Online Healthy Lifestyle Challenge Update #4

9/29/08 Posted in Featured Online Healthy Lifestyle Challenge  |  2 Comments

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 22, 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

How is your body holding up to the workouts? Very good. I am becoming more flexible and my core strength has improved dramatically.

Have you found that it’s getting easier to do some of the exercises? It is a lot easier. My flexibility is increasing as well as strength.

How are your eating habits? Are they becoming healthier? Overall – I think they are. I still fall off the wagon on occasion. But Nancy is doing a fantastic job preparing healthy options. And its always about portion control.

I know that you’ve tried to do some bench presses and limited running to gauge how close you are to your goals. How did that go? Running will not be an issue.  Due to lack of activity for a number of years with weights – the bench-press could be the toughest but Justin continues to work with me.

Are people starting to notice that you’re losing weight? ABSOLUTELY!  The office staff says that I no longer have a belly.

How does that make you feel? Fantastic. I am increasingly adapting to healthier lifestyle habits.

CERTIFIED WELLNESS CONSULTANT: Nancy Mesko, wellnessforum.com, 517.449.0098:

How is Rick’s eating from your viewpoint? Rick is still “dining out” too often. This is just too difficult to accomplish his goals regardless of how healthy the dish seems you just cannot be assured of what has been added back in the kitchen (I.e. excess oils/butter). A piece of fish with baked potato and side of vegetables seems healthy and pretty harmless however the side of veggies have probably been sautéed in 200 calories worth of oil or butter and the fish has probably had a least one if not two or three dollops of butter placed on top before being baked. These excess calories can add up quickly when dining out several meals a week.

What has he done a great job with? Where is he still struggling? Rick has a great attitude towards the whole eating better and trying new things. As mentioned previously the big struggle continues to be “social dining out”. I could be wrong???? but truly do not think it is the food/cook at home as much as he just loves the whole social aspect of going out to eat.

What are some of the dishes that he’s eating that seem to be working? Making larger salads with meals.

Have their been any new additions to the diet? Cannot think of any new things at the moment. Just always making up new soup concoctions. Had a large amount of fresh tomatoes and kolarabbi. Got the food processor out and pureed the tomatoes to use along with some nutritional brewer’s yeast, onion, garlic and water for a base. Then added peeled and cubed the kholorabi (cabbage taste to it) along with celery and carrots. Added a cup of red lentils and let simmer for 30 minutes. Once I get to this point I always check the taste to determine any needed salt/pepper/seasonings. For some reason cinnamon came to mind so I just put a hint of cinnamon and that really finished this soup off.

Is he where you thought he would be at this point in the challenge? Had hoped that Rick would be a little further along at this point however glad to see he is hanging in there and has a very positive outlook.

THE TRAINER: Justin Grinnell, Michigan Athletic Club, 346-8888:

How is Rick doing with his workouts? Rick’s workouts have been consistently getting better. We have been increasing his overall training volume and intensity. I also can tell that he is adapting to it because he is able to shorten his rest periods while maintaining quality form. His left shoulder and hips are still very tight so we will continue to pay close attention to those areas to increase their mobility. I have added in some sled work to really get his metabolism and heart rate up. I am hoping that he is getting more strength and core work in on his own. He is also supposed to increase his foam roll use and stretching each night.

Have the workouts progressed? I feel that he is right where he needs to be right now. He has gained significant strength and condition. The only thing I am worried about is his mobility and flexibility. That was to be expected since this takes much longer for the body to progress when you compare to strength and conditioning adaptations.

What kind of workouts seem to be his strong suit? I can tell that he likes some exercises over other. Full-body lifts (squat and press, kettlebell, deadlifts) and leg exercises (split squats) are defiantly not his favorites. Bench pressing is probably his favorite, just like any other guy in the world.

Is he being motivated by others? Coach Henry Bullough, a good friend of Rick’s, likes to give him a hard time when he sees him at the MAC. Every time I see coach he asks me how Rick is doing, and tells me to really push him and cut him no slack. It is good to have all the support that you can get!