COLUMN BY RICK FORGIONE —
I knew it was going to happen eventually. But I still wasn’t prepared for it.
After five weeks of intense training — and losing 36 pounds in the process — I’ve hit a major wall the past two weeks.
Major being that I’ve actually gained 3 pounds during that timespan and lost a lot of self-confidence and momentum along the way.
Standing on that scale last week and seeing an increase was extremely frustrating and disappointing. I feel like I not only let myself down, but also my trainer Chris Tybor, my entire ChrisFit family who have been so supportive and everyone else reading this column.
I’m not looking for a pity party. I knew when I took on this challenge that every week wouldn’t end in triumph. If it were that easy, this column wouldn’t exist.
The real questions are what went wrong and where do I go from here.
Luckily, I have Chris to help me find the answers.
He looked me straight in the eyes and said I’m doing everything he’s asked me to do at the gym during my physical training. He has no complaints.
The problem is coming from a different type of lifting — that is, lifting food into my mouth.
Weeks ago, Chris put me on a flexible eating plan designed to meet specific goals for calories, carbs, protein and fat per day. To help me keep track, he suggested using a free website called www.fitday.com.
For the first few weeks, it worked well. Then I missed logging a meal here or there, but was pretty sure (in my head) that I was hitting my numbers. Last week, I only logged in three of the days. Truth is, I had a lot going on and I really thought I didn’t have time to prepare and balance out full meals to get me through a few of the days. So I guestimated what I was eating and just tried my best to stay away from anything too unhealthy (though I admit sometime over the stressful weekend, a bag of Doritos and a few cookies were consumed).
Chris doesn’t yell, at least I have not seen him do so. But he doesn’t sugarcoat things either. He sat me down and explained that overeating or undereating — yes, I have been doing that too — is negating all of the hard work I am putting in at the gym by putting my body at war with itself. Without making me feel like a failure, he stressed that staying the course, both in the gym and at the dinner table, is the only way this is going to work.
After the pep talk, he helped me forget about the scale by introducing me to “Ladder Set Tuesdays.” Basically, these consist of doing two exercise stations back to back, for example bar pulldowns followed by bench presses, starting with sets of 10 repetitions, then sets of 9, 8, 7 ... and working all the way down to 1 — for a total of 55 repetitions at each station, all without taking a break.
Thirty minutes later, I felt great and had almost forgotten about the +3. Then I finished off another 30 minutes of cardio using the Elliptical training machine for the first time.
As I left the gym feeling tired and sore, I realized the beating Chris just delivered to me was to show that the scale isn’t the only measure of success. Two weeks ago (and three pounds lighter) I probably couldn’t have destroyed Ladder Set Tuesday and still have enough to take on the Elliptical.
So maybe in every loss, there’s also a gain — or in this case, in every gain there’s also a gain.
Shortly after I left the gym, Chris sent me a text message.
“Stay strong. Just let today show you how important nutrition is.”
I printed the message out and stuck it on my refrigerator.
In Chris I trust.
Rick Forgione is city editor of the Niagara Gazette. He can be reached at 282-2311, ext. 2257.
Check them out
To learn more about ChrisFit Personal Training, 2423 Hyde Park Blvd., call 818-0078 or visit www.chrisfit.net.
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