Starting in the Summer of 2008, with the help of my wonderful wife (who also dieted with me and lost 60 lbs!), I stopped smoking and began a diet and exercise program that would finally rid me of the moniker of “the fat kid”. I started off with a sensible eating plan, generally sticking to the same foods on a daily basis. Wheaties and a Banana for breakfast, yogurt for a snack, turkey sandwich and apples for lunch, chicken breast and brown rice for dinner and another snack after an hour of walking. After I began noticing the weight dropping off, I added light weight training into my regimen, and this is where Designer Whey enters the story. I initially started using Designer Whey on the recommendation of my older brother, who had recently lost a good bit of weight with the help of Designer Whey and a weight training program. I purchased a container of the Chocolate flavor, skeptical of how good a protein powder could really taste, and was shocked to find it to be just as good as my brother had made it out to be! The taste alone was enough to get me to continue using it, but the results it helps me achieve are even better! From that day forward, I have always ended my workouts with 2 delicious scoops of Designer Whey mixed into 12 ounces of milk.

Two years have passed since I decided that I was going to make a change, and I am currently at 187 lbs. I have now shifted my weight training program towards the goal of adding muscle, and Designer Whey is a prime ingredient in helping me do so. I am currently one month into my new workout routine and have achieved noticeable muscle gain. I would recommend Designer Whey to anyone, whether your goal is to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight, or to increase muscle mass, Designer Whey protein powder is a wonderful choice to help you meet, and exceed, all of your expectations!  

Ryan M. McCallister

A: I used to watch WWF wrestling on TV all the time. I used to get all pumped up when Hulk Hogan would say ”train, say your prayers and eat your vitamins “. I  always dreamed of inspiring others and having that same effect on people all over the world. I started competing in fitness competitions back in 1996. I entered my first show, the Mr. Fitness contest and came in 3^rd place out of 30 guys. I went back the next year and won the competition. After that I started competing as a natural bodybuilder. The first show I entered was in 1998, the NPC New York State Natural, where I took first place. I live to inspire others, I feel that’s my gift in life. I have a “never give up” attitude in life. I feel we’re all here for a reason and I’m glad I found mine.

Q: What are the most important things you’ve learned since you started working out,  about yourself, about your training, nutrition?

A: I turn 40 years old at the end of this year and I’ve been training now for almost 25 years. WOW! That’s a long time! The most important thing I’ve learned is that we’re all different so what may work for someone else may not work for you. It depends upon your body structure, your shape, your metabolism, etc. I always tell my clients to have a balance in their training and nutrition. You should never lift too heavy or too light, your cardio should never be too extreme or too moderate and your diet should never be too strict or too sloppy. The bottom line is that it all comes down to balance and harmony. That’s the key to success in any field.

Q: As a Personal Trainer, what’s the single most important thing you tell your clients about nutrition?

A: Diet is so important when it comes down to looking good and feeling good. Too many people eat the wrong things and expect to have a six pack. I hear this everyday: “Tony, how do I get abs?” The truth about getting abs is simple, you have to get your body fat down so you can see your abs. We all have abdominal muscles. Yes, the more you work them the more dominant they will become but you’re not going to see them if they’re covered with body fat. I recommend a diet of 5 meals a day. In this diet, I also recommend that you have a Designer Whey Protein Shake 2x daily.  You also have to keep your calories low. I said it many times, just because something is good to eat doesn’t mean you should eat a truck load of it!  Portion size and moderation is key. A great diet would go something like this:

Breakfast: 3 egg whites 1 yolk, ½ cup of oats mixed with ½ cup of strawberries, 1 slice of toast with natural peanut butter

Snack: 1 to 2 scoops of Designer Whey Protein with cold water

Lunch: Grilled chicken on salad with balsamic dressing

Snack: 1 to 2 scoops of Designer Whey Protein with cold water

Dinner: 1 cup of pasta or a sweet potato with mixed steamed vegetables

Q: What do you feel are the biggest misconceptions about exercise and diet?

A: There’s so much misleading information out there it could make your head spin. I found that the best advice comes from your own inner voice. Your body will always tell you what it needs, not what you think you needs. The body and mind must work in harmony together so this means creating a balance in ones self. Don’t get caught up reading magazine after magazine or searching the internet high and low. The truth about diet and exercise is that it’s hard work! You have to train on a daily basis. Your body eats everyday and will store calories as fat everyday unless you burn them off.

Q: What advice do you have for anyone who needs to lose a significant amount of weight?

A: Have patience.  You didn’t get out of shape overnight so why would you expect to get in shape overnight? You have to understand that you alone can get you into shape. Yes it’s great to have a motivator or a trainer to help you, but what happens when that trainer is gone? You have to be the one that keeps the fire burning, you’re the one who has to “Get Serious”.  My whole life I said to myself “I want to be the best, I want to be known as a Super Hero” when it comes to inspiring others to get into shape and live a healthier life. Our society is filled with too much food!  Everywhere you look there’s junk food and fast food. What does that says about us? We have to be the ones who take back our lives. We have to be the ones who say enough is enough!

Q: It’s easy for some people to stray from their fitness goals. What advice do you have to stay on track?

A: I always say “You can’t fly like an eagle if you hang around the chickens”. Try to surround yourself with dream builders, not dream breakers! Your environment is crucial to achieving your goals in life. Join a gym and make friends with people who are in shape. Keep on your plan. This doesn’t mean eating good and working out for 4 days in a row and then taking off for 4 days and then starting over. It has to be day in and day out. Just like when you get up in the morning and get dressed. The same goes for working out and dieting. Everyday must be the same, day in and day out.

If you need help please contact me.  I’m a never ending ball of motivation. You can also visit me on facebook where I post “Tony’s Tip of the Day” and much more inspirational messages and photos.

- Anthony Catanzaro

To learn more about Tony, please visit his website at www.anthonycatanzaro.com

Furthermore, the whole fast food thing is expensive. Over the past month or so, I’ve spent over $382 at fast food places.  That’s disgusting! That’s almost 2 months worth of food at the grocery store for my whole apartment, which has 4 people in it! What am I thinking?!? Well, it ends today.  I’m back on my no-fast-food diet in an effort to save money and lose weight.  I’ve also stumbled upon an article that says that fast food can actually become addictive, decreasing dopamine receptors or something, so that’s probably not good either.  Regardless, the amount of science and nutritional information and financial information is all overwelmingly against fast food, and my only justification is laziness.  Well, laziness never got anyone anywhere in this life, so I’m going to stop.  Time for me to turn the page over and start a new chapter in my life.  I mean, I just turned 28, what better time?  See you all later when I rant and rave some more about how I suck at dieting.

Then came the return home. It was completely different from being on the Ranch. I went through a great period of adjustment. This is where the Biggest Loser Protein products came into play. I used them at the Ranch but once I came home I implemented the Biggest Loser Protein products to my routine and continued writing in my journal. I knew I had to work harder at home so I used the protein shakes with fruit or milk before and after workouts. I drank my protein all day to replenish my muscles. Because I was working out 6 to 8 hours a day, I needed to stay strong. My desire was to reach my goal weight which I did. And I surpassed it!!  Now I am on my way to bodybuilding and sculpting. The Biggest Loser products will help me succeed, improve and show that we can turn a body around.

Now that the weight is off, toning and tightening my muscles is my next challenge. Thank you for all your attention and products. I couldn’t have achieved 22% BMI (the lowest of Season 9!!) without them. I now have beautiful toned legs and arms. It was definitely worth the hard work and sweat. Although I didn’t win the monetary prize, being the healthiest contestant at 22% BMI after surgery is the biggest and best prize of all.

Getting my life back internally, externally, physically, and emotionally is the biggest reward anyone can ask for. I am so grateful to The Biggest Loser, my trainer Desmond Thompson, my family and friends. Again, thank you. 

- MIGGY

It’s hot in Michigan, we are filling our pool up, we bought a fire pit thing for our back yard….all is good.

My weight stayed the same this week but I m ok with that cuz my pants are not so tight. I was at the tightest stage for my jeans almost having it get another size up but now I am just at the tight stage…next will be the perfect fit, the loose then will have to buy a smaller size..whoohooo!

I am feeling good and excited to start a 12 week challenge in my group at fast track to fat loss site. I am excited Kim Lyons one of the pass Biggest Loser runs this site. I joined and loving the meal planners, challenges, exercise planner and meeting lots of new friends…awwww don’t fret Designer Whey friends are still my favs! Coolest of all…I could win a trip to Loreto Mexico on the Fast Track Vacation Home! FREE! I have to get the most votes and be the most improved in the 12 week challenge… what an incentive! So I expect my Designer Whey followers to vote for me when the time comes to vote. Deal?

So who you going to vote for to be one of the 3 finalist on the Biggest Loser? I feel for Darris…I have the same problem…I do excellent all day right on target but as soon as the sun goes down the wolf fangs come out and it is very difficult to control myself. Not sure why that is, something I have to work on. Then Koli he really deserves it he did not mess up and did an amazing job at home. I am torn on who to choose. Final show is Tuesday be sure to watch! I am excited to see all the players and how they did.

Well I am off to mow the lawn in 85 degree weather…that should muster up some sweat! My last weigh in is Wednesday for the 8 week challenge I am in right now so we shall see the fruits of my labor and I will blog about it right after cuz I know you all are there with me.

I love my Designer Whey!

Have a great one.

Camille

Ps I love these 90 calorie buns! Put a hunk of chicken along with some fruit on the side then a glass of ice water with a 2GO pack in it… there ya go a complete meal. Be sure to sit outside and enjoy your meal.

Well once again I am coming to the close of another segment and with that I wanted to offer some final thoughts on the underlining message behind this last series of blogs, which is “it doesn’t matter how you get yourself into the gym, it’s just important that you do.” I say getting yourself into the gym but what I am really talking about here is following through in general when it comes to fitness resolutions. It can be as simple as doing pushups and sit ups in front of the TV or running a mile or two around the block every day or making sure that you stick to a certain caloric value on a daily level. Whatever your fitness goals are it is important that you follow through with them, and in order to do so you have to create some sort of routine or regimen that keeps you on the right path to achieving these goals.  That is what I was trying to do with this set of blogs, offer up some helpful tips and tactics to make staying on whatever path you set for yourself a little less trifling.

Staying on these paths that we make for ourselves is much easier if we make our goals realistically obtainable. Creating goals like seeing a drastic change in your body figure or a major decrease in your weight or wanting to be in the top ten for a marathon are all perfectly fine goals, and yes it is true that anyone can achieve them. But what is unrealistic are some of the timelines that people put forth to reach these destinations. If you are a hundred pounds overweight and in really bad physical health, you are not going see results over night in trying to be in the top ten places of a marathon. But you will see significant improvement and over time if you keep on a realistic schedule you will arrive at that goal. I read stories all of the time about something like this happening, so it is absolutely reachable. But within all of these stories that I read, there are always depictions of the (in most cases) long road that it takes to get there. Which is why it is important to set bench marks for these physical aspirations because while it is in fact important to always keep the main goal in sight it is even more important to mark your progression in reaching it. Lots of time we burn out on our habitual fitness routines because we are not seeing the results we want and we are not receiving that notion of self gratification that we feel when we accomplish our goals.  In this day and age with convenience in technology, schooling, and infrastructure break down, as a society we want immediate results. We loved this “internet thing” when it was brand new even though it took 15 min to change the page we were on. But now we spit at our computer when it takes more than ten seconds load. Don’t get me wrong this progression in life is amazing and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but it has enabled us as a society in many ways. And part of that enablement is how we handle situations when the going gets tough.

We all hit walls in every aspect of life, there is no avoiding them. But it is what we do when we hit those walls that makes or breaks us. I for one spent a lot of my life getting to these walls and trying to find a way around them instead of a way over them.  I would set goals with unrealistic timelines to achieve them and when I would hit one of these walls I would just create a new goal with a new path, instead. And I would keep doing this over and over again every time a wall popped up.  This just creates a labyrinth where we often find ourselves circling back to where we started and losing a lot of ground and time in the process.  Sometimes when we get to these walls it is in fact good to try and go around them, but in doing so it’s imperative that you remember to find your way back to that original path or you will slowly progress away from your true objective until it is completely out of reach for you.

With the right goals and timelines, it is much more accessible to stick to your routines to help you acquire what you truly want. And when you hit these so called walls try and climb them, use some of the techniques that I have shared with you or create your own to keep you on that mental and physical corridor that is needed for you to reach your overall goals. Once again, these are simply the opinions of a guy who has opinions about anything and everything, take it or leave it as you will.

The other thing I wanted to talk about today was the constant standing on the scale.  For years I’ve been told not to weigh myself every day because weight loss isn’t instant, and that it could be discouraging to stand on the scale and see that I’d only lost a half a pound over a couple of days, or worse, gained weight.  While it is certainly true that your weight can fluctuate quite a bit, I’ve found that keeping a month-long calendar in my bathroom, and weighing myself the first thing in the morning EVERY morning has been quite wonderful.  I’ve talked about this before, but it’s never been more evident than now.  In the course of a month I lost 20 pounds, and on the days that my weight went up from the day before I made sure to double my weight loss efforts.  On the days that my weight went down, I patted myself on the back and thought about what it was that I had been doing to help me lose that weight, like walking to school and working out, and I made sure to do it more often.  Basically, so long as you take the positive look at your weight, no matter which direction it went, you can’t be defeated! So I challenge everyone that’s trying to lose weight to start stepping on a scale every day for a month.  I prefer to do it in the morning, because you don’t have the fluctuation of what you ate that day to affect the outcome.  Yes, some days you’ll weigh more than the day before, that’s normal.  But watch your weight loss over the course of that month, and if you’re honest with yourself and work hard you can see a downward trend that will have you grinning from ear to ear by the end of May, just in time for beach season!  So until next time, keep at it people!

It can come at any time in the weight loss process. After, say, the first ten or so pounds lost, you’re still doing the right things but can’t lose any more weight. That is the dreaded plateau but there are ways around it.

Neely Simmons trains several championship athletes at neelysimmons.com and elitefitnessnc.com. She was kind enough to offer us some of her tips for getting past the plateau:

H.I.I.T. -  High intensity interval training. Alternate high intensity activity with low intensity movements to raise and lower the heart rate to help speed up your metabolism.

Supersets - Follow one exercise up with another similar movement. That cuts down on rest between sets.

Cardio in the Morning – Do your cardio first thing in the morning, before your first meal to jump start the metabolism early in the day.

Eat more often – You don’t want to eat more, just more often. Instead of three meals try five, but definitely make sure they are smaller. Designer Whey protein shakes make great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meals. I’ve found that whey protein keeps my energy up, gets rid of hunger and helps me recover faster from my workouts. I always keep the Protein 2Go packs with me, especially when I travel.  There’s no easier whey, I mean way to get protein when I’m on the go. 

Water - Drink your weight in water. For example if you weight 230 pounds get 230 ounces of water per day.

I will be heading these tips over the next week hoping for a better Wednesday weigh in. I’ll let you know how they worked for me!

- John Roberts

Something that I have been doing lately that has kept me motivated at a constant, continual and healthy rate is to fully document my physical progression. Meaning the whole kit-n-kaboodle: weekly and monthly pics, daily, weekly and monthly measurements, diet journals and of course exercise journals. I have always been opposed to this whenever it has been brought up in the past because for some reason it carried a very narcissistic stigma for me. When magazines or people I knew spoke outwardly about this, for some peculiar reason, I thought that they were just being vein but after working in operations in the business world I have changed my mind. Now I know you are thinking to yourself, what the hell do the business world and your perception on this particular subject have to do with anything, the two go together like “ketchup and mint cookies” (I know you are thinking random comparison right, but once as a kid I got dared to combine the two and believe me I can think of nothing worse: validating this opposition). So anyways, I realized that in order for a business to be successful they have to evaluate everything from head to toe on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. And being in operations I crunch these numbers and evaluate progression and unfortunately sometimes decline. Being able to see, have and evaluate these numbers is the only way a business can successfully set, retain and reach the goals that will make them flourish. The same should apply to the gym.

What diets have been working the best? How much weight am I sustaining, gaining or losing? What did I look like at the start of this venture and have a progressed? Why have I been stuck on the same weight for these reps? All of these questions can easily be answered if you are documenting what you do at and outside of the gym. It is really easy and will take no more than 10-20 min a day to keep up with. This is extremely motivating for several different reasons. The first obviously being that if you can see improvement on a weekly-monthly basis and especially a yearly basis, you will be much more motivated to stay on that path and keep in the gym or keep on an exercise plan. Just looking in the mirror when you get home does no true justice because your mind is conditioned to have a certain perception of you…I know that sounds weird but it is true, whereas pictures and actual numbers don’t lie. The same goes for daily measurements; they can also be deceiving depending on if you just worked out, if you just ate, if you just did something extraneous, which is why it is helpful to have ongoing data so that you can truly measure progress or as I am about to bring up, back sliding. The second main motivator can be a plateau or decline in your measurements or appearance. Some people get really attuned to how they look or what they weigh because they feel that because they are going to the gym everyday they have to be improving their physical fitness and appearance. But this can most often lead to falsehoods, because many times we plateau or even, what I like to call back slide. For me I was increasing the weight that I was lifting but I was not increasing the mass of my body. This had to do with several factors like daily calorie intake, protein intake and not enough recovery. But I did not notice because I mentally convinced myself that I was getting bigger because I was going to the gym everyday and hitting it hard. So once I started documenting everything and saw that I was at the same level, I was able to isolate the things negatively impacting me and try and improve them one by one. The whole grand scheme of the fitness game might be as hard to understand at first as the initial reaction to a nerdy dude dating a perfect ten: “how is this really supposed to work.” But truly figuring this “game” out is the key because once you can isolate your downfalls and weaknesses you can move on and improve, which acts as a huge motivation. It is like when a teacher yells at and punishes a student for acting out when called on in class. It seems like the right thing to do because this child is being disruptive. But in reality this kid can barely read and was put into this class due to social promotion and lack of funding for special programs, so he is acting out as a defense mechanism. You can not expect motivate this kid and see progress until you take the time to fully understand him, and truly evaluate his skills. And like in the world of teaching and in the world of business, there is no better, cheaper easier way than to personally document this stuff as you go.

These are simply the opinions of a guy who has opinions about anything and everything, take it or leave it as you will.