My Time Away From Fitness and Exercise

Hello to everyone reading this! I wanted to write a follow up to What I Learned During My Fit2Fat2Fit Challenge and write about some of my observations during my time away from fitness and exercise.

Since I had spent over a year away from the "fitness world", I began to see things through the eyes of an outsider and let me tell you; our world (the fitness world) can be intimidating, confusing, misleading, and unorganized. The people who were "hardcore" seemed annoying, cocky, full of themselves and unapproachable, trainers lacked communication (mainly listening) skills, and there was so much misinformation online that it's no wonder people buy into phony gimmicks. I can see why the average person has trouble sticking to a program and/or reaching their fitness and exercise goals.

What Outsiders See

*When I refer to outsiders, I am referring to those who do not participate in physical activity regularly or at all.

When outsiders look at the world of fitness, they see something much different than those on the inside see. They look at the TV and see dozens of infomercials for DVD's, shake weights, belts, creams, wraps, etc. They see tons of shredded fitness models and body builders, promises of new life through supplements and "magic" pills, and stories of triumph and glory. When outsiders look at the world of fitness, they see hope. This hope can quickly diminish because of the state and complexity of the current fitness world and the misinformation some have presented to the outsiders. If the outsider is not serious about this journey or if they lack the motivation to seek truth, this journey can end rather quickly. Things are not as easy as the infomercials and magazine articles have led many to believe. 

Misinformation and Information Overload

If you run a search online for the best exercise to do, you will find a different answer on each page that pops up. If you run a search for the best style of training (HIIT, CrossFit, Bodybuilding, Powerlifting etc) you will also find a different answer on each page that pops up. If you run a search for the best diet or meal plan, again, you will find a different answer on each page that pops up. Why does every page differ? How do you know which one REALLY is the best? With so much information online, you can literally think yourself into and out of each and every program.

The world of fitness and exercise has become extremely overcomplicated. The reason is because people do not take the time to educate themselves on the BASICS and FUNDAMENTAL principles of nutrition and exercise science. With some background, you should be able to sift through the BS and make an educated decision on what is right and what is wrong.

During my transition from Fat 2 Fit, if it wasn't because I had previous knowledge and a background in exercise science, there is no doubt that I would have failed miserably. With all the information online, I would have had no idea where to turn. Once an outsider realizes that the infomercials were wrong and the diet pills didn't work, they will be lost. To the trainer they go!

Issues With Personal Trainers

I spoke with many people who had previously worked with a Personal Trainer and a common issue was that the trainer lacked communication (mainly listening) skills. If a trainer is not willing to listen or try and understand what their client is saying/asking, the goals of the client will not be met and the trainer/client relationship will fail. Too many trainers think that they know it all and they will push their clients beyond their limits and this is wrong.

Trainers: If your client is complaining about knee pain during squats, DO NOT continue the exercise or set. Clearly there is a reason why their knee is hurting and as a trainer you need to take a deeper look into WHY!

Along with speaking to these people, I also reached out to various Personal Trainers. I did not let them know who I was or what I was doing, all I did was request some information and ask about their background and approach to training. I was floored to see how many trainers had absolutely no idea what they were talking about or what they were doing. Are these people serious? Who educated them? Where did they get their information? I was flat out embarrassed by the quality of trainers you find in your typical box gym. So now what, where do we turn??

In The End

Of course not all trainers are bad and not all information is wrong, but you can find a lot of both in this "Fitness World". My time as an outsider taught me to always pay attention to how I communicate with my clients, continue to further my education as a trainer, and return to some of the basic principles. It reminded me to always do my best to spread accurate information and to train people to learn the difference between accurate and inaccurate information.

If you are reading this post today, it is because you seek truth and understanding when it comes to fitness and exercise. I congratulate and thank you for wanting to educate yourself. As a community we all need to do a better job of spreading accurate information for the good of EVERYONE. We need to come together and motivate each other to become better because we all have a common goal, and that is to live a healthier and more satisfying life.

If you would like to learn more about some of the basics of health, fitness, and exercise feel free to contact me at any time! Trainers welcome :) .

What I Learned During My Fit2Fat2Fit Challenge

Hello everyone! It's great to be back and writing again. I took some time away from the blog to focus on my career and new ventures, but I am excited to be back.

As some of you may know, one of my clients had previously challenged me to try Fit2Fat2Fit. For those of you who are not aware of what that is, it is basically a challenge for me to go from being fit (in shape), to fat (out of shape), and back to fit again. The purpose of this is for Personal Trainers/Coaches/Etc., to experience first hand what it is like to be overweight and to try and become fit once again. I accepted the challenge and I am very glad that I did because I gained a TON of insight and was able to experience some of the struggles that come with being overweight and unhealthy.

Accepting The Challenge

When I accepted the challenge I understood that I was not to participate in any physical activity or exercise, and I was able to eat whatever I wanted. This sounded like a terrific idea! For the majority of my life I had strict eating habits, was constantly active, and loved trying new physical activities so the thought of finally stepping away from that was exciting but also a bit scary. This meant that for the first time in my life I could basically do whatever I wanted to do without any regard to how my body would react, but little did I know it would be more than just my body that would react....

I started my journey at a weight of 185 pounds and 10% body fat. I was happy with my body and felt confident with any type of physical activity. My strength levels were good, I had decent aerobic capacity, and my blood levels were great- meaning, I was very healthy. As for my mental and social health, I was sharp, confident, socially active, and for the most part I had great self control. I had no idea that EVERYTHING was about to change.

FIT 2 FAT

As I mentioned earlier, before I accepted the challenge I was always physically active and followed strict eating habits. Because of this, it took a while for my metabolism to slow down and for me to start gaining weight. I began eating a ton of fried foods, pastries, candy, drinking pop, beer, etc... I really did not care how much I ate or drank at first, but as time went on I realized that this became a habit and an addiction. I suddenly found myself addicted to certain types of food/drinks and once I had a craving, I would not be satisfied until I ate or drank what I wanted. I no longer had self control.

For the first time ever I realized that food addiction was real and I was experiencing it. It got to a point where all I could think about was food, food, food. Even after I ate, I still felt hungry. New habits were forming and I continued to let myself fall in love with them. As soon as I'd get home from work, I'd lay in my bed and eat a ton of snacks- this became my daily routine.

Along with my new food addiction, I also began to develop some major self confidence issues. As I would look in the mirror I started to notice some fat accumulating around my face and stomach area; this was something I had never seen on myself before. My clothes began fitting much tighter and soon I couldn't even fit into my pants at all. I was not confident being the person that I saw in the mirror

Now I have a food addiction, self confidence issues, I can't fit into my clothes, and soon enough I begin having health issues. For the first time in my life I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, EXTREMELY high triglycerides, high body fat, constant lethargy, etc. Any and all type of motivation for anything other than eating and laying down is non-existent. I am a completely different person.

Key Stats: My body fat percentage went from 10% to 29.1%, my weight went from 185 pounds to 230 pounds, and my pants size went from a 34 to a 38. 

Fat 2 Fit

I will be completely honest, it was much harder than I ever expected to go from Fat 2 Fit and I even had some set backs. The struggle was much more than just a physical one. Mentally I did not and could not motivate myself to exercise and eat right. There was no way that I could just get it into my head to do what I knew I needed to do. Physically, it was hard to do certain things because of the weight I added, the feeling of lethargy, and the constant body aches and soreness I had from laying in bed. Mentally, I could not make myself do anything or even THINK about doing anything productive.

Once I realized that I had to change my ENTIRE lifestyle, that's when things started to change. I had to look for motivation from the outside because everything inside of me told me to be lazy, eat my life away, and feel sorry for myself. I began letting people know about the challenge because now my credibility was at stake. There is no way that as a Personal Trainer I could stay like this forever! I started reading more about fitness and exercise, followed a ton of fitness models and motivational pages on Facebook and Instagram, and changed the way I shopped for groceries.

Even after a few weeks of exercise, I still found myself occasionally craving some junky food but I did my best to avoid it and use it as a reward. My life literally became everything fitness and everything exercise once again.

 **This was me going from Fat 2 Fit.

What I Learned

• Food addiction is real and it is very difficult to overcome.
• Being overweight affects your thought process (I had difficulty focusing,concentrating, and making decisions), hinders you physically, makes you less self confident (I wanted to avoid anything social and found myself frequently depressed), and overall lowers your quality of life.
• Self-motivation is not always possible and you cant "just do it".
• With exercise; even though your mind wants to, sometimes your body just can't and vice versa.
• The only way to really change your mind and body is to completely change your lifestyle.

Closing Notes

I am very glad that I accepted this challenge and that I am now able to understand some of the struggles that come with being overweight and how they relate to fitness and exercise. This journey was much harder than I thought it would be and I learned a lot more because of it. I now look at my clients differently and have learned new ways to motivate them and approach their battle with weight/fat loss. As always if you are interested in losing weight or in taking your health more serious, feel free to contact me at any time! Be on the look out for my next post! I will update you all with the title shortly. Have a great one and be well!