It’s estimated that $40 billion is spent each year on diets and weight reduction so a person can transform into a new slimmer and trimmer version of their former self. A transformation is the act or process of changing into something different, usually into something with an improved appearance or usefulness. Gold’s Gym, in conjunction with dotFit, recently held its Transformation Challenge 2011 to motivate individuals to make a difference in their own lives. Almost 50 men and 40 women took the challenge to not only lose weight, but also lower their body fat percentage and improve their physical appearance.
I decided to join because my health had suffered due to a year-old shoulder injury that limited my movement and forced me to stop exercising months ago. The pain would cause me to wake up several times each night and to be tired the next day. I’d seen two doctors and a chiropractor to get help and consigned myself to the suffering as a part of getting old. To add to my health problems, my blood pressure was labeled as pre-hypertension.
So here I was, an aging, out of shape man in his mid-fifties trying to kick start my body. I forced myself to begin exercising, even though it was very difficult at first. At the time I could only do a maximum of 16 push-ups, 70 sit-ups and not one pull-up due to my shoulder injury.
Even though I didn’t look “fat” at my starting weight of 170.6 pounds, my body fat percentage was on the borderline of being overweight at 25.6 percent and my pants were fitting a little too snug. The Challenge motivated me to develop a new lifestyle that included regular exercise and better eating habits.
I watched several videos of the pioneer fitness leader Jack LaLanne, who passed away a few months ago, and I noticed that he repeated certain principles over and over, so I tried to live by them. One of his witticisms was: “If man made it, don’t eat it.” In other words, if it had a nutritional label on it, avoid it.
This meant I didn’t open a can, box, or package to eat something and instead primarily ate fresh fruits and vegetables I bought at the local markets. I also ate small portions of lean meats such as chicken and fish. Another simple principle I lived by was to avoid any white stuff, such as refined sugar, salt, rice, potatoes, pasta, and bread products (although I did succumb to some great tasting brownies and a slice of homemade blueberry pie).
Another principle LaLanne repeated was: “Your waistline is your lifeline.” This meant that I focused on proper nutrition and regular exercise with not only the goal to lose weight, but to reduce my waistline and body fat percentage. My starting waist measurement was 37.5 inches. We have a scale that measures both weight and body fat percentage so every day I would get on it and record my results in a spreadsheet to track my progress. I started an exercise routine that included stretching, and walking or jogging 3 to 5 miles, three times each week. I also used weights and my body weight to exercise three times a week. Each week I recorded the maximum number of sit-ups, push-ups, and pull-ups I could perform.
The Challenge lasted 12 weeks and by the final weigh-in on April 16th, I was down to 142.4 pounds (28.2 pound loss), which is about what I weighed in high school. My waist was 30.75 inches, and I could start to see a six-pack that I’d lost decades ago. My body fat percentage went to a healthy 17.3 percent, although the body fat machine recorded 8.8 percent. My blood pressure is now normal, I have more energy, the pain in my shoulder has greatly diminished, and I’m sleeping through the night. In addition, all my pants are fitting too loose and I’m using the last hole on my belt to keep them up. My physical transformation included being able to do over 80 push-ups at one time, over 200 sit-ups in 5 minutes, and 50 pull-ups in 3 minutes – and I’m still trying to better those numbers.
My results were good enough to earn me second place in the 40 and above men’s division, which included cash and prizes from Trench Tech, Subway Sandwiches, and Gold’s Gym. The real challenge will be to keep the weight off and even continue to see more improvement. As a final take-away, I believe that any transformation – whether it is physical, intellectual, financial, or spiritual – requires three key components to realize a specific goal: 1) a real desire and commitment to achieve the goal no matter what, 2) understanding and living by correct principles for the particular area you want to improve, and 3) consistent and persistent effort following the principles and regularly monitoring results in order to be held accountable.
I hope this article shows that it is never too late to accomplish a goal and that any improvement is worth recognizing and celebrating. I would like to thank all the sponsors that made the Transformation Challenge possible and congratulate all those who participated in the Gold’s Gym Transformation Challenge. Good luck to continued improvement in the coming months.
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