My blog this week is inspired by one of my new personal training clients.  Her story, just like so many others, is one that turns pure disgust into motivation.  She basically had her “wake up call” two weeks ago when she stepped on the scale and saw a number that she had never seen before…she was utterly disgusted!  Disgusted with her body, disgusted that she let herself slip, and disgusted that she still struggled to find the motivation to reverse this trend.  I talked with her, coached her, and encouraged her to start making small changes, one day at a time.  After all, I have always been a proponent of long-term permanent change, rather than short-term, amazing transformations.  My client took my advice to heart…and then some.  She started exercising, she started eating better, and she started training with me a couple of times a week.  I cautioned her to not be overly ambitious right off the bat…as I have seen too many people fail due to burnout (physically and mentally).  As a trainer, you sometimes have to walk a fine line by feeding into your client’s high level of motivation, but ensuring they are training in a safe and effective manner.  When you have a client that is motivated and giving 110%, one of the last things you want to tell them is to “slow down”!  But sometimes it is in the client’s best interest to override motivation and success with a little logic and education.

So as I mentioned, my client found the motivation to change her body…and she didn’t want to waste any time!  After the end of her first week, she exclaimed, “I have lost 6 pounds so far this week!”  She was so excited and understandably so.  But my realistic training mentality told me something different.  I knew she was either going to get burnt out physically, injure herself by doing too much too soon, or worse yet…both!  But I felt it was too early to derail her motivation.  I encouraged her to stay on track and that her 1^st week of weight loss was tremendous!  On Monday morning, which was the start of her 2^nd full week, I walked in the gym and asked her how she felt.  Hoping to hear something positive, but realistically expecting something different….my intuitions were spot on.  “Well”, she started, “I am SOOO sore today!  I feel tired and run down.  And I think I hurt my elbow playing tennis yesterday.”  Bingo!  I knew this would happen…and this was my chance to intervene.  I asked her about all of the exercise she did over the past week and weekend – nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  She honored her day of “rest” as I had advised, so I was happy to hear that.  I continued asking questions, as I was determined to find the culprit of her physical anguish!  I inquired about her diet and eating habits over the past week.  She enthusiastically responded, “Oh, I am doing so much better with my diet!  I haven’t had any beer all week and I have only been eating about 1000-1100 calories per day!”  Double Bingo!  That was it!  My thoughts stopped dead in their tracks and I responded, “1000 CALORIES!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”  I immediately pulled up an online calculator to estimate the actual number of calories her body really needed (based on her body weight, age, and activity level) and it was over 1500 calories…at rest!!   In other words, it is estimated that her body burns 1500 calories on a daily basis just to sustain herself at a resting state.  Add in daily activity along with exercise and this number could easily get up to 2000 calories per day!  With the amount of exercise my client was doing, no wonder she was losing weight (although this could come to a halt if she wasn’t careful), no wonder she was tired, and no wonder she had no energy and was feeling sore and run down!  You see, your body is just like your car…if it doesn’t have the fuel it needs, it starts to break down and will eventually leave you stranded on the side of the road (or treadmill)…broken down, depleted, and discouraged!

When it comes to weight loss, I always think about the childhood story about the tortoise and the hare.  The morale of that story is the “slow but steady win the race”.  Losing weight is a marathon, not a sprint…. it is a long-term commitment, not a one-night-stand…it is a long, hard journey, not a quick, short joyride!  I think you get the point.  The point I tried to get across to my client was that the weight loss she was experiencing was unrealistic.  Of course you are going to lose a lot of weight if you restrict your caloric intake by 1000 calories a day!  But over time you must ask what the long-term affects of this dramatic caloric restriction might be: after only 2 weeks, my client already knew and experienced the answer to that question….fatigue, muscle soreness, injury, and a lack of energy.  After 30 minutes of convincing her that she needed to increase her caloric intake as to reduce these negative side affects and ensure her long-term success, she finally gave in.  I was able to convince her that 2 pounds of weight loss per week is just as good as 6 pounds of weight loss in a week.  Why?  Here are a few reasons:

1. Slow weight loss is more sustainable than fast weight loss.
2. If you deprive your body of energy (calories), it will rob you of energy!
3. A quick fix usually results in fast failure.  Crash diets can have devastating long-term affects on your metabolism.
4. A slow and steady approach usually results in permanent lifestyle changes.  Habits take time to develop…and improving healthy habits are worth the time investment!
5. Fuel up!  Give your body the premium fuel it needs to operate effectively!  If you are “running on empty” you will undoubtedly feel like a slug…but if you pump yourself full of high-grade fuel (food) you will increase your mileage and get farther in life!

My client seemed a bit disappointed today when she told me that she has only lost 1 pound in the past 4 days.  I can tell she is still resisting the information I gave her.  My response to her was, “That is great!  How do you feel this week?”  Reluctantly she admitted to me that her muscle soreness is gone, she has more energy and doesn’t feel as run down as she did last week.  As she verbalized this to me, I could tell that her 1 pound of weight loss this week felt better than losing those 6 pounds last week.  She confessed, “This is something I can stick with.”  And that, my friends, is what a lifestyle change is all about!