After weeks of exercise and strenuous cross training, Santa has substantially dropped his body fat while boosting lean body mass. As this comic attempts to show, he's now a lean, mean Christmas present delivery machine!

Of course, he doesn't look like Santa anymore. He looks fit and athletic. And his Santa pants don't fit anymore, either. So Mrs. Claus (who continues to play the skeptic in this series) chides him with a remark about needing a new wardrobe.

It's one of the rewards of losing a substantial amount of body fat -- you get to go out and buy some new clothes that accent your figure! Of course, losing substantial body fat (50 or 100 pounds, for example) takes a lot more than just the few weeks illustrated in these Santa Claus cartoons. When I dropped 50 pounds of body fat, I think it required around six months of daily cardio exercise (about an hour a day) combined with very healthy eating, including a huge salad every day. Aim for losing 1-2 pounds of body fat per week. Anything more than that and you're probably on a crash diet that will likely bounce back and kick you in the ass with rapid weight gain.

And now, in order to maintain a healthy body weight, I currently exercise around 7 hours a week, plus another 3-4 hours a week stretching. Even then, I don't dare touch bread or other carbohydrates, or else the body fat comes right back. Staying fit and lean requires steady exercise combined with a very low glycemic diet. Santa achieved it faster than most because, well, he's a magical kind of guy. But for us mere mortals, we have to be prepared to put in the time, effort and sweat to achieve these results.

Don't let anyone fool ya -- there's no such thing as being fit just from taking supplements or pills. Exercise is mandatory for achieving peak health and fitness. And anybody over the age of 30 who looks fit and healthy EARNED IT. (That's not to say that someone who is 29 didn't earn it, but fitness is a whole lot easier in your 20's than your 30's. And of course, it only gets more challenging in your 40's, 50's and beyond. I know a martial arts instructor who's still kicking butt and he's almost 70!)