Eradicating body fat is the American obsession. We spend billions of dollars a year trying to starve it off, medicate it off, melt it off or suck it off. Much of that effort and those dollars are for naught. Some people have come to think of bodyfat control as a lost cause.

I don’t get it. All the hype only obscures the truth. Losing excess fat and keeping it off doesn’t need to be such a complicated process. Although all the advances in nutrition and metabolic research give us an advantage in the battle; controlling body fat is still mostly a matter of common sense. Forget the crazy diets and dangerous diet drugs.

How do bodybuilders and fitness athletes stay lean despite the voluminous calories they consume? Six-time Ms. Olympia Gory Everson, known for her love of Snickers bars, engages in some type of physical activity every day. Ronnie Coleman combines the treadmill and stair-climber. Shapely Melissa Coates does interval training on a treadmill set at a challenging grade.

Physical activity performed daily or at least several times a week is one “secret” to body fat control. Research on dieters finds that those who exercise regularly usually keep the weight off, while those who don’t usually gain it back and sometimes gain more than they lost. So get moving to get losing.

Muscle mass, of course, is the other “secret” to body fat control. Yes, you should include weight training if you want your fat-loss program to be truly successful. Being more metabolically active, muscle burns calories even when you’re not training. That metabolically “inert” bodyfat doesn’t burn many calories, but in excess, it does contribute to undesirable hormonal and other changes that can soften your physique and hasten the development of heart disease and cancer.

All this is why the bodybuilding lifestyle is your best medicine for a hard body and good health.

Food is the other part of the weight-control battle. Again, the commonsense approach of eating low-fat, moderate-protein healthy meals is the way to go. Starvation and fat diets and diet drugs may take off a few pounds fast (mostly water weight, however), but they’re not a permanent solution and they can have dangerous, even fatal complications. Those healthy meals, meanwhile, provides you with lots of whole foods, fruit and vegetables to give you nutrients to keep you glowing with vitality. Now that’s the way to live!