The Last 3 Weeks to Lose Fat and Build Muscle in 2025

Join the 3-Week Strong Finish Challenge and get direct coaching to lose fat and build muscle through Christmas and New Year's while everyone else backslides:
http://live.witsandweights.com/

--

You have 3 weeks left in 2025. Are you going to waste them "surviving" or actually make progress, lose fat, and build muscle?

Most people treat the final 3 weeks of the year like a throwaway, needlessly gaining weight, losing strength, and restarting in January. 

But if you've been working hard all year and still don't look like you lift, you don't want to waste this crucial moment.

Discover why these final three weeks are actually your BIGGEST opportunity of the year to make real progress on body recomposition while everyone else has already quit.

Challenge Details:

• Kickoff Call: Monday, December 8th at 5pm ET (setup and strategy) - replay available if you can't make it live (but you must register)
• Challenge Dates: Wednesday, December 10th - Tuesday, December 30th

What You Get:

• Direct access to 2 coaches (Philip and Carol) for personalized support
• Personalized nutrition setup to lose fat and build muscle (macros, protein, meal strategies)
• Complete strength training programs for any situation (home, travel, bodyweight)
• Resource library for every holiday scenario (restaurants, family meals, travel)
• Weekly accountability and coaching feedback on your progress

👉 Register HERE for the Strong Finish Challenge

Support the show

📱 Get Fitness Lab - Philip’s science-based AI app for fat loss, muscle building, and strength training for people over 40. It adapts to your nutrition, recovery, and training to improve body composition without guesswork.

🎓 Try Physique University - Evidence-based nutrition coaching and strength training to help you lose fat, build muscle, and master your metabolism with support and accountability (free custom nutrition plan with code FREEPLAN).

👥 Join our Facebook community - Free fat loss, muscle building, and body recomposition strategies for adults over 40 who want practical, science-backed fitness guidance.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Episode Transcript

Philip Pape (00:00):
Wits and weights family, this is a bonus episode
because we all have only threeweeks left in 2025.
That's three weeks beforeeveryone hits reset, starts over
in January, quote unquote, NewYear's resolutions, all of that.
And I wanted to ask yousomething person to person here
on this show.
Are you going to spend thosethree weeks surviving the

(00:22):
holidays and watching your bodycomposition potentially slip
backward?
Or are you going to actually dothe things you want to do, lose
fat, build muscle, maintainyour results while everyone else
is losing it?
Because what I usually noticeis that most people treat these
final three weeks like a holdingpattern at best, but a

(00:44):
throwaway at worst, like itdoesn't count.
And if you have already beenworking at this, listening to
the podcast, training, eatingthe way you're trying to eat, at
least, at least attempting todo those things, and you still
haven't gotten there, you don'tquite look like you lift, or
your body doesn't yet reflectthe work that you're putting in,
why would you continue to stayon that path for another three

(01:05):
weeks just because it's the endof the year?
In fact, I would argue that theend of the year is a great time
to put this to the test becausethe rest of the year should
actually be easier.
So maybe you have been trainingconsistently, and maybe you've
tried to be, you know, buildingmuscle, whether you're in a
surplus for a gaining phase oryou've been in a fat loss phase,
and in your mind, you know,we're past Thanksgiving here in

(01:27):
the US, you know, we're pastHalloween, past Thanksgiving,
the holidays are coming, and youyour mind just shifts into more
of a damage control mode.
And you tell yourself somethinglike, I'm just gonna try not to
gain too much weight, or I'mgonna get back on track in
January or on the wagon.
That sounds familiar, or thisyear doesn't count anymore,
anyway, if it wasn't a greatyear for you, which is perfectly
okay.
We're we're all human, it'sokay.

(01:48):
If you didn't get what youwanted this year.
And then you spend three weeksgaining fat, losing strength,
you know, falling off with allof your habits that you spent
time building.
And by January, it's not afresh start.
It's more of a, I'm startingbehind and it's this vicious
cycle.
I mean, I think we're allfamiliar with this because I
used to be that way.
By this time of the year, itwas like, well, just throw up

(02:09):
the hands and let the alcoholflow, let the food flow, do the
parties, do all that, and don'teven worry about it.
It's just three weeks.
But it's it's three wastedweeks where you could have been
setting things up for success orat least holding on to what you
have.
And why do that?
Right.
So I want to reframe.
I'm a big fan of reframing.
It's a psycho, it's apsychology trick, but it's
actually a technique that works.

(02:30):
The next three weeks, ratherthan thinking of them as like
this danger zone, they're a hugeopportunity.
This is a big opportunity, thebiggest opportunity of the
entire year for your health andfitness.
The reason this is, is becauseeveryone else has already quit.
They've already decided they'regoing to gain weight and

(02:51):
they're going to restart inJanuary, which means there is
zero pressure on you, zerocomparison to other people.
Nobody's watching anyway.
Nobody expects anything fromyou.
You're your own worst critic,and you also have are the only
person that's going to holdyourself up to your standards.
So, what does that look like?
Well, you can just quietlystart doing the things, you

(03:14):
know, and and and whether thatresults in some fat loss and
strength is almost beside thepoint because doing the things
and putting the process in placeand showing up before when
everyone else is doing it isgonna give you that head start
mentally, if nothing else, butprobably also physically.
You're probably gonna drop alittle bit of fat and build a
little strength, build a littlemuscle, you know, without having

(03:36):
to do a big fat loss phase orbig muscle building phase, any
of that, just focusing on theboring basics.
I'm sorry to say they areboring basics, but it's gonna
give you a massive advantageversus the survival mode or the
backsliding that many people do.
So I wanted to put somethingtogether that helps us to do
this as a community.

(03:56):
How do we do this?
Well, Coach Carol, you guysmight know Carol, she's in
Physique University with me.
She's also in the Facebookgroup.
She and I are running achallenge.
It's the three-week strongfinish challenge.
It's not a big fat losschallenge where you're just
trying to lose X number ofpounds and put all this pressure
on yourself at the end of theyear.
Of course not.
It is more nuanced, but alsoway more powerful because if

(04:18):
you're serious about bodyrecomposition and the things
that are required to get there,if you're tired of, you know,
not looking like you lift,despite the hard work, these
three weeks are your biggestopportunity to make the year
count.
And you're gonna feel greatthen going into the new year,
because then you can step it upto a bigger level for you.
All right, so here's exactlywhat this is in the timeline,

(04:40):
just to give you details on thechallenge.
If you're listening to thiswhen the episode comes out on
Sunday, it kicks off tomorrow,Monday, December 8th at 5 p.m.
Eastern.
That's a call.
We're gonna record it.
A lot of people can't make itbecause of schedules or you're
in can't in the other side ofthe planet or whatever.
We're gonna record it so youget the replay.
But if you can make it, Monday,December 8th, 5 p.m.

(05:00):
Eastern, Carol and I are gonnawalk you through how to set up
your nutrition and training tolose fat, build muscle through
Christmas and New Year's, andgive you all the resources
behind the scene to make thathappen.
And then the challenge actuallystarts Wednesday.
So you've got about a day and ahalf before it starts, which is
enough time if you're hearingthis on Monday or even Tuesday
or even the morning of Wednesdayto still join us in and take

(05:22):
advantage of the challenge,which runs through the end of
the year.
Now, this isn't a course, ado-it-yourself course.
This is not information.
This is direct coaching supportso that you can implement
everything when the conditionsare the hardest.
So, all the stuff you hear onthis podcast, we're gonna
package it down and help youimplement it with
accountability.

So here's what you get (05:40):
you get direct access to two coaches.
Carol's gonna be very everpresent on a daily basis in the
community.
I'm also gonna be there and youpost questions, situations, you
tell us, hey, I'm at a familydinner, don't know what to eat,
what do I do?
You're gonna get real answers.
That's very important for thistime of year.
The second is you're gonna geta personalized nutrition setup

(06:02):
so you know exactly what to eatto lose fat while building
muscle.
You know, you'll get guidanceon macros, protein, strategies.
You're gonna get a whole bunchof guides on holiday meals and
restaurants, and we can give youfeedback on those things.
You're gonna get our completeset of strength training
programs designed to buildmuscle and lose fat, including
brand new ones that just cameout that we developed for going

(06:22):
to the gym, or what am I tryingto say, traveling with hotel
equipment, or if you're stuckwith body weight only or limited
equipment, so that you don'tskip your workouts, even if
they're the bare minimum.
You're gonna get everyframework video course we use in
physique university for all thethings, and but we're gonna
point you to what's mostimportant during the challenge
for things like restaurants,travel, family meals, all of

(06:43):
that.
You get all of that.
And I think most importantly isyou get daily and weekly
accountability and feedbackwhere we are actively reviewing
how things are going, yourbiofeedback, your training, all
the things that you need helpwith that are your immediate
constraints.
The goal here is makingprogress, whatever progress
means to you, but making it sothat after these three weeks,

(07:04):
you keep that momentum goinginto the new year.
It's not a free challenge.
We cannot give you this muchvalue for free.
It's 27 bucks, though.
That's pretty darn cheap.
Maybe it's a Christmas gift toyourself.
And that's three weeks ofcoaching to lose fat, build
muscle, make progress whileeveryone else is backsliding for
the end of the year.
Registration is open now.

(07:25):
Go to live.witsandweig.com.
We would love to see you thereon the kickoff call Monday,
December 8th, 5 p.m.
Eastern.
But if you can't, there will bea replay available shortly
thereafter that you can downloadand you're gonna get access to
the guide, which has everythingpackaged together in one
resource so you can besuccessful.
So if you're tired of anotheryear ending with regret, if

(07:46):
you're tired of not looking likeyou live despite all your hard
work, if you want to actuallymake these final three weeks
count instead of wasting them,go to live.witsandweights.com.
We'd love to see you there.
We'd love to help you out.
It's gonna be a lot ofcamaraderie and support.
Whether you appreciate puttingyour head down and just kind of
focusing, you know, if you're aloner like me, a lone wolf, or

(08:06):
you love the community and thesharing, either way it works,
and you're gonna get the help tofinish the year stronger and
leaner and more healthy thaneveryone who's already quit.
Let's do this.
Go to live.witsandweights.com.
I'll see you there.