Online Healthy Lifestyle Challenge Update #3
Healthy & Fit Magazine is excited to announce the Online Healthy Lifestyle Challenge. This Challenge is unique because our sole challenger, Rick Audas, will not only check in monthly with Healthy & Fit readers, but he will have online updates and progress reports published here to compliment the magazine updates. His Challenge started in July. His final reveal will be in the January 2009 issue of Healthy & Fit. Be sure to check out his progress at healthyandfitmagazine.com. You can even leave comments and words of advice.
Interviews for the week of September 8, 2008
THE CHALLENGER: Rick Audas, 50, 6’4”, 298, former MSU tackle, executive vice president, AXA Advisors:
Rick’s current weight: 278
Pounds lost: 20
With tailgates coming up, what’s your game plan to stay on top of the healthy eating plan? My plan is simple. I’m going to try to not to eat bad food. I’m going to focus on nibbling from the veggie tray.
How are your workouts coming? Workouts are coming along very well. Justin is doing a great job. I am using muscles I haven’t used in 30 years. He has taught me an entire new way to work out.
Do you ever feel like taking a day off? How do you deal with it? I try to take 1 day off a week where I do nothing but stretch. It is very relaxing.
Are you surprised with your results thus far? Not surprised. I know if you work hard and eat right—you can get in shape. The key is having the discipline to do both.
Still think you’re going to meet your goal? (YES!) Easily!
CERTIFIED WELLNESS CONSULTANT: Nancy Mesko, wellnessforum.com, 517.449.0098:
As a wife, what’s your role with Rick if he’s leaning towards eating unhealthy foods? This is a tough area as I don’t want to be a nag!! Just try to remind him of alternatives available when appropriate. This is where he almost does need to COUNT CALORIES when it comes to snacking on raw almonds and cashews as he takes in a lot of calories with a little amount of food.
What kind of tactics do you use to keep him on track? Have always felt the best way to encourage someone is to lead by example. One of the areas that I have really been trying to change is to eat at home as much as possible. As we have talked in the past this is a tough area for Rick because he enjoys the social aspect of eating out.
How has his eating been? He has definitely been eating less at meals. Still needs to work on eating more often throughout the day. Rick is just not accustomed to this so it will take some time to convince him that he needs to continually fuel his body throughout the day. And drink more water.
Any surprising dishes that seem to be popular? Nothing too out of the ordinary. Rick has no problem eating healthy foods and is very open to new recipes. I have been just trying to use more vegetables in dishes. For example, I made baked whole wheat penne pasta last night and used half the amount of pasta then loaded the dish with onions, garlic, shredded zucchini, carrots and broccoli.
What kind of dishes will you have during the fall season? Any favorites? As you know Rick loves soups. One of my favorite Fall soups is a Butternut Squash soup. I sauté a couple of chopped apples (any kind), one large onion or two small (red onions work best), 4-6 gloves of garlic, cinnamon and curry powder until tender. Then combine the cooked squash (you can cut up and steam or bake) with the sautéed mixture in a good blender with a bit of coconut oil and bragg’s liguid aminos. You may need to add more water to get desired consistency. Here’s a tip: When pureeing hot ingredients in a blender put a work towel over the lid to avoid burns or splatter.
THE TRAINER: Justin Grinnell, Michigan Athletic Club, 346-8888:
How is Rick doing with his workouts? Has he been making his sessions? Rick has been very consistent and very prompt with making his training sessions. He had also been working very hard at each session and seems to improve each time as well. Rick has been very consistent and very prompt with making his training sessions. He had also been working very hard at each session and seems to improve each time as well.
What seems to be working best for him: Cardio or weights? The weight training is going to be key for him. Right now we are working on correcting some muscle imbalances with various core stability exercises and strength training. He has been doing a little too much cardio, which in turn is making his imbalances worse and making him tighter. As you know, I don’t advocate long steady state cardio.
Is stretching part of the routine? We have been doing stretching since day one. Yesterday I really decided to emphasize it even more. His hips and shoulders are very tight, causing some pain. If he gets consistent he will improve.
What kind of workouts have you progressed to? The intensity and volume of his weight training has improved. We are now focusing on more bench pressing since that is one of his challenges. I am also advocating more interval cardio sessions, less steady state sessions.
What’s the next step? Consistency is what I want to see, mainly with the strength and stretching. We started a new routine yesterday and we will re-evaluate in 3-4 weeks.
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