Getting back in shape - A case of body transformation

Article edited by Dr. Frank Casillo

Overcoming the "usual excuses"

Very often many people convince themselves that not being in shape is a condition inherited from birth, or, again, that those in good shape are because they are athletes!

Almost as if athletes were born and never became.

And the more one is convinced of this, the more behavioral models are established that are not inclined to change the status of things (for example: incorrect food style, sedentariness, etc.) thus leading the person to confirm their own self-beliefs. In short, a self-confirmed assumption is established.

This is what has happened to me so far, that is when people with poor quality of body composition (high fat mass levels) have contacted me in the "hope" of getting fit.

When I was dealing with people whose body composition was characterized by high adiposities, most of the time I clashed with difficult personal realities regarding the application of my weight loss and body contouring program.

The difficulty is that these types of users lead a lifestyle so altered and away from proper eating habits and self-care, and so now rooted in their everyday life, that it becomes really difficult (for them) to break away in a totalitarian way to start to a new and healthy lifestyle.

Add to this the difficulty of overcoming the psychological component that binds them to social roles attributed to them by third parties, of which they are convinced and in which they identify themselves, thus finding it difficult to dissociate from them for fear of altering the balance in the game of roles that they subtly is created.

The typical and recurrent example is that of the person who for a long time has been overweight or obese and who starting a path of weight loss and obtaining the first and evident results is heard by the people who surround her sentences without any constructive connection to the path taken and even more without any scientific and / or objectively measurable value, such as: "where do you want to go, " "careful that you are losing too much weight", "careful that you are staring" ... etc ...

Similar claims in all cases are manifestations of envy masked by an apparent interest in the person.

If this were not the case (that is, if it were not envy), and if we were aware of the high morbidity and mortality that accompanies elevated states of overweight and obesity, we would relate to constructive, purposeful and positive statements: so ", " you're doing the right thing ", etc ...

And these statements, in people who do not know how to decode their real meaning or towards the weaker ones, make inroads and succeed in their intent and that is to induce them to abandon the program bringing the subject involved in convincing themselves of the original assumption: "I am fat and I will remain always fat ”.

Fortunately for many others it is not so!

And the protagonist of this article, video and successful transformation is the confirmation!

Meet Maria Cristina Pintor!

Watch the video

Body Transformation

Willingness to change

Cristina contacted me in January 2016 with a precise and firm request: I WANT TO CHANGE!

I state that "all" those who contact me express, even if in different forms, the same request.

But those who really align their behavior with their requests and goals are not "all".

In fact, at the first meeting I always ask: "are you ready to change your lifestyle"?

The answer is yes"

Another question: "Are you motivated"?

Answer: "If I weren't, I wouldn't be here"!

And up to here, all logical.

But the logic is lost when the people so motivated and willing to change their lifestyle ... do not let themselves be affected again and see why ... the program never started it!

Cristina is a different case!

He had already "weighed" his words because he was aware that pronouncing them would have meant being responsible for them to be followed by "FACTS"!

And so, the path of BODY TRANSFORMATION began!

Program structuring

The program was structured as follows:

1. Food tips
2. Weight training program
3. Aerobic Program

1) Food advice

Dietary advice aimed at supporting the lean mass during a process of reducing body weight. If you lose lean mass during a weight loss journey, the basic metabolism is lowered and this compromises weight loss.

It should be remembered that basic metabolism is supported by an aerobic-oxidative metabolism. The contribution of lipids (or fats) to the caloric value of the basic metabolism is 90%, in resting conditions.

This means that the application of 90% on a given value of basic metabolism translates into a net and higher use of fat (for energy purposes) than the application of the same rate (90%) against metabolism values lower basics, such as those that follow a loss of lean mass.

2) Weight training program

The weight training has been structured on a three-weekly frequency to give the body the possibility of being able to profitably adapt to training stimuli and without leading to overtraining syndromes.

The training duration is confined to 50-60 minutes.

And the training intensity is high. By "high intensity" we mean workloads between 65 and 90% of the maximum that allows a repetition (1RM), applied to a number of repetitions between 6 and 12, and with oscillating pauses between 60 and 120 seconds.

The loads used (kg) and the pauses observed are a function of the number of repetitions that mark the series within the different programs.

3) AEROBIC PROGRAM

Along with weight training, it is essential to combine an aerobic workout. And this for different purposes: slimming, cardiovascular and health in general.

The aerobic protocol is performed in the morning in fasting conditions, in order to favor a greater contribution of fats to energy expenditure rather than sugars (so use more fat for energy and less sugar! In fact, the goal is to lower the level of body fat and not that of emptying stocks of muscle glycogen)!

This is possible because in fasting conditions insulin is not released (whose presence favors the use of sugars and not that of fats).

But the body, in any case requiring sugars to support the demands of the central nervous system, is able to satisfy this request, in conditions of fasting, through the secretion of a hyperglycemic hormone called "Glucagon".

The Glucagon, besides favoring the production of sugar (glucose) through the process of gluconeogenesis, also determines the destruction of the triglycerides of adipose tissue (body fat) to use the fatty acids deriving for energy purposes.

And it is on this aspect that the "BURNING FAT" effect of aerobic activity is based.

Furthermore, aerobic activity represents a "diastolic volumetric stress" for the heart.

The consequence is that it determines dilation of the heart chambers, with the consequence of a greater filling of blood inside the heart and consequent greater force in the heterometric mechanism of contraction according to the Frank-Starling law.

In practice, more capacious heart chambers together with ventricular hypertrophy - due to the "systolic pressure stress" induced by weight training - determine greater efficiency in cardiac hemodynamics, therefore, the heart essentially becomes more efficient.

Those listed represent the 3 cornerstones on which Cristina's successful program was based.

Periodic rescheduling

But each of the 3 points has been the subject of readjustments according to the variations suffered by Cristina's body composition during her transformation journey.

More precisely, at the first meeting I performed a differential diagnosis of body composition with dual-frequency bioimpedance in order to access different parameters:

1. Quantitative levels and percentages of lean mass.

2. Quantitative levels and percentages of fat mass.

3. Basic metabolism.

4. Presence or absence of conditions of chronic systemic inflammation.

5. Quantitative level of the extracellular matrix.
6. And other values ​​...

Based on what was found, the entire program was set up, customizing the creation of the 3 points (food advice, weight training, aerobic training) that make it up.

At monthly intervals new body composition surveys were carried out to "measure" and "quantify" the changes in body composition (lean mass and fat mass) that occurred in response to the programming in progress.

Based on what was observed and measured, the program was readjusted.

And so we proceeded from the start date to the date of its final transformation.

Results

You will be able to observe the path of body transformation of Cristina, which is interposed between the date of the first survey and that of the last one, through the vision of her video (present in this article) and her photos of the "FIRST" and "AFTER".

Overcoming difficulties

As in every new thing that is undertaken, also in this case there have been the obvious and initial difficulties:

1. Difficulty in changing lifestyle. But once the first results and the perception of a better state of health and psycho-physical efficiency were tested, it was not difficult to convince oneself of the path to be abandoned and the one to be taken without turning round!
2. Difficulty in learning the correct executive technique. Learning is difficult for everyone (and in different ways) in the early stages, but those who have excess weight problems accuse him in a higher way and for two reasons in particular:
   • A) the high weight also determines postural problems that make it difficult to perform most of the free-body exercises, that is, those without the use of "guided" machinery (example: difficulty in performing the squat with a free barbell compared to the same exercise performed with the aid of Multypower).
   • B) The high body weight (when characterized by high quantitative levels of fat mass) together with a sedentary condition leads to less muscular flexibility and the consequent and intrinsic difficulty in performing single movements in full respect of the total articular excursion.

These two points explain why we had to wait a relatively large time (19 months) to get Cristina to reach a good level of body composition improvement. That is, if muscular posture and flexibility had not proved to be obstacles on which to invest the initial time in order to normalize them, this level of improvement could certainly have been reached before 19 months.

As soon as posture and flexibility were recovered, progress was immediately seen: repetitions performed according to the respect of the complete articular excursion, greater economy of the single gestures, greater levels of strength and resistance; all factors that allowed for greater absolute productivity of training.

And productive workouts combined with a personalized and balanced nutritional context have led to the achievement of systematic and progressive results over time, which eventually forged Cristina's transformation.

What the story of Maria Cristina teaches us

What is important to underline beyond the personal success related to the achievement of the objectives by the protagonist of the transformation, is twofold:

1. Every obese and overweight person is able to radically change their physical form and improve their state of health and quality of life, only if they are first willing to face (even and above all psychologically) a radical and totalitarian change in their own style. life. Without a radical change, no training and nutritional strategy, however scientifically and rationally structured, will be able to produce significant and above all lasting improvements.
2. Cristina's body transformation result represents the starting point towards an imminent and even more incisive improvement in her body composition.
3. The only real limit to improvement and success lies only in one's own mindset!

If you are not the first to believe in yourself, no one will believe it for you!

STAY HARD!

Dott. Francesco Casillo

Online personal trainer

Fitness consultant

www.frankcasillo.com