Dead Fit - 3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

On Tuesday afternoon, I had a training session with my favorite client, Trevor. Trevor was my first client and had stuck loyally with me for the two months I had been employed at the gym, even though he could have asked for a more experienced trainer. He was also my favorite because his goal was straightforward. Trevor wanted to lose 25 pounds in time for his wedding. The first 17 pounds were easy to lose, but then he hit the wall in his weight loss program. With less than a month until his wedding, he was struggling to find the motivation to shed the last eight pounds.

For most people, carrying an extra eight pounds of weight wouldn’t be a big deal. But standing at nearly six feet tall, with a rail-thin frame, carrying the extra weight was definitely noticeable. To make matters worse, he was convinced that he could lose the weight before the wedding and ordered his custom tailored tuxedo pants two sizes smaller than usual.

Prior to hiring me as his trainer, Trevor attempted to lose weight through cardiovascular activity, mainly jogging. Like most people, Trevor assumed aerobic activity was the best way to burn calories. In actuality, aerobic exercise is great for burning calories, but only while the activity is being performed. In contrast, anaerobic activity that builds muscle, like lifting weights, burns calories for a significant period of time after the activity has stopped. The best way for Trevor to burn calories was a combination of weight lifting and aerobic exercise.

In just two short months with Trevor, though, I had managed to adjust his routine so that three-quarters of his workout time was spent lifting weights and building muscle, while just one-quarter of his time would be on a treadmill or stationary bike. He took well to the adjustment; unfortunately, his weight loss leveled off after only a few weeks and we needed to make some changes to his routine if he wanted to lose any more weight.

Trevor checked in with Ana at the front desk. As he walked towards me, I could see on his face that he was frustrated with his progress, or lack thereof.

“How’s it going,” I asked Trevor.

“Oh, not so good,” he said. Trevor sounded a little like Eeyore when he wasn’t happy. “I’m trying really hard to knock off the last few pounds, but I just don’t think I can do it. The wedding is in three weeks and both of us are now eating like pigs because we’re stressed. I don’t even want to get on the scale.”

“It can’t be that bad. Let’s get on the scale and see where you’re at.”

Trevor gave me a “hell no” look, but stepped on the scale anyway. The digital reading stopped at 160. He had gained two pounds since last I saw him. I was hoping Trevor’s weight gain could be explained by an increase in his muscle mass, but his body fat percentage was a little higher than the previous time he was in.

As a personal trainer, it's my responsibility to build the confidence of my clients, even if I thought the odds were stacked against them. In Trevor’s case, the odds were stacked so high against him, I was afraid the chips would topple, but I pulled out my optimism anyway. “Okay, so we have about 15 days to lose ten pounds. You can do it. We’ve hit a little bit of a plateau in your routine, nothing we can't overcome.”

“Thanks for the encouragement. If worse comes to worse, I have a backup plan. I purchased a pair of black pants that fit me. I can always wear them with my tuxedo jacket if I don’t end up losing the weight. The missus will be disappointed that her wedding wasn’t perfect, but hey, what can I do?”

“You don’t mean that, Trevor,” I said.

“Yea, you’re right. It’s just frustrating right now. I feel like a failure.”

“Let’s just go through our workout today and then we can come up with a plan to get you back on course,” I said. Even in my short time at the gym, I’d already seen the pattern enough to recognize it. People come into the gym feeling a little depressed about their lack of progress towards their goals. Get them on the equipment for an hour and their mood changes for the better. By the end of the workout, you can convince clients they're ready to conquer the world again. They just needed to stop thinking about their goal and start moving towards it. A basic principle of human motivation.

We did an upper body workout for 30 minutes and hit the treadmill for another 10 minutes. When Trevor finished his run, we sat down and completed a proper cool down, with stretches and all. As I suspected, his mood was remarkably improved by the end of our session. While he was still high on the endorphins released during exercise, I decided to take advantage of the moment and apply a little tough love.

“Alright, Trevor, if you want to get down to 150 pounds by your wedding day, we’re going to have to modify your plan a little bit. Up until now, you’ve had success losing weight by working out. These last few pounds are going to have to be done through a combination of exercise and a better diet.”

Trevor groaned. While he didn’t necessarily consume a lot, what he did ingest was horrible. Trevor loved eating fast food and drinking sugar-packed beverages. The first day I met him, he made it clear he wasn’t willing to change his dietary habits to lose weight. At that time, I thought we were going to be able to reach his goal through exercise alone. Foolish notion on my part.

We finished stretching and walked back to my desk. I pulled out my handy-dandy metabolic rate and total daily calorie needs formulas. Based on Trevor’s level of activity, height, weight, and age, he needed to consume around 2,400 calories per day, just for maintenance. To loose weight, we’d have to cut back down to 2,000 or fewer calories per day. While I was making my calculations, I could see Trevor fidgeting across from me, anxiously awaiting my recommendation.

“It’s not bad, I promise. I figure if you can get your caloric intake down to roughly 2,000 calories per day, and keep working out three times a week, you'll hit your goal in time for your wedding. Now let's figure out what you need to cut from you diet. I’m going to have you fill out this meal log for me with what you typically consume in a week, and then we’ll make some minor tweaks to reduce your calories. It doesn’t have to be drastic.”

Trevor completed the log and when he returned it to me, my optimism faded. His meals were heavily weighted with corn syrup, starches, and grease. I started off with the easy changes; no more sugar and half-and-half in coffee, brown rice instead of white, diet cola and water instead of regular soda. Then I moved on to the more difficult changes. Grilled chicken breasts in place of fried chicken fingers, garden salads instead of potatoes, and fast food only two times a month.

I returned his food log to him with my recommended changes. The look on Trevor’s face showed he wasn’t pleased with my suggestions. “This is only for the next two and a half weeks, right? Once the wedding’s over, I can go back to normal?”

I smiled, “Nice try. Remember, we want to make long-term lifestyle changes. These are quick little fixes to get you to your goal for the wedding. But once you get back from your honeymoon, we’ll come up with a new plan to help you keep a healthy weight.”

Trevor didn’t look thrilled, but at least he looked better than when he first walked through the door. I wrote down my cell phone on the back of one of my business cards and handed it to Trevor as he was leaving. “This is just in case you have a meltdown when I’m not here at work. Feel free to call me on my cell phone and I’ll talk you through it.”

“Good idea. I’m sure I’ll need it.”