, I find myself thinking about what this work has taught me about the human mind and the potential within each of us. I’ve watched people accomplish things they once believed were out of reach, and one of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned is how much becomes possible when we work through the obstacles that keep us from moving forward.

So many of us carry a picture in our minds of how we want to look and feel, and what we want our lives to be. But somewhere between that dream and taking action, doubt creeps in. Past disappointments, fear of failing again, and uncertainty about where to begin can leave us feeling stuck. The desire is still there, but after enough setbacks, we can stop trusting ourselves to follow through.

As coaches, it’s our duty to understand how personal those dreams are and to know how to help turn them into reality. That begins with listening, building trust and rapport, and getting to know someone beyond their weight, their food choices, or their exercise habits. It means understanding the thoughts that hold them back, including the ones they may have kept to themselves for years. When someone feels safe enough to share those struggles and realizes they can be honest without being judged, something magical begins to happen. They know they have a coach behind them, someone who sees their potential even when they’re struggling to see it themselves.

I’ve watched people go from feeling defeated to feeling accomplished and confident, and it’s difficult to put into words what it means to witness that change. You hear it in the way they talk about themselves and see it in their willingness to try something they once would’ve avoided. They begin taking pride in their effort and giving themselves credit for progress they might once have dismissed.

Watching someone change the way they look and feel is rewarding, but watching them rediscover belief in themselves touches me on a much deeper level. There’s a moment when they recognize that their effort is paying off, that they’re capable, and that the dream they’ve carried for so long is becoming part of their life. After all these years, those moments still move me, because I know how much doubt they had to work through to get there. To earn someone’s trust, help them find their way forward, and share in their joy when they realize, “I’m really doing this,” is one of the greatest privileges of my work.

10/05/2026

AND HERE WE GO AGAIN!

ANOTHER DRUG TO ADDRESS WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE FIRST ONE?

THIS IS GETTING INSANE…

Turn on your TV or pull up the internet, and it doesn’t take long to find another advertisement, headline, or story promoting weight-loss drugs and GLP-1 medications as though they’re some kind of miracle solution. Where is that same attention to nutrition education, strength training, and the ongoing support people need to make meaningful changes in their health? Where is the investment in helping people understand their bodies and giving them the tools to improve how they eat, move, and live?

I just read an article about an experimental RNA therapy being studied alongside semaglutide to help preserve lean mass while producing greater fat loss. Researchers are investigating another pharmaceutical intervention to address a concern that deserves a serious conversation whenever someone begins losing weight: what kind of weight are they losing, and what are we doing to protect their muscle?

Let’s be clear about what this research actually shows. The treatment was tested in mice, and the combination reportedly reduced lean-mass loss from roughly 10% with semaglutide alone to 5.5%. That’s a reduction in the amount lost, not complete prevention of loss. These findings don’t establish that the treatment is safe, effective, or sustainable in people, and the article acknowledges that significant work remains before it could become a human treatment.

There’s another distinction readers deserve to understand. Lean mass isn’t the same thing as muscle, it includes water, organs, bone, and other tissues. A change in lean mass alone doesn’t tell us exactly how much skeletal muscle was lost or whether strength and physical function were preserved. If we’re discussing muscle protection, those outcomes deserve attention too.

What bothered me most was what the article left out. There was no meaningful discussion of structured resistance training, adequate protein and overall nutrition, or the coaching needed to help people consistently put those things into practice. An entire article about preserving muscle during weight loss, and the intervention getting the spotlight is another experimental drug.

Nutrition and resistance training aren’t fringe ideas in this conversation. A joint advisory from four professional societies specifically identifies appropriate diet and resistance training as priorities for preserving muscle and bone during GLP-1 treatment. Readers deserve to know about those established priorities alongside the experimental therapy, especially when the concern being discussed is the very issue those recommendations address.

This is where we need to stop confusing disease management with a cure. A medication can produce meaningful improvements while someone takes it, but those improvements don’t automatically establish that the underlying condition has been permanently resolved. People deserve to understand what a treatment accomplishes, what its limitations are, and what may happen when it stops. That conversation should be part of informed decision-making from the beginning.

Nutrition and exercise deserve that same honesty. They aren’t a guaranteed cure for every chronic disease, but their value extends far beyond a smaller number on the scale. Strength, physical capacity, food quality, and sustainable habits belong at the center of a serious health plan, and simply telling someone to “eat better and exercise” before moving on to the prescription doesn’t provide the guidance needed to put that advice into practice.

After more than 45 years of coaching, I know that information alone doesn’t create change. People need to understand what to do, why it matters, and how to make it work in their lives. They need a plan that fits their abilities, guidance as they progress, and someone helping them stay consistent. That takes time and effort, and it deserves serious investment.

I’m increasingly disgusted by coverage that gives the next pharmaceutical development so much attention while leaving practical nutrition and exercise interventions out of the conversation. Before we celebrate another drug as the next answer, where is the equally serious commitment to making nutrition education, strength training, and sustained coaching accessible? If improving health is the goal, helping people put those interventions into practice should be a priority, with resources and support to match.

10/03/2026

ARE YOU READY FOR CHANGE?

These pictures started with someone wanting more for themselves and deciding it was time to do something about it. If you’ve been thinking about your own before and after, reach out to me today. Let’s talk about your goals and how I can help YOU achieve them!
THIS COULD BE YOU NEXT...👇