BODY BY DESIGN'S Mark Misner

Big Time Results

Happy Holidays to you and your family. It truly is a wonderful time of the year. I hope you take advantage of all the great opportunities to share quality time with your friends and family. Keep up with your time-honored family traditions, or start a few new ones. At the risk of sounding like a scrooge, be conscious of the "it's only once a year" rationalization for day after day of overdoing your eating and drinking, along with skipping out on your exercise. I strongly believe you can have both – incredibly, special holiday times, and a reasonable handle on modest, healthy eating and, of course, consistent exercise.
We can all use a fresh dose of inspiration. The following is another example of an individual who I have had a great pleasure to work with. This gentleman has had to make some tough decisions, but I promise you, the sacrifices that he has made have been well worth the efforts. John is north of forty years young. He is the proud father of two young boys ages four and six. This does make John an "older' parent! We had worked with John for several years on his fitness program prior to his sons' arrivals.
John has always been rock solid with his two, challeng- ing weight training sessions under my direction every week. In fact, if he misses a session, he always has completed a make-up session within the next week. We have had many successes with the strength training. We have had signifi- cant, successful recoveries from several of his "weekend warrior" injuries; shoulders, thigh, neck, knee and low-back. John's cardio commitment has also been exemplary. He consistently knocks out his cardio exercise before or after each strength training session along with 2-3 other cardio days each week.
What held John back from really reaching a body weight that he could conceive but never achieve? In this case, I believe it's the total commitment that was never there consistently. We had the exercise components down cold (challenging, strength training and consistent, heart pump- ing aerobic activity.) The missing piece was the modest –calorie, healthy eating on a consistent basis.
Seven months ago, John made the personal commitment to add in the final component. He drew an ironclad resolve from his strong faith and took motivation from his young boys and his wife. He set his focus to be much healthier both now and in the future for his family. John has now dropped 30 pounds of excess weight! He has averaged a very healthy and, most importantly, sustainable weight loss of approximately a pound each week.
I enjoy sharing our exciting success stories. I am su- premely confident that John has achieved his progress the right way! No pills, fad diets, meal replacements, super-low calorie dieting or appetite suppressants. (And this list could go on and on.) John will parlay his success into a wonder- ful, healthy lifestyle that he can proudly teach his sons. We'll look forward to following John into the future. I know he'll have his challenges, but he is a safe bet to avoid any major re-lapses. He is in it for the long-term. Congratulations John!

You can find additional articles from previous South Tampa Community News issues at www.bodybydesignpt. com. Have a terrific, healthy holiday!