My Personal Story Of Transformation

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2009

My Personal Story Of Transformation


Most people who have met me over the past 25 years would probably not believe that I was ever almost 50 lbs overweight and completely out of shape.


I want to share how I got that way in the first place and how I was able to make a permanent transformation for the better.



I will also share the two key factors that I had to overcome (and which probably effect most people) in accomplishing this long term change. Both of these deal with the concept of deprivation.


I’m going to discuss the perception of deprivation related first to nutrition and then exercise.


Nutritional deprivation:


Nutritional deprivation can mean different things to different people.


For some people, this means not getting enough calories of healthy nutrients to enable them to function properly. In essence they feel like they are starving themselves in spite of eating what by all accounts would be a clean and healthy diet. They may have a low energy level and feel depleted.


This is often the scenario most people envision regarding what is required for fat loss and why it’s so hard for them to even get started. That holds a major dread factor for sure (and it's completely understandable)!


On the other side of this are people who may feel deprived if they can’t satisfy every craving that comes along. To folks with this mindset, having to turn down any available tasty treat would be akin to an act of unthinkable asceticism! (okay slight exaggeration :)).


There is an important distinction to be made here. The first group most likely has a real issue nutritionally that needs to be addressed with the help of a nutrition professional (Registered Dietitian or Nutritionist).


To achieve a healthy and long term transformation you should never feel like you are really starving or depleted or else you won't be able to sustain it for very long. That is a counterproductive approach.


A qualified nutritional professional should be able to evaluate all your various personal factors to make sure you are taking in all the nutrients you need so you can function as optimally as possible while trying to lose body fat and build lean muscle.


For the second group, things get more complicated.


A lot of the issues tend to be more behavioral, such as emotional eating, which is often done unconsciously (they may not even realize the inner motivation of what is compelling them to eat the way they do).


Poor nutritional planning is another major factor which often leads to “eating on the run” and grabbing whatever is convenient.


Add to that the fact that most Americans seem to have a lack of fundamental information about basic nutrition and just eat purely based on taste and/or to “kill the hunger pain” without an awareness of food as nourishment for the body.


Certainly this is another scenario where a nutrition professional can be a huge help in order to provide proper guidance in the realm of meal planning and education!


Since I'm a Certified personal trainer and not a nutrition professional, getting into those types of specifics are outside my scope of practice. I always recommend a wonderful R.D. in the Nashville area named Sarah-Jayne Bedwell to my clients who need expert guidance.


Her website is: http://www.nashvillenutritionexpert.com/ and is filled with great information and ways to contact her. She is highly recommend!


Now I'd like to share my personal story of going from fat to fit :


I used to be the "poster child" for the second group mentioned above. Looking back, my eating habits were sad and almost comical compared to how I eat now (think of John Belushi in the cafeteria scene of "Animal House")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u48PvBTl3u8



Note that I was a bachelor at the time and my kitchen was almost never used to cook in so I ate almost all my meals out.


Here was a typical day of eating for me:


I would go for breakfast at a local “deli” in Long Island, New York (where there’s a great deli every 20 seconds) and get TWO egg and cheese specials (on a white roll)


At only a dollar each I could easily afford to do this to myself!


Oh, but I'm not finished, amazingly, this was usually accompanied by a coffee or two and often followed up with some Hostess cupcakes (or the equivalent).


Upon watching me inhale this on a regular basis, my friend used to call me a garvone, which mean's something like "Garbage can". He would join me a lot of times for these outings but he didn't shovel it in like I did! :)


He would also say "Keep your hands and feet away from Scott's mouth when he's eating!" :)


I never took it personally because he was right! Still I didn't realize at the time just what I was doing to myself, I was in denial!


Anyway, I’d often go back to the same deli for lunch and get whatever was on special, usually some tasty but extremely fattening and greasy sub sized sandwich and often followed with dessert as well.


Dinner was also a meal bought out at a Diner or fast food place.


Combine my above "culinary" issues with the fact that my only exercise was walking to and from my car and the various food establishments and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why I was not only very overweight but that I felt awful all the time.


It was only when I was thoroughly disgusted with myself, triggered by the breakup of a relationship I was in at the time, that I took stock of myself and knew I needed to make a change.


The Process of Transformation

The first thing I did was eliminate all those desserts and made incremental changes from there.


I also started working out regularly, inspired by a friend of mine who was into bodybuilding as a hobby.


Little by little, I was able to continue to clean up my eating more and more and continuing to exercise I lost all the excess weight until I was not only thin, but I was fit and actually pretty ripped and muscular. I went from about 215-220 lbs to 175 lbs in about 6 months.


The ultimate keys to my success were my mindset and the fact is that I didn’t starve myself, so I wasn’t nutritionally deprived. BUT I had to cut out eating all the garbage I was putting into my system which was making me fat and sluggish.


Being energized by exercise and clean nutrition I stopped craving sugary foods (which I previously desired to give myself temporary energy boosts in my previous state).


For people wanting to make a “fast change” 6 months may seem like forever. However, my weight loss was steady and averaged about 2 lbs per week. While that doesn’t seem like a lot, the fact is that I kept losing it every week and the difference between my health and appearance with 50 lbs of less FAT was dramatic!


Looking back almost 25 years later, it's easy to see that those 6 months was a drop in the bucket in the context of a lifetime to make a permanent lifestyle change.


Note that I because didn't subject myself to any "real" deprivation in terms of using extremes of diet and exercise, those original 6 months of transformation weren’t hard to take, only moderately challenging at best.


I gave myself enough time to lose the weight while making a significant lifestyle change. I just took it one day, or even one meal or workout at a time and the cumulative effects added up in a big way.


That's how you make a lifestyle change, and lifestyle change is, in my opinion, the only real way to stop the rollercoaster so many people go on when it comes to fat loss.


Think about it, if 6 months seems like too long, think about how many 6 month periods have gone by in your life where you could have benefitted from this sort of transformation. Add up all the pounds of fat you would like to lose and you will probably realize that you could have accomplished it many times over if you just began.


Ahhh, if only we could turn back the clock...


Well, unfortunately we can't travel in time...


However, you could start today, and in 6 months from now imagine what you could accomplish.... or you could keep putting it off and do nothing at be where you are now... or worse.


Those 6 months are going to pass anyhow... right?


Before I actually made that commitment all those years ago, there were plenty of 6 month periods where I also either stayed the same or regressed further so I was in the same boat.


The other element: Time deprivation


The other element is the fact that people feel like they have no time to exercise. Or to put it another way, they feel the time spent exercising would deprive them of doing something else they "need" to do (or in most cases would "rather" be doing :)).


While exercise, in and of itself, is not as important in terms of weight/fat loss as nutrition, it is a KEY cog in the transformation wheel.


By creating muscle you increase your body’s ability to burn fat, but more importantly it just makes you more energized and functionally capable.


Also exercise is extremely empowering, can help release stress and just makes you feel great all over. All these things can help you feel better about yourself which can make you less vulnerable to then eating badly for emotional reasons.


Plus if you are making a good effort at exercise you might be less inclined to waste that effort by eating poorly. Of course this doesn’t always hold true, but it definitely did for me! Before I’d eat something I’d always consider if it supported that work I was putting forth with my exercise program.


As I posted previously in the words of fat loss expert Alwyn Cosgrove "You can't out train a crappy diet! :)


It really doesn’t require endless hours in the gym to start to make life changing improvements in your body. If you devote 20 minutes a day for 3 or 4 days per week you can really jump start the process of fitness.


I think that most people can find 20 minutes in almost any day of the week, let alone only 3 or 4, to carve out time to exercise. This time can be cumulative as well, 10 minutes here, and 10 there. The easiest way to get time though is to try to go to sleep 20 minutes earlier and therefore wake up earlier.


I believe that morning exercise works best in terms of establishing a consistent exercise routine for most people because it’s too easy to skip it at night. However if you absolutely can't do it in the morning but can consistently do it at night (or lunch time) then that’s great also. But consistency is the key here.


Getting Started

To get started, even just a regular warm-up movement sequence working through the various planes of motion (forward and backwards, side to side, and rotation) can make a huge difference. I have a sequence I use with all of my clients. I have pasted it at the bottom of this post.


I literally use it for myself first thing every morning (usually between brushing my teeth, shaving etc). I’ll brush my teeth, do some of the warm-ups, put on the shaving cream, do some more before actually shaving and so on. It only takes me about 5-8 minutes total to complete the whole warm-up.


I'm sure I look pretty silly in there doing those exercises with shaving cream all over my face but fortunately no one can see me! (and I plan on keeping it that way) :)


By the time I have even gone downstairs I’ve already done some exercise and I’m wide awake and energized. From there I usually hydrate myself, and move into my main exercise routine. But even if I don’t have a lot of time, I know that I already gave myself the benefit of some exercise before anything can interfere with it.


Even though this little routine all by itself wouldn’t be enough to get you into optimum physical condition, it can give you incredible energy and remove the sluggishness and lots of aches and pains from lying in bed all night.


The extra energy exercise will give you can help you be less inclined to rely on sugary food or caffeine to wake you up. If you "want" your morning coffee or tea, you can still enjoy them, but you should find you won’t “need” them (so maybe one cup instead of several).


Either way, a short daily routine like the one I mentioned can be a great catalyst to starting an exercise program.


In fact, a year ago, this warm-up routine was pretty much all I “could” do in terms of structured exercise after cervical spine surgery (which I spoke about in my last post). It alone help me maintain some dynamic flexibility and even some muscle tone, so it is a powerful place to start.


So in closing, if you really want to make a transformation, it starts with your mindset. Be honest with yourself about why you think making a change will be so impossible. Are you just looking for excuses not to begin or is this fear of deprivation justifiable?


If you think that it's not fear of deprivation holding you back then what IS preventing you from helping yourself?


Either way, if you remember to give yourself enough time to move forward sanely, it'll take a little longer but you'll enjoy the journey, and it's a journey that never need end, and you'll never want it to end because you'll feel so good you could never go back to the way things were! :)


Best wishes on your journey!

Scott


THREE-DIMENSIONAL DYNAMIC WARM-UP SERIES


Always go at a very comfortable pace and easy range of motion.


MARCH SEQUENCE


A. March in place knees forward


B. March in place knees slightly outward


C. March in place knees slightly inward


STEP-TOUCH SEQUENCE


Step-touch w/ shoulder rolls (forward then backwards)


Step-touch w/ lateral raises (aka half-jacks)


Step-touch w/ rows (elbows should gently touch sides)


Step-touch w/ Butterfly arms (like a pec dec machine, arms bent at 90 degrees and you bring them together in front, then back, gently squeezing shoulder blades together).


Step-touch w/ rear-shoulder flyes (arms are in the top part of a lateral raise position w/ the elbows bent 90 degrees, finger tips pointing forward), gently squeeze the shoulder blades together and then bring arms forward.


STEP-TAP SEQUENCE


First place hands on hips, and rotate one toe inward then return to starting position, repeat w/ other foot.


Do the same thing but you can add the arms in an upward/diagonal position and then reach horizontally to the sides as you rotate.


With this sequence, make sure your body is turning from the hips NOT the abdominal area (there may be a little incidental spinal rotation, but it should be minimal).


MINI-REVERSE LUNGES


These are not deep lunges, you primarily want to activate the glutes and hamstrings.


Step back with the right foot while bringing the right arm forward, then bring the right foot back to the starting position and then repeat the same movement with the left foot and left arm.


As you step back, allow your back heel to come down to the ground in order to get a nice stretch to the calves and achilles tendon. However, if this isn't possible for you at this time then just lower it to a point where you feel just a slight bit of tension. NEVER push aggressively into any stretch.


2009 Scott Fishkind Time4You Fitness
Please visit my website at http://www.time4youfitness.com/