Carole Carson

Fitness: A Success or a Work in Process?

I promote fitness through writing, speaking and coaching the AARP Fat 2 Fit online community, yet my efforts to become fit are far from perfect. And if perfection were the standard against which my efforts were judged, while I might not classify my endeavor as a failed project, I could not claim total success either.

In fairness to me, given that I spent 40 years gaining weight and only the last few years promoting fitness and weight loss, I’m doing reasonably well. I also take comfort knowing that my example has contributed to others becoming more fit and possibly extending their lives.

Still, the nagging questions keep surfacing: How should I judge my efforts? What are my criteria?

When I tried to answer these questions, I realized I had only the vaguest notion of what constitutes success. Consequently, I began analyzing the nature of success and concluded the following:

• Success can be defined only by me, not by my spouse, my parents or any other person.

• Success is a feeling, not the physical trappings, awards or recognition that others consider the benchmarks of success.

• Success at any price may not be worth it.

• Success is a dynamic process of attaining, not a fixed state. I define and redefine my fitness goals as I make day-to-day decisions.

• Success occurs in steps. Experiments and setbacks help me determine what is needed next. The results—both successful ones and failed attempts—provide useful information.

• Success can be learned. I am not failing as long as I am learning new ideas, experimenting and moving forward.

• Everyone has a few failures under his or her belt.

• Success is best achieved when goals are not so high that they are impossible to reach or so low that they fail to challenge.

• Success is, in the final analysis, being honest and present with myself.

After I explored my own ideas on success, I thought it might be worthwhile to see how others define success. The thinking of two people, Basketball Hall of Fame coach John Wooden and author Maya Angelou, resonated with me.

In his book Beyond Success, John Wooden asserts that the score at the end of the game isn’t the defining measure of success. In his view, the measure of our success is whether “we’ve given our best to become the best of which we were capable.” John’s view of success relies heavily on internal leadership—that is, self-coaching and self-talk that keeps us on track.

Maya Angelou defines success as liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it.

John’s and Maya’s definitions of success make me more comfortable with my progress and achievements. I am wholly committed to becoming the best of which I am capable. And, at least most of the time, I like myself, like what I do and like how I do it.

What about you? If by chance you are discouraged by your current lack of progress, remember the observation of Mike Ditka: “Success isn't permanent, and failure isn't fatal.”

As long as we have a tomorrow, we have an opportunity for a fresh start.

The Bareable Lightness of Being a Thinner Me

When I stepped on the bathroom scale, I saw the numbers racing upward—153—168—174—before stopping at 183 pounds. I was shocked at the number. The word “flabbergasted” took on new meaning.

Then the scale broke. My options were limited: either I was way too short (5 feet 1 inch) for my weight or I was fat and seriously out of shape.

I interpreted the broken scale as an unmistakable message from the Universe. Alone, naked and mortified, I looked up at the ceiling and said aloud, “I get it.” In that instant, I knew it was time to get fit and lose weight. Little did I know that in the six-month process of losing 63 pounds, I would lighten my spirit far more than my body. The more weight I lost, the more self-respect I gained. In the course of getting fit, I found thinner peace.

When I dropped the surplus pounds encasing me, I slipped out of the chains that were holding me back and raced toward my life’s work. Stepping out in an entirely new way, I began writing, speaking and encouraging others to adopt healthier habits. When I offered to help neighbors and friends get fit and lose weight in my small northern California community, I was surprised when over a thousand people showed up for our first meeting. Even more amazing, we lost four tons in eight weeks.

Having found my voice, I’ve since written four books and hundreds of articles on fitness (the Wall Street Journal dubbed me “An Apostle for Fitness”), and I serve as the coach for the AARP Fat 2 Fit online community. How ironic that the lighter my body is, the larger my presence.

When I decided to lose weight and get fit, could I have imagined what the future would hold? Never in my wildest dreams!

Given this life-transforming experience, I was eager to talk to Dr. Judith Rich, a well-known teacher in the field of transformation and consciousness. I wanted to quiz her about the relationship between spiritual and physical well-being. My questions and her responses follow.

Q. Does caring for our physical bodies trigger an impulse to care for our spiritual self?

A. Here in the West, we tend to think of body, mind and spirit as three distinct entities. The mind is the seat of thought that resides in the head and functions separately from the rest of the body. Yet Eastern traditions teach that the body is the mind and vice versa. I tend to see the concept of self this way. In this context then, taking care of the body is one way of expressing love for one’s higher or spiritual self.

Q. Is getting fit and losing weight a challenge and difficulty that we can use to help us grow?

A. Undoubtedly! Anytime we stretch ourselves beyond our expectations, we grow. In the process, we empower ourselves by building courage, gaining self-confidence and learning to trust in our abilities.

Gamble Your Way to Fitness

When it comes to health, you have no control over the hand you’re dealt; however, you can choose how to play it. If you’re overweight and out of shape, the odds for achieving optimum health are definitely stacked against you. But you hold the trump card. By gambling your way to fitness, you can realize a sizable payoff.

Successful gamblers avoid long shots when it comes to health. Here are three winning strategies for getting FIT:

F = Fix the odds by eating foods you enjoy that won’t pack on pounds. Find an exercise you love that makes you feel like a kid at play. Whether the exercise is walking or swimming, tennis or Zumba, get your body in the game.

I = Insure your bet. Don’t count on beginner’s luck to last. Instead, integrate healthy habits into your daily routine to improve your chances of achieving good health and reducing the risk of illness. Your well-being is on the line.

T = Team up with others. Including more players raises the stakes and makes the game of fitness more fun. Create a good-natured contest with your friends and family. Share each other’s successes in a newsletter, or join a free online support community. Surrounding yourself with like-minded players improves your game.

To encourage individuals to have fun and avoid unhealthy behavior, the gaming industry has created the “Play Responsibly” program. You can apply this concept to your fitness program. Playing responsibly—eating healthfully and exercising regularly—is a winning plan.

Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week?

Dr. Martin Gibala, PhD, chairman of the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, is researching the astounding effect of interval training. His studies suggest that “six minutes or so a week of hard exercise (plus the time spent warming up, cooling down, and resting between the bouts of intense work) had proven to be as good as multiple hours of working out for achieving fitness.”

This research challenges the longstanding idea that hours of exercise are required to achieve fitness. Even more impressive is the theory that intense interval training helps with weight loss.

Dr. Gibala’s findings have been confirmed by other researchers who found that intense, short exercise sessions improved heart health, even among individuals with heart disease.

But to realize the benefits, the six minutes of interval training need to be intense—demandingly intense, even uncomfortably strenuous. Exercisers must exert themselves flat out for six minutes with nothing held back.

Still, the idea of achieving fitness with a minimal expenditure of time has enormous appeal. So when I read the latest research praising the benefits of interval training, I thought I’d consult John Hendrickson, a local expert. John is a certified member of the National Academy of Sports Medicine, a certified personal trainer and a certified post rehab conditioning specialist through the American Academy of Health, Fitness and Rehabilitation Professionals.

I wanted to see if John’s real-world experience made him similarly enthusiastic and also to learn how to add interval training into ongoing exercise routines.

John surprised me by reporting that long before interval training was popular, he incorporated the concept into his tennis clinics and personal training sessions because of the benefits his clients reported. (His clients, by the way, range in age from 15 to 75.)

Here are my questions and John’s answers:

Q. What is interval training?

A. Interval training refers to exercise at a very high intensity followed by exercise at a lower intensity in repeated patterns or sets.

Q. What are the benefits?

A. Interval training improves fitness and balance, increases speed and stamina and reduces recovery time.

Q. How can interval training facilitate weight loss?

A. When you follow high-intensity exercise with low-intensity exercise in repeated patterns, you increase metabolism, thereby increasing the calories that are burned during and after the exercise period.

Q. Is interval training an efficient way to exercise?

A. Structured correctly, interval training can blend strength, cardio, agility, flexibility and speed exercises into one 20- to 30-minute workout. The routines I’ve developed are both fun and challenging. Best of all, they pack a great punch in a short period.

Q. Is tennis an interval sport?

A. Yes, especially when played as a singles player. When I teach tennis, I structure the clinics as interval-training workouts. I introduce controlled, balanced drills followed by higher-intensity drills that focus on balance, cardio, agility and speed.

Q. Before we undertake interval training, are there any safety issues that we should be aware of?

A. It’s prudent to warm up before starting, set realistic goals and make sure the program matches your abilities. Start slowly and build up to the maximum intensity and duration. Monitor your heart rate during the intense drills and bring your heart rate back to normal during rest periods.

If you are pressed for time, you might want to press yourself as hard as you can for six minutes at least once a week. This way, you can achieve the same level of fitness that others take hours to achieve. Which style of exercising will you choose?

What is Your Dangerous Idea?

What do you believe but cannot prove? What is your dangerous idea? What are you optimistic about?

These intriguing questions are the subjects of books whose author, John Brockman, challenges our thinking about almost everything. Each is a collection of essays from some of the smartest people on the planet. When exposed to the innovative thinking in the essays, I remind myself that ideas once considered radical, even heretical, in one century are widely accepted in the next. If nothing else, reading the essays stretches my imagination.

So what’s my dangerously radical idea?

My idea is that just as obesity is contagious, so is getting and staying fit. Becoming fit can be a fun-filled, lifelong adventure. I cannot prove this idea, although I can offer evidence in support of it.

When I chronicled my own fitness and weight-loss efforts and told the stories of others who had undertaken similar efforts, residents in our small community took notice.

When I issued an invitation in the local newspaper to join a weight-loss program, over 1,000 people showed up. Each week attendance grew, until we had over 200 teams. We lost nearly 4 tons in 8 weeks. From my perspective, that phenomenon demonstrated the truth of my idea.

Our local experiment triggered the next question: Will this idea spread? The increasing number of community weight-loss programs springing up across the country is a good sign.

According to an article by Michael Shermer in the September 2007 issue of Scientific American, several elements are needed for a movement or an idea to gain acceptance:

1. The idea takes a stand for something, not against something, and is based on a positive assertion.

2. The idea uses an intelligent, rational approach to tackle myths and raises consciousness and awareness.

3. The idea embraces the uniqueness of self and others, and it requires us to respect each other.

4. The idea encourages exploration, experimentation and a sense of adventure.

If I look at my idea for these characteristics, I think it passes the test.

First, my idea does not argue against obesity, poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles; rather, it asserts that getting fit can be fun, educational and enjoyable.

Second, my idea challenges the myth that losing weight involves dieting, deprivation and boring exercise—all requiring heroic amounts of willpower and discipline. It also challenges the myth that weight is inevitably regained. Instead, my idea is based on rational decisions about what and how much healthy, satisfying food to eat each day and how many hours to devote each week to fun-filled exercise.

Third, my idea acknowledges that the path to fitness is unique for every person, depending upon his or her age, size and time of life. Given that “one size does not fit all,” my idea requires respect for others’ choices.

And fourth, my idea asserts that the pursuit of fitness involves exploring new foods, experimenting with different exercises and learning new, healthful habits. The journey to fitness is a personal adventure.

Is my idea taking hold? I don’t know. But what I do know is that I’m having lots of fun promoting fitness and hope that more people will adopt the radical idea that getting fit is contagious and fun! (539)

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Dubbed “An Apostle for Fitness” by the Wall Street Journal, Carole Carson is the author of From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction, which chronicles her own 62-pound weight loss and the Nevada County Meltdown. Visit www.fromfat2fit.com for more information.

Breaking Out of Our Spiritual Jail: Weight Loss Lightens Our Spirits as Well as Our Bodies

When we make changes toward a healthier lifestyle—losing weight and exercising regularly—not only do our bodies respond positively in measurable ways (reduced blood pressure, lowered cholesterol, greater strength and increased flexibility) but our spirits soar as well. We break out of a spiritual jail. These feelings are the little "proofs" that we are headed in the right direction when we focus on becoming FIT:

F = Free: We are able to fly through life because we are free from the dead weight of remorse. When we feel bad about excess weight or about being a slug, our spirits are grounded. When we lose weight and become fit, we sprout wings and become more creative, energetic and positive. Unencumbered by guilt about not taking care of our bodies, we give up swimming in peanut butter. We have a lot more fun and feel fortunate that we found the key to our personal jail.

I = Inspired: We are inspired to become our unique selves—more centered and more confident of who we are and of what our purpose is. We become more intuitive and, at the same time, more informed as research on the impact of healthful eating and exercise confirms our decision to lead a healthier lifestyle. Our enthusiasm inspires others.

T = Transformed: Those of us who have lost weight commonly become unrecognizable. That is, we have transformed ourselves or reinvented ourselves as different people. We have triumphed over earlier limitations; our joy is apparent in our walk, talk and manner. Like an addict who has broken free of a destructive habit, we have escaped spiritual slavery and rejoined the productive members of our society.

Having been blessed with a second chance at life, we eagerly share that opportunity with others. Instead of dying with our potential untouched, we allow our lives to take off in the direction they were always intended to go.

Buff on the Outside, Genetically Altered on the Inside

From time to time, I find myself struggling to maintain my weight loss. I can gain five pounds without even trying. When this happens, I must quickly resume my careful regimen so I can drop back to my target weight range.

After five years of conscious effort, I confess to a certain longing for a magical solution.

Isn’t there a pill we could safely take that would help us shed pounds? Or curb an unmanageable appetite? Isn’t there a way to turn fat into sleek muscle without the time and effort of exercising?

You know the expression “Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it”? Perhaps to our detriment, our wish may come true as a result of genetic tinkering.

Nicholas D. Kristof, a New York Times columnist, reported on a research breakthrough that could change the form of warm-blooded species, including humans.

Kristof writes about recent advances in genetic engineering of cattle in which scientists have genetically blocked the production of myostatin, a substance that curbs muscle growth. The result is overmuscled cows without a speck of fat—all without exercising.

The cows look like what Arnold Schwarzennegger would look like if he were from the bovine species. For your own peek at the future, you can look at Belgian Blues here. The photograph would be laughable if the implications weren’t so serious.

When the same genetic engineering was tried on mice, an increase of 15-30 percent in size was noted. Also importantly, the middle-aged, overmuscled mice didn’t lose strength as they aged.

The genetic research was originally intended to help two groups—persons suffering from muscular dystrophy and seniors suffering from weakened muscles as a result of aging.

But once genetic engineering becomes available, do any of us believe it will be limited to those two groups? If steroids are a problem, imagine how the availability of genetic engineering would affect sports. Monday Night Football would become a contest between giants.

Wouldn’t it be tempting to undergo a painless procedure and bypass a lifetime regimen of eating carefully and exercising regularly?

Wouldn’t men find the magic solution hard to resist, given our culture’s emphasis on masculine strength? I’d like to think I wouldn’t succumb to a quick fix, but I’m not certain that I wouldn’t.

The implications for future generations stagger the imagination. Would overmuscled athletes be the norm and people who refuse to change their genetics be freaks? With two-thirds of us being overweight, we currently suffer numerous medical problems. Would those medical problems lessen if the majority of us were trim giants? Or would we create other problems?

Kristof describes a boy who, through an accident of nature, has the human form of the Belgian Blues genetic mutation. At age four, the boy is already setting records for weightlifting with his extraordinary muscling.

Where will the genetic tinkering stop? Probably not with the human race. Wouldn’t we want supersized chickens so eggs would be larger? Wouldn’t we want bigger pigs so hams would double in size? Wouldn’t sheep be supersized so farmers could harvest more wool?

We all know what happened to the tomato when it was reengineered genetically. Commercial tomatoes are thick skinned and frequently tasteless. Would human genetic engineering produce the same unsatisfactory result?

Spared by advancing age the opportunity to tinker with my own genes or alter in utero the genes of my offspring, perhaps I am better off than I know. Given my ambivalence, I don’t even have any useful advice for the next generation.

At least for the foreseeable future, for better or worse, I’m stuck with eating carefully and exercising regularly. To quote Popeye, “I’yam what I’yam.”

Are Your Friends Helping You Stay Fit?

If you’ve read many of my articles, you’ve no doubt noticed that I repeat myself on the importance of surrounding yourself with like-minded fitness friends and family. I have done so out of a conviction based on my own experience that our success is mightily dependent on the team we assemble around us.

Let me explain. I tried and failed to get fit and lose weight for 40 years. I succeeded only when I went public and surrounded myself with support. Armed with this insight, I support weight-loss challenges across the nation: these programs encourage individuals to work together as communities to get fit. I also serve as the coach for the AARP Fat 2 Fit online community.

This concept—that we need each other to succeed--is being confirmed by results of the Framingham Heart Study, a longitudinal study beginning in 1948 of more than 15,000 Framingham residents and their descendants. The purpose of the study is to analyze behavior and health habits to understand their impact on heart disease.

The most recent insights were published in an article in the New York Times titled, “Are Your Friends Making You Fat?” The researchers confirmed that the people who stayed fittest were part of a group whose members stayed fit. Although the mechanism isn’t entirely understood, researchers suspect that we pick up social cues from each other and reinforce positive behaviors.

So here’s my question to you: how can you increase the support you have around you in your day-to-day world? Knowing how critical support can be to your success, how can you strengthen this element in your fitness program?

How to Know If You’re Ready to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Seven years ago, I stepped on the bathroom scale—and it broke. In that instant, I made an irrevocable decision to get fit and remodel my body by losing weight. I remember the moment as if it were yesterday. The incident was a decisive turning point: I took the fork out of my mouth, and I took a fork in the road instead.

In retrospect, the internal discussion (or should I say argument) I’d been having with myself during the prior months was coming to a head. I liked my self-indulgences and didn’t want to give them up. At the same time, I knew I needed to make positive changes because my appearance was making me miserable. The broken scale didn’t trigger my transformation; rather, it crystallized my need to change in such a way that I couldn’t return to my old habits.

If I could bottle the process by which a person irrevocably commits to make positive changes (such as lose weight, stop smoking or give up alcohol), I would indeed be a rich person. Although I can’t patent the formula, I can tell you what the ingredients are so you can tell if you are ready to get fit and remodel your body.

First, your current habits and lifestyle are hurting and distressing you. Maybe you feel bad when you have to move up a size because your clothes no longer fit or when you accidentally catch a glance of yourself in the mirror. Maybe your extra girth is causing medical problems that threaten the quality of your life or require drugs that stretch the family budget. Maybe you feel sad when you can’t take your grandchild for a walk because your joints hurt from carrying a spare tire around your middle. Maybe you’ve lost self-respect because you are unable to manage your impulses and say no to yourself. Whatever the reason, you are unhappy with the status quo.

Second, the pleasure you derive from your current habits is greatly outweighed by the pain and suffering you experience by being out of shape and overweight. The nightly raiding of the refrigerator, while satisfying in the moment, is causing you to suffer when you step on the bathroom scale or the waistband on your pants feels like a vise around your middle every time you sit down. The second and third helpings of food at the supper table make you feel lethargic, bloated and out of control. You have begun to realize that the price you pay for your indulgences is too high for the pleasure you derive from them.

Third, you realize that adopting healthier habits will lead not to a grim life of deprivation but rather to a life that is richer, more meaningful, more productive and more satisfying. You will enjoy the food you carefully choose more than you ever enjoyed your mindless eating. You will add far more joy and satisfaction to your daily life than you give up. Instead of being ashamed of how you look, you will enjoy the experience of being in your body. And you will appreciate the simple gift of life your body represents.

There you have them. Insofar as I can tell, these three conditions, when present, can propel you into beginning your own fitness remodeling project. Are you ready? If the answer is yes, start making the positive changes today.

Are You NEAT Enough to Stay Trim?

If you think I am talking about tidiness, you’re wrong. NEAT refers to Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis.

That’s a mouthful. To understand the concept, think about it this way. You’re sitting in a chair, watching television—a sedentary state. The effort of sitting upright burns about five extra calories an hour compared to the calories you would burn if you were sleeping. Or you walk briskly for one mile and burn 100 calories. This activity is exercise. Everything else is NEAT.

NEAT is important because it significantly influences whether we gain weight or stay trim and fit, according to research conducted by James Levine, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Levine confirmed that people who spend their waking hours sitting weigh more than people who move around. His conclusion? Living in a chair-based environment can result in obesity.

Unfortunately, the chair-based environment is everywhere. We may sit at a table to eat breakfast, sit in a car or bus on our way to work and sit during our workday. We may sit during lunch and sit driving home, only to sit before the television with a remote control in hand. On the weekend, we may sit through a movie, ride a lawn mower or snow blower or sit in a car as we pick up fast food at a drive-through. For some people, 23 out of 24 waking hours are spent sitting or sleeping.

Dr. Levine has a visionary plan to create more opportunities for NEAT that will get us moving and keep us fit and trim. He’s designing dynamic environments for offices where work stations are mounted on treadmills. Instead of meeting in rooms with tables and chairs, employees conduct meetings while walking on specially designed parallel tracks. Walking side by side, the employees conduct business while engaging in exercise.

Dr. Levine is also continuing an educational drive to make people aware of how much they sit and suggest ways they can introduce more movement into their lives. Walking, shopping and moving around for any reason shouldn’t be underestimated, according to Dr. Levine.

After thinking about the implications of his research, I appreciate the layout of my home even more. I live in a two-story house, so I am constantly running up and down stairs. In addition, my office is located outside the house over the garage. If I’m working in my office and want to throw in a load of laundry, I have to walk down a flight of stairs, walk upstairs to get the laundry, back downstairs to the washing machine and then back upstairs to my office. To accomplish my task, I am forced to move by the different levels.

Besides appreciating the layout of my home, I welcome Dr. Levine’s development of the NEAT concept for a distinctly female reason. His research gives me another excuse, in addition to retail therapy, to go shopping.