I am very fortunate to have a healthy, and SUPERfit dad to celebrate this special day with (that's us below), however I have many friends and family member who are now as fortunate, as they have lost their fathers to heart attackes, strokes, and diseases of the like.
Look, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but someone has to say something already.
Our father’s are now in the worst shape of their lives, many suffering from a very dangerous and life threatening condition called Metabolic Syndrome X.
One of the main indicators of someone who has metabolic disorder is abdominal obesity, as clearly demonstrated in the picture above. The scary part is that many of our father’s look just like this man!
The main features of metabolic syndrome include insulin resistance, hypertension (high blood pressure), cholesterol abnormalities, and an increased risk for clotting. Patients are most often overweight or obese.
How is metabolic syndrome defined?
The definition of metabolic syndrome depends on who is doing the defining, but based on the guidelines from the 2001 National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel (ATP III), any three of the following traits in the same individual meet the criteria for the metabolic syndrome:
1. Abdominal obesity: a waist circumference over 102 cm (40 in) in men and over 88 cm (35 inches) in women.
2. Serum triglycerides 150 mg/dl or above.
3. HDL cholesterol 40mg/dl or lower in men and 50mg/dl or lower in women.
4. Blood pressure of 130/85 or more.
5. Fasting blood glucose of 110 mg/dl or above. (Some groups say 100mg/dl)
Although Metabolic Syndrome does affects= more women than men, there is certainly no shortage of men 40 years and older who have that “deadly beer gut” that literally makes them a ticking time bomb for a slew of serious medical conditions.
But there is good news amongst this frightening reality: The most common cause of metabolic disorder is of course a vicious combination of a lack of exercise and poor diet.
See below for the Top 4 Fitness Tips to help save our father’s lives:
1.) Lay off the Brewskis
It’s no wonder why our dads have more of a keg for a gut than a six-pack. See below for the best way I know of explaining how detrimental alcohol can be on your body composition:
How Alcohol Makes You Fat
-Alcohol first passes through the esophagus as it travels to your stomach.
-From there, 20% of the alcohol is absorbed immediately by your bloodstream.
-The remaining alcohol travels to your intestines and is absorbed from there.
-The alcohol in your bloodstream then travels directly to your liver. It is here that the body breaks the alcohol down, something that is absolutely essential since
alcohol is toxic to the body.
-Alcohol brakes down into acetate and acetaldehyde which IMMEDIATELY
signals to your body to stop burning fat. Even worse, another waste product of
alcohol, acetyl CoA, actually starts to make more body fat.
If you booze, you WON’T lose fat!
But, if you must drink:
a.) Choose wine or hard liquor and “light” beer
b.) Limit alcohol consumption to 1-2 days per week with a 1-2 drink per day max
2.) Do something besides bench presses and curls
Most men I know HATE cardio. Walk into any gym and you'll see all the guys grunting and growling in the free-weight section or on a machine. I guess this makes them feel more macho and 'man-like'
Now, don't get me wrong, I definitely KNOW the imporatnce of weight training when it comes to fat loss, but I also know that from time to time you have to get your butt off the bench and onto a bike or treadmill and crank up that cardio.
Since most guys HATE doing cardio, the most effectiive way to burn calories in a short amount of time is high intensity interval training. Here's an example:
Brisk walk-1 minute
Jog-1 minute
Sprint-1 minute
Repeat 8 times.
3.) Don’t eat like those clowns from NutriSystem
Here’s my take on how NutriSystem was created:
“I’ve got an idea for an incredible product and marketing campaign:
Let’s gather a group of genetically gifted former professional athletes that have put on some pounds since ending their playing days. We’ll have them all get their asses kicked by top personal trainers while following a restricted calorie diet so we lean them out real nicely.
But then we lie to the overweight male coach potato consumer and tell them that they got these results from eating the same food they are currently eating- you know, pizza, lasagna, sweets, etc. Except we’ll make the meals the size of a dime so they can still technically eat what they want and lose weight at the same time.
To make it even better, we’ll pre-package all of their meals for them to buy from us so these lazy bastards don’t have to do anything besides nuke it up and eat it!
We’ll make millions!”
Well, that’s exactly what has happened- thousands of sports-loving, ESPN-watching dads have been swindled to buy into this gimmick that you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight without exercise- because Dan Marino did it!
Look- if you honestly think you can keep eating the same foods that got you that gut in the first place, then I’m not sure how much more I can help you.
4.) Accept the fact that you probably need some professional fitness advice
I know most men don't like asking for directions, so I can imagine asking help from a fitness professional is even less desirable. One of my superstar clients lost 40 lbs of fat. He’s a busy business owner and grandfather and he spent many years doing everything wrong from both a training and nutrition perspective until he met me. I interviewed him one time and asked him what his best advice was for people that are in the same position today as he was before he transformed himself and this is what he said:
“What you don’t know will hurt you, but what you think you know will KILL you!”
Seek out a fitness expert like Gary did and get life-changing results in minimal time!
Dads- quit being so stubborn and macho. It doesn’t make you any less of a man to hire a personal trainer or join a boot camp because your wife and her lady friends do it. In reality, your wife (and women in general) are simply smarter than you because they effectively outsource their fitness needs to an expert whereby you try to re-invent the wheel on your own with little to no results.
If you want to lose your gut, follow the lead of the ladies ;)
If you need my help getting started give me a call or send me an email (I promise I won't tell your wife).
Happy Father’s Day!
Train Hard & Have Fun!
Shondelle Solomon-Miles aka Coack
shondelle@synergizeweightloss.com
954-924-4465
P.S. Next week, in honor of father's day I am offering all Dad's a free week of
training. Just give me a call or send me an email and we'll get you on the schedule. No further obligations required.
