One On One Fitness

Kalvin MacDonald & Karin Winkler

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Kalvin
Before - 15.53% body fat
After - 9.80%
Percent change - 36.90%

Karin
Before – 17.58% body fat
After – 14.68%
Percent change – 16.50%

Fifty-one-year-old Kalvin Macdonald and 49-year-old Karin Winkler will have been married 27 years this summer. As they’ve gotten older, their views on fitness have changed. “It’s less about aesthetics and looking good—not that it’s not important because it will happen if you focus on the right things—but now, we’re more focused on a holistic view of health, fitness, and diet. It’s more important to avoid or at least respect injuries, give them time to heal, and focus on feeling good,” says Karin.“Also, we’re less concerned with body weight and more concerned with body makeup—lean muscle versus body fat. We also want to maintain flexibility, strong bone mass, and good muscle mass so that everyday tasks are easy and pain free. This will also let us age well.“Surprisingly, our knowledge of fitness and the importance of diet were limited and probably haven’t changed from the middle eighties. We have always eaten the best foods but were not necessarily making the food choices that would give us the right balance of fuel to optimize our return on time spent working out. In particular, Kalvin’s approach to fitness prior to One On One was actually resulting in chronic injuries and weight problems. “We entered the Lean & Mean Challenge because we’re finally ready for it.”Kalvin came to One On One with three fairly chronic injuries (hamstring recovering from a tear resulting from reconstructive knee surgery – left leg four centimetres smaller than the other, lower back spasms, and lower back pain/weakness, and a shoulder that would not allow him to do much in the way of chest exercises). He had to work with One On One Personal Fitness Instruction’s trainer and co-owner Doug Bueckert for over a year to work through these problems (which Doug did expertly). Kalvin had also stopped taking medication for his acid reflux, which was now a daily source of discomfort for him. Kalvin knew that losing weight and improving his fitness level would be the only way to resolve this problem once and for all. So he was physically ready, and the acid reflux was a major motivator to get at it. Kalvin feels that it was more Karin’s idea. She had been ready to give it a try for a while.“We both like competition,” says Karin, “and a contest like the Lean & Mean Challenge is the way to go.”Karin competes in 10Ks and can generally place in her age category, so she is not one to shy away from a challenge and likes to compete.“The toughest part of the Lean & Mean was sticking with it mentally. It is twelve weeks of hard work. If you pay too much attention to the scale you will be depressed because it is not a good indicator of how lean you are getting. So it is very difficult along the way to see the differences as the fat starts to disappear. There is a strong temptation to simply eat less than you are supposed to with the hope that it will accelerate the process, but it doesn’t work.“You have to fuel the body with the critical proteins and carbs it needs (and even fats), while the increased exercise slowly takes effect and turbocharges your metabolism. It requires patience and commitment. If you can do that, you will be successful. The One On One approach during the Lean & Mean is foolproof if you stick to the program.”What was the most rewarding aspect of doing the Lean & Mean Challenge? “My acid reflux is gone,” says Kalvin, “and so is the gut that took my breath away every time I bent over to pick something up. I am far more agile and my speed during interval training has gone up significantly. I am likely running stronger than at any point in my life. Being lighter just makes everything easier.” “The knowledge that we can be in control and that we have learned how to manage our weight,” says Karin. “Now we seem to understand exactly the best type of daily food intake we require and optimize it against our exercise program. This is very empowering. There’s no more guesswork. After the Lean & Mean, we let ourselves go crazy for a couple of days and then we were right back on our same food regimen as we were during Lean & Mean. We worked with Doug for many weeks to get it just right and now have that understanding for the rest of our lives.”

Have they ever had days where they did not want to work out?

How did they get into the mindset to just do it?

“One of the best things you can do is to never try to do it all on your own,” says Karin. “We scheduled our three weight workouts together. That way when one of us is less motivated, the other can provide the motivation. Having one of our weight workouts scheduled every week with Doug ensures we never miss that workout, and Doug always talks about the workouts we do on our own and wants to know what we did since we last saw him. This also provides motivation.”In addition, Karin runs with three different running groups at a scheduled time. Kalvin does his interval class in a scheduled course with an instructor and meets a group once per week. So Kalvin scheduled no fewer than five workouts per week and Karin six where neither one was alone and at least one other person was counting on them being there. “And being with other people just makes it that much more fun, too!” says Kalvin. “When we do weights on two occasions we stay an extra 45 minutes and do some cardio.  And while it sounds like we are always exercising, that is not the case. With the exception of Karin’s long weekly run, no session is generally more than an hour, and the interval run is more like 40 minutes.”

This is the schedule the couple has settled into now that the contest is over. They were doing much more during the contest, but much less before the contest. Modifying their eating habits involved the biggest change. They began eating more and more of the right foods, including lots of protein. They switched to eating lots of small meals, eating at least six times daily. “It is a huge leap of faith,” says Karin, “but we followed Doug’s advice and it worked. It requires more planning, but once you get in the groove, it’s not so bad. We also are eating foods in moderation that we simply ate too much of before, like those awesome cheeses, chocolate and breads. We also never ate enough protein before. Getting enough protein requires thinking about what you are eating.” The couple came to One On One because they were both struggling with weight. Whatever they were doing just wasn’t working. While Karin was doing well with her running, Kalvin seemed to be going backwards with his injuries. Neither one believed in using personal trainers: Karin graduated from school as a physical education major and both always thought of themselves as “jocks,” but the reality was that their methods were dated, their diet wasn’t working, and they knew they had to do something. They were aware of Sandra’s reputation when they decided to check out One On One.


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