Success is sweet but comes only with a commitment to change and hard work!

Yo Max,

I’ve tried every diet that was ever invented – including Atkins, Nutri-System, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Slim Fast, and diet pills. I’m turning 40 in a month and weigh more now than I ever have in my life. I’m 5’4” and was horrified to have my doctor tell me I might want to consider gastric by-pass surgery because I’m now over 300 lbs. She said my health risks are now greater than the risks of surgery! Do you think I should do it? Do you know people who have had the surgery and been successful?

Helpless, Norristown

Yo Helpless,

As you’ve had to learn through painful trial and error, the problem with diets is that they don’t work long term - so people just jump from one to the next only to wind up right back where they started.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that in twenty years of working to help people lose weight I’ve never know one who was successful with dieting alone. Not one. The whole concept is flawed and set up to fail. Unless you change your lifestyle you wont change your body.

I’ve written about this topic many times and often get my readers upset when I share my ‘tough love’ perspective, but I can only tell you what I’ve seen work and what I know will fail based on experience.

Let me share with you the true story of two people who work out at my gym and who, also, have struggled for most of their lives to lose weight and keep it off.

Many people do little more than putter around at the gym – 15-20 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical trainer, lightweights for another 10 minutes, and then maybe stretch for 5 more. Pat was different. Every time I saw him he’d be working hard and sweating – a lot. And, most importantly, he was at the gym every day. He was obviously inspired but also losing weight - rapidly. I asked him how he maintained such commitment and drive and he was nice enough to share his story.

Pat has always been overweight and, like you, tried many diets. He’s lost and gained weight more times than he can remember. In his late teens he got into drugs and alcohol, soon found him self in the grips of a full blown addiction, and wound up being arrested for retail theft. After three months in jail, he was transferred to a court ordered rehabilitation center where he managed to stay clean but ballooned to a record high 327 lbs. He was winning his battle with drugs but losing to another addiction – food and over eating.

In rehab, Pat learned about the ‘twelve steps’ of recovery, as outlined in Alcoholics Anonymous, and became familiar with a common phrase,  ‘sick and tired of being sick and tired’“That’s how it was for me”, Pat explained, “I’d been fed up so many times before but something finally clicked and I knew I’d had enough. I’d been clean for 5 or 6 months but was still disgusted with myself. I hit my AA meetings every day and also started hitting the gym”.

He began with an hour a day – 30 minutes of cardio and 30 of strength training. Then, he radically changed his diet by cutting out all refined sugar, cheese, bread and meat. He ate lean proteins, (Eggs, Chicken, and fish) lots of fresh vegetables, nuts, a small amount of whole fruit, and drank at least one gallon of water per day. 

“In four months I lost 60 lbs. But I also noticed that I was feeling much better and had way more energy”.

These powerful results motivated Pat to step up his efforts. He continued with his strict diet but increased his workouts to two and then three hours per day. In a year he’d lost a staggering 107 lbs. At his current weight of 220, he looks fit, trim, and says he feels like a completely different person.

Pat and Tony, at The Conshohocken Health and Fitness Club. Between them they’ve lost 180lbs. and counting.

“It’s hard to believe I was ever that big and that unhealthy. I’m 28 years old and I bet I would have been dead by 40 if I hadn’t changed my life. This is my life now. I go to work, stay clean and sober, hit the gym, and eat healthy. That’s what I’m about. It might sound boring or too hard but I’ve never been healthier or happier and I’m never going back to the old me”.

Tony is the owner of The Conshohocken Health and Fitness Club, a good friend, and also my client. Some twenty years ago, he was also an elite marathoner. In 1991 he ran a 2:40 personal best in NY and weighed 138 lbs. This past June 2010, he got on the scale and it read, 292. Just like Pat, Tony says, “Something clicked inside me and I knew it was time to get myself back in shape. I’d had enough of feeling lousy and being fat. I was ready to change. I knew it was gonna be a long, hard road but the decision was just that simple”. He was ‘sick and tired of being sick and tired’.

On average, Tony ran six miles per day seven days per week (with an occasional day off if he was too sore) and now, just three months later weighs in at 218 - having lost 74 lbs.! His nutritional changes were not as drastic as Franks. Tony simply stopped skipping meals and eating large dinners.

So, what does all this mean? What is my point? Well, I’m not suggesting you follow such intense routines as just described. What is best for you depends entirely on your physical abilities, what you’re cleared for medically (consult your doctor), schedule, determination, etc. But I am suggesting that before considering major surgery you try the following.

1. Commit to a complete lifestyle change. An absolute must!
2. Join a gym.
3. Invest in a personal fitness trainer and get yourself set up with a cardiovascular and strength training routine.
4. If your trainer is not qualified to give you professional nutritional guidance, hire a nutritional coach. Check out Jennifer Fugo at www.EvolvingWell.com She’s outstanding, and will help clean out your cupboards, food shop appropriately, provide general nutritional education, and even teach you to cook light, healthy meals in a jiffy.

It’s not easy. In fact, it may turn out to be the toughest thing you’ve ever done. But considering your options – what have you got to lose besides an appointment with the surgeon and a lot of weight?

Please visit, www.YoMaxFitness.com, ‘Your How To Exercise Video and Fitness Information Source’, and email your fitness/health/nutrition question from the ‘Ask Max’ page.

Combining Daily Exercise With Diet Gives Far Better Results For Lasting Weight Control...

This weeks question comes all the way from Kazakhstan, via the blog, www.YoMaxFitness.com.

Yo Max,

When you turned 40, did you find your metabolism slowing at all?  Was there a certain point when you began to gain weight and realized the need for different kinds of food? I find as I approach 40, I need to work out two times a day just to keep the weight gain in check.  I see the proverbial paunch developing on my friends and wonder how to avoid this, seeming, inevitability… Help!

John, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Yo John

For most American men the ‘proverbial paunch’, as you put it, actually starts to develop at about thirty years old. Typically, beginning around that time, a guy will gain about 2 pounds per year and at forty find himself 20 pounds overweight - and it’s all ‘front loaded’ in the form of a big, round belly. Many will continue at this pace, and in another ten years have a gut big enough to rest their beer on and make simple tasks like lacing up sneakers or picking their kids toy off the floor seem challenging.

Why does this happen? Simple really. They’re eating too much and exercising too little.

When you were a kid and you had to get somewhere, what was your mode of transportation? You walked, ran, or road your bike, right? In fact, you probably ran around for a lot of the day – at school, in gym and at recess, to and from bus stops, up and down the stairs, 30 or 40 times, and although you might have also ate a ton of high calorie, junk food, you were active enough that you could afford such an excessive eating pattern because you were in ‘caloric balance’ – meaning you burned about the same amount of calories as you consumed.

Then we start to grow up - the bike turns into a car, recess gets replaced by a power lunch, and you get smart enough to slow down and think before heading up and down staircases, cutting your trips in half.

But, are you eating less to compensate for your new, less active, or even sedentary lifestyle? Not likely - in fact, probably more because eating is a big deal for us grownups. We love to cook, we love the social gathering of big meals, to try new things, eat at restaurants, combine our newfound culinary delights with alcohol, and we LOVE TO EAT! Kids like it too, sure, but they don’t typically take the time to make it a long, drawn out, and complex project – they jam something into their mouths and go, go, go…

It is entirely possible to lose weight, (body fat) with diet alone, but the problem with this approach is two fold. First, by not combining your restricted calorie consumption with exercise you’ll be losing fat AND muscle. This presents a big problem because maintaining or even increasing your ‘lean mass’ is critical to long-term success and is exactly why diet tragedies alone fail, statistically, a staggering 90% of the time. They work at first, but eventually people gain all the weight back and more because they did not understand this critical principal. Muscle is very active tissue and helps to keep your metabolism fired up, thus burning more calories both during the day and even while sleeping. So, the goal is to lose fat, not muscle, and to do this you must exercise, ideally, with the use of strength training. Second, you can’t always eat properly. By having daily exercise as part of your routine you’ll have a second system in place to offset the occasional slip up.

I must add that strength training has many other advantages, including increased bone density, greater tensile strength of tendons and ligaments, greater range of motion and function of your joints, reduced low-back pain, and on and on.

My work is very physical but to stay lean and fit I still find it necessary to train upwards of two hours per day - six days a week. That’s right – 12 hours of moderate to high intensity exercise every week and in the warmer seasons I add cycling and it’s more like 20. Now, you might not have the time for that but I can assure you if you’re willing to dedicate serious time and effort to daily training and commit to eating a healthy diet, you can maintain that 20-year-old physique all the way to the grave. And that grave might just come around several years later because you kept the weight off and thus reduced your risk, significantly, of disease.  

Everyone is different and I would have to know more about your lifestyle to give sound and responsible advice, but if your work involves a lot of sitting you’re going to have to find time to do at least 60 minutes of high intensity exercise, five days per week, (assuming you’re a reasonably fit and healthy person, the optimum use of that hour would be with weights in a circuit format). Make sure you’ve had a recent health check up and clearance from your doctor before you begin.

As for eliminating certain foods and adopting a healthier diet, designed to compensate for a lower caloric demand, yes, you should absolutely rethink how, when, and what you eat.

I could easily write a long series of columns about this part of your question but with my limited space I’ll try and just give you some guidelines to help you avoid the impending gut.

1. Avoid refined sugar. Sugar, excess calories, and the sedentary lifestyle just described, are the reasons for our obesity epidemic. Simply put, sugar spikes insulin production, making you store more fat and it increases your appetite for more of the same. Get off it and stay off it!

2. Drink a gallon of water per day, (or as close to it as you can). Replace all those other drinks, (soda, coffee, juice, etc.) with water.

3. Never let your self be too hungry or too full. Both extremes put your body into a storage mode. Plan your meals and snacks so that you don’t get caught without food and don’t eat large meals. Live by this rule!

4. Don’t skip meals. You want your metabolism to stay fired up so try to eat small meals frequently throughout the day.

5. Eat a diet that includes as many plants as possible. Vegetables and whole fruits – as much and as often as you possibly can!

I’m finishing up this column while flying home to Philadelphia from San Francisco. The flight attendant just came buy and offered me the following choices for purchase -minnie Oreos, Twizzlers, apple cinnamon trail mix, Pringles chips, Pepperidge farm chocolate chunk cookies, sliced salami in a bag, and a can of Blue Diamond almonds. Which of these would you chose?

The almonds are the best choice – it’s not even close. They’re high in fiber, vitamins and minerals, protein, and ‘good fats’. And, the other choices are mostly ‘hollow calories’ in the form of sugar, additives, saturated fat, high fructose corn syrup, etc.

As for my drink, having already consumed a lot of water, I went with the Tomato Juice. It contains some healthy stuff too, has only 12 grams of sugar in the whole can, and is a much better choice that soda, diet soda, or even juice.

Please visit, www.YoMaxFitness.com, ‘Your Blog For Fitness Information’, and email your fitness/health/nutrition question from the ‘Ask Max’ page.

Want Your BC Body Back? Part 2.

Yo Max… Ask The Trainer!

Want your BC body back? There are no shortcuts! (Part 2.)

My last column was about women trying to get their BC (before children) bodies back. I received several emails about the column. Most were from women who said, in so many words, 'That's tough to hear, but I think honest'. I got one from a woman who asked, ‘Have you ever been pregnant before? If not, where do you get off making struggling new mothers feel like crap?’ That was never my intention but, as a writer/columnist, I fully expect to take some heat when I write about something controversial or of a sensitive nature.

Confused though this woman is, I thought the response below worthy of printing. Hopefully, I can make things more clear.

If you didn’t read the first column go to www.YoMaxFitness.com. It’s the most recent entry on the Articles & Columns page.



YoMax,

If I was Bummed in Conshohocken I’d still be bummed because there is no chance that I am getting up at 5, training for an hour every day, and strictly limiting sugar, alcohol and TV.  HOWEVER, I can give 40-45 minutes 5 days a week, and work really hard when I do that.  And, there are times that, while it’s not an excuse, I am going to miss my scheduled workouts.

If I was going to guess, Pamela has most of the following: a major type A personality, a lot of money, a nanny to watch her kids, a really supportive husband, family close by and a selfish streak. Pamela is a very rare individual and most people can’t (nor do they have the desire to) achieve this.  The problem with only presenting option A without giving the parameters for option B is that A is overwhelming.  So overwhelming that many people won’t even start.

My point is, and I don’t need to tell you this, start somewhere –but it’s not likely to be an hour a day for most people.  The message of it’s really hard work is loud and clear, but if that person doesn’t have the option of working quite that hard isn’t there a plan B?

Beth, Philadelphia



Yo Beth,

I'm not sure you fully understand what ‘Bummed’ was asking or considered her question literally – word for word.

Before I get into this, let me include part of what is posted on my Website at the top of the 'Yo Max' page where all of my columns are listed.

TOUGH LOVE...

‘Contrary to what we’ve always been told, getting in shape is NOT easy. It requires great discipline, consistent effort, and a willingness to change your lifestyle. I want my readers to feel confident that the information I provide is honest and straightforward. I will never paint a rosy picture just to make you feel better, but rather share my twenty years of experience as a personal fitness trainer in a way that I hope will help you gain a more realistic perspective. The truth, although sometimes harsh, is what I will always strive to provide’.

Here’s the thing, Beth. Bummed didn't ask, 'How do I lose those few extra pounds I put on since having my baby?' or ‘What exercises do you think are best to work on my sagging mid-section?', or ‘What big changes should I make to my diet to help get my old body back but still provide sufficient milk for breast feeding?’, or, for that matter, a question more like what I think you must have interpreted, such as, ‘How can I exercise with limited time (about 45 mins. per day), and get the most benefit - feel better, look better, have more energy, etc?'

What she asked was, 'How do I get my, ONCE FIT LOOKING, BC body back?' This is an entirely different question and a VERY TALL ORDER! If you read between the lines, it's clear that she was once 'Fit' and also that she wants to look 'Fit' again.

Your response to my column makes it seem as if I was telling someone interested in beginning a new exercise routine that it was pointless unless they could commit to becoming a world class athlete!?

OF COURSE, Bummed could and would benefit, perhaps immeasurably, from most any form of regular exercise. But, the question is, will she look the way she did before having her baby with out committing serious time and great effort? As I said, unless she's either very young, or genetically predisposed, No, she won’t. Period.

I base this statement on my experience working with new mothers (I'd guess as many as 100) over the past twenty years. They've all wanted their bodies back but less than 20% ever achieved that goal. Why? Because, for whatever reason, they didn't work hard enough.

Yes, this is about busy schedules, priorities, desire, lactating, Kcals in and Kcals out, stress, hormones, sleeping patterns, exercise science and exercise physiology.

It's not (necessarily), about a person’s character, lacking any discipline, being lazy and hopeless, not being willing to make sacrifices, or having zero dedication. They may well be very dedicated and strong in many aspects of their lives.

None of my clients who failed to regain their BC bodies were bad people. Quite the contrary, I enjoyed the company of those who 'failed' often more than the few who 'succeeded'. As you pointed out, the type 'A' personality that may well be required to achieve this goal does not always make a person fun to be around...

As for Pamela, she does, in fact, have some help - baby sitters and a woman who cleans her house once per week. But is that so unusual for a family of five with two working parents? Is she selfish? Well, that’s just silly. We’re all selfish and to do what she’s done definitely does require a certain commitment to the task and at a very high cost. But the reason she's been successful in regaining her physique, after each pregnancy, is due solely to the fact that she trains twice as hard as most other women would be willing to. Again, FOR WHATEVER REASON. It's that simple.

As for eating a diet that is low in Alcohol, sugar and carbs and high in vegetables, lean proteins and water, I say BIG DEAL! That's the way we should all eat anyway! That's just basic nutritional common sense and I have little sympathy for anyone who complains about their body, woman or man, postnatal or not, if they're unwilling to eat well.

My whole point is that the process of getting your body back to the way it looked before nine months of pregnancy, delivering a baby, and breast feeding, may be the hardest physical undertaking a woman will ever face.

Personally, I have a great deal of respect for mothers just for enduring the process but the reason that so few regain their pre pregnancy bodies is because it's a goal that often is just not possible, due to a combination of complex factors just described. It's a task few can tackle.

Please visit www.YoMaxFitness.com and email your question or comment regarding health, fitness or nutrition on the ‘Ask Max’ page.

Want your BC body Back? There are no short cuts!

Yo Max,

I had a baby 5 months ago and I’m freaking out that my once fit looking body seems like it will never be the same again! I read so many different and conflicting things about what I should do. Is there a tried and true answer or am I just gonna have to accept that my BC (before children) body is a thing of the past?

Bummed, Conshohocken.

Yo Bummed,

Congratulations on your new baby. It sounds like you’re both healthy and that’s a wonderful thing.

Like you, I spend a lot of time reading the latest theories and expert opinions on fitness and health issues. And you’re right; much of it seems confusing and conflicts with something published just days earlier - sometimes by the same person! The topic of postnatal recovery is no different.

The answer, in my opinion, isn’t what people want to hear. The truth is both sobering and presents a challenging scenario.

First, we have the factors of genetics and age. Both of these issues play a role but they can also be off set by a person’s lifestyle, exercise habits, and diet. By lifestyle, I mean how you spend your day. Do you live an active life or are you generally sedentary? By exercise, I mean do you exercise everyday for at least an hour? Do you really push it and workout intensely? Do you lift weights? And, by diet, I mean do you eat healthy foods like vegetables, fruits and grains, get sufficient amounts of lean protein and drink lots of water every day?

I ask these questions because unless you’re 20 years old, or have exceptional genetic gifts, this is what it takes to get your body back to where it was BC. Period.

I see women all the time training in the gym that are just going through the motions. They begin with about twenty minutes of walking on the treadmill, possibly breaking into a run for the last five. Then they lift weights that are much too light, with poor form and an attitude of ‘I can’t wait to get out of here’. At the end they lay down on the mat for a few sets of crunches that look more like rocking in a chair.

The thing is, if you want to see results, especially if you’ve just had a baby, you have to WORK A LOT HARDER. And that’s the part that people don’t want to hear.

I have a client named, Pamela. She’s 38. She had her first child at 30 and twins two years later. To look at her in a suit, business or bathing, you’d be more likely to guess she was a fitness model in her late twenties than the mother of three kids and approaching 40. Her looking fabulous is no accident. And although she’s blessed with good genetics – most of the credit for her still looking fit body is due to the fact that she busts her butt.

She gets up every day at about 5am and does between 60 and 90 minutes of intense cardio, either running on the treadmill, using the Elliptical, the Stairmaster, the bike or a combination of each. Then, she Strengths Trains, at a high intensity, 2 or 3 times a week for an hour with me or on her own. Through nothing but hard work, she’s gotten to the point where she can bang out 25 strict pushups, curl 50 lbs, and complete an abdominal routine that few men could even dream about. Pamela also manages to play as much golf and tennis as she possibly can, takes care of her three kids, manages a busy social calendar and is a practicing attorney. Her nutritional habits have also improved dramatically since we began working together two years ago. She now makes sure to eat several healthy small meals or snacks per day – things like nuts, fruit, seeds, salads, chicken, fish and eggs, and strictly limits her consumption of alcohol, excess carbs like bread, and sugar.

My point is, before you resign yourself to the idea that you’ll never have your BC body back, consider what it is, exactly, that you’re doing to get the results you want.

If you’re not working out every day and with real intensity, you could be doing more. And that difference is exactly what determines success or failure.

I understand that we’re all busy these days and this type of commitment might sound impossible but we all have the same hours in the day and days in the week. Pamela has just decided to make daily exercise an absolute priority. I’ll tell you one thing, the only time she ever watches TV is when she’s on the treadmill and I’ve never known her to have an excuse not to train – injured, stressed, super busy, exhausted or otherwise. Get cracking, stick with it, and good luck!

Please visit the all new www.FullCircleFitness.com and email your questions regarding health, fitness or nutrition to Max off of the ‘CONTACT US’ page!

Exercise to lower your handicap.

YO MAX, What weight training exercises should I do to improve my golf?

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