I’m long overdue for a talk here on A News Cafe.com with Matthew R. Lister of Align Private Training in Redding. I work out with him every day Align is open; four days a week. I credit him for helping me navigate and execute the biggest physical and mental transformation of my life.
Matthew R. Lister. Photo by Diane Hill.
Since December when I joined Align I’ve lost about 30 pounds and many inches (I meant to get a tally; another column). But even more significant than the weight loss is how great I feel.
I mentioned last week that Matthew said I’m ready for the next phase, which I thought was Phase 2, which, as it turns out, is really Phase 4. Who knew I’d passed through so many stages? Apparently, Matthew did.
I’ve asked him to explain more about that today. So here goes.
Matthew R. Lister of Align Private Training. Photo by Brad Garrison.
Matthew, as you know, this is my July birthday month, the weight-loss deadline date I’ve had my eye on since you and I started working together in December.
A birthday dessert, shared with friends. Doni ate one bite of ice cream and one of whipped cream. Photo by Judy Smith.
Can you summarize where I was when I started, and where I am now? Go ahead. You can be honest. I can take it. I’m already hyper exposed.
Hahaha. OK, you asked for it. 😉  As you know, we started by stating the qualitative goals. These were the goals that you set for yourself. They included: 1. Get rid of right foot pain, 2. Lose weight, 3. Get in shape, 4. Get healthy.
As we dug deeper into the “why” behind those goals, we uncovered that in reality your qualitative goals looked more like this:
1. Feel amazing: address aches and pains, energy, focus, and sleep quality.
2. To no longer feel ashamed of your body, and what it meant about your discipline, capability and worth as a human being.
3. To feel that your body is a tool to living the remarkable life of your dreams, not a hindrance, hurdle, or frustration.
4. To see an optimistic vision of the next 10, 20, 30, or 40 years of your life that didn’t include diabetes, heart disease and/or disability.We started with the qualitative goals. Next we converted those qualitative goals into tangible, achievable quantitative goals in each of these phases. We broke it down like this:
Phase 1 – Postural rehab (included weight loss)
Phase 2 – Stability and base aerobic conditioning (included weight loss)
Phase 3 – Advanced fitness development (included weight loss)
Phase 4 – Pivot toward proactively designed lifestyle plan (all about loving your body and the food you eat).Phase 1 took you about 2 weeks. Phase 2 took you about 8 weeks. Phase 3 took you about 12 weeks.
Extensive calf stretches have wiped out Doni’s previous plantar fasciitis. Photo by Matthew Lister.
It’s funny when you break it down that way because to me, it’s just been one long process with many peaks and valleys. However, I do remember a very frustrating plateau in the spring that really bothered me. I’m so glad I moved through that. It also serves as a reminder that if I hit another one of those stagnant periods, to tell myself to just hang on and keep going, because eventually I’ll get beyond it.
So, what’s next?
We are now stepping into Phase 4. This phase never ends. And that’s the best part. This is the phase of the program where you just see how awesome you can become.
Photo by Matthew Lister.
You are already awesome. But now it’s time to take it to another level. Before we move into Phase 4 though, I think it’s important that we recap exactly where you came from.
You before: Pre-diabetic, unhealthy muscle-to-fat ratio, forward shoulder and head posture, unstable right hip, unstable right knee, symptomatic plantar fasciitis. Not enough aerobic conditioning to adequately execute your day. Not enough upper body and core strength to adequately execute your day.
Ouch. That’s hard to hear, probably because the truth hurts. It’s so hard to acknowledge what awful shape I was in – in every way. In some ways, I was worse than I’d originally thought. Initially, I came to you because I weighed more than I wanted. It turns out the extra weight was just part of my unhealthy laundry list.
Shoulders back and down, now lift the weights. Photo by Matthew Lister.
True, but now look at you, Miss Doni. No diabetes anywhere on the horizon. Great posture. You’re more slim and fit. You have stable joints. No plantar fasciitis. And yesterday you did a circuit with horizontal pull-ups, push-ups, long-distance rowing, dynamic planking, and squats on a balance board.
Extend the arms, now crunch up to a V and touch your toes. Photo by Brad Garrison.
More than the physical though, is the amazing transformation that has taken place within you. You are now focused, happy, energetic, and proud of your body and what it can do.
Photo by Brad Garrison.
You now have a mental tool set that will keep you on this trajectory for the rest of your life. You have healthy worldviews around social eating, stress management, and the prioritization of health to optimize your productivity, as opposed to your old view of sacrificing health to optimize short-term productivity. I really am so proud of you.
It means a lot that you’re proud of me, but you’re absolutely correct about everything you just said. What I find the most amazing is how my physical improvements led to my mental improvements. All my life I looked at weight loss as something to tackle so I could get back to eating the foods I loved. I can feel this staggering transformation that’s taken place. It’s really so much more than I ever dreamed possible. Nobody is more amazed at how far I’ve come than I am.
But you know what I’m going to say, so just let me say it and get it over with. I could NOT have done any of this without you. I am indebted to you for life. You know that. It’s no exaggeration when I say I feel as if you helped save my life. OK, I’ll stop there. Â But I had to tell you that.
I don’t blush easily, but you manage to find ways, don’t you? 😉  Nurturing transformations is what I am on this earth to do, and I feel so blessed to work with such an amazing community of people, all working toward bettering themselves. Everyone from Kyle, who is getting out of his wheelchair to do dead lifts, to Diane who is now 90 pounds down, to all my chronic-pain clients who are pain-free. Watching their journey is so rewarding.
Obviously, you’ve found your calling. I’m just glad I found you.
Actually, since you brought up the subject of other clients, I’ve noticed this shift in myself recently where I am nearly as inspired by the others who work out at Align as I am by you. There’s something about being in the same space as people who are all working their asses off to transform themselves that is humbling. It makes me want to work that much harder. Diane, as you know, is who inspired me to come to you. And Kyle, the other day when I saw him actually standing … I just lost it. That’s a sight I never expected to see. It just blew me away. How could I not feel inspired?
OK, so, here we are. We talked last week about what’s coming for in me the next phase – for lack of a better term – both in terms of the food and fitness. Can you first describe Phase 1?
Absolutely. “Phase 1” –  in your vernacular – is the Transformation Phase. This is where we are rapidly attempting to alter the trajectory of your life. More muscle. Less fat. Better labs. More functional movement in your spine, hips, shoulders and knees. This stage includes installing the mental tool set to succeed. Phase 1 isn’t fun. This stage is the down-and-dirty work where we grind it out. We sacrifice to make the change.
Phase 2 is all about speeding the metabolism by eating more food and being amazed with what your body can do. This phase is all about finding what you love and making a routine out of it.
I’m laughing to myself, because in retrospect, the beginning of that phase wasn’t fun. It was really hard. I’m kind of glad you acknowledged that today. But funny, you never mentioned it at the time. You acted as if it was all just so do-able for me. And it turns out it was doable, because I did it.
I am so relieved to hear there is another phase on the horizon, because I wondered how long I could do that first stage before I crashed and burned. So, do tell. What can I expect for this next stage? Is there wine involved? Chocolate?
As I said, this next phase is all about finding what you love and making a routine out of it. If a glass of wine at the end of the night is what you love, let’s add it in. As long as we add it in slowly enough and make sure that you don’t gain weight, I see no problem with having a glass of wine every night. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too … as long as you eat that cake in moderation and keep up the exercise, then you go for it! I know I do! I love cake. 😉
Down to the nuts and bolts; we will systematically increase your calorie and carbohydrate intake every seven days until we find a level of eating that you are very comfortable with, and that your body can maintain long-term. You can get anywhere, as long as you take one baby step at a time.
In some ways, after having such a restricted meal plan, the thought of having wine every night scares me. Suddenly, it’s not so important. But back to your point, Without getting too technical, what’s the science behind your next phase’s plan for me?
Just in case you want to get wild with your Google search bar, look up Adaptive Thermogenesis. Basically it is the scientific observation that your metabolism adjusts to whatever environment you put it in. If you starve yourself for nine months, your metabolism is going to be incredibly slow. If you eat a ton of food, your metabolism will speed up.
Now, I am not saying to eat a ton of food overnight, because you may not like the result from that strategy. 😉 But here is the cool part that explains why so many people yo-yo diet their entire lives. If you diet, you slow your metabolism. It doesn’t matter if you use Weight Watcher, Atkins, The Zone, or any other clever combination of nutritional contrast. If you diet, you slow your metabolism. That even includes mine! It’s science. It happens every single time. So what to do then? Well, if we know that the metabolism adjusts, then we must be able to speed it up, right? Yes! If we eat more, the metabolism speeds.
But, how do we eat more without gaining weight? If we are eating a caloric surplus, aka eating more calories than we are burning, then we should gain weight, right? WRONG! Here’s the trick: lift weights.
Photo by Brad Garrison.
If you are lifting weights those extra calories will be converted into arm and thigh toning muscle mass. So let’s recap. More muscle. Faster metabolism. And wine. Yup!
Phase 2 is awesome. I am opening the golden gates and introducing you to the land of people WHO NEVER DIET AGAIN. We go through 3-5 day periods where we “need to not be stupid”. But the six-month sacrifice to lose weight, only to go through the crushing, dehumanizing defeat of gaining it back over the next six months, that will never happen to you again, my dear. And I am so excited for you. Truly, you have made it.
It’s so emotional to hear those words. I’m moved to tears because as a lifelong dieter, someone who’s struggled with my weight since I was a kid, the thought that I could actually get to a place – that land of Never Diet Again – seems impossible, but glorious. I feel as if I’ve won the Lottery.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Two things, actually. First, I would like to clear up one of the most common misconceptions about how life transformations actually happen. Most people think life transformations are sweeping state-of-mind changes due to a life-altering event, or alternately, a smooth ride to a new life.
I would just like to say it’s not like that at all. It is messy. Life transformations are hard. At times you want to tell me shut the hell up and get out of your business. Other times you are so elated that you rush to hug me with tears in your eyes. It’s a grueling process of self discovery, perseverance, and more emotions than we know what to do with. You need a true coach who selflessly has your interests at heart, and who will celebrate with you during the good times.
Also, though, – figuratively speaking – life transformations sometimes require someone – a coach – who’ll smack us up side the head and tell us how detached from reality we are. Other times that coach might hug you and tell you that you that you will make it, even though right now it seems like you are climbing through the mud for miles.
That is the nature of transformation. I won’t be that coach for many people. But they need to find that coach. Your chances of success go down dramatically if you, in your subjective human experience that is dripping in emotion, try to tackle this monster by yourself. There is no shame in needing help. It’s a pragmatic necessity. Even I need a coach. I’m too close to my situation to see clearly.
Secondly and more importantly, I am so excited to see just how fit, strong, lean and capable you have become, my dear. Your journey will never be over, but you have made it over the steep mountain top and are now walking down hill into the green valley.
It’s all downhill from here. Love ya, bud 😉
Thank you, Matthew. Words fail. Just thank you.
