Colin's Story
A recent update from Colin.
Hi Colin Duffy again and its nearly 11 months since I started with New You. I haven’t put any weight back on, in fact I have continued to get considerably leaner lighter stronger and fitter. I weigh just over 13 stone, my body fat is now under 15% which makes me pretty athletic, my waist is down to 32 inches and my lean tissue has continued to improve. I eat fairly clean during the week its just become a habit , I do what I want at the weekends enjoying a few pints and wine with the meals. I am training on average around 3 times per week for about 20 minutes to 30 minutes and I’m not only maintaining what I have achieved I am continuing to constantly improve my physical condition. Thanks to New You I have the knowledge and understanding to keep my self in good physical condition.
It really has been a life changing experience and it has had a positive effect on all those around me including my family and friends.
Here is my story.....
My Name is Colin Duffy. On the 26/03/08 on the advice of a friend I walked through the doors of New You a 39 year old 17stone 4lb overweight and severely unfit Senior Client Manager with Providence Finance in Stillorgan. On the 30/05/08 I am still a Senior Client Manager but a substantially lighter and leaner one as I now weigh 13 stone 8lbs and my waist measurement has reduced from 45 inches to 34 inches, my body fat has reduced from 28.6.% to 19% and I have gained 5 lbs of lean tissue so I am tighter stronger and fitter than ever. The difference it has made to my life is difficult to put into words but I can safely say with my hand on my heart that it is the best money I have ever spent.
My Name is John Kavanagh Managing Director of New You and I personally looked after Colin myself. Most of our clients for good reason tend to keep their results at New You a secret however Colin was keen to let people know about his phenomenal physical improvements and health benefits that he attained in such a short period of time.
Colin’s initial screening with our Nurse established that his Father had a triple bypass at 35. Combined with the fact that Colin had elevated Cholesterol levels and high blood pressure required he was taking medication for both. At 29 % body fat coupled with his hip to waist ratio Colin was not only in danger of developing severe cardiovascular problems but also had a high risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes We established Colin’s main motivation for coming to New You. His wife had just given birth to their third child and he had started to re evaluate his life. He came to the conclusion that he needed to make some serious changes to his health and physical condition.
When Colin started with us he had been a member of a Health Club for many years but for one reason or another had never really got the inspiration to accomplish any real results. Colin had been a good athlete in the past having played Rugby through school in Castleknock and then went on to play nearly 10 years senior rugby with Monkstown. Having retired from the game due to a serious hamstring tear Colin really hadn’t maintained any significant level of physical condition since he retired from rugby in 1996. However it is important to bear in mind that although he was a Health Club member like so many other people he drifted aimlessly in and out of training and dieting with no purpose or structure to what he was doing.
Colin -
“After my initial screening I was quite shocked to see my physical details in black and white especially when the Nurse explained the significance to my health of the readings. Also the psychological evaluation they carried out only scored my state of change as moderate which meant I wasn’t quite as motivated as I thought to partake in this programme, however after John helped me establish very clearly the reasons WHY I MUST do everything laid out for me to the tee and appreciated the associated benefits I knew that I could do it. Then it was a matter to simply focus on the major benefits I would gain for myself and my family as a result of changing my physical condition, I felt very inspired and ready to go.
Right from the start I was allowed to appreciate the interaction between training , food, rest and recuperation. I was very clear about everything I was doing. My previous experience of training in a health club environment was a million miles away from what I started doing in New You. The workouts which were only done 1 on 1 with my Trainer were a little bit like a rollercoaster ride, my body was challenged with a lot of what they call functional movements using free weights and your own body weight in such a way as to tax the muscular, cardiovascular and nervous system all at the same time. This was supported by some more conventional weight training designed to isolate individual body parts. I have never experienced a high from training like it before and the sessions flew by. Even the Cardio sessions were completely different to anything I have ever done before, you certainly never got bored not even for 1 second. The workouts are 30 minutes long and for good reason I simply could not have done any more.
It was remarkable how precise each workout actually was and seamed to be just intense enough for my energy levels on any given day. John was also very concerned about me not over training and explained that intense workouts needed to be balanced with days off and quality rest. He explained that it is during rest that our bodies repair themselves from the catabolic effects of intense training and it was this process that actually stimulated my metabolism to burn fat and strengthen lean tissue as long my food intake was appropriate.
I never trained more than 2 days in a row The sessions were Monday Tuesday Thursday and Friday each week with nothing to do except rest on Wednesday and the weekends. I found this difficult to appreciate at the start but once I started to see the weight loss strength and fitness gains I was fairly shocked with the progress. After 12 days I was down from 108kgs to 102kgs which is just over 13lbs or nearly 1 stone in weight, my energy levels were really starting to improve and was highly motivated by the result.
The nutrition was very specific and it was based upon my lean body mass which was calculated accurately by the Nurse at my initial assessment. I was required to eat 5 meals per day , Breakfast Lunch Evening and 2 snacks in between. I must say that I initially found eating 5 times a bit inconvenient at the start but John reemphasized the necessity of doing it exactly as laid out and the relevance it had to speeding the metabolism and giving the body the building blocks necessary to rebuild itself. I needed to take in a minimum of 1 gram of protein and carbohydrate per lb of lean body mass and 30% of my overall calories in fats to ensure I could burn fat without losing muscle. John explained to me that most conventional diets and exercise programmes designed to lose weight also triggers the body to burn a significant amount of muscle tissue. The significance of this is that for each pound of muscle lost can reduce your resting metabolism by nearly 60 calories per day. I was motivated to keep on eating. The key was to get leaner lighter stronger and fitter all at the same time. After the first 12 days of eating according to plan.
I was shocked when John told me to take the weekend off and eat practically anything. I was a little afraid to do so but John ensured me that this was where most so called experts on dieting always fell down. He explained that no matter how precise any diet was once you reduce the calories for any considerable period the body will simply adopt and slow things down so you will plateau and not be able to burn any more fat. I needed these days off to recharge my metabolism so reluctantly I did but I have to say I enjoyed the eating and drinking. When I got back to New You on Monday I did feel a little bit bloated but John said that this was the way I was supposed to feel and anyway the proof of the pudding was there for me when I was reassessed by the Nurse on the 30/04/08. One month after starting and my weight was down to 96.6 kg, a total of 11.4 kgs or 25lbs, my body fat had fallen by a massive 5% and I had lost a whopping 5 inches off my waist even more importantly at this stage I was feeling great and my energy and vitality was soaring.
At this point going into my second month I seemed to be getting stronger and fitter with every workout and my sense of wellbeing was getting to a level I just couldn’t believe. By the way at this stage I was allowed take every weekend off so I was eating the 5 times per day Monday to Friday and in the main do what I wanted at the weekends. John was anxious at this stage that I didn’t lose weight too quickly so he was keen for me to increase the calories even during the week. Because of all the eating and how good I was feeling and wasn’t noticing how much fat I was losing by my last assessment on the 07/06/08 I was down to 88kgs from an original 108kgs 9 weeks earlier that’s 44 lbs and an incredible total of 11 and a half inches off my waist and most importantly from Johns point of view while losing this amount of body fat I actually gained nearly 6 LBS OF LEAN MUSCLE TISSUE which means I actually lost 50lbs of fat. Even more significantly means my resting metabolism is nearly 300 calories faster per day than when I started.
From a health perspective my Blood pressure has dropped to a near perfect 125 over 80 my body fat is down to under 19% from an original 28.6% and my waist is 3 inches smaller than my hips taking me well out of the danger zone.
My experience at New You has not just benefited me personally but it has a very positive effect on Family and work friends. I have much more energy and enthusiasm to play with my children and my wife says I am much more relaxed, I have also noticed that the children are more prone to looking for fruit vegetables and lean meat as a result watching me eat, even my work mates have adapted their eating habits and many of them are also losing weight and feeling better than ever.
John Kavanagh -
I have to say Colin was a superb person to work with. He did exactly as he was asked even down to his off days which were very important. Colin’s success was very much down to the lever he started with. He had got to a point of no return where he new what he must do Unfortunately sometimes we need to get to the point where a need becomes a must before we are actually driven to action. When you start with a compelling reason why you need to really make that change you can become very purpose driven and the ultimate result is all you need to focus on. Right from the start we focused on the end result which we thought was achievable every 4 weeks. The first thing was not to be too focused on losing weight as this can lead to anxiety and bring about the opposite effect of what we were looking for. We are to an extent driven by pain and pleasure and the association between the two. Concentrating on how good Colin was going to feel when he achieved his goals was the driving factor and allowed him to have a positive association with food and exercise. After a few days we got to the point where it was not a matter of having to do it but actually looking forward to the feel good factor associated with training and eating properly.
Regaining some discipline and control really has a knock on effect to all aspects of anybody's life as it allows you enjoy the things you really like doing. Colin Duffy has attained this in abundance.