Feature: The science of losing weight

There is a science to losing weight and staying fit. And, like in most other things, its quality not quantity that matters.

This was the inspiring words from Coach Jim Saret, one of Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition’s fitness coach, in a lecture and workout session last June 2.

Saret is a fitness instructor who shot to fame during the Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition and was the man behind the winning Blue Team.

His qualifications are impressive. A pre-med from UP Manila, he went on to grab a master’s degree in Sports Medicine from the Brigham Young University in U.S., and became the youngest professor in the UP College of Bio-Kinetics. He got a stint as a training consultant of the Philippine Olympic Committee, and is a long-standing Fitness Coach of the Philippine Basketball Association. And, as if these were not enough, he writes for the Men’s Health Magazine.

In the session, Coach Jim narrated that during the Biggest Loser opening day, he knew that his work was not going to be easy. The opposing Red Team was composed of younger and single competitors; while Saret’s Blue Team had contenders who were older and married. His team members weighed at least 250 (for men) and 200 lbs. (for women), and could be likely candidates for diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressures, not to mention lethargy. “So, how do I train them safely and effectively?” he pondered.

In the first three weeks of the more than four months of competition, he said that he only treated them to a five-minute daily workout. While the Red Team competitors were sweating it out for at least two hours per day, he seemed to be taking his own sweet time with them. While the Red Team was doing four to six hours of solid workout, he was conducting no more than 45 minutes per day of pummeling his team into shape.

During the reckoning day, Blue Team won all the physical challenges. In addition, statistics showed that 60% of his team lost a hundred and more pounds, while only 40% from the Red Team managed to shed off the same poundage. Further, he revealed that based on a tracer study, many in the Red Team gradually regressed to their former routine, while many in the Blue Team went on to sustain their new-found fit and healthy status by joining triathlons and running competitions like 21K.

“Now, what was the secret?” he asked. “Why do we have short workouts and yet come up with splendid results and even sustain them?”

As a fitness instructor armed with a scientific approach, he revealed that he did not prescribe the cardio workout right away, but instead addressed the metabolism concern of the contenders. “At 25 years of age,” he noted, “our metabolism starts to slow down. To address such age-related creeps, I developed a workout dub as ‘metabolic fitness’ or ‘meta-fit’ for short.”

His meta-fit is a 5-minute-a-day program that significantly improves one’s metabolism on the assumption that one does not increase his usual food intake. As per research conducted, he found out that fellows who religiously follow his regimental workout lose about 10 lbs. in five weeks. For easy recall, he referred to it as “5 by 5 towards 10” or five minutes per day of workout for five straight weeks equals 10 lbs. shed more or less.

Preferably, he would like to be called as motivational trainer rather than a “weight lost” trainer. The term weight lost,” he argued, “connotes something negative as one shakes off excess weight but not necessarily become fit. My goal, on the other hand, is to inspire people to be fitter, and to do it in a short period of time. I termed it as Fit-Fil, which is short for Fit Filipinos.” He then shared that Fit-Fil Program was launched three weeks ago in Ayala Center, Cebu City.

By using his meta-fit approach, he was able to address the myriads of alibis given by people – like lack of motivation, having no time, money, equipment, workout attire, etc. The meta-fit approach is taking the winds out of one’s alibis. The meta-fit approach is doing each of the five workouts – (a) jumping jacks, (b) squats, (c) push-ups, (d) left lunge, and (e) right lunge at 10 times each – in swift succession or cycle done repeatedly until five minutes is over. “Your goal,” he urged the participants of the session, “is to do as many rounds in five minutes.”

He pointed out that starters or greenhorns could only do at least three to five cycles in five minutes. “One medical doctor in Iloilo swiftly employed the meta-fit by garnering at least seven cycles in five minutes,” he shared. “However, his excessive effort resulted in dizziness and temporary collapse. But, the interesting thing is that he was able to lose at least 175 calories in that span of time as shown by a calorie-meter equipment attached to his body.” (In a regular treadmill exercise, one sheds about 100 calories in an hour.) He advised the participants to “do it in moderation and to build up gradually, because the secret in shedding poundage is in gradually challenging the body, going beyond one’s comfort zone ... until one can do more than five minutes per day.”

At the end of the workshop, he urged the participants to change their manner of losing weight. He also reminded them that one can lose weight “and at the same time still become fit.” (Gervacio C. Dauz, Jr./TESDA-Agusan del Norte/PIA-Caraga)

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