Breakfast with a "Big Mac"

Big Mac lost 90lbs in a year.

While the day to day, week to week, month to month swings imitated the Ivari life path of ups and downs, during the four years Mac and I have been training together he has maintained a consistent level of success against that goal. 

This business affords you the opportunity to meet many vastly and uniquely different people and to appreciate that their goals and aspirations are just as diverse. It's an interesting, challenging, confounding and infinitely rewarding choice and while Macs story isn't unique, it is special.

Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes Mac made the decision to get into the face of the issue and dedicated himself to reinventing his lifestyle chioces as they related to exercise and nutrition.

While he had a background of team sports, specifically rugby, father time had conspired against him being able to continue to play competitively and so transitioning and adapting to other forms of exercise was not an issue as it was already a part of his life culture. He has a strong dedication and work ethic.

The most inspiring aspect of Macs story for me has been his independent willpower and industrial strength discipline and comittment towards nutrition. 

Mac and I have made a regular video blog of the journey called "Breakfast with a Big Mac". You can watch a sample episode of this series on my youtube channel Ivari Fitness LLC. Hit subscribe to continue following Mac's inspiring journey.

This is a written introduction to that series in the words of the man himself. Over to you Mac...

I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes about 5 years ago, my weight had ballooned to 330 pounds, mostly due to lack of exercise and a steady intake of pop and sweets. I immediately began to change my lifestyle, cutting out sweets and pop, eating better, and committing to daily exercise. 

My idea was to slowly gear up the amount and difficulty of exercises, as I knew that if I hit it to hard too soon, with the shape I was in, an injury would be likely. So, I began by walking, grabbing my iPod and headphones, cranking up the Zeppelin, and just heading out. One hour walks daily (in the winter in Chicago) became two hours, then three. My weight began to come down, I was feeling better, so I cut back the walking and bought an elliptical machine for the basement. Soon I was doing two-hour sessions and worked up to the maximum difficulty level of 20 on the hill and random programs (eventually I wore out the elliptical machine and had to replace it). I also began to add in some weight lifting exercises as well, specifically low weights and high reps.

The doctor had originally told me I should lose 50 pounds over the next year, I told him I’d do it in three months. He said that would be great but was an unrealistic goal. It took me 99 days to lose the first 50. I eventually dropped 90 pounds, to 239.5, which was great but really a bit light for my frame. I slowly over the next year balanced out to around 250 pounds, which I feel is really my fighting weight. I was diagnosed as “Diabetes Free” and no longer needed to take any medicine to treat it. My weight has been creeping up lately, and I admit that it is difficult to keep the weight off, but my goal is to always try to hover around 250 pounds, which is where I feel most comfortable, fit, and flexible!

There are two things that people said to me about my weight loss that I am most proud of. The first was my doctor, who told me that he personally had 28 patients with Type II Diabetes and I was THE ONLY ONE of them who actually lost the weight to improve my heath. The rest of his patients struggled with the weight lost and had kept on the meds. The second was my good friend Dan, who joked while watching me in a rugby match that I “looked like I was driving a new sports car around out there”, a comment on my new-found level of cardio fitness.

A chance encounter with Wez, at a vegetable and fruit grocery store (!), led to him becoming my personal trainer. We had met before a few times, as he had been the head coach for several years of my old rugby club (Chicago Griffins), but we weren’t close friends at that time. We had a great conversation about fitness and weight loss, and I mentioned that I was a bit bored with my workouts and they were becoming stale. Once he came on board, and we began weekly workouts, my whole knowledge and experience of exercise changed. He is an excellent instructor and coach, and the workouts he creates for me are always interesting, challenging, and varied. He also is sure to keep my various injuries in mind, and includes exercises to strengthen those areas and avoid further injury to them.

Since Wez has been training (teaching) me, I have added a rowing machine to my workouts, as well as kettle bells and elastic bands, Bosu ball and Swiss ball, and numerous stretching and balance exercises. I also now utilize a chest-strap heart rate monitor, which provides me with a way to determine how effective each workout has been, and to track them in order to chart my progress. Wez has insisted on my only having a single session weekly with him (even when I wanted to go two a week) as that it would be best for me to continue to do my own “homework”, which is my workouts on my own. So, in addition to seeing him weekly, I try to do a variety of some sort of exercise five days a week, sometimes two in a day if I have time. And variety is important to me, so some workouts are weights and stretches, long and short ellipticals sessions, rowing, bike riding (weather permitting), going for walks or hikes, attending rugby practice, and combinations of these activities.     

I often wish I had learned how to exercise like this when I was younger (in my 20’s), I’m sure my rugby skills and overall health would be much better now. 

If you’re interested, here is my advice for weight loss, these strategies helped me:

Eliminate sugary food and beverages (pop, candy, desserts, orange juice, etc.)

    -I haven’t had any pop in years

    -I ate grapes to control my cravings for sweets

Eliminate beer (I did for this for the first few months…)

    -Drinking leads to bad late-night food choices such as burritos and White Castle

Eliminate fast and junk food

-I replaced pretzels for chips and fries, even though they are carbs, the pretzels got me past desiring chips and fries

-Plan to have healthy snacks or fruit on hand so you don’t get hungry and give into fast food, apples travel well and are sweet and filling

-I still zip lock bags of nuts and pretzels to have on hand 

Eliminate/reduce carb intake:

-Only eat “minimal” carbs early in the day, breakfast, or lunch at the latest, never at dinner

-Reduce carbs by throwing away the top piece of bread in a sandwich

-Eliminate ALL potatoes, rice, and pasta

        -Eat a salad with fat-free dressing and a protein for dinner (chicken, streak, pork)

        -If you’re still hungry, have a second serving of the protein

        -I lost a lot of weight eating a large salad and two steaks for dinner 

    Never eat after 6 pm! I mean never!

    Exercise within your limits! 

-Don’t injure yourself which leads to giving up

Write down and track your weight every day.

        -Be patient and stick to your weight loss plan

-Weight loss is an up and down proposition, even if it goes up for a few days, if you stick to your plan, it will come down even more.

-I made up a large graph, and marked my weight loss (or gain) daily, so I had an excellent visual of my progress, which I found was a great motivator

    Write down and track your workouts every day

        -I still do this

-I can tell you the date and type of every workout I’ve completed for years                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

The Ivari life path

While I recognize that the execution of perfect form in exercise and sport looks different for everyone as environment, pressure, modality, physiology, anatomy, injury and exercise history, among other factors influences its performance, as a Trainer, I represent it's aspiration in movement is a noble pursuit, and it informs part of my ever changing philosophy on training.

Specifically (as it relates to this discussion) that there must be strength in mobility, and mobility in strength!

My Grandmother encouraged me to read from an early age and as a result I have a varacious appetite for reading and at any given time have up to five books on the go. One of her favorite sayings was that "there's a world of knowledge in books'. Most of my reading comes from the non-fiction genre in the context of self improvement, business performance, management and coaching.

 Reading 'The Violin Maker' by John Marchese resonated so strongly with me that it lead me to the Life path I now call Ivari and ultimately towards rebranding my business to reflect a new vision and product line. A very exciting and motivational opportunity for my business of in-home personal training, gym design, fitout and programming. 

This particular book appealed to me in the sense that it portrayed artisanal craftsmanship in the context of contemporary Violin making, a centuries old tradition being kept alive in a Brooklyn workshop. In particular the replication by Sam Zygmuntowicz of "an instrument made by the greatest master that ever lived". Stradivarius. For months I had been breaking words down in a search for that perfect new brand name. The word bite Ivari leapt out at me.

The book is exquisitly written, rich and deeply descriptive about the craft of Violin making. From the painstaking deliberation that goes into choosing the perfect piece of wood, the exorbitant price of the piece along with the selection of specialist, sometimes handmade for purpose tools and the ritualistic almost mystical process undertaken before the final suspenseful handing off of the commisioned piece to the artist himself. 

As I came to understand the patience and meticulous attention to the minutest details of the craftsman with the goal of making the perfect Violin, I recognised so much metaphorical symmetry when compared to my own journey as a personal trainer.

Having appreciation for the beautiful raw material and gratitude for the gift of opportunity to work with the commitment and determination of the practitioner by applying the tools and experience built up over many years as a trainer to craft the perfect outcome for the artist him or herself to achieve goals they may never have previously imagined.

In my serach of the word bite Ivari I came to discover that it represents a life path of energy, drive, ambition and independent willpower. Words that resonate so strongly with me and my fitness philosophy. It was an inspiring revelation with strong symbolism.

As I formed a vision for how the word might morph into a Logo I could already appreciate the pillars of the two I's at each end of the word being capped by big red bold dots that could not only represent the birth (beginning) and death (end) of a full life, but also that if a heart rate profile travelled between them that it would represent the ups and downs of that journey whilst also symbolising the experience of a training session, race or contest? 

I feel blessed to have spent a large proportion of my working life as a Lumberjack and use it as theme within my business life and career as a personal trainer. I gained a very unique skill set alongside a deep appreciation for the advantages of building a strong and functional mind and body. You often came face to face with mortality while executing your craft. It's dangerous and you had to have your wits about you. 

Prolonged and intense exposure to that type of environment have inspired me to think hard about what it took to endure and as I started to be lead down this life path I now call Ivari I have come to understand on a deep level the need for a commitment to nurturing and growing the concept I have labelled independent willpower.  

Much like the Master Stradivari himself it epitomizes a commitment to the constant evolutionary process of study, learning and executing your craft with energy, drive and ambition.

Thats the life path as I understand it and as I apply it to the Ivari business. It's my passion. Thats my story.