THE OBESITY OLYMPICS STORY MISLEADING
This program aired on 20/20 on Friday, 7 January 2005. The producers took two volunteer families with very obese parents and children and put them on an intense, closely monitored, makeover in terms of diet and exercise. Each family was assigned an Olympian as a coach or personal trainer. They were given a wide battery of tests. They were given access to a full complement of exercise equipment. They had a dietician who monitored and advised both families on dietary changes. Both families did continue with their employment and school activities – but were otherwise committed to this exercise and diet regimen for two months. The improvement in both weight and overall health was dramatic!
While this program showed a Rockyesque drama of self-improvement, determination, and strength of will prevailing for otherwise ordinary blue collar set of underdogs, this just doesn’t translate into real life for most people. Reality 101 – if you please:
1] Most people don’t have ready access to the scale and quality of coaching and resources available to the two families.
2] Most people – especially in families - lack control over diets. This is especially true with teens and older children who decide on exercise regimens. Calorie rich foods are the mainstay of lower income people making it even harder for at risk families.
3] There is next to no emotional support for those engaging in exercise regimens. We are a society that emphasizes drugs and feasting: instant gratification. If you are not an elite athlete or serious aspirant you will be a social outcast – nearly all emotional support will come from self or other outcasts. Consider a life-long exercise regimen as a personal quest or pilgrimage; others will.
A serious life-long physical fitness exercise regimen is the single most effective way for kids to prevent or minimize drug dependencies in later life. That’s because over 80% of drug dependencies are related to medicinal use – or over reliance – and most of these problems can be mitigated with regular exercise. The single best tool for maintaining this regimen – other than determination – is a fitness log that tracks your workouts. This log takes the place of a coach. The log will track your improvement over time – taking the place of the emotional support you won’t get from peer groups and family.
An exercise regimen takes a minimum of 60 days to produce permanent effects on health. The goal is an average of 40 minutes daily with an average of six workouts each week. Within a week of the 20/20 program the minimum exercise guidelines were revised upwards from three workouts of half an hour to half an hour daily average. They also suggested 60 to 90 minutes daily average “to maintain weight loss”. This other guideline provoked negative reactions from fitness advocates – including myself. Most elite athletes are hard pressed to do 60 to 90 minutes of vigorous exercise that promotes cardiovascular health – and that’s their job. How can they possibly expect the average person to do that? If you examine the “conversions” article on my training log web page you will note that the log is set up for running with conversions necessary for alternative forms of exercise. Consider the fact that the most popular method of exercise – especially among people over 45, who are finally reconsidering an exercise regimen – is walking. Most people walk because they either have debilitating health problems that make running counterproductive or are not in condition to exercise at that intensity. A good rule of thumb for walking is to convert each two minutes of walking to one minute of running – if done at moderate walking pace. That translates to 30 to 45 minutes of running at moderate pace. This is consistent with their recommendation of 30 minutes of daily exercise.
Diet and exercise work together. However, you are much more likely to produce better dietary habits through exercise than better exercise habits through diet. Vigorous exercise produces endorphins that reduce stress. When your stress level is lower you generally eat less than when it is higher. While weight loss can translate into less bulk to carry around, it doesn’t always translate into higher energy levels – or less stress. Besides, most experts agree that if you do 55 minutes of vigorous exercise daily – what you eat is mostly irrelevant. But then again you may have to adjust your calorie intake downwards in order to do the 55 minutes.
Don’t even bother with setting specific goals in either exercise capacity or weight loss – especially if you have made a life-long commitment to a vigorous physical fitness regimen. The only thing that setting goals will do is produce a sense of failure if you don’t meet them. Goals can also interfere with the decision to scale back workouts when you overreach. What good is a physical fitness regimen if you spend a substantial amount of time injured or sick? If it feels good step up your workouts and push yourself. If it doesn’t feel good back down and do easier workouts at a more comfortable pace. The same holds true for weight loss. What good is losing weight – if you just gain it back when you “go off the diet”?