Fitness trainer piles on seven stone to understand fat clients
- Thread starter Jim
- Start date
HellieCopter
Gold Member
I get what he's trying to do, and agree that it's good he wants to relate...but I think going to 20 stone is silly.
Crazy! Though you got to admire his intentions.
Thing is (imo and all that), he will never know what it's like really as he's forcing himself to overeat, so doesn't have the instinctive drive due to leptin levels.
No doubt he'll find it very easy to lose weight (owing to those leptin levels) and will end up understanding the overweight even less than before IYKWIM.
I don't believe anyone can truly understand how difficult it can be to lose weight, unless they have the same drive to eat.
Thing is (imo and all that), he will never know what it's like really as he's forcing himself to overeat, so doesn't have the instinctive drive due to leptin levels.
No doubt he'll find it very easy to lose weight (owing to those leptin levels) and will end up understanding the overweight even less than before IYKWIM.
I don't believe anyone can truly understand how difficult it can be to lose weight, unless they have the same drive to eat.
Kate
CDC/PT/PITA
Mmm...although the very act of habitual overeating suppresses leptin production. If he's eating his way to a 7-stone gain he will be cultivating lower leptin levels.
I don't think the project is really going to help his understanding of his clients - how will he deal with female clients? Differently abled clients? Elderly clients? Part of being a good trainer is being able to develop a sense of empathy and it's a bit scary that he feels the only way to relate to overweight clients is to gain seven stone - if I were one of his clients I'm not sure I wouldn't feel completely patronised :/
Surely they would be raised rather than suppressed, but anyway...it would be unlikely that in the time frame, the receptors would have built up much resistance, plus it is highly unlikely that his genetic makeup has put him at a higher body setpoint, so I still reckon he'll find it easier to lose the weight.
This is what often happens to actors who actively pile on the pounds to play their part in a film. It tends to come straight off without problem. Well, so they say
Will wait and see
Kate
CDC/PT/PITA
Sorry, I phrased that pretty badly. It's the reaction rather than the production that is suppressed
I think he'll find it easier to lose the weight, not because of hormone levels or 'set point' theory, but because of his approach and attitude. He has a set plan to gain and lose weight within a set time frame. He should know what will and won't work. He probably already knows what he's planning to do to lose the weight - hell, he's planning to lose it all in what, four months? He will likely ignore hunger signals while he's trying to lose weight, and he'll eat what he knows his body needs. In order to try to understand his clients, he's going to do something that pretty much none of them could ever do. He's not putting himself in anything like the same position. Ridiculous.
I think he'll find it easier to lose the weight, not because of hormone levels or 'set point' theory, but because of his approach and attitude. He has a set plan to gain and lose weight within a set time frame. He should know what will and won't work. He probably already knows what he's planning to do to lose the weight - hell, he's planning to lose it all in what, four months? He will likely ignore hunger signals while he's trying to lose weight, and he'll eat what he knows his body needs. In order to try to understand his clients, he's going to do something that pretty much none of them could ever do. He's not putting himself in anything like the same position. Ridiculous.
Kate
CDC/PT/PITA
That's just the thing - I think he will. He doesn't have any weight issues or food issues, and whatever happens to him hormonally isn't going to fundamentally change that, not in such a short timescale. It might be harder work than he envisages, but I'm fairly sure he'll achieve what he's set out to (on the scale at least) or get very close. He'll gain the weight, lose it again, learn nothing, but be able to say "if I can do it, you can" to his clients while completely missing the point
Carolanski
Back to it!
Completely agree - it will all be a "told you so" exercise which I find quite offensive actually!.
If I were one of his clients I would be feeling like he was simply taking the p*ss out of me and my predicament. In eating for the sole reason of gaining weight so that you can prove to your customers how easy it is to lose it all again he will never understand the psychlogical reasons why others overeat, he will not be dealing with compulsion issues and emotional eating, he wont feel helpless, or misunderstood or discriminated against or alone or unloved - he will just feel smug.
Like Jim I REALLY hope he can't lose it again, wishful thinking but that will be the only thing that will teach him anything. To be honest - even starvation would have to take longer than 3 months to lose 7 stone?
Misguided soul - might end up doing himself some serious damage in the process, what kind of example's that for a fitness instructor?
Didn't he watch "Supersize Me"?!!
Carol x
If I were one of his clients I would be feeling like he was simply taking the p*ss out of me and my predicament. In eating for the sole reason of gaining weight so that you can prove to your customers how easy it is to lose it all again he will never understand the psychlogical reasons why others overeat, he will not be dealing with compulsion issues and emotional eating, he wont feel helpless, or misunderstood or discriminated against or alone or unloved - he will just feel smug.
Like Jim I REALLY hope he can't lose it again, wishful thinking but that will be the only thing that will teach him anything. To be honest - even starvation would have to take longer than 3 months to lose 7 stone?
Misguided soul - might end up doing himself some serious damage in the process, what kind of example's that for a fitness instructor?
Didn't he watch "Supersize Me"?!!
Carol x
IslandBreeze
Castaway
It wouldn't incentivise me - after all it's easier for him, exercise is his job and probably also his hobby. And like film stars who fatten up for a role, he knows he must lose the weight or lose his job - that's not true for most of us. He is in control of the situation - he's consciously chosen to gain the weight so he can't have the mindset of someone who's had it creep up on them and has battled it for years. This won't help him understand his clients and he could injure himself by gaining it so fast. Daft idea.
Also, he has the luxury that very few of us have. As a fitness instructor he can dedicate as much time as he likes to exercise- particularly given this 'project'. It's not like he's having to fit it in around a sedentary job or studies. It's like celebrities who lose a load of weight in no time. I'd probably find it easier too if that was all I had to focus on and I could afford to employ a personal trainer/chef to help me do it.
shocking
what an extreme to go to ...silly man :copon:...like everyone said...he wont understand what its truly like to be over weight, or even struggle with weight, or have weight issues... he is just experimenting with being "overweight"....then knows he can return to normal within the time frame he chooses. Unfortunately its not that easy for us all :cry:
And like said by KD, he hasnt got that drive to eat....so wouldnt truly know the feeling of longing to eat, and by not having the things you long so much....and crave...and when you are so hungry the bald guys head sitting in front of you at work looks soooooooooooooo much like a toffee bonbon
what an extreme to go to ...silly man :copon:...like everyone said...he wont understand what its truly like to be over weight, or even struggle with weight, or have weight issues... he is just experimenting with being "overweight"....then knows he can return to normal within the time frame he chooses. Unfortunately its not that easy for us all :cry:
And like said by KD, he hasnt got that drive to eat....so wouldnt truly know the feeling of longing to eat, and by not having the things you long so much....and crave...and when you are so hungry the bald guys head sitting in front of you at work looks soooooooooooooo much like a toffee bonbon
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