A client of mine just sent along a link to Tom Venuto’s blog site www.burnthefatblog.com. She thought I might find it interesting and she was right. In the blog this guy Tom writes his pros and cons of “The Biggest Loser”. I have to admit the guy is right on target with his points from a fitness guru and a fitness enthusiast point of view. However I have to question the last time he or any of his fellow followers have personally tried to drop 35 – 150 lbs in their past. And if per chance they have had the opportunity to be fat before and worked their way fit do they remember the obstacles on that journey back to fit? In fact when was the last time Tom personally trained someone off the street(not a top athlete who wants it) who had to lose a substantial amount of weight? I would love to know that answer. In fact most of the respondants on his blog who are fitness trainers, personal trainers and the like….who are you training that you can’t relate to “The Biggest Loser” or if you can’t relate then at least take the good parts and use it for your clients good? Or is it just too disgusting for you…that was a few comments. Yes Bob and Jillian have some issues but….it’s a show!

Well I have to tell you right now that I LIKE “The Biggest Loser” and I am a fitness professional for many years myself. There are many parts of the show that I feel are absolutely essential to someone overcoming their weight issues. First and of the most important factor is the HOPE ingredient. Tom touched very briefly on the hope and motivation aspect of the show which is quite an understatement. It is the primary reason the show is such a success. Yes it is a show and yes their is drama but so is life….whose life has no drama? And yes they do sell stuff…it is a reality show.

Next really, really important part of the show is when they review the contestants medicines and what they are for. Last season they had a guy on their that was 27 years old and he was taking something like 9 drugs just to live. THIS IS AN EYE OPENER. Yes that is what this show does for regular people. Makes them realize that what they are putting into their mouths everyday is affecting their health and wellbeing. You are not born fat, you work at it all day long and feed yourself all kinds of stuff and one day you wake up and you are taking 9 medications and are 200lbs overweight and how did this happen? This show makes regular people realize that there are many others like themselves and that they are pretty much responsible for their current physical situation…not genetics, not mom, not anyone or anything else…

At our studio we have worked with all kinds of people looking to drop 20lbs and upwards to 150lbs and I have to tell you that first they must BELIEVE they can lose the weight. Do they have the vision? Can they imagine it? Well after watching “The Biggest Loser” they will at least believe it can be done. Most of the time these overweight people of even as low as 20 lbs believe “I have been this weight since…..can I really lose it?” Of course you can. And with healthy eating and exercise you will achieve your goals of a healthy and fit body. No you won’t lose it in a week like “The Biggest Loser” but you can change your life. And most important is the FACT that with healthy eating and exercise YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT. In my world many, many people just do not believe they can really lose weight.

Is it healthy what they do on TBL? Not so healthy I am sure to drop 25lbs in a week but I personally know many people who cut their calories to 500 a day for months, get shots to suppress their hunger of who really knows what, who pick up bad habits like smoking to curb appetite, who puke in the toilet, who just stop eating, who get lipo or gastric bypass, who exercise 4 hours a day….and they aren’t on “The Biggest Loser” so…..what’s the answer?

I absolutely agree that there is no reason for F bombs while training these people and I don’t like that they use scale weight to measure contestants progress. But in my world….just about every client that walks in the door is ONLY concerned about what the scale says. And yes it is up to us to teach them what it’s really all about like health and fitness….but I still love the show… and will watch it…

Would love to hear your feedback…

God Bless You,
Evey

I was recently talking to a mom of an obese child and she asked me, “Do you think it is the parents fault a child is obese?” Well….this is a delicate situation is what I’m thinking in my head before I respond to her. Why is this so delicate? Because I firmly believe that YES it is the parents fault. Why would she even ask ME that question knowing that I will say that I do believe the parent is very much responsible for the health and welfare of their own children. I also think the parent is responsible for teaching their kids to wipe their own butts, eat with silverware, dress themselves, brush their teeth….basically teach them to do for themselves so eventually they can be functioning, contributing positive members of society. And are these expectations wrong?

My answer to her was YES it is the parents fault. Your kid is to learn from the parents how to do stuff so why wouldn’t the parent also be responsible for teaching the kid how to eat healthily! Your kid does not drive himself to the store, pick out a bunch of junk, buy it, drive home and then consume it. The kid doesn’t drive him/herself to McDonald’s or BK either. NO it’s the parent who drives to the store, buys with money earned the cookies, pizza, ice cream etc., bring it home and feed the kid it.The kid might want the junk and quite frankly, all kids want sugar and pastries, but the parent is the one who decides if the kid is getting it or not and how much.

Needless to say she was surprised that I told her she was in charge of her own kitchen. Fortunately she also listened and was not offended by what I said. She is the one in charge of the kids, what they eat, how much they eat, what is available in the house for them to eat, when they can eat and so on. She took this advice and her son has since lost 6 pounds in a couple weeks. All she did was take the junk out of the house, replace it with fruits for snacks, limit eating times and how much and guess what…the kid trimmed down. I am very sure he will not be obese in the very near future if the family continues the new healthy habits they are forming now.

Now if you are a parent and you are obese, what do you think you are teaching your kids? Are you teaching them to eat healthy, in moderation, fruits and vegetables? It is all about learning what works for you and your family. But you can be sure that you as the parent are setting eating and exercise standards for you children for the rest of their lives. So often we get people who come into our studio who say they want to lose weight and get fit. So we review changes they may have to make in their lifestyle and eating habits and well….sometimes they will do anything but give up their ice cream, or beans and rice or pasta like mom used to make it. Well then we can’t help you. You cannot get fit and healthy and continue to regularly eat crap. Sorry…just not going to happen. Did you hear that. YOU CAN NOT GET FIT AND HEALTHY EATING JUNK REGULARLY. Please start watching “The Biggest Loser”. Love this show….very unfit people lose an obscene amount of weight by monitoring their eating and exercising….yes it can be done. But NO you will not lose 25lbs this week unless you plan to also exercise 6 hours everyday and have every morsel you put into your mouth monitored. But you will lose 2 lbs and feel so much better.

If you are overweight and/or your kid is overweight then learn how to feed yourself and your family quality food to help you all lose some weight, feel great and be healthy. Plan to make changes. What you have been doing has made you and/or your family unhealthy and fat so changes will have to occurr. You will have to give up some things that are NOT good at all for you and your family. Sugar is the big one. Many, many families have and are making big and great changes for their families health and that is an awesome thing. Always available to help anyone out who is interested in changing their lives for the healthier.

God Bless You,
Evey

Sometimes stuff comes up in life that is totally unexpected and totally not wanted. This past week I have been sick with a sore throat that was practically closing up and then I had a severe head cold (eight days of down and out). I am convinced that this happened primarily because I told Chrystal (personal trainer at our studio) that I never get sick. That conversation, of course, occurred the week before I got sick. So here I am training for a figure competition with some extreme body composition changes that must be made for me to even think about competiting and I get sick. Not going to happen NOW. I just have to far to go and now, not enough time. So what to do? Continue on…

I am adapting my plan to one that I can sucessfully achieve with my current situation. I am starting to get back into lifting weights and cardio this week and will try to get into the best shape I can for a family get together that is happening over Thanksgiving. That gives me about 7 weeks to turn it on and make something happen. I will sit down this week and make my plan, in writing of exactly what I will do and when.

Sometimes you just have to believe that it happened for a reason. I just will not, should not, could not do this competition and now it’s a definite situation. Many times when obstacles get in our way to some destination we are pursuing we think, oh well, it is just not to be. That may be correct, but it also can be that it is not to be right NOW. Still to be, just not in this way. Another way perhaps?

I will do an figure competition next year. I will not give up. But it will be the right time for me. With that in mind I am going to refocus on getting back to where I usually am (before husband got sick) and from there to train for a competition, not such a big deal.

What are you doing when major setbacks prevent you from realizing your goals? Do you throw in the towel and say oh well, I’m not suppose to be fit anyway? Do you quit without trying to come up with another plan that is more doable?

When my husband and I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1999, on of the most important lessons I learned form the experience was that we must be flexible. Nothing written in stone. Gotta roll with circumstances that just might be the opposite of your initial plans. It never prevented us from accomplishing our large goal of completing the AT but often it was not at all how we planned it. And that was OK.

So whatever set backs you may be experiencing, remember it all about the journey and adapting to what is happening in your life. The end goal will be there waiting for you. You will get it. You will achieve it.

God Bless You,
Evey