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Physique promises to alter bodyDate: 02.07.2007
Posted by: Anabolic Info Team United States
In the past year or two, we’ve used a nutritionist/dietitian to take care of our Fitness Challenge winners’ nutritional needs. Other times, I’ve contributed nutritional information.
This year, we’re going with Physique Transformation.
It’s a program that’s been 15 years in the making. The program’s designer, local businessman Ric Rooney, competed in bodybuilding competitions for years.
Rooney has taken his knowledge of body fat loss and put it into a comprehensive program aimed at helping the masses lose weight and fat.
Rooney isn’t a nutritionist. He’s not a dietitian, either. However, one thing a bodybuilder knows about is fat loss. If they want to be successful, bodybuilders must be “ripped,” the code word for having as little body fat at possible.
Few if any of us want to be bodybuilders. But most folks I talk with desperately want to lose weight and body fat.
Rooney shares my no-nonsense philosophy toward exercise and fitness, especially regarding the magnitude of crazy gimmicks available. Where we differ is in the nutritional aspect of fitness. We differ only because he is the expert at what he does.
Rooney wants to help change the way a person looks — hence the name, Physique Transformation. And remember, Rooney was a bodybuilder. And bodybuilding is all about aesthetics.
I want to change the way a person is able to compete in the games life offers. I want them run, jump, duck, kick, hit, dig — to play with more ease and efficiency.
Every fitness professional knows that a horrible diet will sabotage the best fitness program. But a great diet can make an even mediocre fitness plan fly.
Rooney’s plan combines a specific diet with a couple of exercise sessions a week.
I’m using myself, a few friends and three of the Fitness Challenge winners as guinea pigs, because I’m interesting in knowing how Rooney’s program works on folks who are extremely active.
I’ll be finished with Rooney’s program by Oct 11. So I’ll have an update by Oct. 15.
Physique Transformation breaks into four categories: analysis, conditioning, fat burning and maintenance. The analysis phase tracks what you eat. The conditioning phase gets your body to the right amount of calories you should be taking in. Fat burning and maintenance are self-explanatory.
Rooney’s goal during the early part of the process is to get folks to the fat-burning stage.
“Most of the people who fall off fall in the first 30 days,” Rooney said. “That’s one of the things we’re struggling with, ‘How can we get them past that first 30 days?’”
I understand the struggle. In the first 30 days, most folks are going to eat more each day than they have in years. Some people are going to gain weight. My wife is one of them, and she hates it. The Fitness Challenge folks each reply with, “Ah, it’s all right.” Which is the equivalent of, “I hate it!”
Rooney’s secret, and one of much of the bodybuilding world, flies in the face of conventional thinking. Most experts scoff at the notion of a person being able to lose weight by taking in more food. But here’s the gist of the plan, using me as an example:
For four days I logged everything I ate and drank into the online program. From that, I learned that over five weeks I needed to increase my caloric intake about 1,200 to almost 3,700 calories a day, and do so by getting graded (A, B, C, D, and F) for where those calories came from. So, no sloppy eating. Today, I start the fatburning stage. I’ll still get graded, and I’ll still need to get an “A” every day, but my caloric intake will change each day.
What’s supposed to happen, according to Rooney, is now that my metabolism is accustomed to running off nearly 3,700 calories, I’m going to drop down to about 3,000 for a day, taking away mostly carbohydrates. My body should make up the nearly 700-calorie difference using my stored fat. Over the next couple of days I’ll increase my caloric intake about 250 calories each day. By Thursday I’ll be back to almost 3,700. Friday, I’ll drop down again. And Saturday it’s back near 3,700. Sunday is a “free” day where I can get by with a “B” diet score.
Next Monday the six-day cycle starts again.
I don’t know if this will work. I’ll take before and after pictures and post those on my blog in October. However, one thing I do know is that even after nearly 15 years as a fitness consultant, I’ve learned how to eat better. “After you’ve finished this, you don’t need me anymore,” Rooney said. Unlike programs that give you food every day — and teach you little about why you’re eating them — this program allows you to choose your own foods and learn how to choose wisely.
Milo F. Bryant’s fitness column appears in Monday’s Life section, and his blog is at milobryant.blogspot.com. See the blog for regular updates on this year’s Fitness Challenge and for Bryant’s response to letters he received from Fitness Challenge candidates. Bryant has two National Strength and Conditioning Association certifications. He also writes Gazette sports columns. Contact him at milo.bryant@gazette.com.
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