Trainer Notes

Goodbye 300's! HELLO 297!!! We are extremely happy today to report that Michael has officially broken the 300 mark. At weigh-in today, we thought we would have a chance...maybe 299...but as usual, Michael exceeded the expectation. So, now just 4 pounds and 9 days to go to hit the 100 lb. weight loss mark - all in 5 months!

This week we will be finishing up Michael's last workout program for this competition. Next week we'll transition out with a few workouts at a lower intensity and volume, while also focusing on Michael's plan moving forward. While Michael will still be in a fat loss mode past this competition to continue towards his ultimate goal weight, some of the focus and pressure of the contest will be off of his shoulders. The basic structure to his workouts of 3 days resistance training followed by short duration cardio, and 2 other days of just cardiovascular exercise will remain the same, as will his focus on the basic concepts of good nutrition. These are now lifestyle patterns for him, and this competition provided him with an opportunity and positive pressure to develop those habits. However, I do think there will be a positive aspect of this contest coming to an end for Michael. Now, his focus can shift to him doing this mainly for himself, and some of the more challenging pressures of being in a "contest", with the spotlight always on you will dim.

There will still be the basic challenge of keeping the same level of focus and effort through internal motivation, but the support system Michael has around him now is extensive, and should help keep him on track. I know that we are always here for him, and will do whatever we can to help him continue toward his ultimate goal. Stay tuned, as there's a good chance that our next post could be to report the "Big Number."

Micheal's Blog Update

Trainer Notes: July 20

2 Weeks to go - 87 lbs. down so far! Wow, it's coming down to the wire now and Michael is so close to achieving our first "lofty" goal of getting under 300 lbs. That also means that our 100 lb. goal is still within reach. At first, just getting under 300 lbs. was enough of a reach in the time frame we have had, but as the fat started to melt away more and more, we decided to take it a step further and go for the whole 100. Why not? Our fascination with round numbers and the fact that it was only 6 more lbs. just made us decide to go for it. I have to admit, setting a goal to lose 100 lbs. in 5 months seemed like a pretty big reach, maybe like trying to run a marathon uphill in high altitude (alright, that might be a stretch, but you get the point). Even with confidence in our abilites and Michael's dedication, I wondered if we could really attain that level of results that quickly. In realistic terms, that meant that he would have to lose 20 lbs. per month, or about 5 lbs. per week on average. For the obese population, that is the upper limit for what is considered reasonable and safe (3-5 lbs. per week).

So, the margin for error was very small from the beginning. He would have to be spot on with his nutrition, with barely any cheating or slip-ups at all, and he probably couldn't afford to miss more than 1 or 2 workouts in the entire 5 months. Was this realistic? Well, I guess I believed it was, and I believed in him, at least, and even if Micheal didn't in the beginning, I know he does now. Because with all of those challenges to meet or overcome, Michael has followed and stayed consistent with all of our nutritional recommendations, and has never missed a single one of his workouts in the last 4 and a half months. In fact, he even shortened his recent travel plans so that he wouldn't miss any workouts so close to the end of the competition. To me, that's just a testament to Michael's character and commitment. He has never shown anything but a complete appreciation for being given this opportunity. It's even more than that, like he bears it as a responsibility to prove to us, himself, family, friends, and those following and supporting him that he doesn't take a second of this experience for granted. Also, that he is a fighter who can rise to the challenge and has the dedication and will to compete and win. I've never seen Michael give anything less than 100%. I'm quite sure that he has often given us more than he even thought he could at the time.

That's the amazing thing about the human body and the human spirit, though. It's ability to adapt and improve based on the challenges we are presented is truly remarkable. Alone, we rarely reach our true potential. We often need to be pushed, challenged, and encouraged to reach new levels. Hopefully we've done that for Michael, as we try to do for all of our clients, and hopefully that opens his eyes so he can see and unlock his own potential in the future. I have no doubts that Michael and his wife have truly established new habits and have greatly improved their lifestyle. I have complete confidence that he will never see a "3" as the first number on the scale again. More than just the weight, his entire life has transformed, and I'd say in the end, that means more than any number ever could. So, while the "big number" definitely indicates we've achieved something special and hopefully gives him a better chance at winning this competition, his overall transformation shows that he has already won in one of the toughest challenges of all - living a full, fit and healthy life.

Quick Friday update

2 weeks left
Weighed in at 306 lbs, 87 lbs lost
Goal weight 299 – 7 lbs away
Losing 100 lbs – 13 lbs away (time to make a big push)

Tough challenging workouts this week, but it is paying off. We did 3 full sets of everything this week, and my cardio on Tuesday and Thursday is much more challenging with three rounds of circuit exercises to kick it off. Squats of some form, five days a week.

It is going to be a tough weekend to control food and get my light physical activity in, but I am going to do it, its crunch time, pun intended. Flying to Arkansas for a family reunion and to celebrate my wife’s great aunt’s 100 birthday tomorrow, where I am sure the fried chicken, bbq, potato salad, watermelon and pound cake will be plentiful.

However, I am packing some of my latest creation, spice muffins that are all whole grain, pureed fruit, sweetened with only a little honey and molasses that are around 125 calories each, cinch bars, and fat free string cheese, fresh fruit, and a couple boiled eggs in my carryon. Luckily we have a fridge in our hotel room, so I can get some lean lunchmeat and cottage cheese when I get there.

Also, tomorrow, first thing I am going to do 30 minutes of the Wii dance game to kick the weekend of with some cardio, and I hope to hit the pool for some fun and light exercise Sunday. Can’t wait to show off my new 2X swim trunks!

Have a great weekend,

Michael

Doing The Dishes

I have talked about the health benefits, the extra energy, the comfortableness I have with my body in chairs and car seats, but there are many other ways my life is transforming. A couple of ironic changes I have noticed are how much laundry I do now, and how much we have to clean the kitchen up and wash dishes. I used to wash two laundry loads a week, whites and colors, now it is 6 or 7. First, there are the workout clothes; then because I have tons of energy, there are the extra “working” around the house and extracurricular activities clothes, and of course the regular daily wear stuff. Digging out old clothes, buying new clothes, and reading the 5Xs for selling or giveaways has only compounded the laundry fiasco.

We have gone from a lifestyle that included much eating out to one where every meal is cooked at home, except maybe one every two weeks. Along with cooking every meal comes having to clean up from every meal. Dishes have tripled. One thing I don’t miss – the deciding on where to eat out. You know, the uh, I don’t want to cook, do you want to cook? Where should we eat? You pick, no you pick. What are you in the mood for? What are you in the mood for? Oh whatever, just not there again. Well, that is where I wanted to go, so you pick. I don’t want to….

The end result for us usually became pizza, Chinese food, or a fried fish dinner. Of course, it is probably blasphemy to say this in Wisconsin, but going on 5 months now, we have not indulged in our favorite Friday fish fry. But, honestly, it is so nice to be free from food. Yes, free. I was trapped by food. It was controlling my emotions and my life. With giving so much of my time and life to my career, my health and well being were given a back seat. Food was my comfort, my indulgence.

Now I live more for new experiences, exercising, and eating healthy. I just can’t get over how addicted I am getting to working out. I cannot give enough compliments to the Fitness Together staff, they have made exercise enjoyable, challenging, and rewarding. That says a lot given all my failed attempts at diet and exercise previously.

Now, quality time with my wife doesn’t have to be defined by watching TV and eating carryout. Sitting still, while somewhat necessary on Saturday morning after five tough workouts through the week, is just something I don’t do well anymore. Audrey and I had one of the best weekends of our life. We spent almost four hours walking around a farmer’s market and a museum, and didn’t get tired, didn’t have to sit down, didn’t have sore feet or knees, it was just wonderful. It is as if we are starting a whole new chapter together. Audrey, by participating on Fitness Together’s meal plan with me, has now lost over 30lbs herself.

The transition to healthier eating has been easier than I thought as I have come to crave a lot of the tasty, fresh, vibrant foods we’ve been eating that are not layered in fat, flour or sugar. Flavors have come alive. My body has come alive. My mind has come alive. And this is just the beginning.

We have had some tremendous life challenges the last two years, but this competition has been one of the biggest blessings of my life, enabling my life to have so many more chapters, chapters richer in context and vibrancy. Two and half weeks to go! Time to really work hard, and get the most out of what the competition has left for me.

Warm regards,
Michael

Trainer Notes: July 13th

Last week Michael started another new workout program. Aside from some minor tweaks we'll make through this one, it will be the last "new program"
he'll start during the Challenge. Some of the new exercises were pretty tough and we even made some small adjustments to start at the best progression levels. We also added some new elements and made more changes to his "cardio days." Overall, he made it through the week well, and also started to implement some of the small changes we had discussed during the previous week regarding his nutrition (see last "Nutrition Notes"). At weigh-in today, Michael was down to 310 lbs., which means he has now lost 83 lbs.!! Only 11 more to go to get under 300, and only 17 more to hit that magical 100 mark! 100 total lbs. will be great, but to see that scale with a 2 as the first number will fulfill one of the biggest goals we had set out to accomplish from the beginning of the competition. All of that hard work and dedication is really paying off in so many ways. We are planning our next full assessment right at the end of the competition, so we have a few more weeks to hit the "Big Goal." I'm confident Michael will make it all happen, and look forward to that assessment day, and look even more forward to reporting all the results.

Michael Video Blog

Nutritional Plan: July 8th

Finally, some new stuff to report on the nutrition front. As we head into the last phase of the competition, we're going to have Michael make a few small changes. His nutrition is pretty well established as a lifestyle and new way of eating, now, so there is nothing drastic to alter. We don't want to mess with too much, but in some ways we've been fortunate. Let me explain. Most people would look at Michael's food log and overall caloric intake and be surprised that he has lost and is losing as much weight as he is. For your average person that isn't really doing much physical activity, or even for those who are doing some, say weekend warriors or interment exercisers, the amount of calories that Michael takes in would probably be too much. There are a few reasons why he can get away with this right now, and actually why he has probably needed them. One big reason is the amount of phsyical activity he has been doing, and also the intensity that he is doing it at. It is one thing to go for a walk for 30 min. to an hour every day. This will actually burn a minimal amount of calories in relative terms. It is another to work in a structured, challenging, and progressive workout program, where trainers are pushing you to maximize your efforts for every moment of every workout. In other words, the amount of work, and the level to which Michael is doing it, means he is burning a substantially higher amount of calories every day, and his metabolic rate has gotten much higher. So, even while still consuming what would be considered by most to be a higher amount of calories than normal when in "weight loss" mode, he has simply been burning substantially more than what he is taking in. The reality is, that if his workout frequency decreases, as well as the focus and intensity, or when he goes into more of a "maintenence" stage, he will probably need to decrease his caloric intake. Maybe not by a large amount, but small changes will probably be in order.

Heading into this last month, we want to start tweaking some of the things that will help him not only see some better results through this last month, but also will be good concepts to carry through in the future. Up until this week, we had Michael focusing on intaking some extra calories very soon after his workouts to help with recovery, even on his cardio days. This month, we are going to cut the post workout recovery on his cardio days, only incorporating on the days he does resistance training. This will help cut out some additional calories by the end of the week. We are also going to start paying a little closer attention to the amount of starch in Michael's diet. It has already been regulated fairly naturally through our basic balance concept, but we're going to cut out most starches at his dinners. He can have a little extra protein or vegatables at that time if he chooses, but the starches will be limited after lunch or a mid-afternoon snack. This will also be a small way to cut back a few calories, that during one meal on one day, won't have much noticeable affect, but over the course of a week or month can mean some extra pounds lost. As we go, we may add back in, or "cycle", some starchy carbs at some dinners when it will benefit us to do so. This will be a new twist for Michael, so we are going to work on it, and we'll report back on how it is going.

Micheal Video Blog

Trainer Notes: July 6th

Well, another month and workout program came to an end last week. Michael did great on the workouts in this last routine. It was definitely a challenging routine for him in the beginning, and while it wasn't easy by the end, he was getting through the strength and cardio workouts with probably just a little more to give. This week will start another new type of workout, though, where we will change up the exercises and the format. Halfway through, we will also change the rep range to really keep his body guessing. Yes, we are in the last big push, I guess. The new workout will start by working on some muscular endurance, and will include, as usual, some new compound or combination based movements. They will challenge not just an isolated muscle group, but will also force multiple muscles and the entire body to work together, including his core muscles and involving some joint stability/mobility at the same time.

Generally, these types of movements are much more effective in helping someone reach their goals than purely just working the muscles in a stable and isolated fashion. Compound and full body movements work more muscles at once, release beneficial hormones, increase metabolic rate, and are overall a more efficient way to workout. This doesn't mean we don't do other types of movements and exercises in addition, or that those are the only types of exercises you should do. As always for us, it comes down to properly selecting and applying exercises and types of programs to each individual clients' needs and/or limitations. What we have designed for Michael will be appropriate for what he can handle, but will challenge him to work hard to do so. We're all really looking forward to what we can accomplish in this next month or so. It's been an amazing ride so far, so let's stay on it while we can.