Weight training, diet, and exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle

In part one of this article we defined the metabolic syndrome and described and how it has become an epidemic which often self-imposed. It is not that people wake up one morning decide they are going to let their body go to hell; bad habits such as poor nutritional practices and lack of exercise over the years causes this to happen very slowly. This is completely reversible. As they say however, the deeper the ditch you dig the harder it is to get out.....

Meet Rich, 42 years old, who was extremely fit in high school and college but now spends 60+ hours a week at a desk job. He does not feel he has time to workout, mostly because he is constantly exhausted, always feeling very lethargic. Rich's typical day starts when he gets up for work in the morning, goes to work, and has a coffee with cream and a couple of donuts for breakfast. Lunch, (if he ends up eating lunch on that particular day) consists of fast food at a local fast food restaurant. If Rich gets hungry in between the few meals he gets during the day he will grab a candy bar at the vending machine and a sugar-laden soda- Rich averages two sodas and two candy bars/day. At the end of his workday Rich keeps telling himself he will go to the gym so he can finally get in shape but fatigue gets the best of him; he skips the gym workout and heads straight for the couch in his living room, where he eats and watches television until he goes to bed so he can get up in the morning and do it all over again.

Fast-forward to ten years later:
In spite of Rich's recent promotion to executive management in his company he is not doing so well in the health department. Rich has gained 40 lbs of body fat in the last ten years, and has been diagnosed as a type II diabetic. All the junk food coupled with his lack of exercise made him insulin resistant, which caused him to gain more weight and eventually become diabetic. Rich has also been diagnosed with hypercholesterolemia, which explains the atherosclerotic lesions in his coronary arteries which are more than 30% blocked, putting him at high risk for a heart attack. As with all other people with the above problems, Rich also has moderate to severe hypertension, depending on his anxiety level for that particular day. He is being treated with an arsenal of medications including

• two beta blockers: for hypertension
• Angiotensin II (ACE) inhibitor : for hypertension
• glucophage: for diabetes
• rosiglitazone: diabetes
• a statin: to lower cholesterol
• xanax, a benzdiazepine: for anxiety

Obviously, these medications are not without side effects. The beta-blockers leave Rich pretty much wiped out all of the time, he still wants to try to at least go on a walk for a bit of exercise in efforts to finally lose some weight, but it is all the he can do these days to get out of bed. The drug rosiglitazone, a potent drug for diabetes, also has the side effect of body fat gain; Rich has gained ten additional pounds of fat since he has been on the drug. Of course the additional weight gain caused the need for an increased dose of the hypertension drugs. Statins are relatively safe and well tolerated along with the ACE inhibitor but xanax, an anti-anxiolytic is highly addictive; so much so that some have speculated that the withdrawal is worse than the problem it was prescribed to treat. Rich is still not working out or exercising at all, mostly because he just feels too fatigued most of the time to do much of anything. He tries to watch his diet but old habits die hard. Although Rich's symptoms are under control with the drugs his situation is really just the calm before the storm; unless he makes some significant lifestyle modifications he is headed to his grave, most likely from a heart attack or stroke.

Rich's situation, unfortunately, is not an uncommon one. Countless people have let themselves go to the point that medical intervention is needed in order to treat all of their obesity-related issues. At any point most people can make a lifestyle change and completely restore their health, the longer they let themselves go however, the more hopeless it may seem to ever get back in shape. Unfortunately, most of us procrastinate in certain ways but this is not a situation where it is acceptable. If you are leading an unhealthy lifestyle and walking down the same path as poor Rich above, change what you do; right now. As soon as you commit yourself, simply by making the decision to do so, you have taken the longest step in your journey back to health and fitness. As I tell my personal fitness training clients, you are either convinced that you can, or cannot do something; either way you are right. A strong body follows a strong mind.