Yesterday on Good Morning America, there was a segment about a personal trainer who is going to the extreme to understand his clients. Drew Manning has embarked on a journey in which he makes himself fat over the course of six months, and then becomes fit again during another six-month period. The purpose of his mission, called "Fit 2 Fat 2 Fit," is to understand his clients and the emotional and physical obstacles they need to overcome to become fit. Also, he wants to inspire them to work out and eat right, and show them how to do it on his journey to become fit again.
Manning initiated this project in May 2011 at 193 lbs. Today, he is in the 25th week of the process at 269 lbs. This Saturday, November 5, he will begin the journey from "Fat 2 Fit." Throughout the past six months, he had an unrestricted diet, eating junk food in huge portions, and he did not exercise. On his blog, he always accepted "Food Challenges" from his followers, which challenged him to eat large amounts of food such as doughnuts or corn dogs. Overall, he has gained 76 pounds. When he begins the reverse journey on Saturday, he will invite his followers to join him; he will post his meal plan and exercise schedule so that they can participate and lose weight as well.
During his interview on GMA, Manning addressed the effects that this journey has had on him so far. He stated that he underestimated the mental and emotional consequences; he had thought it would mostly be a physical change. However, he realized that he was becoming more self-conscious about his body, even in front of his wife. He also became too exhausted to keep up and play with his two-year-old daughter, something which had an emotional toll on him. His health obviously declined as well, with his blood pressure skyrocketing. However, Manning said, it was "definitely worth the risk."
Overall, kudos to Drew Manning for going through this difficult journey. Even though there are many health risks associated with his project, I think that the benefits will outweigh the risks. Already, he has inspired so many people, and many of them are bound to follow his program back to being fit. Also, I think it's important because he now has better understanding of the struggles that his clients face. It's easy for personal trainers to tell their clients what to do and not realize how difficult it really is for them. I definitely will continue to follow Manning's progress as he works his way to becoming fit again.
This is such an interesting find! I've never heard of anything like this before which is why I think that it will catch a lot of people's attention. There are so many weight targeted reality shows, websites, personal stories, etc out in the public sphere that it definitely seems to be overwhelming in our culture. I think this new approach that Manning is taking is truly inspiring and can can be motivational to many people.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a really cool experiment for a trainer to do. I have never heard of someone willing to do something like this. I think that by doing this experiment he will be able to sympathize more with clients, because it is so easy for someone who is in shape to patronize an overweight person and tell them that losing weight is easy or that they aren't trying hard enough. I think that he will find a newfound respect for his clients and better be able to understand their struggles.
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