Best friends makeover: Month 9

Fitness
• Tracy
Tracy has gone from being active but not in a regular fitness routine to working out most days of the week. As part of her cardiovascular training, she now runs, instead of walking. She also does interval training; she runs for one lap and walks for one lap for one hour between weight-training days. Tracy also takes one-on-one kickbox training and weekly African dance classes with Tanya. “I feel really fit and strong, and I can better cope with stress,” she says. 

Coach’s Comments:
Tracy is building muscle, which is great considering her age (46), says Dr. Rita Dahlke. “Our bodies start to lose muscle naturally as early as in our 30s and even earlier if we stop being active,” she says. Dahlke also points out that embracing fitness now can help Tracy cope with any future symptoms of menopause.

Fitness coach Shelly Stranaghan is pleased that Tracy, who stopped working out regularly when she moved to Calgary, has recommitted to exercise. “She’s achieving her goal to have more muscle definition,” says Stranaghan, adding that this makes Tracy stronger – in body and mind.

•Tanya
Tanya is going to the gym regularly but still faces health issues. Her weight has remained steady since her initial loss of five kilograms (11 pounds), and her blood pressure remains high.

At the same time, Tanya’s body-fat composition is lower and she has dropped a full clothing size. For the first time in a decade, she can walk by the plus-size stores. Her progress in fitness is significant; the first time she got on the treadmill, she barely made it for half an hour at two miles (3.2 kilometres) an hour and at an incline of three per cent. Today, Tanya does a full hour at 3.6 miles (5.79 kilometres) per hour at an incline of 13 per cent – quadruple what she started at.

She’s stronger, too; when she started, she could barely do three sets of 12 reps on the leg-press machine at 80 pounds (36 kilograms), but today she easily does three sets of 15 reps at 140 pounds (63.5 kilograms). “I also have better balance than I used to,” she says.

Coach’s Comments:
Being physically active is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, says Dahlke. That’s why it’s good to see Tanya being physical. “If that’s what this makeover program achieves overall for Tanya, then I would consider it a success,” she says.

Losses in measurements for Tanya’s waist, hips, thighs and arms mean her body composition is changing and that’s great, says Stranaghan. The lack of dramatic weight loss is not something to get hung up about, she says. “The number on the scale is just one way to measure progress.”

Nevertheless, that number could drop “as the changes that Tanya has made continue to be part of her lifestyle,” says Dahlke.

To kick-start that weight loss, Stranaghan recommends that Tanya increase the frequency, but not the intensity, of exercise. As for her blood pressure, Tanya will wear a monitor to get a more accurate reading. If lifestyle changes don’t help lower the readings, drugs may be called for, says Dahlke.

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