FIT N’ FAB

Bringing your pre-pregnancy body back

BeforeAfterI lost about 10 kilos in
1 year without exercise,just eating a morebalanced diet and stopping
in-between snacks. I saw the mostimprovement on or around the first 6 months.
I went from 72 kilos to 63. Not being happy
with my body was the first reason. I pushed
the limits still thinking I was slim. The second
reason is not having confidence in physics.

I'm someone who does not like
restrictions and frustrations. I'm
not a sports person and I don't relyon it for my weight loss.
Here's how I did it.
1. I stayed motivated.
2. I ate balanced meals.
3. I didn't deprive myself of food.
4. I gave myself the permission toeat one pleasure meal a week.
5. I stayed away from greasy or
heavy food in the evening.
6. I stopped snacking.
7. I don't eat beyond being full
8. I monitored my progress bymeasuring myself and taking
photos.
9. I did not put any pressure on
myself.
10. I stay happy.

FITNESS FOCUS

STRESS OR
EATINGDISORDER?
Women in general are exposed toevery day stress from life events ot
outside pressure. The stress may
be in the form of beating
deadlines or interacting withpeople, etc. When this happens, thestress hormones adrenalin and cortisol released
affect eating pattern..
Stress may cause some to eat less or too muchfood but it could also be due to other reasons
like eating disorder. Eating disorder was once
thought to be rare in Japan. But a survey by theMinistry of Health Labour and Welfare in 2002
showed that a quarter of Japanese women in
their teens and twenties were underweight. Of
the 80 medical schools in the country, only one
professor is reportedly specializing in eating

She lost 8 kilos in 6 weeks

WEIGHT LOSS PILLS
After child birth,. some women turn to a quick fix by taking weight loss pills
or fat burners. Japan fitness coach Jeff Libengood says, "A pill may slightly
increase your metabolic rate for a time or it may suppress your appetite andyou may even lose a few pounds. However, a pill alone cannot produce
serious or permanent weight loss. A pill cannot deliver the same lasting
results as healthy nurtrition, proper sleep and regular exercise."
TRAINING
Stephanie, 35, still eats the same amount of food even a year after giving
birth. She now weighs 18 kg over her normal weight and wants to bounceback to her pre-pregnancy weight as soon as possible but is not sure how
to do that. Nathan Schmid, owner and Head Trainer at Club 360
recommends a balanced program combining strength and cardio training
with a healthy diet to get her the results in no time. “To get back to her prepregnancy weight, it is imperative that she first strengthen the pelvic floor,
lower abdominals and other muscles around the pelvis and back.
Strengthening these structures will not only tone the area, but will ensure
she can confidently ramp up the training without fear of injury,” he added.
disorders. It’s hard to tell whether a person has aneating disorder just by appearance.

""Eating disorders describe a few syndromes which haveabnormal eating behaviors as the core problem. The
major disorders include restricting (anorexia), binging and purging(bulimia), and some binging without purging (binge eating disorder).
There are other variants that can include just purging, night-time eating,obsession with health foods, obsession with not having enough muscle
mass, and others. The causes of these problems are not really known, butthere are probably different paths that lead to different problems. Some ofthese are stand-alone disorders, some are symptoms of anotherpsychiatric illness like depression, substance abuse, or severe stress, andsome may be due to a medical illness like thyroid disease and others.
Men or women can have eating disorders, the more common disorders
occurring in teenage years. Eating disorders starting in motherhood would
be more likely due to stress or as one symptom of anxiety or depression.
To help these persons, the underlying problem needs to be cleared up, i.e.,remove of stress/change of lifestyle, treatment of a medical or psychiatricproblem, etc. A mental health professional’s opinion should be sought if
the problem can not easily go away with some stress modification or if
there are associated symptoms such as low mood, fatigue, insomnia etc.
Dr. Douglas Berger and his staff at the Meguro Counseling Center in the Shibuya-Ebisu
area provide mental health care for individuals, couples, and families, in both English andJapanese. www.megurocounseling.com

Since arriving in Tokyo three years ago, Savanna
Reid’ has been very busy adjusting to her new life.
"After I gave birth to my youngest boy, (I have three )exercise took a back seat. Ever since we got here, I’ve
packed on a few too many kilos mostly from eating
what the boys snack on: ice cream, cakes and chips,"
says Savanna.
Savanna, (whose ideal weight is 50 kg for her short
1.60m frame,) did not realize that she had packed 13
extra kilos in just a span of 2 years until she did aspring cleaning.
" My clothes began to feel tighter. I had to give awaymost of my favorite ones," complains Savanna.
She turned to a 10-week transformation program tohelp her get back to her ideal weight.

BeforeAfterSTATS
Age41
Status Housewife with 3 kids (ages 10, 6and 3)
Weight before
63 kg
Weight after
55 kg
Goal
50 kg
Training
Cardio, Yoga
Favorite snack Dark chocolates, nuts, fruits
Favorite meal Grilled chicken burrito
bowl, Sushi wraps, omelets, fish

16 www.tokyofamilies.net

Parenting with eating disorder can be harmful to herself
and to those around her. So how do you know you
have eating disorder? Tokyo families asked Dr. Douglas
Berger of the Meguro Counseling Clinic for comments.

“I trained 3 x a week in the beginning. My trainer
gave me a list of foods to buy complete withinstructions on calorie intake, cooking method,what to eat when. I had to cut all the unhealthysnacking completely which was the mostdifficult part of the program. For my weighttraining routine, I did treadmill, a series of lunges,
arm circle, chest press, chair squats includingplanks.""Losing excess baggage is very energizing. I
haven't felt any lighter in years and I havebecome more conscious of the relationshipbetween the food I eat and the food I burn.
Achieving weight goal is all in the mind. It’s themind that drives will power. I'm not getting any
younger and so resistance training is good forme. For now, I still have 5 kilos to shed. I know I I
will get there.”"Achieving weight goal is allin the mind.

!

ToptipsIf you've finally made it to your first day of
training, you will feel some muscle
soreness in the beginning. It is completely normal for yourbody to react this way when you begin to work out. It
happens all the time with me when I change my workout
routine. Soreness means your muscles did something thatthey weren't used to doing. It starts to kick in from 24 hours
and peaks within the 48-hour period following a hard
workout. I began to experience soreness in the activatedareas of the body. It's perfectly normal. But just before you
ditch your next training session, I recommend what myphysical fitness trainer told me to do. It works.
Do some stretching.
Why: This will help to get the lactic acid our of your muscles
which is produced by the body during strenuous exercise.
This results in a burning sensation in the activated muscles.
This is why people generally need a recovery period for thebody to clear the lactate and metabolites. Any strenuous
exercise ends with stretching.
Do light cardio or some walking.
Take a warm shower.
Why: To relax the muscles
Do some Yoga
Why: Yoga when combined with strength training, reduces
muscle soreness and boost energy.
Drink water
Why: To replace lost fluids lost during a vigorous exercise.
Don't drink alcohol
Why: The toxin in alcohol slows down the healing andgrowing of muscles.