You heard it right!  A wild hog ran the 10km event at the Calgary Marathon this weekend from start to finish without stopping!

It was a special day running with my Dad!  I was so proud to have run beside him knowing that we were able to share that experience because he decided to make living as healthy as possible an important goal and then put forth hard work and dedication to achieving it!  Thanks for that Dad.

And congratulations to everyone else on participating in a great challenge and celebration of the human spirit!

I get so much motivation from these events because there are so many people running who are just happy to be there to strive towards their goals and encourage one another in the same.  Music is in the air, people are cheering and clapping, and I have a smile on my face the whole time!

It has been too long hasn’t it? Have you been waiting to hear the snorts of the mud pit and get your share of the dirt? Allow me to feed your hungry minds.
Over the past several months the hogs have gone wild traveling the globe. Their hoofs have imprinted the soils of Australia, Mexico, Phoenix, and British Columbia with struggles and victories speci?c to each square of the feedlot. Read more »

The hogs are looking younger!  What do you think?

Well Hog followers-

Last night we had our monthly gathering around the mud hole.  Harry landed in Calgary only an hour before and I am heading out in a few hours.  We found the only hour that was possible this month to meet and made it happen.

And so this will be brief.

Harry, Dave, and Brian continued into the negative this month.  Each lost weight over the holiday season.  Brian lost 10 in the first week (losing all that El Salvador water) and maintained that lost through christmas.  Dave continued steadily building his healthy lifestyle, exercising four to five times per week, and shrugging off the tasty treats of Christmas (although I know that was not easy to do).  And Harry also brought in a loss after spending the holiday season in Pheonix and fighting off a cold.

Brian did claim the victory and will make it known on the hog helmet!  He also earned himself a free dinner courtesy of the other two WILD HOGS!

Best of luck this month to you all.  See you when I return!

This month began with a discussion about an elephant.  An elephant, a rider, and terrain.

You might remember, Dave (Dad) struggled last month but was very motivated to get back to top spot.

So I went looking for information that might help.  My line of inquiry, “WHY DO PEOPLE DO THINGS AGAINST THEIR OWN SELF INTEREST?”  In other words, why is it that we fail to do that which we know we should?  And just what exactly ticks inside those who do make it happen?

I came across some research that separated three factors of our behavior- the rider (conscious control), the elephant (unconscious control), and our environment (the terrain).

Let me digress for a moment because this is important. This month actually began with a Wild Hog dinner at Earls including the stunning Wild Hog-ettes!  The hogs had a chance to commiserate their trials and tribulations and tink glasses to their triumphs- a needed congregation of minds and hearts at this point in the challenge.

The story within this story is however the melding of social fun and healthy choices.  What?  No seriously, I assure you it can be done.  You have no idea how often I hear, “I’m not sacrificing fun for health.”  So take note.

Before they went for dinner they had researched the Earls menu (available online) looking for their best options.  Around the dinner table, these details and the three wild hog couples supporting one another in their meal selections.  The point here being that they did not need to order the fettucini Alfredo and sugary beverages to have a good time.  And neither did anyone feel the pressure or place the pressure to abandon wise choices for the sake of their own comfort.  Health was the focal point- and I had great joy from this changing moment.

There is something to be said for the value of social support in guiding our behavior.  If we can improve our environment, make the terrain less treacherous, then we make it easier for the elephant and ultimately the rider.  And to further that point let me share an example about coaching as an environmental modifier as told to me by Ken Low (www.actionstudies.org).

Teachers were taught a new mandated instruction method but failed to integrate this into their classrooms.  Attempts were made over and over again to improve the quality of the courses that the teachers took hoping to increase the implementation rate.  Only 15% were able to successfully utilize the new method.  After more investigation, it was found that most teachers wanted to change, however the frustration of integrating the new method was so great, 85% of them quit trying.  It wasn’t until a coach was placed in the schools to help them overcome their frustrations integrating new skills into old habits, that the implementation rate soared to 95%.  According to Ken Low and his research on human striving, there are six critical points that need to be overcome and at which experienced support will help people:

• Rough start
• Reality of effort
• First defeat
• Fatigue of plateau
• Start and stop cycle
• Good is good enough

I am learning this framework developed by Ken Low, and in a broader context than health, but as I spend time with this material, I can’t help but see the similarities with how FitMetabolism is trying to help people accomplish a healthy lifestyle.

So back to the elephant.

Here is the key.  Most behavior change concentrates on the rider.  We define success based on how successful the rider is, and usually in a short time frame.   Often we submit, as the teachers did, and just give up.  Our expectations are highly linear.  We have previously discussed this being more of a longterm adaptive path, and this makes sense when we include acknowledging our unconscious habits and the environmental matrix we function in.  Imagine trying to master an elephant!  Sometimes the elephant will get what the elephant wants.  And its in the trying to understand the elephant, go easy on the elephant, accept we are more than the rider, but we are actually the elephant too (meaning we can overtime recreate our habits with repeated practice), that will take us further and make us more aware of the terrain we choose to walk on and when.

Here is the link to the document if you are so inclined.

www.thersa.org/projects/social-brain

My outcome of this inquiry is that people don’t do what they know they should because we look for solutions in the wrong place (just try harder, figure it out for yourself, maybe its genetic, etc) and then when we realize how difficult it is we give up.  This is by no means the full answer.  There is always more to the story.  But I know that if we allow ourselves appropriate time and surround ourselves with supportive friends and experienced mentors and coaches, we will be more likely to find success.

Now that we have gone over how the month began, I suppose you’d like to know how the month ended.

Let me tell you that it was our most interesting.

We start every meeting the same.  Often before words, the twenties are discarded onto the desk, and the Hogs place their bets on collective monthly weight loss using tiny blue post-it notes.  Dave (dad) guessed that Brian and Harry maintained and overal 10 pounds were lost between all three.  Brian was more optimistic guessing a total of 18 lbs lost between all three.  And Harry, well Harry guessed that the result would reveal a collective weight gain of 3 lbs.  Huh?

I went to El Salvador missing a week of our meetings and Harry and Brian went the week after I me.

You can read about our adventure at www.blog/stepperhomes.com

In El Salvador we were limited to the food that was graciously provided for us.  Breakfasts including buns, rice, and beans.  Lunch, the same each day, peanut butter and jam sandwiches.  As Brian reinforced how we all felt about that, “I’d rather eat dirt than another peanut butter sandwich!”  And dinner, a variety of different meals, some deep fried.  But we didn’t go to relax and enjoy food.  We went to serve those less fortunate by building them a house.  Harry and Brian were sure that they were going to lose weight there.  Theoretically they did, although the scale didn’t reflect that.

All these sandwiches, buns, rice, and beans, loaded water into their bodies.  Brian actually gained 8 lbs of water.  The science here is that an increase in the % of carbohydrate eaten will often lead to a temporary storage of glycogen which is accompanied by 3 times the amount of water.  The 8 pounds of water only added 5 total pounds so overall he technically lost 3 lbs of body fat.

He was obviously relieved to see those numbers measured at FM after being completely alarmed by his home scale.  Especially because Brian started out the month right on course.  He lost 6 lbs in the first couple weeks.  So with his trip he came out with a 1.5 lb loss overall, however, 9 lbs of total fat loss.  I expect Brian to shed that extra water rapidly as he settles back into his routine so his scale weight reflects the fat loss.

Harry also gained water but only a couple of pounds.  He lost 2 pounds of scale weight while in El Salvador and a total of 3 lbs of fat.

For Harry the month didn’t start out quite as well.  Maybe its the curse of victory?  After winning last month, Harry’s first week was a picture of blind complacency.  He wasn’t really sure why his weight increased, but we looked through his food records and it wasn’t too difficult to understand.  We had a small chuckle about this and he came back the next week swinging two pounds lighter!  Overall this month Harry lost a total of 4 pounds and 6 pounds of body fat.

So what about Dave (dad)?  Did he do it?  Well, after our interesting elephant discussion, I received daily text messages about how he ‘wasn’t afraid of no elephant’ and how he was ‘dominating the elephant’ and so forth.  Not sure he totally understood the concept but it worked.  He dug up some serious will power.

Our standard of accuracy to the diet template is 80%.  Results should happen every time with that, and if not, then it really wasn’t 80% or physiology is adjusting and we need to change the template.  The point is we never expect perfect.  This is a philosophy for living and as such there needs to be some defined room.  But dad was literally 99.9% this month.  He was right on and it paid off.  He lost a total of 10 lbs and 13 lbs of fat.  He reclaimed the prize.

Brian, however, won the $60 wager much to his liking. “I need this money boys!”  15.5 lbs total were lost this month (even though 28lbs of it was body fat).

So far, the cumulative weight loss for the wild hogs is 70 pounds.  We are passed the half way point with approximately 20 lbs remaining for each Hog.  My prediction is that we achieve this by March leaving the last couple of months before the contest completes wide open, where maintenance will be imperative for victory.

We are approaching Christmas, and I will tell you that the Hogs are not worried.  They have developed the knowledge and experience necessary to navigate the holiday terrain- it won’t slow them down.

The gauntlet has now been thrown- Brian you are winning that helmet next month!  And don’t tell us you don’t even like the helmet anyway- that doesn’t matter.  We want your name on it!

January 14th is our next month end.  We are squeezing the meeting in at 6pm Friday night and then they are going for dinner afterwords.  The deal is that the winner will not have to pay.

There are all kinds of small motivators here.  They drum up whatever they can…

November 16, 2010

Is anyone curious how these hogs have been?

In month one, each hog was the same; born of the same mold.  They were eager.  They were excited.  And the weight loss flowed easily.

Comparatively, this month, the true individual journeys began as each hog diverged onto their own separate path.  That being said, each hog had a very different month, different attitude, and ultimately a different short term outcome.

Now, let’s remember that creating a healthy lifestyle is a lifelong process.  And if we take a snippet of that lifetime and only judge success from that we won’t be accurate in our judgement.

Our mainstream perception of health, however, is that it’s a state of being.  You are either healthy or you’re not.  You are either on the straight and narrow or you’re way off track.  Enter the magic bullet and quick fix mentality aimed at getting you back on the path.  (By the way, this drives me absolutely bizzerk.)

But what if health isn’t a state of being, defined as a linear black and white path?  WHat if it is a process whereby success is defined to include difficulties and ‘failures’?  What if we accept that the path is messy, twisty, including normal lapses in motivation and disruptions in routine (as long as we resume the forward motion)?

Would we be less harsh on ourselves and more likely to stay committed to the journey?  If so wouldn’t we be in a better position to deal with this longterm?

In John C Maxwell’s ‘The Maxwell Daily Reader,” he quotes a wise philosopher who commented that an eagle’s only obstacle to overcome for flying with greater speed and ease is the air.  Yet if that air where withdrawn and the proud bird attempted to fly he would fall to the ground instantly unable to fly at all.  He goes on to say that this same law, that obstacles are conditions to success, applies to the human life.  According to Maxwell, life free of obstacles would reduce all possibilities to zero.  So allow problems to motivate you toward greater creativity and strength.

Now with that in mind, let me share the various paths these hogs took this past month in order to illustrate several key FitMetabolism philosophies.

Harry

Harry is actually on the straight and narrow.  He is moving forward at a smooth steady pace.  He went away on a vacation that included several social pressures but was able to ‘micromanage’ his way through it.  He chose his night of participation and simply bowed out of the rest.  He swapped in a few treats for parts of his regular meal and kept his intake approximately the same.  He said, “We have 5 choices to make each day (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner).  Its up to us how well we do with this.”  True.  He has the equation down to a science at this point.  And this month he was the clear winner.

Brian

Brian also went away.  But approached it differently.  He had decided before he left that maintenance was his benchmark for success during this trip.  He exercised daily, he ate well throughout the day, and he relaxed and enjoyed the vacation mode of the evening.  He accomplished his goal of steady weight.  And really there is nothing wrong with that compared to what could of happened to Brian admittedly in the months prior.

So we have seen thanks to Harry, that despite vacation, weight loss is still possible, with the right mental focus.  But we can also choose to maintain our weight using exercise.

Brian feels pleased about his month and I think he should from a sustainable lifestyle perspective, however, the stakes are higher at this point with this being a competition in which his success is also crucial for Harry and Dave.  And that’s my push, Brian we need you in the game!

Dave

Dave struggled this month.  There is no other way to put it.  His routine shifted, work ramped way up, he had a small scare with low blood sugar, and he found himself losing grip of his self-discipline.  In the wake of his struggles, and the emotional defeat, he found it increasingly difficult to get back on track.  He passed up the helmet this week, writing, “First month easy, second not so much.”  I am confident, and I have every reason to be, that Dave will respond with vigor and tenacity from this month.  I’m excited for month three.

This also allows me to highlight how the journey is individual, in that everyone follows a different time frame to these very normal events arising out of the human condition and the social media influence.  Cookie cutter or un-monitored programs miss this mark.  Expertise in science and the human condition pertaining to healthy living, as in a Fm coach, equips people with the capacity to adapt as needed to the changing landscape and ride the bumps smoothly.

Craig Rieger and I were talking last week about how people are so wrapped up and drawn into the media culture of health that when we say, “this is about changing your lifestyle,” they respond with, “ok great so for how long?”

The answer is forever.  FOREVER.   And forever is a good thing, or easier to comprehend when we consider that a healthy lifestyle involves struggle.  And so it is for that reason that we have structured this experiment to span 8 months and continue the year after.

We continue.  In response to this month, I felt that it would be important for the hogs to spend more time together, supporting one another in their quest.  And so these hogs are about to start exercising officially once per week together as part of their normal routine.  I believe this will serve them well.

Stay tuned for month three as we lead into the holiday season!

-Jackie Stepper

October 8, 2010

What could you accomplish in 38 days?

I’m sure there are several things possible in that time frame, but allow me to share what I have seen during in the past 38 days.  I have witnessed first- hand, a whopping forty- two pounds shed of the bones of three wild hogs.  And that is no word of a lie.

Forty -two pounds.  The same as an average six year old, an Olympic heavy bar, 9 bags of potatoes, or 4500 pieces of paper.

So in only 38 days, much can be accomplished when one strives for achievement, success which is hard won.

Looked at from a health perspective, imagine the difference that 42 pounds split between the backs of three hogs could make?  Without going into too much scientific detail, these hogs are revitalizing the systems within their bodies, reducing the risk of more diseases than you could list on both hands, improving their daily functioning capacity, and increasing their life expectancy.  As a side note, I read a statistic this week that 1 in 10 Canadian deaths are directly attributed to excess weight.

This month alone, Dave ran a 5km race, Harry started riding a bicycle with human powered pedals, and Brian started joining his wife at the gym getting back on the treadmill.  These are all amazing accomplishments showing how much more you can do when you are lighter and, therefore, healthier.

Their efforts, dedication, and honesty towards the challenge have really made the WILD HOGS into something real and enjoyable.  You can tell by the laughter in the room that camaraderie fuels the competition each day.  I will tell you that the hogs are enjoying the rewards of their efforts thus far, minus the inconvenience of having to hold up their loose pants (I think it might be time for some new belts).

It was a close race this month and the prize was up for grabs several times.  The final weigh-in was right down to the wire.  In total, Dave lost 15, Harry lost 14, and Brian lost 13.We awarded Dave as the winner of the past 38 days, with the soon to be legendary, and already very coveted, WILD HOG trophy!  His task is to write his comments about the month on the trophy signing his name and his month of victory.  Each month we will add more to the trophy so that it will represent the collective experience of achievement.

In an eight month competition 38 days represents just 15% of the total challenge.  We had a winner this month, but there will be 7 more, including an overall winner. These hogs will have to continue with matched discipline for the upcoming days.  And I suspect that the challenge amplifies with time.  Next monthly weigh-in is November 15th.

Sept 15, 2010

I have this image of eager race horses twitching at the gates, breathing heavy, scraping their hoofs against the fresh dirt, ready to explode with the force of each and every muscular fibre they have painfully trained for months to generate enough speed to take a lead on the track.  The stadium is filling with the voice of competition as spectators wager the advantages of each horse against another.  I can hear the rumbles, I almost see the dirt flying…and then, well then as week one of the WILD HOG CHALLENGE gets underway, I am reminded that as much as I (and them too I am sure) would really love it to be a fast paced race ahead, it simply won’t be.  The slow reality of scientific weight loss pulls me back suddenly like a stiff bungee cord snapping its effect while I’m mid-sprinting stride.

I mean quite simply, these men are hogs and this is a marathon weight loss journey that, good or bad, will take time.  Finger tapping staring at walls kind of time but this doesn’t mean it won’t be exciting.

There will also  be contrasting highs and lows that ultimately should act to keeps us all going. There will be inevitable failures, as each hog will eventually at some point, stray off course falling victim to the sweet taste of food, the convenience of the easy road, and the little voice inside their heads saying “its just too tough.”  And if there’s anything else I know, there will also be these surprise and welcome victories as each HOG (insert Budweiser commercial voice) rises to quiet the discouraging voice and realize their physiological potential in the toughest of all tough competitions!!!

I know I am being somewhat facetious or possibly just light-hearted.  And maybe thats not such a bad thing.  Food is good.  Food is meant to be eaten and enjoyed.  Its only our understanding of quantity, frequency, and priority that’s fallen to the wayside.  Healthy living is not a burden and its not ‘nails against a chalkboard’ horrible either.

This first week has given each hog a good taste of what is to come: Perseverance for unlearning and relearning habits, self-management, and the acceptance of science and time in human physiology.

Harry, Dave, and Brian each started the program by keeping track of their dietary intake and completing their metabolic assessments.  Everyone faithfully wrote out everything on their sheet, admitting their bad habits while proudly demonstrating their self-initiated improvements of passed up apple-pie, red-wine, and cookies.   It is a competition after all.  Each hog was successful in dropping a few pounds, asking questions about exercising goals, and bringing their honest commitment to the table no matter who butters who’s toast (Brian) or who offers up free sabotage (HARRY).

As per Brian’s suggestion, who is turning out to be quite the gambler, we will keep the actual weekly weight loss hush hush.   Then we have the chance to wager our bets or “throw some money down” on who lost the most in each month.  Sounds to me like he is getting the idea that we need to keep this fun for some serious motivation to fend off those temptations.  October 8th is our MONTHLY WEIGH IN…and i have a few surprises of my own.

Keep up the good work HOGS!  You’ll need to get used to it. The TRUE competition hasn’t even really started yet.

-Jackie Stepper

Sept 2, 2010

Last spring, my Dad came to me with an idea about how he could lose weight and keep it off.  He was about to turn 51, and I am guessing like most men do at that age, he had started to contemplate his life’s longevity through leading a healthy lifestyle.

Lucky, or unlucky, for him depending on which day you ask what it is like having a “nutritionalist” in the family (as he likes to call me), my dad was equipped with a built-in personal coach who was just getting her footing at FitMetabolism.  Let’s not mention what its like being the nutritionalist in a family of men where the concept of healthy eating is found somewhere between delivery pizza, a large bowl of vanilla ice cream, and a night watching the hockey game.  Lets just say, I have taken my fair share of our family’s friendly banter over the years.

Anyways, my Dad was actually quite serious about making a change in his diet and exercise routine.  For the past couple of years, Dad’s weight fluctuated up and down several times.  Initially, he was compelled to change his lifestyle habits when his doctor told him he had borderline high blood sugar.  But even with the motivation to make those changes, he struggled to find consistency balancing work, family, travel, playing his music, and everything else “on that side of life,” with the discipline needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

At this point, watching my Dad go back and forth, I was more that happy to listen to his latest idea.  It went something like this,  “Jack…how about a weight loss competition?  We’ll get Harry (my future father-in-law)and Brian (Harry’s longtime friend) together and whoever loses the most wins, and then maybe the losers can cover the cost off the winner to go on a group vacation.  I need accountability and I think that it will be fun to do with a group of guys. What do ya think?”

Dad had already planted a few seeds for the contest in the minds of Brian and Harry during a motorbike trip in Phoenix.  I believe he had mixed reviews among the crowd.

So what did I think about leading a group of hard core motor bikers, semi-retired, with motivation to lose weight that ranged from “never thought about it…..been trying but not sure its possible, maybe later..to…I have GOT to do this?”

Well, I am always up for a challenge, and obviously a huge believer in health and the FM Method, and really this is my family, so of course I do want to be able to help these three guys live better and live longer.

Hence the formation of the WILD HOG WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE.

This challenge works on many levels.  I think for these three successful men, losing is not something they accept easily.  And I think that together, they will help hold one another accountable to the commitment they have made not just to themselves but to the group as a whole.

During the summer months, buzz of the competition brewed, questions were asked, stakes were raised, the heckling began.  And I, this tiny blond, stood in the middle.  But the biggest thing that carried this idea into a reality was a motorbike crash.  Dad broke his wrist quite severely, fractured three ribs, and bruised his lung.  These physical injuries served a reminder that life is all too important to take for granted.

Yesterday was our first meeting at the FitMetabolism Clinic.  We established the contest rules, goals, and determined the end prize.  Every one weighed in within 6 pounds of one another in total body weight and interestingly all have approximately the same amount of body fat to lose.

The contest goes to June 1st 2011 and the winner will be determined based on the player with the most points.  Points are earned based on weight lost, hours of exercise, and other various weekly challenges.  There is a $3000 grand prize and a week at each of the loser’s vacation homes on the line!

At yesterday’s meeting, Dad, Harry, and Brian and their wives each put $30 into the pot to see who could guess their combined three weights.  Brian won!  Should be a sign of the humor, the excitement, the journey that lays before all of us.  It will be a fun ride for these old, i mean, wild hogs!  Right Harry?

Next week, everyone will have their Metabolic Rate tested and their Programs started.

Stay tuned for weekly updates!

- Jackie S