This success story proves that weight loss after 70 is possible. Meet Bill Hilton, a 76-year-old who dropped 32 pounds in just 12 weeks and showed that age is no barrier to transformation.
Bill’s story highlights how consistent effort, smart nutrition, and a positive mindset can lead to remarkable results at any age. His journey with the Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program began more than a decade ago, when he overcame a knee injury and gradually rebuilt his strength and fitness.
In the summer of 2025, Bill not only transformed his body, he also won first place in the Burn the Fat Challenge at age 76. His story is about more than just weight loss; it’s about overcoming health challenges, battling adversity, and proving what’s possible with persistence.
Below, Bill shares candid insights into his struggles, victories, and ongoing commitment to health. His transformation is living proof that setbacks can become stepping stones, and that even after 70, incredible change is within reach.
— Tom Venuto
Summer Challenge Victory: 32 Pounds Lost at Age 76
My name is Bill Hilton and I’m 76. I first heard about Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle (BFFM) program about a decade and a half ago!
I had injured my knee 10 years before that and was never able to run afterwards. After I stopped running, I got out of shape, then someone gave me a copy of Tom’s The Body Fat Solution book and said, “you should read this.” It resonated with me, and I still have a copy on my bookshelf.
From there, I heard about Tom’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle book, and then the Burn the Fat body transformation challenge.
In the summer of 2025, I completed the 12 week Burn the Fat Challenge and really surprised myself by losing twice as much weight as I expected. Here are the numbers:
Body weight before: 207.6 pounds
Body weight after 175.2 pounds
Total weight loss: 32.4 pounds
With these results, I was voted in first place in the men’s weight loss / fat loss division.
I was originally aiming for only 15 pounds of weight loss and was happily surprised to drop twice as much as I expected.
What was also surprising was not just the amount of weight loss, but that I lost twice as much weight in the 2025 challenge as I did during the 2024 challenge, even though I was physically unable to do as much cardio.
I’ll explain how I think this happened below.
Millions of Steps: Fitness Challenges and Hiking at 70+
Years ago a fitness buff friend of mine bought a Fitbit and was annoyingly obsessive about tracking her daily 10,000 steps target. I say “annoyingly,” but then I started wondering how many steps I was doing. When she upgraded her fitness tracker, she gave me her old Fitbit and I saw I was doing a lot of steps. (I’ve been an avid hiker with some decent endurance.)
I was subscribed to Tom’s emails and I saw the announcement of his Burn the Fat Million Step Challenge, and signed up on the spot. I did almost four million steps and finished third. I was hooked!
After doing that many steps, I had visions of hiking the Grand Canyon again, so I signed up for the Mount Everest challenge, which runs along with Tom’s Million step challenge. I was 72 at the time, and I won first place. During that challenge I made it down and back up the Grand Canyon’s famous Kaibab Trail.
Body Transformation Challenge: From Setback to Success
I knew about the Burn the Fat body transformation challenges, but I didn’t want to enter at first because I was overweight. I just did the stepping and climbing challenge instead.
But then in the summer of 2024 I entered, posted my before and after photos, and ended up winning third place!
After a cancer scare and injury, I gained the weight back, but I didn’t give up. That’s when I made the comeback in the summer of 2025 and to my astonishment, I won first place at age 76.
How I Lost 32 Pounds With Less Cardio
My weight lifting programs were similar in both challenges. The two reasons I think I lost so much weight this year were:
1. Eating primarily Tom’s Lean Green Marine diet from his newest ebook, Extreme Fat Loss.
2. Accurately measuring my resting metabolic rate (RMR) and lowering my target calorie intake accordingly. (Calories matter, but if you don’t calculate and adjust them properly you won’t get very far.)
I also participated in the 2024 summer challenge and did well. I lost 15 pounds and looked more muscular. From August to December I maintained a healthy weight as I lifted and worked hard on HIIT training, building up to doing eight 4 x 3-minute HIIT cycles in a 55 minute indoor cycling class.
My goal was to participate in the 2025 New Year’s Challenge, emphasizing cardio and trying to increase my VO2max. But I got “greedy” and tried doing two HIIT sessions per week in December just prior to the New Year Challenge start. I sprained my knee so badly I couldn’t straighten the leg for several weeks. I had to skip the VO2 testing I had planned and also the 2025 New Year Challenge.
When I started lifting again I promptly got a stress fracture in my left foot doing barbell squats. The lesson is clear: Listen to your body, especially when you get older. Stimulate, don’t annihilate.
But having to lay off training was only half of the consequences. The other was that I was feeling down about my injuries, so then my binge eating kicked in and I over ate. On some days I consumed up to 3,000 calories of junk food on top of my normal diet.
It was not a minor slip up. I gained back 36 pounds in the nine months between the end of the 2024 summer challenge and the start of the 2025 summer challenge. I’m not proud of that, but it was a lesson learned and I did bounce back in the 2025 summer challenge.
Nutrition for Weight Loss After 70: The Lean Green Marine Diet
I came across the Lean, Green and Marine diet in Tom’s Extreme Fat Loss ebook.
In response to the question “If you absolutely had to lose fat, do it as fast as possible and get all the way to ripped condition, without losing muscle, and without harming your health, what diet would be most effective?” Lean, Green And Marine was the diet Tom suggested.
The idea is basically cut out most of the starchy carbs, and focus on eating lean protein (lean) plus lots of veggies (green), and be sure to include healthy fats like salmon (marine). There’s more to it than that, but this is the gist of it.
I loved this diet, eating mostly salmon or shrimp and other lean proteins plus tons of veggies, but skipping the rice or potatoes and so on. It’s a somewhat strict diet, as Tom warned, but this really worked for me.
At first I could follow it every day for several weeks, losing 2 pounds of fat per week eating only around 1,500 calories per day. I never felt hungry on this diet, but when I ran too low on energy I added some rice 2 or 3 days per week. The starchy carbs weren’t completely restricted, just reduced or saved for carb cycling.
So as I mentioned, I believe this diet was the second key in being able to lose so much fat in only 12 weeks. (Along with the accurate calorie calculations.)
Strength and Weight Training at Age 76
I use splits based on Tom’s Three Day Classic Muscle program. I did the same number of workouts as last summer, four per week, so I don’t think the weight training was a major factor in the big weight loss – I think the weight loss was due to eating less than last time.
Even after months of recovery, I had to make an adjustment in the summer 2025 challenge due to the foot and knee injuries. Near the end I actually dropped leg day temporarily. So for a while it was two days chest/back/abs and two days of arms/shoulders weekly for a total of 4 sessions per week.
Cardio for Weight Loss After 70: Lessons Learned
My knee was so sore the first week I couldn’t do even 20 minutes of medium intensity walking on an inclined treadmill. I worked up to 6 hours per week and averaged 3 hours a week for the duration of the challenge. This was still 10 fewer hours total than I did in 2024.
Same thing with high intensity cardio – I did 8 hours less in 2025 than in 2024.
What’s Next in Bill’s Transformation Journey
I feel that I have to get control over my binge eating and yo-yo dieting and finally break the lose then re-gain cycle. I know I am still a work in progress.
During the fall break between challenges, my plan is to concentrate on understanding the binge eating triggers and working on strategies and skills to fight it off. I already understand that one trigger is when adversity hits.
I also want to work on my plan to make sure I don’t lose any lean body mass along with the fat loss. And hopefully my next transformation challenge will be in the Muscle and Physique division!
~Bill
Note from Tom: Bill mentioned following the Lean Green Marine plan from my newest program. That’s one of the strategies I explain in a chapter of my brand-new ebook, Extreme Fat Loss (released in 2025). If you’d like to learn more about that approach, you can find the details here: Extreme Fat Loss.
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