One Man's Pilgrimage to Fitness

I played sports with youth and vigor during high school. I ran 3 to 5 miles every day and lifted weights three times a week. Staying in shape when you are young is quite easy since you have such an abundance of energy. As an adult, the cumulative stresses and time constraints of trying to be a business owner, a husband and the father of two had left me feeling exhausted.

AWARENESS

For a while I felt slow and lethargic, with no energy or desire to do anything active. My back ached due to the fact that I was 275 pounds, busting out of my 38inch pants and still growing. I was caught in the downward spiral of going to work, coming home and falling asleep on the couch by 9 pm. One day while my family was on vacation in Michigan visiting relatives, I decided that it was time to do something about my situation. My family was young and my father had died of a massive heart attack at age 58. I figured I did not get in this situation overnight and it would take some time to get out of it.

ACTION

My father-in-law had done well on the "Protein" diet so I thought I would give it a try. Thirty-two days later I was thirty-two pounds lighter. Magic! I must admit that I felt great, almost like I was sixteen again. Unfortunately the "Protein" diet is certainly not a long-term sustainable life style change. If you have ever taken biochemistry, you will quickly realize that it is essentially phase one of starvation. One of the drawbacks to this process is that your body shuts down its' metabolism to conserve energy. I am not advocating it or dismissing it as a valid tool. I feel it is best as an intervention to help obese inactive people get to a weight level where they can safely increase their activity. What is right on target is the fundamental theory of regulating insulin and blood sugar levels and how these relate to weight gain and weight loss as evidenced by the fact that you can lose weight lying on the couch. Three months later I had gained back 10 pounds. I had assembled one piece of the puzzle but I still could not see the big picture.

ACTIVITY

Having lost 32 pounds without physical activity led me to understand that I really needed to do something active. I had to find something I could do without great preparation, almost spontaneously indoors or out, preferably while doing something else like watching the morning or nightly news. I also wanted to do something that was low impact. Our company had been manufacturing the OOOF Ball for years. I knew that Al Vermeil, Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Chicago Bulls, had used OOOF Ball as a cornerstone of their program during all of their championship seasons. I also knew that hundreds of other professional athletes and teams in every major sport including golf were using it. But how? As the manufacturer, I thought I should learn something about it. This is what I have learned:

1) OOOF Ball training utilizes all of your major muscle groups including your butt, thighs and abdomen. All the core muscles get worked simultaneously. This increases metabolism and heart rate, resulting in a higher number of calories being burned.

2) Everyone, from young to old, fitness enthusiasts to Olympians and even professional athletes, can benefit from the OOOF Ball while training at their own level.

3) Unlike weight training, flexibility is increased while you get a well-balanced workout combining both cardio and resistive elements.

I started doing Russian Twists, Big Circles and Squat Presses; 5 minutes here and there, a few before work, on the speakerphone at work, watching the news at night and just before bed. A few weeks later, I had firmed up my middle and my pants were not as stressed at the waist. At this time, I incorporated some floor work too. I was on the way. The more I did, the better I was feeling but while I had firmed and tightened, I had not lost weight.

NUTRITION

I went back on the Protein diet for two more weeks and lost nothing. In order to survive, you have to eat, but what? Can you eat more and increase your metabolism? The answer is yes! I did some reading and found that eating small meals 5 to 6 times a day, 250 to 400 calories each meal through the day would increase metabolism. So I did this but still was not sure what to eat.

Then I found the Glycemic Index. This index rates foods relative to glucose and how fast they are digested and transferred to the bloodstream. All foods are tested and rated comparatively to Glucose since your body has to do nothing to digest it. The concept is simple; eat foods that are slower and harder to digest. This provides energy and regulates blood sugar levels over a longer period of time. More information on this topic is readily available on the Internet. What you will learn is that very small changes in what you eat result in dramatic changes in how you feel and how much you weigh.

WELLNESS

Diet need not be a four-letter word!

DIET

1 a: food and drink regularly provided or consumed
b: habitual nourishment

Merriam-Webster

Having lost 85 pounds over the course of a year, I can assure you that what you eat is much more important than how much you eat. The word diet has been maligned to mean how little we eat rather than what we eat. In the five decades since the end of the Second World War, what we eat has changed more than it did in the previous 5 centuries. Society in general has become more sedentary. An increase in consumption of processed sugar foretells the increase in heart attack rates for the general population. For decades now, we have been told to eat this or don't eat that with little effect on the public health. I am pleased to say that at age 39 and 85 pounds lighter, I play OOOF Tennis once a week and ride bikes again with my son. By combining a common sense nutrition plan with a fitness plan that is fun and variable I have achieved a wellness plan that is a sustainable lifestyle rather than a temporary quick fix.

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