TOUGH NUT TO CRACK
Trainer’s program gets results — for her dad
I wanted to tell the truth. Sometimes there is a little bit of sacrifice that goes in, and you have to make choices.
If a man who won’t give up beer, carries an extra 40 pounds and travels extensively for work can lose weight, so can you.
That is the message behind a new book called Reality Fitness, penned by Edmonton personal trainer Angela deJong, who helped her father, Terry Thachuk, lose major weight and get fit while still enjoying life’s treats. The program deJong custom-designed for her dad proved so successful that she has applied the regimen to dozens of clients, with similar results. She hopes Reality Fitness will lead others to benefit from her approach.
The new book, a thick tome with a frothy beer and a chilled water bottle on the front, takes a practical approach to getting more fit and less fat. But it doesn’t sugarcoat the effort — hard work is required to modify lifestyle and achieve sustainable results. The key is to introduce new habits slowly and to recognize that real change takes time.
“Lots of books out there say it’s easy and all you have to do is have a balanced lifestyle,” says deJong, 39, who has been pushing health and fitness for more than 15 years. “But I wanted to tell the truth. Sometimes there is a little bit of sacrifice that goes in, and you have to make choices.”
DeJong says her dad was like a lot of people. He would panic about the expansion of his waistline, and leap into fad programs (including juicing, which lead to an even greater weight gain). Regularly, he made frantic phone calls to his daughter for advice, but he couldn’t stick to a program.
“The hardest thing was to hold myself accountable to do it,” said Thachuk in a phone interview from his home in Arizona, where he is now retired. “I had an active life. I was travelling around the world. It was hard to be accountable when I was away.”
Change didn’t happen overnight, but a gradual shift in his eating and exercise habits eventually made it possible for Thachuk to do things like excuse himself from work dinners with colleagues while on the road, and to buy healthy groceries at the store and eat alone in his hotel room instead.
It took Thachuk eight months to make the changes, and to lose 40 pounds, by creating a solid foundation of good nutrition and sensible exercise. He has now kept that weight off for more than five years.
There are two parts to the Reality Fitness program — food and exercise. For Thachuk, each diet or exercise change had to be firmly in place for two weeks, and executed 80 per cent of the time, before deJong would let him move to the next change.
One challenge, for instance, was to drink three litres of water a day. Another was to use a pedometer faithfully to record 10,000 steps a day. Tkachuk used a spread sheet to keep close track of diet and exercise.
“Having these trackable habits that I created for him meant he felt good about himself, and he would be proud (of accomplishing them),” says deJong. “That gave him a sense of success.”
Tracking food and fitness changes also took the emphasis off weight loss. Success was not measured on the weigh scale, but rather by executing the lifestyle changes.
DeJong says there are three key fitness elements outlined in Reality Fitness. The first is to aim for consistency rather than intensity.
“I would rather people be consistent with their exercise, rather than kill themselves and not want to go back to the gym,” she said.
The second component is weight training, which is vital for fitness and weight loss. Weightlifting helps maintain and increase muscle mass and also gives your heart and lungs a workout.
“Most people who want to lose weight go to the gym and ride the bike or elliptical,” said deJong. “If you don’t have a lot of time, you’re getting a better bang for your buck if you weight train.”
The third fitness priority is emphasizing form over the amount of weight lifted.
“Heavy weight is ideal, but you need to have proper technique at first,” said deJong, who recommends clients invest in a personal trainer for even a few sessions to make sure they are weight training properly.
Thachuk followed his daughter’s exercise advice. He also made significant shifts in his approach to eating, but insisted on keeping a few treats, such as beer, in his program. So while it took a little longer for Thachuk to lose the weight, he was happier along the way.
Other key dietary changes for Tkachuk were eating breakfast within an hour of waking, and having two small snacks (such as a handful of nuts or a half-cup of plain yogurt) in the morning and afternoon. He also got into the habit of drinking three litres of water (herbal tea and bubbly waters such as Perrier count as water) each day, which helped make him feel full.
Thachuk says changing lifelong habits, such as eating large portion sizes and dining too much in restaurants, was very tough.
“The hardest thing is to discontinue the things you have done all your life,” he said. “It’s hard to change your habits. But once you do, you’re golden.”